April 10, 2009
Written April 12
Dear Diary (and Marianne),
Last Sunday, I took a slow drive up from Pommersfelden to my new work location, Offenbach. Since I continue to dislike the more-direct A3 autobahn, especially on holiday weekends like this, today I chose a different slow path for my return trip.
I first headed toward Bischopshofen, a quaint (common word for towns in Germany) village, southeast from Frankfurt/Offenbach. The drive is very pleasant on a sunny morning like today. A few kilometers before Bischopshofen, I veered off, because I'd already been there and across the Main River was a town called "Klingenberg". I figured that a town "clinging" to a mountain ("berg") had to be OK. It was.
The town map explained that Klingenberg was a "Red Wine City". |
And, in the parking lot, was a ten foot (3m) wine glass to prove it. |
Clearly the town has been around long enough for some serious tree growth. |
There's the berg, with vines. |
The main town square. Small but, as always, quaint. |
Until last year, Klingenberg had a teddy bear museum. Now, there is just a repair shop. This stone bear is a monument to the picnic held in 1998 attended by 7493 people hugging teddy bears. Really. Made the Guinness Book of Records (Obscure Edition). |
The terraced hills were dramatic and I'm sure the view from up there was spectacular. But a lot of garden work! |
This town park was built in 1741 and walled in locally-quarried red limestone. In 1983, it was converted to a rose garden, but it was too early in the year to see the results. |
Red sandstone must be much harder than the stones in our house! These look as clean and intact as the day they left the quarry 260 years ago. Our sandstone dissolves unless it is covered in plaster. |
Town web-site: http://www.klingenberg-main.de
"Industry" website: http://www.frankenrotwein.de
My next stop on the slow road was Dettlebach. If we had not already seen a zillion quaint (that word again) German villages, Dettlebach could have been a hit. But, as it is, is was just a pleasant place to stop, stretch, and take a few snapshots.
First, the town hall ("rathaus"). Here, I was most taken with the flowers. I think I've been missing our own garden! |
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The buildings were the normal assortment of tiled-roofed and religious. Ten points for figuring out the picture on the right. |
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The red tile does provide a nice backdrop for the spring flowers. |
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My off-the-beaten-path route had me pass through "Lund" and I stopped to add to my earlier collection of Easter scenes. The stuffed Mamma and Papa Bunny is fairly typical, although not very religious I would think. Sharing the local garden stage was a 1930's monument to the war dead from the First World War. Monuments like this are found throughout our region but, done in a recognizable National Socialist style, they do give me pause. I think I prefer the Bunny family.
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Finally, I made it back to our Pommersfelden home where our backyard is becoming a colorful spring show. So far, the flowering cherries are the fanciest, but the rest of the fruit trees are not far behind.
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| Forsythia are my favorite Spring sign. Some of our plants are doing well and others need a few more years. |
Marianne's flower garden is holding back on much of its color, but it won't be long before the tulips open up. |
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Moles and field mice. I think they/re winning. |
Magnolia? |
Lilac not ready yet. |
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The evening sunset has the best lighting for our blossoms. (I also went out later and got some more sunset pictures, but those will have to wait.) |
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Now I have to start working on the forty items on my to-do list. If it makes a difference, I'll add more pictures.
John