This weekend was spent in the Schloss (Castle/Palace) in Beesenstedt, approximately 100Km SW of Berlin, for a re-union with many of my former German colleagues. This building was apparently built almost a century ago and was well ahead of its time; it even has a custom centralised vacuum cleaning system! Since that time it has served as a 'school' for the GDR (bear in mind that this is well inside the former eastern part of Germany), whose keepers didn't seem inclined to preserve its character. More recently it has been acquired by an individual (Armin: a friend of one of my former German directors, and our host for the weekend) who is gradually restoring the building.
On the roof of the building is a tiny balcony with a large (air-raid?) siren on it. The view was impressive. This part of Germany is very flat.
Some silos and what I assume is a water tank, as seen from the roof.
Someone (Yongi?), Ivan and Joergsi in relaxed discussion.
Wind power is big business in Germany's north; there are windmills everywhere. Hmm, there are those silos and tank again.
Later in the day, I went for a walk with Yongi and Joergsi, who were hoping to find somewhere to buy some cigarettes. Somehow, the silos and tank hove into view again :-). Oh, and they didn't find anywhere to buy cigarettes; the walk was good though.
The dining room
Various people breakfasting on the final morning. I appear to have held the camera even less steadily than usual for these.
The cat doing the cat thing.
Finally: on the bus back to Frankfurt, Ivan attempts to read a newspaper; this proves to be difficult.