They're like the Beatles, but hard rock

The Prussian Empire only occupied Strasbourg for less than fifty years, but in that time they left plenty of overweening architecture for me to make fun of (there’s some good stuff too, but I’ll get to that later).

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Four Men Bridge.



Imaginatively named for the presence of sculptures of (count ‘em!) four men on its corners, the Black Forest Bridge was built in 1906. And while other public works from the era erred on the side of modesty, the Four Men Bridge aims for impact. Its statuary is designed to celebrate Prussian industry, with the chiseled physiques of the quartet bent to various labours valued by the Kaiser: fishing, digging, hauling, and flexing shirtlessly.



Today the bridge is called Pont John F. Kennedy, presumably due to its proximity to the American Consulate here. I suppose that back-handed honour wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to him.

<sub>P.S. - My last post was terribly depressing, considering that all I really wanted to do was publicly thank Qi for an awesome dinner. I apologize: I blame the stubborn persistence of February.

Today the sun is shining, the temperature is forecast to hit double digits by the end of the week, and Amynah spotted a bush of some sort that appeared to be sprouting flowers. As these buds are the only items of natural colour visible in the entire city, I plan to return to said bush with a sacrificial offering, and worship it. It’s located on a fairly busy street corner, so I expect my new shrubbery-based religion will have thousands of adherents by the end of the day, or at least until tulip season.</sub>