Toadfish Monastery

I went out of town for a few hours (a rarety) to visit the archaeological museum in Brandenburg (the town the state is named after).
They currently have a special exhibition about the Battle of Wittstock (1636) due to a mass grave of casualties from that battle being found recently. It's essentially the only such site found yet.
If you have never heard of that battle, it resulted in the 30 Years War actually becoming a war lasting fully 3 decades. Had the battle turned out differently (which would have been far more likely given the circumstances), the war would have ended at that point (after 'mere' 18 years).
France would have stayed out completely and the protestant cause in Central Europe would have been essentially lost. No kingdom of Prussia either. World history would have looked very different.
Another interesting thing, there were many Scots figthing on the Swedish side.

www.1636.de
http://www.1636.de/?lang=en

I've managed to spend the whole day procrastinating.

Quote from: Swatopluk on May 17, 2012, 08:36:37 PM
If you have never heard of that battle, it resulted in the 30 Years War

Never sure why they thought WWI would be over by Christmas.

Darlia, I've been procrastinating too.

QuoteAnother interesting thing, there were many Scots figthing on the Swedish side.

Including General Alexander Leslie, who besieged Hereford in 1645 when the Scots were allied to Parliament.  He didn't get in, and Charles I later gave us our motto Invictae fidelitatis Premium.

A lot of officers on both sides of our civil war got their only training from fighting in the 30 years war.

Plus, we Scots like a scrap. 

This week, I have mostly been poisoning Japanese knotweed....

Urg, I need to go battle the bindweed again today (I am using strongarm tactics instead of chemical weapons).  Yesterday, I had an epic lawn mowing experience (grass was taller than the mower; had to change the bag every 10 m or so), with several more to tackle in the near future.

Last night I went on a guided tour of the Wye Valley Brewery.  A whole load of us went by coach; we had an hour drinking the product, about ¾ hour going round the brewery with the MD (Vernon is an old mate of ours), then back to the attached pub for more sampling until midnight.

Wendy drank twice as much as me!

You can drink a lot in an hour!

Becaused I did not want to waste tube ticket money for a potentially futile shopping excursion, I decided ro walk instead. Weather is good for a change, only slightly too warm for my taste (I sweat heavily).
About two miles in each direction (there is a bit of a difference depending on which side of the road one walks).
I notice my feet have grown a bit soft and I had removed a good deal of callus a few days before. In hindsight possibly not the best of ideas.
I should do this more often. Maybe I could get my weight back down to 200 metric pounds (avoirdupois is just a silly dream)

Quote from: GriffinYou can drink a lot in an hour!

Wendy certainly can! 

Quote from: Swatopluk on May 19, 2012, 06:50:46 PM
About two miles in each direction (there is a bit of a difference depending on which side of the road one walks).
I should do this more often. Maybe I could get my weight back down to 200 metric pounds (avoirdupois is just a silly dream)

Hey Swato, that is significant, and very inspiring. Smart Sibling! I need to get a lot more exercise as well, for my heart health. I need to work up a route and walk it regularly.

Go for it, Swato!  I'm about 204 Pfund now, I bet you can get under that.   

About 104 kg with empty bowels (at 184-185 cm height).
Not as hemispherical as my father but it could come to that still.

Ah, I'm only 176 tall.

Just think - if I were one cm shorter, or my birthday were just 7 days later, I could be accused of ...

This is for Grif, whose ticker announces  3!Months - 2!Weeks - 1!Day  today...