The view from the Rhine valley towards the Odenwald early in the afternoon before the storm clouds gathered.
Tag: Odenwald
The King’s Trompe l’oeil Windows
Not really the King’s nor any king’s but this is the castle of a town called Bad König, currently used as the town hall and originally built by a Count to Erbach.
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Einhard’s Basilica in Steinbach
There are not many buildings left from the Carolingian area in Germany. The most famous is the Lorsch Abbey near Worms in the Rhine Valley, a UNESCO world heritage site. The basilica of Einhard, about 40km to the east, is less well-known. This is a model on the site.
Einhard, who was amongst many other functions at the court the biographer of Charlemagne, had the basilica built in the early part of the 9th century and endowed it with relics, probably in order to make it into a centre of pilgrimage. His plans did not come to fruition and the relics were removed to Seligenstadt in the North. Other clerical buildings of the time were renovated and modernised throughout the century whereas this basilica was left mostly in its original state.
Imagine approaching this building at a time when most buildings were hardly higher than a man!
The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Buildings of the Past
More Precious than Gold and Silver
“Jeder grüne Baum ist trotz allem wertvoller als einem (sic) der aus Gold und Silber wäre.”
Martin Luther
“For all that every green tree is more precious than one that were made of gold and silver.”
Living on the slopes of the Odenwald, and looking across the Rhine Valley to the Pfälzer Wald (“Wald” meaning forest in German), woods are close to my heart.
The Odenwald consists of mixed forests but beech is predominant in our area. And it is glorious at this time of year, the leaves all new and fresh and bright green.
a path leading through new growth 
long and slender grey stems of beech trees 
many granite boulders are found in the area 
a look out on the next hill
Braving the Sea
The Sea of Stones is a natural phenomenon in the Odenwald. You can take a stroll on the pathways or you can make an expedition of it and dive in.
For more information have look here on the site of this fellow blooger, who is an American living in the area; Deena.
For some reason I am not able to give a proper ping back, so here is her site: http://englishspeakingodenwald.blogspot.com/2017/08/felsenmeer-odenwalds-sea-of-stones.html
The Ragtag Daily Prompt: Expedition
Melibokus
Not a high mountain but definitely not a hill as it is well over the 1000 foot mark, provided that is really the magical threshold which turns a (mole)hill into a mountain. It is called Melibokus and it is the highest mountain of the Odenwald on the side where it drops off to the Upper Rhine Valley in Central Germany. The climb from the town of Zwingenberg at its foot to its peak of 517 metres plus the elevation of the lookout tower and a US Army radio mast is quite steep and although no alpine feat also not for those faint of heart and sore of foot.
I chose this photo for the Friendly Friday Challenge where Amanda has asked for Mountain tops
because I passed the location today and used the camera of my new phone for the first time. The photos are definitely a lot better than what my previous phone could do but I already know that I won’t take pictures with it often. I use my phone for a lot but it just doesn’t feel right for my hands and fingers when I take snaps.
Anyway, here is a long shot from close to the autobahn looking towards the Melibokus. I even managed to include my shadow – not by design.
Purple Sunsets
They look altered but these sunsets looked like that in real life. Particularly the sky looking towards the west from castle Breuberg in the Odenwald was amazing. I took the photos in December.
These are the water slides of the local water park. I can’t remember whether they look that appealing on the inside.
My second purple offering for Life in Colour.
Three Different Types of Open Space
A huge open space for most of the year in the middle of the city: the Wiesn, the place where the biggest Octoberfest in the world takes place each September.
Brandenburg is as flat as country can be and there is nothing like seemingly endless skies to feel out in the open.
At the other end of Germany, the flatness of the Upper Rhine Valley is bordered by the Odenwald on one side, the Pfälzer Wald on the other side.
It’s the sky in all three examples that purports the sense of open country.
Colour can enhance that sense of wideness.
The Cosmic Photo Challenge: In the big wide open spaces
Diamonds and Flowers
This old half-timbered house didn’t want to make the choice between flowers or diamonds.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Triangles, squares and diamonds
pictures imperfect blog 