This is a story I wrote for the bookcrossing monopoly game: http://bcmonopoly.blogspot.com/
So city center, a blue street extra release and a free release was our goal for this turn. But what angle were we supposed to use? My mom reminded me that this is monopoly and it is all about getting all the streets (in this case places) of one color so you can win.
So city center, a blue street extra release and a free release was our goal for this turn. But what angle were we supposed to use? My mom reminded me that this is monopoly and it is all about getting all the streets (in this case places) of one color so you can win.
Color and all three it is, so here we go!!
Since Bally is spending some time in Ulm with some friends of his and since it was the last weekend of the most famous festival in Germany and probably the world what else to do then go to the OCTOBERFEST!!!
So Bally put on his German hat
and traveled to Munich!
Blue was the motto so he took “Blue in the face” (http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/10155796/) with him to release in the city center of Munich afterwards.
However Bally got terribly blue at the Octoberfest (blue = blau = synonym for getting drunk in Germany).
So it actually fit even better with the “Blue in the face” book :-)
Unfortunately, because he was drunk though he got left in the car by mistake while his friends went to see Munich.
This of course made Bally very blue (in the English sense of the word) and he cried all the way home.
He decided to play the blues for a while
But since that did not make him feel any better he thought “well, I’ll just find some new friends”. Where can you find new friends though? Plus what other street is blue? Right, the playground it is!Bally thought about which playground to visit and watched this wonderful movie made by some German kids talking about the playgrounds in Ulm.
Hey, they are talking about a waterpark-playground right next to the Danube river and the aquarium! Water is blue right? Of course that had to be Bally’s choice so he took the book and went to the playground.
Just his luck again. No kids around to play. L Bally decided that would not stop him so he put a raincoat on the book and left it anyway. On his way home he decided to stop by the aquarium though. Maybe he could find some friends there and maybe some blue fish even? His friend in Ulm had told him that she organizes birthday parties for kids at the aquarium so there were sure to be plenty of new friends to be found!
 |
| BLUE! |
He found Dory from Finding Nemo but she was too quick for him!
Now that Bally was cheered up there was still this city center release to tackle. Well, in Ulm there is really only one place to go in the city center. The “Ulmer Münster” with the highest bell tower in the world. Plus Bally had heard stories about a sparrow that is supposed to sit on the church. So he grabbed his old copy of “Spatzen in Gottes Hand – Sparrows in gods hand” (http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/10202939/) and went to see the Münster. On his way he did see sparrows everywhere:
So what’s the story with the sparrows? When he got to the Münster he did find the one on top:
So he asked around for the story and found somebody who could help:
The Legend of Die Ulmer Spätze
According to legend, construction of the spire of the Ulm Munster was halted while only halfway completed when a wagon carrying a large wooden beam - loaded sideways - arrived at the narrow city gate. After contemplating how best to proceed, the mayor of Ulm gave the order to tear down part of the city wall, but before the order was carried our, a sparrow-like bird was observed maneuvering a long twig into its nest - lengthwise! Following the lead of the sparrow, the beam was turned, the wagon passed through the narrow gate, work was resumed, the cathedral was completed, and the legend of the Ulmer Spätze was born.
Mmh, Bally thought the people of Ulm were a bit strange having a story that makes them look so stupid as their big emblem but Oh well! J
So, were to leave the book? On top of the tower would be nice. However when Bally looked up that was a bit too high for his taste.
So he staid on solid ground and left the book nice and safe inside the church. The picture is a bit blurry because the service was about to start and Bally did not want to disturb anyone with a flash. Next to the bench for the book was also the original sparrow which was taken down from the roof because the harsh weather was eating away at it. Last but not least what place in the blues was left? Theater, of course! Bally had heard they were performing his favorite “Cyrano de Bergerac” so he took his rapier and his blue cape and went to the theater. Alas! The show was cancelled. What a blue week for Bally. So he left his cape with the book and hoped that “Furcht erregende Darbietungen -
Fearsome/Formidable performances“ (http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/10202938)
would cheer up those people who did not get to see Cyrano. He himself had seen it just this summer at a special performance up at a castle in Ulm.
So that’s the end of Bally’s story about his adventures in southern Germany.
We hope you enjoyed it
The END!!
If you still want to read some more then enjoy this poem:
T'was many, many years ago
when the following happened in Ulm, you know!
For all the buildings in the town
One had to bring the timber down.
It turned out to be the people's fate,
they couldn't get the timber through the gate.
After much thinking they reached the conclusion,
to lay it sideways would be the solution.
But the gate was too narrow, the beams were too wide;
the city surveyor just stood there and cried.
They talked and discussed without abating,
but the problem became only more frustrating.
Even the magistrate, a man so wise
could find in this case no helpful advice.
He looked in books, he searched all around,
but nowhere was such a case to be found.
Even the mayor himself was perplexed,
and had no idea what to do next;
he who always knows everything best,
became quite irate with this difficult test.
The embarrassment continued for hours, my word,
and then lo and behold! Something occurred:
One bright man a sparrow did spy
building his nest in the tower up high.
In his mouth, sideways, he carried a straw,
which he laid down in front of his tiny nest door,
and then with his beak and this is no jest,
he turned it around to point to the nest.
"Well, what do you know!" Laughed the man with a roar,
"That's how to get the beam trough the door."
So they tried and it worked, they now had it beat,
thanks to the sparrow and his marvelous feat.
They might still be standing there now at their wall,
with their cart full of timber loaded and all,
or might without that sparrow's knowledge
have had to sell it or have it demolished.
In the sparrow's honor, you can see at this hour,
his picture in stone near the cathedral tower;
and Ulm's favorite dish, from then until now
is named after the sparrow who showed them how!
