Today on Two to Tübingen we have two flashbacks and two followups.

Flashback number 1: Last week we were in Italy just in time for a heat wave. All the heat and humidity were a flashback to when we lived in Bolzano, and I applied some of the same “gelato diet” strategies that I used back then to keep cool. We wound up trying a couple of new-to-us gelato places in Verona, all of which were good.

Flashback number 2: Monday I was at the bank in Tübingen and the ATM machine “ate” my card. I suddenly flash back to when that happened in Bolzano and the guy who was in charge of the machine only spoke German (which I didn’t speak at that time).  This time around, the two people in the bank might have also spoken English, but I was more confident about speaking to them in German than I’d been back in Bolzano doing it all in Italian.

BTW, both the Bolzano bank adventure and my gelato diet strategies for coping with extreme weather are chronicled in my book Life on a Gelato Diet, available in both paperback and Kindle eBook formats from Amazon.

Now, back to the post.

Followup #1: Remember the “locks of love“, those locks that lovers leave on bridges all over Europe?  Did you happen to hear that a couple of weeks ago the weight of the locks actually brought down a side panel of a bridge in Paris?  The headline I saw actually described it was bringing down a piece of the bridge, which is technically true, but makes it sound a bit more ominous that it was.  The side panel as a metal piece attached to the side of the bridge, and it’s that metal panel that fell off, the bridge did not collapse per se. Which is good to hear.  Opponents of the locks claim that the lock could weigh down a bridge and force the whole bridge to collapse someday; I’d like to think that bridges are just a bit sturdier than that.

Followup number 2:  Still on those locks, last fall I mentioned that there was a plan last year to remove all the locks from the Accademia Bridge in Venice.  If they actually did back then as planned, it didn’t last. Not only do the locks cover that bridge (still? again?), there were guys standing on the bridge this time selling locks — not approved vendors, I’m sure.

Below I’ve included some photos of the locks on the Accademia Bridge in Venice. Note that photos #1 and #2 have deliberate changes of focus between the foreground and background. I have used a pair of photos just like that that I took several years ago on that bridge to teach the concept of foreground and background in my workshops here in Tübingen, and I decided to take a couple of new shots to update my photos for class.  One of my students from a workshop last year actually just sent me a link to an article from a German newspaper about how this lock phenomenon continues to be going strong all over Europe. She commented that she’d never heard of these locks until she saw my photos of them in the workshop, but now she’s starting to notice them everywhere. I guess I teach both photography and a guide to spotting local pop cultural things. 🙂

Anyway, that’s it for today’s flashbacks and followups.  One final note, however.  This is also the last post for this week, as Chris and I will off traveling again later this week.  Yes, we just got back and we’re off once again. June has been like this.  I am hoping to get some posts up next week though, even though we’ll still be traveling, so check back starting Tuesday.  Our traveling schedule calms down starting June 30th, so after that the blog posts should resume on a more regular schedule.

Until then, enjoy what will probably not be the last look at those locks of love. 😉