First things first: shout-out to the resident Fierce and Friendly Dragon!

And speaking of firsts, the first dragon who inspired my awe was Fáfnir, the dragon slain by Siegfried in the Song of the Nibelungs.  Local lore has it that he lived under a mountain (well, hill / elevation) just south of Bonn called Drachenfels ("Dragon's Rock") that is part of the Seven Mountains range.  There is a castle halfway up the mountain called Drachenburg ("Dragon Castle") which features an exhibition on the Nibelung legend, including a veritable dragon's den ... Fáfnir included.  We lived very nearby -- and I just loved going there as a kid and riding on Fáfnir's back.

Drachenfels, seen from the Rhine, with Drachenburg castle to the left;
and Fáfnir in his dragon's den

Other dragons I've since come to love include:

* Lóng, the dragon(s) from Chinese mythology.  Hey, I'm a dragon in the Chinese zodiac, so ...

* Y Ddraig Goch, the red Welsh dragon that defeats the white Saxon dragon according to the Mabinogion and Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain

* Quetzalcoatl / Kukulkan, the feathered serpent of the Aztecs and Mayas

* Eragon's blue dragon Saphira: I haven't even managed to get myself to finish the series yet (and perhaps I never will), but Saphira and her constant face-palming at Eragon are a serious breath of fresh air.  Also, it's good to see a powerful female dragon (shown to be a female from the start) for once.

* Fuchur (Falkor), the luck dragon from The Neverending Story

* Norbert(a) and the (unnamed) dragon that helps Harry & friends to escape from Gringotts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

* Draco in Dragonheart -- for Sean Connery's voice acting alone.  (Forget the rest of the movie ...)

Oddly, Smaug from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit isn't a favorite -- he's way too easily tricked by Bilbo.  I don't mind greedy and evil (those are pretty much standard fare, as dragons go, even if the above examples show that they're not a total given), but I want some superior intelligence in my dragons.  They're not supernatural creatures for nothing -- and the way in which Bilbo outsmarts Smaug (and Bard later kills him) seriously has me wondering how Smaug managed to obtain a reputation to have been "the greatest of his generation" and to keep the people of Laketown and the Dale in such thrall for such a long time to begin with.  (And yes, I know Bilbo had the One Ring -- but it feels almost like he hardly would have needed it; as in fact, nor did Bard.)

(Task: Dragons and dragon-like serpents (imugi) are important to Korean mythology (as they are to that of other Asian peoples).  So – which are your favorite literary dragons (fictional, mythological, whatever)?)

I usually give my mom a bouquet of flowers and take her out for lunch or dinner on Mother's Day.  One occasion I remember particularly well is when a few years ago we took a trip to a place just south of Bonn, where there is a museum and, right below, the place's former train station has been transformed into a restaurant.  It was a gloriously sunny day in May, and we very much enjoyed our food and the views of the Rhine Valley.

The museum (designed by the same architect as the Getty in Los Angeles, Richard Meier) and the train-station-turned-restaurant

The view from our table on the restaurant's terrace

Lunch -- asparagus, as matching the season

... and that year's bouquet
(as always, with hand-picked flowers, not prebound at the store)

Tasks for Bon Om Touk: Post a picture from your most recent or favorite vacation on the sea (or a lake, river, or any other body of water larger than a puddle), or if you're living on the sea or on a lake or a river, post a picture of your favorite spot on the shore / banks / beach / at the nearest harbour.

I spent the last couple of days of my trip to England back in July on the Norfolk coast, so here are a few impressions from that part of the trip:

Snettisham Beach

Wells next the Sea

Cromer Hall (inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle's Baskerville Hall)

Norfolk Broads -- cruise in a historic steam boat

Horsey Windpump & Horsey Mew

Happisburgh beach & church (inspiration for the setting of P.D. James's Devices and Desires, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Dancing Men)

King's Lynn (town center, purfleet, and guild hall)

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And since I am blessed to live (and have grown up) in a beautiful part of the Rhine Valley, here are a few of my favorite spots on the Rhine in and near my home city:

Views of Bonn's city center from "our" (= the opposite) river front

Historic flood marker on the river front, and a replica of "the Bridge Manniquin", which used to be on a pillar on our side the main bridge connecting both sides of the Rhine, pointing its backside in the direction of Bonn.  Other places have city rivalry -- we have river bank rivalry!

Sunset on the Rhine, looking towards Bonn

Looking towards the "Seven Mountains" ("Siebengebirge"), south of Bonn

Drachenfels, the best-known of the "Seven Mountains"

Arp Museum, a modern arts museum south of Bonn (designed by Richard Meier, the architect who designed the L.A. Getty Center) -- and looking back towards the "Seven Mountains" from the patio of the museum restaurant (the lower of the two buildings in the left picture; a former train station)

Remagen and the ruins of the bridge (now a peace museum)