Handakte WebLAWg reports that an opinion is being obtained in the administrative court proceedings about the planned IKEA building in Koblenz. Another building in Bubenheim is apparently going ahead.

Meanwhile, here is the biggest IKEA in Germany being built in Fürth (photo taken on November 24th):

Protests in the area were on the lines of ‘Yes to IKEA, no to the monster building’. Real protest is being reserved for Möbel Höffner, which is also coming and has been wishing us a happy summer, giving us free bow-ties and so on, using the cartoon figure called ‘der Höffi’.

Meanwhile, if you drive up north through Erlangen and Forchheim, eventually three temples appear – not quite together (Bamberg lies between them), but the biggest buildings in the fairly empty landscape. Near Staffelstein, the pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen and Kloster Banz face each other across the valley; before that, there is the other pilgrimage destination of Möbel Neubert at Hirschaid (they’ve been sending a lot of advertising lately – wonder why?)