Bielefeld Photos

Well, I have finally uploaded some photos. These are more place photos than people photos, since most readers will not know any of the persons pictured.
Let us begin with Sharma's tour of the city on our last day, as this Tiger's journey illustrates my usual routine around town.



Sharma escapes from our Hostel room


And heads for the fish pond inside the hostel.


Sharma poses with the LinenWeaver statue in the Alt Markt infront of one of many churches...





...and then enjoys an evening bier at one of the cafes.


Sharma poses infront of the Nicolai church with a fellow monk. Yes, Sharma has decided to enter a monastery.


Meeting new friends (or saying goodbye)


Waiting for the regional train to take us to Hannover.


Saying farewell to the German landscape.

Here are more of Bielefeld:


A lovely square where a friend and I enjoyed a bier and icecream, luckily catching some sun. It was chilly and rainy for most of our stay. I had to buy dry clothes on one occasion and long sleeves.


Sparrenburg Castle, a few blocks from my hostel where a weekend Medieval Festival was held. Very fun!


This is on the old Rathaus (like city hall). I enjoyed seeing all the old buildings, especially gargoyles and these faces. I have many more photos... but I won't bore you!


This is one of many open air pedestrian shopping areas, and the one closest to our hostel.





One of the side streets near the hostel.


The hostel is in the background, under the rainbow.


As the Linenweaver is the city's symbol (along with Spurrenburg tower) you'll find replicas painted brightly around town.


A typical evening at the hostel with my fellow participants in the FD program.


Prof. Streib lecturing... we spent many hours on campus...


Ralph Hood, guest lecturer, speaking on Fundamentalism.


Our first excursion took us to a Castle in nearby Detmold...







And an open air museum of old farm houses and villages. I wish I had a photo of the windmills handy. My batteries started dying and I knew I could get photos from friends, so I saved my photos for pictures I didn't expect others to take. I particularly liked all the hearths.










But the highlight of that day was the Externsteine. See this lovely ancient Pagan altar - The sun rises through there on Summer Solstice. And there are other astronomical events, which you can look up :)





On another excursion we visited Herford, home of the oldest Christian settlement in the region (all of Germany?). Keep in mind I was in Germany studying Faith Development theory, hence all the religious sites.








Munster Cathedral


Holy Tree Stump - has to do with a vision of Mary and the founding of this church. They really have enshrined the tree stump.


The Altar on the Hill... in the rain... somehwere near the Mary church and having to do with its founding, but the rain was beating us into the ground and so I never did hear the story. But I did hear something about ancient pagan site, so I snapped the photo hoping to hear more later.


I have played with this picture's contrast trying to highlight the image on the stone.


One of the many churches we saw that day had gargoyles all around





I enjoyed the details more than the churches as a whole.


An old chapel.


I liked the detail of the woodwork.



Well, that should be enough photos to share. I'm sure you're sick of them already. I didn't bother putting images of me sitting from 9-6 in lecture rooms. Not very interesting photos.