AnhaltER1960

V e r y  lovely setting indeed. I'll have a Kirschwasser on it. Cheers.

Just rising from the breakfast table.....

But I declare myself biased, my grandparents lived in that town.

3 hours ago, Fragonard said:

Venice lagoon the floodgates

Was my first thought, too. I recall those small lights (like the one next to the sailinig boat), which are also used to mark the navigation channel connecting airport and city. So were looking towards the open sea with the Punta Sabbioni lighthouse in the back and the (construction of the) flood barriers between Lido die Venezia island and Punta die Sabbioni peninsula to the north.

So lets wait for @acwmom to solve, but I already send my congrats.

Nice one, being shown standing on a lion was in Germany in earlier times a privilege of princes, kings, prince electors, demonstrating their strength. But this guy does not look like a price, nor is that Germany, nor is it an old one. This bronze figure standing on a concrete pillar looks contemporary. And the sitting writer looks gives the scene a Robin-Hoodish character, written down by an author. No more precise idea yet.

And the winner is ....

.....

.....

.....drrrammdammdammmmm....

.....

.....

@ jpalbny

My photo indeed shows the spire of the Strasburg cathedral, upon its completion the highest manmade structure worldwide. This is what it shares with the Chrysler Building. I took it from near the Ponts couverts, where the Ill divides into several arms. It shows the northernmost of these arms.  Exact location was probably, what Google Maps calls Quai de la Bruche, the half-timbered buildings to the right are Pavillion Regent Petite France. 

Congratulations, jpalbny, your turn.

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

jpalbny, I am thinking of a similar latitude, but the feel of this photo for me is more the other side of the big river that is the Rhine. I have not been to Strasbourg, as you say it would tick the boxes, canal and on the Ill which flows into the Rhine, but I think the spire looks a little different in its "broken" structure, on windows it is tracery, not sure if there is a word for that for towers, certainly a great Gothic spire. I would guess it is original not neo-Gothic.

 

So, near the Rhine in Southern Germany?

 

notamermaid

 

I confirm Rhine river. If I confirmed southern Germany, people probably would call me a revanchist.

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 But I played with Google Street view last night and couldn't find an angle where the spire reflected in a canal.

You might wish to try again during daylight ? 🙂

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Let us approach this from another angle. There is a body of water that is clearly not the river one would sail on. Is it a second river that flows through the town or is it a canal?

 

Would this be Roter Mainsandstein and we may put this building into the realm of the Main river?

 

notamermaid

 

The picture shows a tributary river to the one cruise ships sail on, which is canalized while passing the city.

The construction material in geological terms is called "Bunter Sandstone" (Buntsandstein in German), which is quite abundant in, but not confined to, southern Germany.  So in theory it could be Roter Mainsandstein. However, assuming they wanted to minimize transport effort, there are closer sources available.

Sunday is over - time get work done. Here is the full picture of that sandstone structure, which can be named in a line with, say, the Chrysler Building in New York.

42 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

It looks like red sandstone, possibly enhanced by the light at the time of day you took the photo. Somewhat makes me think of Heidelberg, but I think it is not there. Perhaps this is not far away, though.

You are absolutely right, the picture was taken shortly before sunset, which makes the reddish sandstone looking a bit more red than daylight sun. You are also right, it is not Heidelberg. 

Not far away ... depends from where :-). It is not the Neckar.

52 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

A very pretty reflection! Is this in Hamburg?

I am sorry, Hamburg is pretty cold. Ulm is somewhat warmer.

oops, one pic would have done ... you can leave your stereoscopes in the shelves.

Ok, guess its my turn now. On a sunday, time for a church. To make it not too easy, just the reflection of it.

Name what is in the photo. First guess the river. After that name the town/city/place/river.

The person who first guesses correctly gets to post the next photo.

It does not look like the Rhine to me. In the middle Rhine valley usually the slopes are steeper, even rocky in parts, and higher than what we see here. And the Rhine valley does have a railway line and/or a trunk road running parallel, in most parts at least.

Here we have a more gentle slope. And a large settlement, houses three/four stories. But no railway and just a bit of a road (lanterns).

From the slope in the background and the vineyards I would go for the Main river. And a large city in a hilly environment, I can only think of Würzburg. If I am correct, we look at the wine area of "Würzburger Stein", one of the oldest and most renown wineyards in Germany.

Prussian eagle, Iron Cross, and the text.... "Betritt kein" (... Feind hier deinen Strand). "Lieb Vater" (...land magst ruhig sein), "fest steht und" (treu, die Wacht, die Wacht am Rhein) - the Lyrics of Die Wacht am Rhein (the watch on the Rhine), that couldnt be more German. Proud Kaiser.

So, river I go for the Rhine. Just the city....hmm.... 

10 hours ago, djh1959 said:

It is quite interesting that your "shut down" is really quite a mild one as these things go.

 

We have had five days in a row of zero new cases, and now have only 30 active cases in the state, but we are only allowed two households to gather together and again a maximum of ten people, both inside and outside.

 

Congrats, Oz, for bringing down the cases to almost zero. Great effort. However, Germany as well as Europe are in a different situation, we do not live on an island. With land borders to our neighbours it is impossible to shut ourselves off.

