Cart for Cart's Sake

 I was pleased with my 1 euro plastic blue cart from the Eisenacher fleamarket.

I was hoping it was an original DDR toy, which I'm sure it is now.

Mine's just missing the red cart connection arm shown here on one a available on German Kleinanzeigen.

The Bear Essentials

I was hoping for a Wartburg but I was chuffed with this Märklin BMW. A Kaiser's ransom at 1 Euro in a pop-up shop fleamarket. It's a tidy thing. All the doors and bonnet and boot open and I love the metallic green. I had no idea that Märklin released die-casts. You?

Much harder to ID is this ceramic bear we picked up in Eisenach. 

A simple stylized look. The bare base stamped with numbers doesn't help either. It's a mystery.

As is this young ceramic boy with his frilly shirt. Sat down, he seems to be scratching his head. Maybe he's taken a bump to it?

No markings whatsoever except the residue of card and glue underneath. He was adhered to something. Another mystery 

Any ideas?

Masters of the Lazerforce

The allure of thick thigh muscles was a powerful force in action figures after He-Man flexed his pecs. 

Mattel struck gold with their figures and countless companies copied suit. Sun gold was one and here's their Lazerforce.

The gold mask could be straight off the film Zardoz! 

I've never seen this line in the flesh but I can imagine they're mightily collectable.

And why not strip away all the muscles and create Skull Force! 

Have you anything like these readers? 

Wartburg

 Our final trip out in Eisenach before we moved on was to visit the Wartburg, a royal hilltop palace and within it's walls the cell where Martin Luther secretly translated the Latin Bible into German and kicked off the Reformation.

A vast high castle with a shuttle bus, it was packed with tourists from all over. We went on a English guided tour, which was fascinating.

Wartburg was also the early home of Saint Elizabeth, before she went to Marburg.

Have you been?

Eisenach Fleas

This is our little cache of collectables from the Eisenach flea market. We couldn't get much as we've got rucksacks, which are getting full! 

LtoR

Unknown pot boy figure, unknown pot bear, unknown plastic Hong Kong horses, unknown soft rubber Red Riding Hood

Front

Cast iron wall plaque of the five Muses, unknown blue soft plastic cart, die cast Märklin BMW CS 2000

Recognise anything? 

Nuclear Wristwatch

 

An old pal, these Space Watches from Japan are on a card depicting a fabulous nuclear ferry.

The watches were once a blog exclusive offer here about 15 years ago when a US seller agreed to sell loose ones cheaper to MC readers.

Do you have a space watch of any kind readers?

Spaghetti Eis in Eisenach

 A few more images schnapped whilst we were staying in the gorgeous city of Eisenach on the Thuringian border.

The famous DDR Ampelmännchen or traffic light men, not found in the West and definitely an example of "Ostalgie", a love of all things as were in the Ost or East before reunification with the West in 1990.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari silent film advertised, a German expressionist classic I've still yet to see. You? 

The German national ice cream, Spaghetti Eis, which is vanilla ice cream put through a ricer with frozen cream in the centre and a strawberry sauce topped with white chocolate gratings. Delicious. €9 each. Have you had one?

Super-composer Johann Sebastian Bach's old yellow home and next door his modern museum.

The smallest livable house in Germany between two shops.. 

Martin Luther in bronze, founder of the Reformation and therefore Protestantism, grew up and studied here, translating the latin Bible into simple German in the now thousand year old castle Wartburg.

The Wartburg, DDR's best car make and named after the castle. BMW didn't want to carry it on, when they arrived after the wall came down. There's a Wartburg car museum.

A flöhmarkt including this huge deAgostini 1966 batmobile. Have you seen one before?

The stalls were inside and outside a lovely airy roman-style building. I could have bought tons but we were backpacking. Little things were got. 

A model shop window. 

A beautifully old cladded house and shop. The satellite dish seemed out of place!

I'll be Bach! 

Jet Boat Set

 

These Japanese jet boats look ace.

They really do have the best sci-fi toys in Japan!