This was the first past square I decided on (I worked my way the alphabet up and posted the photos the alphabet down) and I don’t quite remember why I considered it an up square. There are two birds up on the roof? The scaffolding was up one day without warning (at least, I wasn’t told beforehand)? The ladder on the left leads upward? Anywho – it’s a square about preserving the past.
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Past Square #14
Our old town hall was shining in bright colours last year (that was the consolation replacement for the cancelled Christmas market). Past centuries looking on our recent past.
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It’s the German equivalent of the English Open Heritage Days.
WWW = Weinheim, Wachenburg, Windeck. Weinheim is a town of 45,000 inhabitants in the Rhein-Neckar-Metropolregion, i.e. it’s in a triangle with Heidelberg and Mannheim in the Upper Rhine Valley. I like this shot because it spans so much history. In the foreground is the old industrial area, the building on the right is part of the old tramway station, and towering above is the castle ruin Windeck where once the lords sent from the Abbey Lorsch reigned over the area.
A more typical shot of the historic sites – from left to right: the Wachenburg (about 100 years old), the Windeck (about 1000 years), and the Blaue Hut (somewhere in between in age).
The Blaue Hut is one of three remaining towers that were part of the medieval town fortifications.
The Rote Turm, so called because of the reddish sandstone features (or possibly some other reason which I did not understand), and the Hexenturm, or witches tower which as far as we can tell never housed any witches.
There is a third castle in Weinheim despite the name Zwei-Burgen-Stadt, or two castle town, and it’s the Schloss. Rather more like a small palace than a rustic castle it used to be the home of various noble families throughout the years and today houses the municipal administration. The park is open to the public but was still private property and only opened once a year at Easter when my father was a little boy.
A final view of a section of the old part of Weinheim including the street I grew up if not the house.
The house is actually in this winterey shot, and now it is not the half-timbered house in the centre.
I hope you enjoyed these glimpses of my hometown. There are always views turning up amongst my photos.
of the von Berckheim family. The last Count was buried here in 1984: Philipp-Constantin Eduard Siegmund Clemens Tassilo Tobias von Berckheim.
One Word Sunday: Count
If you are looking for a tree, you’ve come to the right place. Brian on bushboys world linked Peter, Paul and Mary’s Lemon Tree song on Sunday. How could I then not mention the other song about a lemon tree that landed in the charts – at least in Germany. Austria, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden in the number one spot.
In 2010 I went to a Uriah Heep concert, organised by a paint company on a public square for their anniversary, not knowing anything about the opening group – I was there to see Uriah Heep! It happened to be the German group Fool’s Garden – I had heard their song Just another lemon tree but up to that point didn’t even know that the group was German.
And here is a photo from an actual lemon tree – situated next to the pond in the local castle gardens (Weinheimer Schloss). Now it used to be that we were told that Weinheim had such a warm climate that it was only one of two places in Germany where lemons not only flowered but actually bore fruit although they never quite ripened and stayed green. Things change and so, unfortunately, catastrophically, does climate, and the lemons now turn yellow in autumn.
In medieval times, the town of Weinheim was surrounded by a town wall with four towers. Three of these towers remain today.
Bonus Fact: No witches were ever held in the Witches’ Tower. It was never used as a prison.
For this post, I chose a different word of the five on offer.
Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word
An advertisement for the town known as “Two castle town”. On the left is the relatively new Wachenburg, on the right the castle ruin Windeck.
when you drive in – at least when the old German “Gstanzl” or “Schnadahüpfel” (a fun song with many verses, often in dialect) is to be believed:
Zwische Woinem und Bergene do schteiht e Tunnell, wø mer noifährt, werd's dunkel, wø mer nausfährt, werd's hell! Holladihi-a holladiho! Holladihopsasa holladiho! The Ragtag Daily Prompt: Tunnel.
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