We were part of this crowd, funneling into an increasingly narrow street in historic Passau, Germany. Despite how it looks, that’s NOT a vanishing point at the ned, and It wasn’t quite as tight as it looked!
Nearby, another Passau site: the marks on the City Hall (Rathaus) that show the heights the Danube has risen to in its occasional floods. If you click to take a closer look, you’ll see that while 1501 is still the champ, the list shows a tendency toward higher and more often in recent years—in part a result of the river’s increasingly channeled flow and dam system.
And here, since Gumbo likes puzzles, is a picture of the Veste Oberhaus, one of the oldest fortifications along the river; its oldest parts date to the 12th and 13th centuries. The puzzle: There was a major rebuilding in 1499, and the date was inscribed on the facade—but why doesn’t it look at all like 1499?
Medieval number system was used back then.
After WWII battles, not all servicemen were sent home. Some like my father were kept on to maintain postwar order. My father was kept on in the city of Passau. I attempted to retrace his steps and I took a photo from the Veste Oberhaus.
Hi George. When I retraced my fathers WW2 footsteps to an address I had in Australia I had a very spooky feeling when I finally arrived there. Feeling cold in a 100f temperature !
George has it. That ‘4’ character is based on half of an ‘8’…