Summer in September

This will be a mainly pictures kind of post with little writing.

Like every year in late August or September my father and I made a roadtrip. Although we had planned on going to northern Italy first we decided on eastern/southern Germany in the end because it was much easier to plan.

The weather was unusually hot for mid September. The first 4 days temperatures were above 30 C.

I packed a lot of bright summer dresses, one last chance to give them a spin before summer was really over...

Straw summer hats and mostly open shoes.

No coat but a very warm wool crochet cardigan.

We drove to Potsdam the first day and visited the 'new' palace in Sanscouci

You can see how well the ribbon in my hair matches my dress.

Fountain in the city centre of Potsdam.

The next day we planned on seeing the rest of Sansouci. Because this was going to be the hottest day we started around 8 in the morning when the garden was very quiet.

I'm wearing a late 20's/early 30's dress. I still have to get used to the rather straight silhouet.

Because we were so early we could make pictures of only me on those stairs. They were crowding with other tourists only an hour later.

A man made ruin at the top of a hill, a very popular part of a landscape garden.

Silly selfie but a good view of the cute buttons on the dress and the pique fabric.

This cabinet was my favorite with all the natural shapes portruding from the walls and ceiling.

Not really touching it!

The Chinese teahouse, what a location that would make for a teaparty ;)

To keep me dreaming..

Lots of warm late summer light made for pretty pictures. This might be my favorite of the entire trip.

The garden of our hotel

Food, so hungry after a day of walking in the park, burger & beer bliss!

The next day we drove to Charlottenburg in Berlin.

More opulent Rococo here.

The collection of paintings was great. I loved this portrait of a woman in what is very obviously a courtdress with train. How her hair matches her sleeves!

This lovely portrait was painted on occasion of this young pincess' marriage to a Dutch prince. The transition from the classicistic to more romantic forms makes for some awkward fashion though.

We went on to visit the Pfaueninsel (peacock-island).

Pretty man made ruin again.

With the castle in the back.

Again that late summer  golden light.

There actually were peakcocks.

Next day we were in Wörlitz which has a famous English style landscape garden.

There were little ferries to get around from island to island (I'm sitting on one on the very first picture).

Quite a lot of wind means holding on to your hat, the reality of vintage everyday life ;)

This garden had lots of follies (little buildings mimicing classical or historical styles and fit in with the visual axes of these kind of gardens) Though the garden is made to look like a landscape it is in fact just as planned as the 'formal' baroque type.

The following day we we visited the glass museum in Passau. Our hotel was in the same building and we could see parts of the enourmous collection from the hallways.

And went on to the Chiemsee where we visited Herrenchiemsee castle, one of the (unfinished) building projects of Ludwig II of Bavaria. The plan was to recreate Versailles, only 1/3 was realized.

As you can see from the sombre light the weather was changing. But al least it was still dry and warm here.

During the night it started pouring and temperatures dropped to a mere 14 C. I was glad I brought that warm wool cardigan, and stockings....and socks...charming

We had planned on going to another garden near Munich, but changed planns because of the weather.

The largest part of the day was spent in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, my favorite museum in Munich.

The collection is very diverse and despite what the name might suggest quite international too.

I love all the nativities that are shown in the basement. The main theme is supposed to be religious but it looks more like an  18th century excuse for grownups to play with dolls ;)

On or way home we went to  shop for the ultimate Christmas kitsch in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Still raining...

The day after arriving home we made a bikeride to close off the week in a cheerful -dry- manner.

This picture was a bit of a joke as we had encoutered so so many roadworks by car...we thought it rather funny even our BIKEride was disturbed by a detour...

We cycled from my parent's house to Bocholt, a trip my parents often made with me when I was little.

Oh my, how the trees have shrunk since 1992

And even the stones got smaller since 1994 ;)

The goal of the trip was the Bocholter Stadtpark

This was the main atraction for me there when I was two, the little striped piglets, so cute!

And that was the end of it, and of summer...

I'm looking forward to Autumn really kicking in now, but I don't mind it doing so with relatively good weather.

In a next post some recent finds!

Birthe