Another panorama from Kitzbühel, this time showing the whole town and the Hahnenkamm. This picture was merged from 18 exposures (6 times 3 bracketed exposures), resulting in a 60 megapixel shot. I had to upload a resized version because it just wasn’t convenient to look at the original version in flickr.
Click the picture if you want to see a larger sized version of it (choose “all sizes” above the picture in Flickr), or click here the see the resized/original version.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a town in the state of Bavaria, Germany, well known for its well-preserved medieval old town. It was also the inspiration for the village in Walt Disney’s masterpiece Pinocchio.
This photo shows Rothenburg’s most famous streets Koboldzellersteig and Spittalgasse. The two towers are part of the outer wall of the city. The city has a beautifully conserved medieval inner (built prior to the 13th century) and outer defense wall.
This view is also depicted on the cover of two Blackmore’s Night albums. 1999’s Under a Violet Moon and their 2006 festive album Winter Carols. Blackmore’s Night is a Renaissance-inspired folk rock band led by Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow) and Candice Night (Rainbow).
Neuschwanstein was built by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner, the King’s inspiring muse. In a letter to Wagner, the King wrote:
It is my intention to rebuild the old castle ruin at Hohenschwangau near the Pollat Gorge in the authentic style of the old German knights’ castles… the location is the most beautiful one could find, holy and unapproachable, a worthy temple for the divine friend who has brought salvation and true blessing to the world.
The construction of the castle started on September 5, 1869 and was was close to completion when, in 1886, the King was declared insane by a State Commission under Dr. von Gudden and arrested at the palace. He was taken to Schloss Berg, where he was found on June 13, 1886, in shallow water in Lake Starnberg, drowned, along with von Gudden, the psychiatrist who certified him. The exact circumstances of his death remain unexplained.
Some facts about the castle:
Next week I’m going to ISPO 2008.
Like I told you guys in my last post, ISPO is an international sports trade fair.
It’s pretty cool, i’m going to be able to watch the new collections (2008-2009) of different snowboard brands. First of all, the new collection of Beyondsnow. Besides Beyond, other brands like Arbor, Burton, Ride, Rome, … will be there too.
I’m excited because I’m looking forward to build our booth (pictures of the booth will follow), to meet new people, to party and of course I can’t forget to work:) . If you want to follow the progress of everything check out the Beyondsnow Blog. We will try to post some pictures during the fair.
Every Thursday and Friday night from 17.45-23.00, the Hahnenkamm gondola allows you to get up on the mountain in the evening and enjoy the view from the top of the mountain and if you would want enjoy a candle light dinner in the Hochkitzbühel restaurant. If you are planning to visit Kitzbühel or are in the neighborhood, note this down as you get an amazing view over Kitzbühel and the neighboring towns.
Tomorrow the 68th International Hahnenkamm Race starts, which is an annual race held since 1931 and has been part of the men’s alpine skiing World Cup since its inception in 1967.
Races are currently held in the following disciplines:
Apparently, Bryan Adams will be attending the event.
If you want to follow the event, you can find a list of broadcasters broadcasting the event here.
This weekend I went to Düsseldorf, Germany, together with my parents to do some shopping. Did not really find anything, except for my 5€ Leica lens cleaning cloth, but the day was rewarded with a beautiful sunset and I was lucky enough to be in the neighborhood of a full glass building which resulted in the following picture:
Austria is still a very religious country and has a lot of churches. Kitzbühel for example has as far as I know 3 churches. Two of those actually stand right next to each other. On the left side of the picture you can see the Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). The lower part of the Liebfrauenkirche dates from the 13th century, the upper part from 1570.
The St Andreas parish church, located on the right, was built from 1435 to 1506 and renovated in the baroque style during the 18th century.
I must say, we saw some really beautiful houses in Kitzbühel, the one on the picture looked really nice and even had an outdoor pool, well… not really useful during winter, but… look at that view! Oh well, some very rich people seem to live/have a vacation home in Kitzbühel.
Oh by the way as a small extra, I present to you the Kitzbühel coat of arms… I know, I know 
I came across this snakeskin ski helmet by Bogner while in Kitzbühel. The price was 350€ which was actually quite ok compared to the 5500€ ski suit next to it…
I was reading the blog of Miss604 and she reminded me that a while ago, I bought a special book: “Pretty good for a girl.” It tells the life story of Tina Basich.
She competes at the highest level in both Big Air and Slopestyle, is a founding member of the group who began Boarding for Breast Cancer and she is active in both clothing and board design.
“Boarding for breast cancer is a non-profit, youth-focused education, awareness, and fundraising foundation. They want to increase awareness about breast cancer, the importance of early detection and the value of an active lifestyle.”
The inspiration for Boarding For Breast Cancer was a young woman named Monica Steward. Monica, who was a very dear friend of all B4BC founders, started her battle with breast cancer at the age of 26 and passed two years later from complications rising from the disease.
I think it’s a very good initative and it’s pretty amazing, that something like snowboarding is involved with an organization like this.
Kris Taeleman | 
