Part 1 of my snapshots from Germany was all about nature: fields, forests, and the like. Part 2 is about the human environment: photos taken in the town where I grew up and in neighboring villages. Even though time has marched on, there are still buildings dating back centuries. It boggles the mind to think that the town where I was raised was founded in 976, while the city in California were I now live was incorporated in 1917!
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| View from my late cousin's property on the edge of the forest |
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| Downtown Hersbruck |
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| Road shot |
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| Old barn in a neighboring village |
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| Barn wall with tree trunks—not sure what they'll be used for |
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| Barn window |
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| Ivy-covered facade in another nearby village |
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| This dilapidated building is uninhabitable, but since it's under heritage protection, it cannot be torn down. It's so far gone that renovations would be cost-prohibitive, so it just sits there. This is a problem all over Germany. |
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| Same house from a different angle |
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| The old farmhouse across the street from my mother's house |
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| Daytime view |
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| Lilac in full bloom |
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| Church in the village of Offenhausen |
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| Church just up the street from my mother's house |
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| Same church with a rainbow |
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| Double rainbow |
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| One of the medieval gates in my hometown |
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| Schloss Hersbruck, built in 1517 upon medieval foundations and now housing the district court |
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| Part of the former moat of Schloss Hersbruck |
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| Half-timbered house across from Schloss Hersbruck |
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| Bedding being aired out. This used to be a common practice when I was growing up but has become a rare sight. Typically, bedding was aired out first thing in the morning. Leaving it in the window past mid-morning was frowned upon. Repeat offenders quickly became the target of neighborhood gossipmongers. |
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| My mother's orchid window. She says the key is to ignore them. Personally, I think they thrive in her house because it's always warm. |
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| My mother loves cacti and succulents. Before I left, I planted this bowl with three cold-hardy prickly pears (two opuntias and one cylindropuntia, to be precise) for her. She can leave it outside year round (she's in plant hardiness zone 7b) and hopefully enjoy flowers soon; the labels says these selections will bloom in their 2nd or 3rd year. The cacti are from Oettinger Kakteengarten, a renowned German cactus nursery. I found them at OBI, a German home improvement chain very similar to Home Deport or Lowe's in the U.S. |
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Wonderful pictures! Hope to visit Germany someday. Thank you for sharing. Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words!
DeleteWhat a picturesque place to grow up. Photo #2 looks straight out of a fairy tale. Your mother's orchid window is impressive - now we know who gave you your green thumb! And I love that you left her with a little potted piece of your Californian garden.
ReplyDeleteMy mom's property is very small, but she's always had flower and vegetable beds. Even now!
DeleteLooks like a lovely place to have grown up in. If not too personal a question, how did you end up in California?
ReplyDeleteThrough luck and good fortune, I ended up going to graduate school in California. And never looked back :-).
DeleteThe buildings are so tall and with so many windows! Funny about the bedding out the window having specific times assigned to it.
ReplyDeleteThose old farmhouses have multiple attic levels. In the old days, they were used to dry hops. When I was a child, this area was still a major producer of hops for beer.
DeleteYour home town and the surrounding areas are beautiful, Gerhard. I'm always jarred by comparisons between the centuries old buildings in Europe and those you see in this part of the world, where history often isn't valued. Heck, my 71-year old house is a virtual anomaly, at least in SoCal where homes far newer are torn down and replaced more often than they're renovated. Holding onto dilapidated and uninhabitable homes for historical reasons seems short-sighted to me, though.
ReplyDeleteI've been inside this particular house, and it's too far gone to do any meaningful restoration.
DeleteI do wish someone would come to the rescue of that dilapidated building (and others). Surly if its under heritage protection it is worth preserving, regardless of cost.
ReplyDeleteOften it's simply too expensive to renovate these houses--or they're too far gone.
DeleteIn my fantasies of being an extremely wealthy philanthropist rescues of historical buildings are a recurring theme. Along with giant donations to botanical gardens. Is vehicle traffic restricted Gerhard , or is it just a small enough village to have few cars ?
ReplyDeleteVehicle traffic isn't restricted per se, but they've eliminated a lot of parking spaces in downtown to make it more pedestrian friendly.
DeleteI love all these photos of your hometown, Gerhard! How often are you able to make a trip to Germany to see your family?
ReplyDeleteIn recent years not often enough because of Covid. But hopefully once a year going forward. My mom is getting older...
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