Foreign Lands: Emeril's Ancestral Home?

Here's another one from my recent vacation. Let me begin with a warning that this post is not even remotely factual. As someone who is largely ignorant of the culture and history of Germany, I'm making this stuff up, people.

So, now that I've appropriately wet the blanket, this shot is from Bamberg, in the northern part of Bavaria. I've been to Germany a number of times, but this one was a new stop, and well worth the visit for its Rathaus perched amid the river in prime position to collect tolls.

We arrived in town after a fairly healthy drive from Berlin, which meant that the older members of the party went in immediate search of a restroom. Having found one in the tourist information office, I also stumbled upon this smokestack labelled "HB." And here's where we get speculative. For all I know, "HB" means "baker" or "factory" or something general in German. But to me, those two letters mean beer, as featured in the logo of the Hofbrau, of Hofbrauhaus in Munich. So I'm going with that.

Foreign Lands: This Time I Really Mean It

I just got back from a trip to Germany and Denmark, where I hoped to come back from real, honest-to-goodness, foreign signs (as opposed to those from St. Paul). Unfortunately, I didn't find many. Maybe it's that the cities are far older than the advertising era. Or maybe all the early 20th century outdoor advertising was destroyed in one of the many wars. Or maybe I didn't spend enough of my vacation lurking around decaying industrial areas (or the redeveloping areas in formerly decaying industrial areas). Or maybe there is some other reason why Germans don't want to be reminded of that period.

Anyway, I've got one from Germany, as you can see above. It's in Berlin, and, of course, in German. Unfortunately, I don't really speak any German, and Google Translate hasn't helped me with any of these words, but there was once someone named R. Leidel, who had some sort of business, which seems to have dated to 1893.