sunday drive: a jury of one's peers or next exit

Seeing that there was going to be a fleamarket in the town of Linsengericht on the way back to my workweek apartment, I decided to stop and find out what there was to discover in that place with the funny name.

Although the name probably refers to a “dish of lentils” like the biblical cookbook for surviving in the wilderness, I had heard of medieval ad hoc tribunals held in other towns and villages in this area in groves—called Zentgericht—and there's another place not far from here called Freigericht, which I don't think suggests something not a la carte. So I took Gericht for its other meaning, court, as in one has the right to trial by jury of one's lentils.

The fleamarket was a sad affair and it seemed that all roads led out of town and to the more picturesque city of Gelnhausen—I did not try very hard and I apologize to the Linsengerichters for not finding all what their town had to offer.
Discouraged I returned to the Autobahn but got off again at the next exit to marvel at Burg Ronneburg, dominating the gently ascending foothills that it lends its name to. The castle, first documented in 1231, played an important role in the protestant reformation for the region but also hosted the persecuted from other confessions, and ownership is still being swapped among royal houses to this day. Next time passing by, I think that this is another place for H and I to explore together.