Tag: Weinheim

A displaced giant

· 2 Comments ·

80 old a

Cedars were not really winter hardy in Germany (this might be changing, unfortunately for the overall climate), so large, old cedar trees are exceptional.  The oldest and largest cedar in Germany is found in Weinheim, in the southwest.  It was planted around 1720, has a width of 27 metres, a height of 23 metres and a trunk circumference of 5,20 metres.  Over the years, it had a number of visits from tree doctors and so far, it is going strong even though it has suffered from the dry summer this year, as have other old trees in the area.  For years, there was a toy rocket stuck in its upper branches, the loss of which pained me greatly.

Here it is on the left, with the tower of the castle (now the townhall) in the background:

80 old b

For One Word Sunday: old.  More old photos or photos of old things and possibly people can be found here.

A blue hat

· 3 Comments ·

Blauer Hut

… this tower used to have.  It was originally made of blueish slate and the  name of this remnant of the town wall is still today Blauer Hut, “blue hat”.

More blue photos can be found on Debbie’s Travel with Intent site for the One Word Sunday photo challenge.

Pedestrian ways

· 1 Comment ·

A few days ago I went to town to do some shopping.  At first, there is the walkway from the parking garage to the pedestrian shopping street.

027 weinheim 7

Look to the south.

027 weinheim 5

Look to the south.

027 weinheim 6

And up the stairs.

027 weinheim 1

Now for spending some money.

027 weinheim 2

027 weinheim 3

All done.

027 weinheim 4

And now home!

For Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge.  For more streets, stairs, paths, walkways click here.

Cee's-which-way-1

To walk in the shadow of giants

· 3 Comments ·

55 giant.JPG

A giant sequoia. In the Exotenwald in Weinheim there are many specimen of these wooldland giants, to my knowledge the largest collection in Germany if not Europe.

For One Word Sunday: giant.  Have a look at other interpretations of the word giant on  Debbie’s site Travel with Intent.

Verschon mein Haus, zünd andre an

· 1 Comment ·

Saint Florian is the patron saint of fire fighters.  One often hears the above saying following his name, literally translated it means:

Spare my house, burn down another one.

Sankt Florian

This statue of the saint, appropriately placed in a fountain, stands across the old fire station in Munich.

54 fire fighter 3.JPG

 

This old marker used to stand in front of the fire station no. 2 in Frankfurt:

54 fire fighter 1

whereas this modern fire fighting truck is part of the fleet of the Weinheim fire brigade.

54 fire fighter 2

For Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge.  For more photos of fire prevention like fire fighters, fire brigades, fire stations click on the CB&W badge:

Black-&-White-Banner

Wars are never won

· 12 Comments ·

St. Laurentius

This war memorial – commemorating the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 – stands in front of the St Laurentius Church in Weinheim.  As in many towns all over Germany, memorials went up to celebrate this particular war and Kaiser Wilhelm I.  A German historian talked of this as the epidemic of monuments brought forth by Germany’s boastful besottedness with national ideals (file:///C:/Users/nukman/AppData/Local/Temp/12240-21601-1-PB.pdf) and I am not at all fond of these glorifications of war.

There is a humorous side note to this particular one.  Johann Wilhelm Goos, a miller in town, was considered to be the epitome of manhood and chosen to be the model for the charging soldier.  He later emigrated to America with his family, where he became wealthy.  To this day, descendants of Johann Goos come to Weinheim and want to see what their ancestor looked like.

This is a more comprehensive look of the church overlooking the market square.

St. Laurentius

For A Photo a Week Challenge: Light the Night.   More lit up nights can be found here.

 

How tall will you grow?

· 1 Comment ·

021 kastanien 1 (480x640)

In our local forest the sign posts direct you to the different exotic species found.  Three sequoia varieties are there, the coast or California redwood (Küstenmammutbaum), the giant redwood (Riesenmammutbaum), and the sequioadendron giganteum (Urweltmammutbaum).  One of the unique features of the Exotenwald Weinheim is that not only a few specimen were planted but whole hectares of one kind. When the arboretum was started around 1870 almost 1500 sequoias were planted, most of which survived and are now tall and majestic.  With the exception of the Urweltmammutbaum, said to be a living fossil and only discovered in 1941 – but there are a few of those as well, planted in 2011 and apparently thriving.

021 kastanien 5 (640x480)

Many of the paths are wide and well maintained, perfect for a stroll rather than a hike.

021 kastanien 4 (480x640)

But it is fun to leave those and turn down (or up) narrower

021 kastanien 3 (480x640)

and darker paths.

021 kastanien 2 (480x640)

For Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge.  More photos of paths, ways, streets, avenues, or alleys can be found here.

Cee's-which-way-1