The
first stop on today’s excellently planned tour was the local Lutheran church.
It was constructed in 1953, with the block work made out of the rubble of the
town, which was bombed by the allies in WWII. What really makes it stand out though
is the small stained glass squares that make the walls – arranged in a
seemingly random pattern, it as quite stunning and would be even more so with
the sun shining on it. The same architect built a similar (and much more
famous) church of the same style in Berlin, which we had unfortunately not
seen.
Our next stop was the Wallberg Memorial, situated atop a hill,
overlooking the town. The top of the hill is actually made of 1.65 million m3
of rubble that was dumped there after the bombings, raising its height
somewhat. The memorial itself is a series of photographic panels, showing the
before and after of the bombings.
Our final pre-lunch stop was the Shmukmuseum,
a museum of jewelry throughout the ages including an extensive display of
pocket watches and jewelry dating back as far as several centuries BC.
We then
returned home for a very nice lunch of soup, followed by coffee and cake. After
lunch we went to the Maulbronn Monastery, where Christiane’s eldest niece
attends school. We spent some hours following a very in depth audio guide that
explained the very interesting history of the complex, once cut off from the
outside world. Once we had completed the circuit, I decided to show Lothar and
Waltraut a geocache that was nearby. Fortunately this was much more successful
than my previous attempt with Charles and
Jacqueline in
Belgium. I think they got the idea.
We then returned home and Lothar and Waltraut took Cristiane to a nearby train station to begin her travels back to Australia. For dinner we had some lovely smoked trout with a potato salad.
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