Chris and I just got back from our two week trip in Italy. He’s back to work, and — after completing what I call the trifecta of grocery shopping, paperwork and laundry — I’m off to Berlin in the morning to see an art exhibit and visit friends who recently moved there.

I took hundreds of photos on the Italy trip. Well, of course. I  hope to have time to sort through at least some of them on the trains between Tübingen and Berlin tomorrow and Thursday (about 8 hours each way).

Which is my way of saying I haven’t sorted them yet.

Instead, I’ll offer two special photos today.  In the each of the photos, taken in different locations, you see a special kind of boat going under a bridge filled with people walking across it. In each case, the boat is being piloted by a man with a single pole or oar. In one photo, the boat is filled with tourists going for a short ride down a long stretch of a river; in the second, the pilot is paddling down a different stretch of water toward a location to pick up tourists for a ride on his boat.

Note the similarities in the two photos, which were taken in two different cities in two different countries. Chris commented this morning that based on these kinds of similarities, one could consider Tübingen the “Swabian Venice”, since the two cities are so much alike.

He was joking. At least, I think he was joking. 😉

You’ll have until Friday to contemplate that idea, though, since while I’m in Berlin I won’t be blogging. Regular posts will resume on Friday.  See you then.