Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Made by Humans
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Tag: Frankfurt am Main
I’m a Fan of … Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Last week, I admitted to being a fan of Friedrich Schiller, today I want to show off the other half of the German poetic pair, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
He was a very prolific writer – he lived a long life and wrote defining works during quite a few of the literary epochs he lived through, from the Sturm und Drang (the rebellious pro-romantic youth movement), through the classic era to post-romanticism. He was also a natural scientist of renown. He studied law and worked as a minister at the court in Weimar. His literary works comprise poems, novels, essays and plays – he wrote THE definitive German play, Faust (part I and II – of which I still know parts by heart).
He was born in Frankfurt am Main and so it is no surprise that his face is seen in lots of places in the state of Hesse and in Frankfurt in particular.
The middle picture is not from Frankfurt but I found it in Teplice in the Czech Republic.
The plaque is a quote from the poem “Song of the Spirits over the Waters” and is translated as:
“Soul of man, how like to the water! Fate of man, how like to the wind!”
The mural is a quote from the novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” and the translation reads:
“Death, where is your sting? Love, where is your victory?”
And finally a photo of the sculpture in front of the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Wiesbaden, which I found really very weird. Just look at the face of a middle-aged Goethe on top of the body a much younger man who spends his time in the gym rather than be the bon vivant which Goethe was according to all that we know.
I’d rather end this post with another view of the Goethe and Schiller, the two friends.
When in Frankfurt – Look Up!
Frankfurt Airport is the largest airport in Germany, the fourth largest in Europe. It’s a good place to spot planes and indulge in a bit of travel yearning.
How Did I Get Here?
There is a small explanation needed how I got from “Waxy” to an Ireland rugby jersey. Only a small one, really.
Frankfurt am Main has quite a few Irish pubs and we tried out a few but Waxy’s is the one we go to when we want to watch a rugby match. It hasn’t got as many screens as O’Reilly’s at the station, but it’s not as cramped as Mac Gowan’s on the Zeil, Frankfurt’s shopping street. And in the Anglo-Irish Pub in Sachsenhausen you sometimes have to argue with the English football fans if an interesting football game is on. Besides – Waxy’s has the easiest for parking for out-of-towners like us.
With Ireland doing well in this year’s Six Nations, Waxy’s was the first association that came to mind when I heard today’s prompt
The Odd Armadillo
That was the first picture I saw of this … this … whatsit. What is it? A vomiting lizzard? Or did I read the fountain in the wrong direction and this was a drinking green pig with a large tail? What about the wings? A dragon whelp? I don’t know that I was thinking except that – “This is really odd!!”
As we went more often to Frankfurt we kept seeing more pictures of the creature.
And not just pictures, sculptures as well.
And after a while we started to understand. This was the Frankfurt Grüngürteltier or literally, the Green Belt Creature. The name is pun – green belt is literally Grüngürtel but a Gürteltier is the name of an armadillo in German. It is used as a signpost for the 68km long walking path encircling the city.
This is for another one of Cee’s guest challenges.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Kammie’s Oddball Challenge
Aiming for Above the Clouds
Driving to Frankfurt one passes under the flight corridor of the airport and I try to have my camera ready (not while I’m at the steering wheel, of course). Sometimes I get lucky.
Downtown Surprise
Wedged between the river Main and a mixed neighbourhood of houses, workshops and stores, situated next to the nightclub district of Frankfurt is a curious piece of urban enclave. It’s as if it has been forgotten by the urban planning department. An old and run-down collection of garden plots, many of the allotments are overgrown and look neglected, quite different to the neat and orderly Schrebergärten that are so characteristic for German weekend gardeners. Yet there are signs that many of the allotments are in use; swings and slides bear witness of playing children, brick and metal barbecues are kept clean for the next party, some of the seemingly dilapidated huts feature neat stoops with loveseats, and one can glimpse worn but well-kept tools under rusty awnings.
The paths through this jungle are overgrown, and curvy, it feels like being in a maze. Many of the allotments seem to have no direct access to any road. Surprisingly, in between the plots are narrow waterways which are overgrown, and with an occasional plank forming a makeshift bridge.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Water, Water Everywhere and of course, also linked to Jez’ Water, Water Everywhere
pictures imperfect blog 