Cee’s Black & White Challenge: Words Starting with B
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Kochertalbrücke
The Kochertal viaduct is the highest bridge in Germany. At its highest it is 185m above the valley bottom. It was the bridge with the highest pillars in the world before it was overtaken by a bridge in France in 2004.
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Built, Misused and Not Used at all
For various reasons it is difficult to talk about the Thingstätte in Heidelberg, particularly in English. The English problem is a language one. A Germanic Thing (pronounced ting) is a thing in English but not as in an object or an article but as in a folkmoot (kind of like an entmoot for people). Then there are the historic problems. This venue, fashioned in a way that Nazis envisaged Germanic culture 2000 years ago, was built in the 1930s on a hill near Heidelberg for pseudo Germanic festivities and rituals. Early on it was clear that it would never do what it was meant to do because they built a stage in the middle of an amphitheatre for thousands of spectators but forgot about toilets and other necessities. After world war II it was neglected, then half-heartedly revived (even Placido Domingo gave a concert there once), after 2000 it was only used unofficially for Walpurgis Night feasts where students partied in the night from 30 April to 1 May. This was stopped in 2018 as it created too many problems, not least several forest fires.
Today it’s mainly a destination for excursions. There is a lookout point in the vicinity which offers a wonderful view of the Heidelberg Schloss on the other side of the river Neckar.
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Wave Flags or not?
“Man is the only Patriot. He sets himself apart in his own country, under his own flag, and sneers at the other nations, and keeps multitudinous uniformed assassins on hand at heavy expense to grab slices of other people’s countries, and keep them from grabbing slices of his. And in the intervals between campaigns, he washes the blood off his hands and works for the universal brotherhood of man, with his mouth.”
Mark Twain, On the Damned Human Race
Mark Twain’s description was pretty much true for central Europe at the time he was writing (published in 1905). The Franco-Prussian war was just over 30 years ago, the first world war was about a decade away. The flag waving soldier overlooking the town square in Weinheim embodied that spirit.
The flag flying above the castle ruin (in the photo above) is the white and blue of the town. Ever since world war II Germans have had an ambivalent relationship with all things national, and that includes the flag. Not the enthusiastic display of the national colours one finds in the US, in France, in Italy … This has changed to some extent since unification. The football world championship in 2006 and the joyous atmosphere of that event changed a lot of these feelings. As a result, sometimes the white and blue on top of Castle Windeck is replaced by the black, red and gold. For the record: I prefer the white and blue.
And for good measure, my posting yesterday in response to the Ragtag Daily Prompt has a few more flags to show: Chauvinism.
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A Current Favourite
Wordless Wednesday
The Meerkat in the Flower Pot
Midweek Monochrome
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