Town Hall

This building is across the square from the two I posted earlier, and sometimes does make it on to postcards. Closer examination however will reveal that all the decoration which adorns it is painted on. It used to all be real, but something happened. Just what happened unfortunately fell through a crack in my German understanding, but if I find out, I'll post it here. Just before I go to bed, here's a fact culled from Wikipedia, so therefore it Must Be True:
"(In) 1995, the German weekly, "Focus" published a national survey according to which Tübingen had the highest quality of life of all cities in Germany."

Next time I'll tell you more about learning Czech in German, if I remember. That is, I'll tell you in English about learning Czech, which happens to be in German. think of it like One Song to the Tune of Another in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

Best Detective Yarns on Record!

I had ready another picture of Tuebingen and a story to accompany it, but after an emotionally, if not physically, draining day I settled down to read an adventure of Sexton Blake in an issue of 'The Union Jack' magazine I have, from 1910. The inside covers of these magazines are given over entirely to advertisements, one of which piqued my interest somewhat, so I've attempted to reproduce it here. Again I plead camera insufficiency, but it can be seen that it concerns growing a moustache.
I shall reproduce the text below, with formatting faithful to the original

GROW A MOUSTACHE.
A smart, manly moustache speedily grows at any age by using
"Mousta," the only true Moustace Forcer. Remember, Success
positively guaranteed. Boys become men. Acts like magic. Box
sent (in plain cover) for 6d and 1d for postage. Send 7d to-
J.A.DIXON & CO., 42, Junction Road, London, N (Foreign orders, 9d)


More about Tuebingen tomorrow, when I hope to go a-roaming, a-using my Semester Bus Ticket, which for 38 Euros gives me local bus travel until the end of March

Some old movies

2 seconds each, so won't break your modem.
Filmed in 1888 on paper strips, these are credited as being the first and second moving pictures ever made, a full 6 years before the Lumiere brothers' more famous attempts. And thanks to the internet, available for all to see.




Awe at the internet is not fashionable I know, but isn't it incredible that the old woman in the garden scene died later that same year, 118 years ago, but we can still see her walk around, if only for two seconds?

A Little Tuebingen Story

here on the left is a photograph of two old buildings in the market square at Tuebingen. These ones don't get on the postcards, because there's no shortage of timber frames in the old town, and this pair is fairly unremarkable. Except that if you look closely at the one on the left, you'll see all its windows are brown, save one which has a white frame. The room with the white window now belongs to the other house, and can only be accessed from the room next to it with similar fenestration.
The stories explaining how this change of ownership came to be are many, but almost all involve payment of a debt, gambling or otherwise. Thankfully the confirmed documented true story is obscured by a kind of volksfog, allowing taletellers to embellish, although I promise that's been kept to a minimum here.