“Tomorrow morning before we depart, I intend to land and see what can be found in the neighbourhood.”
Christopher Columbus
Linked to Travel with Intent where more photos inspired by the Christopher Columbus quote can be found.
Tag: Rheinebene
It’s a warm wind, the west wind
Zephyr can mean a soft breeze but I also found the definition of “a wind from the west”. We mostly have westerly winds, originating somewhere over the Atlantic, traversing France, passing over the forested area between France and Germany, and reaching us after crossing the Rhine Valley. Also, there are hills in our back protecting us from the cold easterly winds, and although the westerlies might bring rain, they push the low-pressure systems with their bad weather to the East.
Linked to the Ragtag Daily Prompt: Zephyr.
The Red Tower
I was out on my bike tonight at around sunset and caught the Red Tower with the wide Rhine valley behind it just at the right moment. It is one of three still remaining towers which were part of the town wall of Weinheim.
Linked to A Photo a Week: Tower.
Fading light
A couple of days ago, I went for a walk late in the day. I took my camera but more out of habit and the photos I took were mere snaps.
I passed this lamp and just when I took a rather fuzzy picture of it, it was switched on.
Linked to A Photo a Week: Dusk.
Heimat
There is something about the landscape of the place in which we grow up – it’s edged in the soul, together with the people and the time it makes up what in German is called “Heimat” and for which there is no proper one word translation (essays and books have been written on this “most mystic of German concepts”).
As I live on the slopes, it is combination of rolling hills in the back and a long plain in the west, edged again by more hills. I could say I live “on the edge” if that wouldn’t conjure up sharp ridges and drops which do the softness of the landscape no justice.
The upper Rhine valley is at this point bordered by the Odenwald in the east (my figurative backyard) and the Pfälzer Wald in the west.
The reverse view with forests and castles and houses is contrasted by the view to the west:
A closer look reveals the mixture of agriculture and heavily populated near the Rhine, including large industrial sites (in fact, the world’s largest chemical complex is just a camera swipe to the left, on the other side of the Rhine).
It’s this diversity that I cherish, and that I call home.
For A Photo a Week: Landscape.
“Two souls, at least, reside within my breast!”
The (almost) accurate quote from Goethe’s Faust describes it best. There is this side of me, enamored by the rolling hills of the Odenwald,
and then there is the other side, that loves the excitement of the city of Frankfurt with its highrise buildings and modern side of living.
And this is the compromise, I guess. A view from one side of the Upper Rhine valley, where I live, all the way across to the hills of the Palatinate (Pfalz), with the twin cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen on either side of the Rhine in between. The distance from the Odenwald to the other side is about 50 kilometres at this point.
This is linked to A Photo a Week: View.
Countryroad, take me home
A road in the Rhein Plain in early spring with the hills of the Odenwald in the back – a view to end all feeling of homesickness – at least for me.
Eine Straße in der Rheinebene im Frühling mit den Bergen des Odenwalds im Hintergrund – zumindest für mich ein Anblick, der jedes Heimweh verscheucht.
pictures imperfect blog 