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Herbrechtingen is a small town in Germany - and just outside of it, there are these stone pillars. It's a nice 20 min walk through the german countryside to get here, and there is literally nothing else around, but the strange formation is worth it. Here is the legend of that place in a nutshell: There was a castle with a princess. She was pretty but also very proud, no one was good enough for her. She became old and men weren't interested in her anymore. The princess started to hate all men. The princess forbids her two female servants to have anything to do with men. The two servants would once a day go and fetch water from the river and return to the castle for a full winter, without incident. In spring, the servants hear singing on their daily walk, follow it, find a fisherman, spent time with him, and are happy. The princess suspects something's up, follows them, gets into a rage, and screams 'Become stone! This shall be your punishment'. The two servants turned to stone - and those are the two spikes you see here in the image. The story ends with lightning destroying the castle and killing the princess. Love the good old happy ending stories of old... Phill
I don't think I need to explain what these are. I went into the smaller one on the left - and let me say, being nearly 2 meters tall (I think that's like 2 washing machines in the US) is not a benefit when walking into a tomb. You walk in a crouching position for several minutes, pass some ladders, feel the air getting thick and the temperatures rise as you go in - until you reach a small chamber of maybe 5 by 3 meters. There is no decoration, no ornaments, no wall painting, just a small tombstone and one guy waiting for you. As you arrive, he takes pictures of you with that tombstone - for a price, of course - and you walk back out the way you came in. If you are faced with the choice and you really want to go inside one of the pyramids, choose the smaller one. The larger one is exactly the same, just with longer walks and a higher entrance fee. It's a tomb after all - if you want wall paintings and such, there are enough temples around!
Autumn - one of the greatest times to own a camera. It is not just about the new places that you can visit to get some awesome colours in the vegetation, but you also have the chance to revisit places you have been to a hundred times to see them in a different light. This place is called Glendalough (Ireland) and I have been here so so many times! But - never when the trees changed colours. In fact, when I arrived I barely recognised the place! The weather was dull, light rain in the air and just a few people (usually you have a bazillion tourists there) but nevertheless some great colours in the trees that cover the mountains around the valley. The only downside was that I had to clean my lens every 1.5 min to remove little drops, and changing the lens was not the greatest idea I had... This was the day before storm Ophelia hit Ireland, which explains the calm water. -Phillip
