sleeping beauty

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the spa district of bad reichenhall sported one beautiful villa next to the other, some used as early hotels, but many more just expression of the taste and wealth of their owner. those times are long ago, and the wave of renovation of the last 50 years has spared some places. depending of the financial power of their owners and/or the property scheme, a small number was run down and is now slumbering like the castle in sleeping beauty.

the parcels being in a pricey neighborhood but the renovation costs equally high, these places probably have to wait until the next change of ownership by inheritance and an irrefutable offer of an investor to get woken up.

the state run places like the spa center are almost everywhere in excellent condition - the comparably high tax load in germany makes (not only) this possible. and herewith i am also presenting the magnolia-must-be picture for 2009 (don't know if i find another, better one...)

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rooftop spa

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when i started photography roughly 30 years back, lenses with a focal length of more than 300mm were regarded as professional tools only and priced like this. today aps-c digital slrs with their crop factor of 1.5 plus the development in the area of long telezooms offer the possibilities to use a 450mm-e lens (the mm-e were introduced by mike johnston here and i regard it as a sound concept, especially as it can take care of the different crop factors we have in the wild now: 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 2...). count in optical stabilisation, and you have the ingredients for succesfull long-lens shots any pro would have licked her or his fingers up to the elbow only 20 years ago.

the really densely populated downtown of salzburg of course creates demand for some, and be it even the smallest, recreational space. down from mönchsberg, the hill where the castle is located, you have a magnificient view into a landscape of roofs, now and then interrupted by a small private spa. even a single sunlounger can qualify for this

this photo on flickr

Some rights reserved.