I have been remiss in not publishing last Thursday’s shocker: a Portuguese concern looks likely to replace part of the centre of Fürth with a huge glassed-in shopping centre.

Photos in next entry.

Links to the local rag and a heated discussion in German at zonebattler’s blog.

It looks as if the town council will consent to the project on July 30th. It has been hushed up until now.

The prospective investor, Sonae Sierra, is also responsible for the rather unattractive Alexa Center in Berlin.

One negative aspect might be the intention to use the first railway as a theme. This could be quite trivial. Some of the underground stations already have tiled versions of the train, which seems enough to me.

A positive aspect would be the resurrection of the first-floor banqueting hall in the Park Hotel – the hotel itself would go – which no-one ever sees. The hotel has been altered several times and is not listed, but I imagine the hall should be. It would be used for restaurants and cafés, well, better than not seeing it at all.

In the Stadtheimatpfleger’s latest PDF newsletter there is a photo of the hall in 1913 which I can’t find anywhere else (click on Rundbriefe). I have pinched it:

I think that this would be more than a small comfort (kleiner Trost). I am very keen to see it.

What disturbs me most about the whole thing is the virtual loss of Rudolf-Breitscheidt-Straße as a public street. At the moment the City Center – a previous and now failed similar project – is closed after 18:00 and, of course, on Sundays. The new place would presumably stay open till 20:00. Obviously the fact that this street is the natural pathway from Schwabacher Straße to Fürther Freiheit is part of the attraction – people, potential shoppers, will walk through there. But when it’s closed, the centre is going to be deader than ever (especially since so many comfortable seats have been removed so no-one can sit down comfortably on warm evenings).

This certainly explains why they’ve been slow to pave Rudolf-Breitscheidt-Straße as a pedestrian street.

The Canadian multi-law-student weblog Law is Cool has discovered Leoben prison – already mentioned.

Since it was opened in March 2005 it has often been in the press, and has led to indignation among non-inmates.

The blogger, Lawrence Gridin, is restricted to online machine translation and invites comments from German speakers on this page. I quote the original German of the Kronen Zeitung from here.

Angeboten wird auch ein “Langzeitbesuch” – wobei sich ein Häftling maximal 24 Stunden lang mit Partner oder Familie in einem Raum ungestört aufhalten kann – was bereits für heiße Diskussionen sorgte.

Also a “long-term visit” is offered – whereby a prisoner can be maximally 24 hours long with partner or family in an area unimpaired – which already provided for hot discussions.

Von den Lebensumständen, die die Fotos vermitteln, kann das Gros der Bevölkerung wohl nur träumen: Ein Wuzzler im Aufenthaltsraum neben einem großen Fernseher, eine herrliche Sporthalle, ein piekfeiner Trainingsraum mit glänzenden Fitnessgeräten – und ein verträumter Blick in die grüne Landschaft neben Korbsessel und Palme. Die Luft ist allerdings “gesiebt”.

Of the life circumstances, which obtain the photos, the majority of the population can probably only dream: A Wuzzler in the lounge beside a large television, a wonderful sport-resounds, a piekfeiner training area with shining Fitnessgeräten – and a verträumter view into the green landscape beside basket armchair and palm. Air is however “gesiebt”.

Actually, the main drift comes over quite well.

As usual, if one had an MT program oneself, one could tell it that Manfred Gieß is a name, and then it would not write ‘Manfred pour’.

Unknown words are not translated. Hence the strained joke about ‘at least the air is filtered before it is allowed in’ is omitted. HÄf’n (slang for prison) and Wuzzler (table football) are terms that would need to be fed in.

I am surprised at ‘sport-resounds’ for Sporthalle.

Justizanstalt Leoben website (German)

Thanks to Ed. at Blawg Review for the tip-off.

Seen in Stadtpark today – it was a bit too dark to get a sharp shot of this fast-moving creature, the hero of all squirrel comparisons:

It’s Lovely! I’ll Take It! is a website subtitled A collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate listings. With love.

(Via Volker Weber)

Mouse soap from yeduo in Taiwan.

Via Gizmodo.de

At Obiter Dictum, Christian Säfken recently dipped a few toes in the murky waters of terms for German lawyers:

Anwalt ist nicht gleich Anwalt

He discusses: Jurist, Stud. iur., Cand. iur., Wirtschaftsjurist, Rechtskundiger, geprüfter Rechtskandidat, Diplom-Jurist, Volljurist, Rechtsanwalt, Patentanwalt, Syndikus, Justiziar, Fachanwalt. Keen commenters wish to add Assessor, Probericht, Sozius.

We might add Notar and Anwaltsnotar, Staatsanwalt, Amtsanwalt, Rechtspfleger, Rechtsbeistand, Verteidiger.

We could add the Swiss Advokat, Fürsprecher and Fürsprech.