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Durham Castle

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Durham Castle stands across Palace Green from the cathedral on the loop of the River Wear. However, to the north and east, it is surrounded by buildings and to the west by trees, making it rather less apparent. And as it has been used as a university college since 1837, it is not somewhere you can just wonder in. However, over the summer you can rent rooms, and for a reunion of a friend who was at the college 40 years ago, I did just that. This is a view of the castle from the railway viaduct - the cathedral being rather more prominent. And the reverse - the view of the viaduct from the castle. Construction of the motte and bailey began in 1072, the motte being the mound and the bailing being the tower - now considered the keep. I was sleeping in the room just up from the centre of the image. Despite being on the ground floor of the keep it was an 86-step climb to the room. The view from the window. The castle is laid out around a roughly pentagonal courtyard, with the keep at the east...
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Frankfurt part 3, outside the centre

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...Continued from part two Walls and park The city centre is surrounded on three sides by a strip of parkland (and the river on the south side). This is where the city wall and defenses once surrounded the city. As far as I know, only one tower and a short bit of wall remains. An Egyptian goose in the park. They are an invasive species, and not welcome... Unlike the Canadian ones? The Euro-Skulptur, erected by the  European Central Bank when the Euro was introduced. The bank was sited in the adjacent building until 2015.  The Alte Oper (Old Opera House) is also in this band round the city. The River The River Main forms the southern bounder of the old city. This is taken from the Altebrücke (Old Bridge). The Dom is on the right. The iron footbridge is the Eiserner Steg, which means iron foot bridge. Another view of the Eiserner Steg, with a working boat, Xeryus, passing underneath. This was taken from the south bank, looking to the skyscrapers of the city centre. The south ban...
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Frankfurt part 2, Christopher Street Day

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... Continued from part one Christopher Street Day (CSD) is what in the UK is know better a Gay Pride. It remembers the  Stonewall riots that took place on New York City's Christopher Street in the district of Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969. The following years CSD parades were held in the US, but it is, I think, only Germany and Switzerland that still use that term. The night before, one of the skyscrapers in rainbow colours. The New Old City It was busy! The Parade Down by the river A DJ has her set-up on the back of a bike. A drag act on stage singing... not well as I recall. It was heaving, and I could not see her face, or much of her at all! Arguably drag is more about stage presence than singing ability, and she had that. This guy was pretty good - channelling Marc Almond. Someone to the left signing. These guys were pretty good too, but kept well to the back of the stage, so hard to actually see anything. Continued in part three...
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