So the plan (if there is any) in Germany is to bring down the cases to a number, which the health authorities are able to trace and insulate the infected people individually before they are able to spread the virus.  This did not work in March/April and it did not work in September/October, so give it a third attempt. Without knowledge on how the infection process really works, all actions taken tend to be inprecise.

Indeed the lockdown here in Germany is quite a loose one with the schools (some states do now have autumn holidays anyway) open and also most businesses -bar tourism, leisure and culture- open. Pedestrian zones, streets and trains are a bit quieter than usual, but really only a bit.

They call it a breakwater-lockdown, which hits personal contacts (only 10 ppl from max 2 households allowed, both in public and private space). Restaurants closed (welcome back cardboardy delivery food), Bars, Pubs, Discotheques, all closed.  All touristical activities closed, sights, museums. Hotel stays for touristical purposes banned (but allowed for business or personal visits). So, of course, river cruises are banned, too. Fitness studios closed, cosmetics closed, amateur sports banned, no spectators in pro sports allowed. No fairs, no large public events incl. party rallies.

Schools and kindergardens remain open, shops, factories, construction sites remain open, public transport, though some with additional measures to prevent spreading the virus (masks, home office, ...). Lets see, if and how it works.

The figures here in Germany keep rising and rising. Corona cases pop up all over the place and meat factories, party people, travellers or turkish wedding ceremonies are not the only sources of infections. In fact the rural areas now top the statistics. Places like Delmenhorst and Cloppenburg in the lower saxon flatlands, which are as far away from a party scene as Utah is from CSD parades, have -per capita- more infections than Berlin or Hamburg. Noone really knows why. Today Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps hit the jackpot with more than 250 infections per 100.000 ppl in 7 days (action threshold is 50).

Politicians in Germany keep assuring that they do not want (and cannot afford) a second lockdown. However, if empty shelves in the toilet paper section of the supermarkets are an indicator, people dont seem to believe that. These shelves again look like as they did in March/April.

11 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Yet in the U.K. at least they are still advertising quite heavily. CA

Trying to fill the ships with Brits, since waiting for the Americans to come back to Europe will take too long ?

You read the signs on the horizon correctly. Viking have suspended all their operations until Sept 30th.

https://www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html

Viking extend their shutdown until September 30th

https://www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html

And here is the official document by the EU Commission: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9208-2020-INIT/en/pdf

Please note, the EU COM gives recommendations only, the final decision is left to the member states. But they are likely to follow the recommendations. The list of countries did not change since earlier media reports have been reported here. The list will be revised every two weeks.

2 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Now that it is official from which countries visitors to the EU will be allowed in this first pronouncement (Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay), how many of those countries still have global travel advisories? I know we in Canada do.

Not an official bulletin yet, but media in Germany report exactly the same as the state of the proceedings. In German: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/corona-pandemie-eu-will-einreisesperren-fuer-viele-laender-erhalten-a-84c83be9-4322-4fd1-b35e-085d5dfbec8c

On 6/27/2020 at 6:24 PM, Life Buoy said:

Should I take a cabin Port or Starboard going from Basel to Amsterdam. Or, does it make any matter? 

The Rhine flows from Basel northbound to Amsterdam. So a starboard cabin will give you morning sun, a port cabin evening sun, if this has any difference for you. In port it is, as other have stated before, a lottery, whether you see another ship rafting, a quai wall with busy dogs, or the open river, either side. While sailing it does not make a real difference. Lets face it: For most of the journey the Rhine is like a canal, you see dykes, maybe some trees behind and an occasional village or city, in parts hills in the distance. There is, of course, one exception, the Middle Rhine Valley with hills, rocks, castles, vineyards, roughly between Mainz and Bonn. This stretch of the river you will wish to see from the sundeck anyway with a 360-degree-view.

So, for your cabin, toss a coin.

It is still not clear, if and how the EU will lift the entry ban for people from outside. Media reports here in Germany say diplomats are looking for a decision until Monday (well, getting just in time then....). Things are bit complicated, as EU and Schengen-Countries are not overlapping one-to-one and in the end it is a decision of every individual member state. And there is diplomacy, this kind of "we let your people travel, if you allow....", which might in the end lead to inconsistent and unlogical solutions. So we have to wait and see.

Media reports say, the EU plans a list of countries, whose citizens are allowed entry into the EU. The list which will be revised every two weeks. As a criterion the number of new infections might be defined with a threshold value at the same level as there are new cases in the EU-member states, currently roundabout 16 per 100.000 population plus a stable or downward trend. At a first step only "necessary travel"  might be allowed, which puts touristical travel further into the future.

This does not sound good for our US or brazilian friends, better for South Koreans or New Zealanders though. But again, no final decision is met so far.

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

The Nickovision has successfully completed her journey and the MS Savor has also arrived in Düsseldorf. The Nickovision as the first post lock down river cruise ship to sail, attracted a lot of attention along the way. Here is a German report from Wertheim where the passengers were greeted by the mayor: https://www.nokzeit.de/2020/06/09/flusskreuzfahrt-mit-fieberthermometer/

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for reporting at that link to the newspaper article. It shows certainly some attention for Nicko Cruises and indirect advertisment. But it also mentions the dire reality. 34 pax on a 220 capacity ship will not keep the industry afloat in the long run, neither will the prospect to fill half of the capacity during corona-times.