A really old door. I remember when it wasn’t broken (which makes me old in turn, I guess). And I remember the story that my father had to climb down from window to the floor inside to rescue my grandma’s cat. Because the door was thick and strong and already rusted then and nobody had a key.
This is the whole tower where this is door can be found:
And yes, that is the back garden of my parents’ house.
The tower has been restored last year. I don’t like the smooth surface now but it was possibly the only way to keep it safe. Anyway, the gorgeous view of the other side remains the same:
When we think of the Romans and their buildings we usually think of huge structures like the theatres in Italy or France or possibly large arches like the Porta Nigra in Trier. But they also left a lot of smaller vestiges in the countries they lived in. We know that the Romans travelled up and down the Upper Rhine Valley, crossing larger and smaller tributaries of the Rhine. Close to our town they built a bridge to get over a small river. It’s pretty unspectacular but it’s close to 2000 years old and it has been maintained throughout all the years by the people living and working in the area.
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.
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.
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.
pictures imperfect blog 