A giant sequoia. In the Exotenwald in Weinheim there are many specimen of these wooldland giants, to my knowledge the largest collection in Germany if not Europe.
For One Word Sunday: giant. Have a look at other interpretations of the word giant on Debbie’s site Travel with Intent.
There once was an American airfield (Maurice Rose Airfield) in the north of Frankfurt. It was used for helicopters and light aircraft. It was given up in 1992 and the area was actively reformed to become part of the Frankfurt green belt, a landscape conservation area. The runway was made narrower but the length of 750 metres was kept.
For Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge. For more streets, avenues, paths, roads click on the badge: 
I kind of got lost yesterday (not really but I had a hard time of finding the my car again). Luckily I had my camera with me and going through the photos I found four that would go with the Pick a Word challenge from Paula at Lost in Translation.
Here I was still on track. The gentleman saw me taking pictures and shouted and cajoled me until I had snapped him up. He told me afterwards (after he’d crossed the road and we started talking) that only on the hottest days of the year would he go to the shops dressed like this.
Then I drove into the Odenwald with its beautiful scenery, parked the car and a few hills later I didn’t remember in which forest clearing I had left it.
I came across this pond and for a moment thought I caught a lizard baking in the sun fully expecting the animal to disappear in the water with a splash. It didn’t.
What a beautiful little flower, it truly reminded me of a bird.
Little wonder that I didn’t find anything remotely related to marine considering that the Odenwald is the German mountain range that is furthest away from any saltwater body.
My little envisaged stroll of 15 minutes fresh air had turned into a two hour hike, with so many ups and downs that it was quite strenuous. I’m not sorry, though.
For Lost in Translation: Pick a Word in July.
For more splashy, feathered, scenic and canicular photos, possibly also marine ones, click here.
Saint Florian is the patron saint of fire fighters. One often hears the above saying following his name, literally translated it means:
Spare my house, burn down another one.
This statue of the saint, appropriately placed in a fountain, stands across the old fire station in Munich.
This old marker used to stand in front of the fire station no. 2 in Frankfurt:
whereas this modern fire fighting truck is part of the fleet of the Weinheim fire brigade.
For Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge. For more photos of fire prevention like fire fighters, fire brigades, fire stations click on the CB&W badge:
A few years ago I came across this sign in Frankfurt. I found it intriguing and yes, odd. I had no idea what that animal, if it actually is one, was supposed to be. I’ve since seen a few more signs with the same creature in different poses, unfortunately I don’t always carry my camera.
Yesterday – finally! – I found out the story behind it. The creature was sitting happily on a pedestrian bridge crossing the river Nidda.
And a sign beneath it proclaimed it to be the GrünGürtel-Tier.
This is a play on words which needs to be explained: Gürteltier is a actually an armadillo but literally a belt anmial, Grüngürtel is the greenbelt surrounding a city for urban recreation, hence this is the GreenBelt Animal. Rather whimsical, I think.
Here is some more information if you are interested but only in German: https://www.frankfurt.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=4132 .
For Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge. More oddball photos can be found here.
These are all street views of Frankfurt am Main – sometimes jokingly called Mainhattan because it’s the only city in Germany with a discernible skyline and because the river running through is the Main. But there is more to Frankfurt than a few highrise buildings.
This is for Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge. More streets, avenues, paths, roads are only a click away.
Rain threatening from above while I look up from below.
Nancy’s A Photo a Week prompted from below. For more photos from below click here.
Ladenburg was called Lopodunum in Roman times and an important town in the region. Many streets were named to remember this past. Some of the street signs come with explanations.
Titus Vlavius Vespasianus was Emperor when the first wooden fort was built.
During the time of Emperor Domitian the fort was rebuilt in stone.
Emperor Trajan elevated Lopodunum to a town and is considered the founder.
Decimus Magnus Ausonius was a Roman poet from Burdigala (Bordaux, France) in the 4th century. In his poem Mosella Lopodunum was mentioned for the first time in a literary text.
Emperor Hadrian ordered the limes in this region built, to safeguard the Roman settlements.
There were to men called Januarius documented in Ladenburg, a decurio (soldier) and a magister pagi (a town official).
Mithras was a Persian, later Roman sun god. A stone relief depicting him was found in Ladenburg.
For Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge. More photos of streets, alleys, paths, avenues, and street signs can be found here.
This war memorial – commemorating the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 – stands in front of the St Laurentius Church in Weinheim. As in many towns all over Germany, memorials went up to celebrate this particular war and Kaiser Wilhelm I. A German historian talked of this as the epidemic of monuments brought forth by Germany’s boastful besottedness with national ideals (file:///C:/Users/nukman/AppData/Local/Temp/12240-21601-1-PB.pdf) and I am not at all fond of these glorifications of war.
There is a humorous side note to this particular one. Johann Wilhelm Goos, a miller in town, was considered to be the epitome of manhood and chosen to be the model for the charging soldier. He later emigrated to America with his family, where he became wealthy. To this day, descendants of Johann Goos come to Weinheim and want to see what their ancestor looked like.
This is a more comprehensive look of the church overlooking the market square.
For A Photo a Week Challenge: Light the Night. More lit up nights can be found here.
pictures imperfect blog 