Arto's Ultraman

I bought this attractive Chinese bootleg Ultraman / Kamen Rider 12 figure set, which my collector friend had brought from Malasia in the early 2000's. The card is huge, 43 x 32 cm!

Arto

Helsinki Base

Anyone else got Ultraman?

Breaking TB5 Space News!

International Rescue are to return Thunderbird 5 to Earth for a major overall. Plans of how they envisage accomplishing this task can be seen below!

Terry H.

Lizbeth Myles Reveals the Secrets of Writing Project SWORD: from the Gerry Anderson Blog!

Part of the Kickstarter campaign, this is interesting reading for Project SWORD fans.

https://gerryanderson.com/blogs/blog/lizbeth-myles-reveals-the-secrets-of-writing-project-sword 

Ich bin ein Frankfurter

 Mostly train travel today as we chew up some miles to get back to our starting point in the Rühr Gebiet.

Six hours in total to go across from upper Bavaria to the east of neighbouring Hessen.

Just changed trains in the megopolis that is Frankfurt. Our connection was on platform 24. Yep, the Frankfurter Hauptbahnhof is massive.

Anyone been?

Shelf Life

 These books caught my monstrous eye.

I'm pretty sure that's the fire demon from Night of the Demon! (Curse of ... In the US)

Is it a film you like?

I do like the author of this book tho, Gary Brandner. The Howling was terrific, book and film. Do you agree?

I realised when I saw this that Vampire Express is one of those self-guided adventures, where there are multiple scenarios the reader can choose.

I e never read anything like that. Have you? 

The Flayed Men from the Thirty Years War

 The final schnapps of Kronach.

A tardis-like confessional. Room for multiplying sins.

The ritual was my personal pet-hate as a kid.

The witches walkway. The end meant the tower and ... The end.

Copper gargoyle.

Ubiquitous holies.

The old town meat store.

The town column with its two flayed heroes holding their own skins after being boiled alive by the town's beseigers.

January 6th chalkings are everywhere. C,M,B are the Three Kings' initials.

The witches tower. Next stop, a fire.

A grotto

The town ossuary

Old schools

Brown trout

Egyptian geese.

Prößt!

Sweet Cigarettes and the The Nivea Tram

 The penultimate random Bilder from Kronach before departing Bavaria.

I was amazed to see sweet cigarettes still for sale. Not the chocolate ones I remember from the 60's but sticks of chewing gum. Lots of different names like Romeo and Juliet. I chose Baron because of the TV series.

This dreadful sign caught my eye. 

On a motorbike! 

In one of the town's countless churches, this struck me as innovatory. Holy water to go. The missus says you can't drink it. 

Part of a huge model in the same church, I immediately thought of Mego dolls.

Quite beautiful.

One of my fave things anywhere, free books. These robust cabinets are all over Germany and we got three out to read.

Closer shots of the Nivea transport model. Is that a tram or a train?

Last pics to follow, the witch tower.

Rosenberg, Kronach's Castle

 Rosenberg, or Castle Rose, looms over Kronach old town.

Begun a thousand years ago, it grew into a vast ancient military fortress that was augmented by Franconian bishop after bishop after Bavarian King over hundreds of years.

With walls as wide as motorways and as high as pyramids, it contains towers within towers, endless tunnels, canon emplacements, tar holes, expendable bridges and its own water supply from a well 20 meters deep.

It's massive bastions were largely tested only once, during the Thirty Years War, but it held. In WWI one Charles De Gaul was held as a prisoner of war there and in WWII its underground chambers were readied for weapons manufacture but fortunately it came to nothing and the war ended.

It also survived the Black Death by closing its gates! 

Amazingly, a 12th Century main wooden gate is still in place made of a dozens of whole tree trunks and weighing many tons! 

An imposing fortress on a huge scale, Rosenberg is now a tourist attraction with guided walks, a museum, a hotel, an occasional heavy metal festival and a beautiful beer garden, but was largely very quiet the day we visited and boiling hot, except for in its deep tunnel system, which is a constant fridge temperature all year round!

Nowadays the actual prison in Kronach is the large building below at the foot of Rosenberg, a remand centre for around 25 inmates and Grade 1 listed!  It's entire sides and rear are festooned with razor wire and you can actually hear the incumbents talking to each other through the cellar grates!