Our local tram connects the cities Mannheim and Heidelberg and our town (definitely not a city) in an almost perfect triangle. It’s been going since before the first world war.
Linked to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Public transport.
Tag: Weinheim
Two-castle-city
My hometown Weinheim is known by the epithet Zwei-Burgen-Stadt. The appearance of the two castles in the distance, one ancient and one fairly modern, with the adjoining and quarry was always a sign to me that I would be home soon.
Wachenburg to the left and Windeck to the right seen from the banks of the channelled arms of the Weschnitz, a small river flowing into the River Rhine about 30km to the east.
The Windeck is around 1000-years-old. It was built as a fortress to safeguard the assets of the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch.
The Wachenburg is only around a 100-years-old and was built and is still owned by a student corps.
The expansion of the quarry was finally stopped when a citizens’ group went to court and forced the closure of the enterprise. The twist in the tale is that around 1900 the whole hill (consisting of a relatively valuable form of porphyry) was sold to a community about 10km to the south in exchange of agricultural fields and hence, our town was more interested in preserving the hill with the Wachenburg on it than the quarry company who had plans to erase the whole hill. But sanity prevailed and since the operations have shut down nature is reclaiming the quarry with several species of animals rediscovered that had disappeared from the area (a large species of owl amongst them).
We are so proud of our two castles that we even sell a cookie cutter in the shape of the silhouette.
For One Word Sunday: home. Have a look what other bloggers consider their home.
My neighbourhood
Nancy from A Photo a Week has asked us to take a look at our neighbourhoods. This is mine:
look up the street
look down the street
the neighbours to the right
complete with an old stone wall.
More views of bloggers’ neighbourhoods can be found here.
Clinker
This building is what is left over of a mill built in the late 19th century. It was built in contrasting brickface and looked and still looks striking – now with trees growing from the walls.
The bricks of the chimneys, although rectangular in shape, were laid round.
The window panes are long gone after several generations of youngsters have used them for target practice but the contrasting brickworks still peek through the trees.
Close by are other houses in clinker brick.
The chimneys are square though in the newer buildings
as are the cellar windows.
Linked to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: bricks and stones.
Two castles
My whereabouts – after being away for 3 decades I am back home.
Linked to Friendly Friday: Whereabouts.
No pane windows
Hexenturm in Weinheim
Burgruine Königstein
More Burgruine Königstein.
Also Burgruine Königstein.
For Monday Windows. More window shots can be found here.
Windows with a view –
but no panes of glass.
Linked to Monday Windows. For more windows, with or without views, click here.
The now in the past and the future
A vision of tomorrow, through the eyes of yesterday
A boy – the promise of the future – in a building which his great great grandfather helped to build in the past.
My grandfather was a young tradesman, a tinsmith, some 100 years ago when this castle was built and carried out some work on the construction. Now my grandson was playing amongst its walls and columns.
Linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge: A vision of tomorrow, through the eyes of yesterday.
Getaways without getting away
Balconies in the centre of the town of Heidelberg.
And in Frankfurt – more green, less flowers.
The townhall balcony in Lampertheim – geraniums are the perennial favourites for balcony gardening.
This is more colourful, seen in Ladenburg.
More geraniums, in Weinheim.
No flowers at all, yet the feeling is definitely “holiday in Balconia”.
The old part of the town of Weinheim is built on an incline. The rooms behind the lower row of balconies are street level on the other side of the house. It looks even higher when shown with the more modern houses in front:
Linked with Friendly Friday: balconies.
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