It's a Part of German Culture, too!

Stuttgart is the capital of our state (province) Baden-Württemberg, sixth largest city in Germany, and with a metropolitan area of over five million inhabitants, humming with activity. It is also known as the cradle of the automobile. Mercedes Benz and Porsche are manufacturing in and around the city, and most businesses around cater to the automotive industry.

On a bright Sunday morning we made the 130 km trip to explore a bit of German motor culture. At first we had only planned on visiting L&L, the largest motorcycle store in Europe which is open on Sundays (just looking, not buying!) in order to (maybe) find a scooter for Roland. For more information on this venture see Sonja's blog posting here.

On our way back from the bike store we came by Meilenwerk, a "forum for driving culture". In a restored industrial facility you would find a variety of vintage vehicle shops, storage facilities, repair and restoration services, and other kinds of high end goods and services around the automotive industry.

We had to stop by and visit, and to our complete surprise the Arthur Bechtel vintage car show was free of charge, well maybe because everything in the show room is for sale...

Of course the exhibition was heavily Mercedes centered, and Roland had quickly picked a favorite, one 1956 190SL at a bargain price of 149,500 EUR or so.

Sonja would rather root for the 1957 356 Porsche Speedster  (price on request). If we were to work for another hundred years… maybe…?

Well, it was definitely a drool-worthy selection of vintage cars, and certainly a well spent Sunday.

Back home we were welcomed with a typical "The Angels are baking" winter sunset. Now it's going to be another week to kill, and we will call it a year, because once again our employers persuaded us to take a few days off, as production will be shut down for Christmas and New Year, which isn't a bad thing really, coming to think of it.

Colour the Season!

Some random pictures to lighten up a grey day. It had been foggy for the last two days straight, and we can hardly remember how sun and blue sky look like… Hence, Martha's challenge came right on cue before drowning in winter depressions.

Clay Birds on a Stick

Some leaves clinging on for life, and a vintage mail box (still in use).

Goldfish in the fountain.

A day at work.

Thanks Martha for colouring the day. What a great idea!

The Accidental Tourist

Saturday is our day for running errands (since on most Sundays the shops are closed), and while being on one of those, we accidentally came across a sign promoting the Roman spa ruins in Badenweiler, a town that we had never heard of before. As a matter of fact there had been a major Roman settlement 1,800 years ago. The errand wasn't important anymore, as we immediately went into tourist mode.

We gladly payed the 2 € entry fee. An award winning glass roof is covering the complex. The modern architecture creates a stark but pleasant contrast to the ruins. It is a piece of art in itself, and bonus: it effectively protects the remains from further decay.

The construction of the bath houses began in the first century AD, and more buildings were successively added due to the growing interest of the population. The floor plan is symmetrical in shape, likely with one section for women, and the one on the opposite side for men. Those almost two thousand years old remains are in amazingly good shape.

During excavation amazing Roman plumbing had been found as well. Of course they had a system for running hot and cold water, and a different channel system for grey water, too.

 A cold water pool and a maintenance shaft.

This is how it might have looked like:

Far left and right: A leisure garden,

from there one would enter the changing facilities.

Sweat rooms could be found in the back of the building.

Adjacent round pools would provide cold water after the sauna session.

The four squares in the middle would have been the thermal pools,

and of course there would have been a heated floor system.

Picture Source

After the fall of the Roman Empire this wonderful culture of bath houses seemed to wane. With the arrival of the Middle Ages everything known about personal hygiene and wellness seemed forgotten. Maybe that's why they call it "The Dark Ages"? The Roman spa had been torn down and its building material used to build a fortress. As a matter of fact it was long believed that nearby Castle Baden was from Roman origin. However, it was founded in the 12th century, and indeed built with bricks from the former bath house.

The castle was meant to protect the nearby silver mines, and strategically built on a steep hill, and not easy to conquer (even today… we were well out of breath after we climbed it.).

In the 17th century the castle was besieged, destroyed, and never rebuilt or reused again, and left to fall into ruins.

And so nature reclaimed what was once a mighty castle.

The small town of Badenweiler still has more architectural gems to offer, such as the house of culture, formerly a residence of the margrave of Baden, built at the end of the 16th century.

We left this town with the desire to come visit again to learn more about this history laden location. With no further ado we hit the roads only to be confirmed that we got to be back. The surrounding scenery was simply gorgeous. Alas, the light was fading and we had to rush back to Offenburg, as we would meet friends on the Christmas Market (This market was for once nothing to write home about.).

St. Nicholas Market

Today is Nicholas Day, not an official holiday per say but a day honouring St. Nicholas, who was a very righteous, generous and God loving person, with a reputation for secret gift giving. This is why children getting up in the morning would traditionally find little gifts or sweets in their boots (and employees would usually find a chocolate santa on their desk).

We knew that something was going on in our small town: more traffic than usual, more people around, and roads blocked off. Curiously we went to see what was going on: Yes! Another Christmas market. We were hungry anyway and decided to scoop some soup.

On the left: Potato Soup for Sonja and Goulash Soup for Roland. Hmmm. On the right: Eyes closed on purpose to fully enjoy the warming pleasure of a mulled white wine.

On the side: a youth brass band playing rock music as well as traditional Christmas songs. They were really groovy (does one still say groovy?).

Open air boothes hugging the walls in the pedestrian zone. Given, that it is a temporary local market (this weekend only) is was packed, and still more bus loads of people were arriving from the surrounding towns.

A good start into the weekend!

'Tis the Season

The season of Christmas Markets… every little town has their own. Tonight we were in Gengenbach.

It is a special kind of street market in the four weeks (Advent) before Christmas, and has a many centuries long tradition. The open air stalls sell mostly seasonal items, specialty drinks and foods and winter attire, and there is often a play or a local choir singing traditional songs.

It's the season for gifts and kitsch.

The season of brass boy bands playing traditional christmas songs.

The season of unhealthy food such as torpedo noodles (gnocchi style pasta) with kraut.

The season of Glühwein (mulled wine), always good for a headache.

 Oh, and did we mention Glühwein, already?

Have a wonderful pre-Holidays-period. 

Meanwhile we'll go visit several other Christmas markets.

Cheers!