mittelwihr, ostheim, beblenheim (12. 763)

Heading back to Alsace after several years for a camping holiday—the last of the season we think—we noticed that the city limit signs were no longer bilingual, reflecting the German and Swiss cultural influences on this region in la Grand Est on the upper Rhein (Rhine, Rhin) but rather in French with a sub-caption acknowledging the Alsatian dialect (im Elsàss, from the German Elsaß—strongly informed by the neighbouring Swabian way of speaking) with Saint Hippolyte rendered as Sàmpìlt, for example.

First conquered by Caesar, a subject of the Holy Roman Empire, in the Realm of the Franks, traded to the Carolingians as part of Lotharingia, annexed by the kingdoms of France and Germany and later ceded to the Deutsche Reich before returning to France after World War II, this land protected by the Vosges mountains, making conditions ideal for wining and mining, has retained its character and charm and has been relatively nonplussed over all these changes, becoming a model of religious tolerance during the Reformation, unlike the rest of France and embracing a mosaic of Catholic and Protestant congregations within the same communities, the central governments of neither ruling powers wanting to impose a faith or language for fear of antagonising the population.

Though not the most flattering of terms, the Latin form of the name of Alsace entered legalese in English courts in the seventeenth century (stemming from dated perceptions at the time) as Alsatia, referring to a lawless place or one under no judicial oversight, and in extended use sanctuary and a customary marketplace protected by tradition and the independence of patrons.

  

synchronoptica

one year ago: hotel darkrooms for hobbyist photographers (with synchronopticæ), a very short papacy plus Dawn: A Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1976) 

fourteen years ago: Das Boot 

fifteen years ago: substituting the flag of Chile for the flag of Texas

seventeen years ago: lost and found

 

seenlandschaft (12. 649)

Taking advantage of the forest’s shade for a hot, muggy day, we explored more of the trails along the shores of the Müritz—second only to Lake Constance (der Bodensee) in size and the largest body of water entirely within German borders.

The basin (Seenplatte) with several large bays and inlets kept to paths that did not extend past the tree line in order to preserve the relatively intact ecological history of Europe through the last glacial period, the Ice Age that ended about eleven thousand years ago, with primeval beech and pine woods but afforded observation platforms to look out on to the water.

The landscape that extends to Neustrelitz in the south east in made up of moraines, lowlands—including marshes and meadows—and sandur (Sander, from the Icelandic), the outwash of rocks pulverised to sand by the advance and retreat of glaciers that supports the dense forest, and contains about a hundred lesser lakes. The city of Müritz has two sizeable urban bodies of water and we walked through the spa disctrict (Kurviertel) through the Kurwald—an early realisation of the benefits of forest bathing—to take a look at the Feisneck- and Tiefwarensee.

synchronoptica

one year ago: liquid water discovered on Mars (with synchronopticæ) plus a maximal truth-seeking AI

thirteen years ago: WWII week: Pennemünde plus a chance lilly in a glass   

seentour (12. 648)

H found a habour renting out sports boats for the day in Eldenberg, being on of themain tributaries and outflows for the system of glacial lakes that forms the landscape of the Mecklinburgerisch Seenplatte.

Maneuvering out of the marina, we took a turn in Lake Müritz and saw the palace, a fourteenth century knight’s manor redesigned most recently as a neorenaissance hotel,and boardwalk at Klink on the opposite shore from the campsite. Canals connect the major lakes and also saw Kölpinsee and Fleesensee.

We moored at the little fishing village of Damerow and had lunch at a place specialising in smoked local catch.

H had eel (Aal) but I am still too traumatised by Kurt Vonnegut’s passage in The Tin Drum to try though it did look good. There was a gathered regiment of swans to salute upon returning from a day on the lakes and our little dog was quite the trouper.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ) plus lethonomia 

thirteen years ago: WWII week: Berlin

fourteen years ago: counterfeit experiences 

sixteen years ago: diplomas mills  

naturnah (12. 647)

After having explored just a taste of the numerous trails extending from the campgrounds—propose-planned and among the original weekend retreats we learned and organised by outdoors enthusiasts in the 1930s in earnest once vacation time became a statutory right (see also) and with the influx of newcomers to industrial zones, evolving over the decades but still faithful to its charter, we walked along the beach promenade back to Waren.

At first along the chaussee, we passed behind rows of stately villas that buffered the trail from the lake front, since rewilded and access restored to the public.

For the 1936 Berlin Olympics (see previously), Waren constructed this English garden as sort of an early Public Viewing arena at a time when watch parties were not so common.

The way from the beach to the marina and habour was a bit more manicured with a multistorey new development with lawns tended by mowing robots but at least it remained dog-friendly with a stick lending library. We explored the city some more and prepared for the next day’s adventures.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Philadelphia experiment (with synchronopticæ)

thirteen years ago: WWII week: Norway

fourteen years ago: creeping portmanteaux and other unwelcome Americanisms 

fifteen years ago: plugging leaks  

malchow (12.646)

The island settlement central to Slavic paganism up until the twelfth century and the forced conversions of the Wendish and Polabian crusades—hence the dominant Cistercian cloister facing from the mainland (once a retreat for noble women, the former abbey and nunnery is now an organ museum—see also), Malchow straddles the Müritz and the Plauer See with Altstadt connected to a spit of land by a unique draw bridge that swings out hourly to accommodate boat and canoe traffic.

We took a nice stroll through the town, and like other urban areas here, bicycles and pedestrians are very much privileged over cars.

During World War II, it was the location of a dynamite factory of Alfred Nobel Company (the major industry beforehand was towel making) and forced labour was drawn from the nearby concentration camp at Ravensbrück.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticæ) plus the invention of hip-hop

twelve years ago: the Prelinger map collection, more flea market finds plus introducing tolls to German roads

thirteen years ago: tending orchids, parishes of trees plus the EU is not the United States of Europe

fourteen years ago: a hotel room in a drainage tube plus the devolution of democracy

fifteen years ago: wildfires in Russia plus geocaching with vintage photos

waren (müritz) (12. 645)

Arriving in the town—not so ancient as its first documented mention suggests by geographer Ptolemy as Virunium, Slavic for the place of crows, the lake‘s name comes from the Wendish meaning German sea, as it was leveled and rebuilt during a succession of wars and revolutions and takes its present form preserving some of the Altstadt after public outcry during DDR times when the city was partially demolished as part of a modernisation effort as one of the four Soviet ballistic theatre nuclear depots in East Germany, Темп-С short range missiles banned under treaties that outlawed intermediate range warheads.

The successful protest to conserve a part of the historic character of Waren (as framed from the marina between the churches of Saint George and Mary)—prior to reunification—was considered a landmark achievement and had lasting repercussions into the future with other preservation and reconstruction programmes, the city’s uneasy balancing act between industry and nature eventually resolved and the place restored as a wellness resort (Kurort) and gateway to the lake district (Mecklenburgerisch Seenplatte). We found a nice pitch at the entrance of the national park in the forest on the shore of lake Müritz, named after the quarter Ecktannen on the outskirts of town.

synchronoptica

one year ago: social media platform formerly known as Twitter suing advertisers for leaving (with synchronopticæ), assorted links worth the revisit plus more isometric renderings

thirteen years ago: buying banking data, werewolf crossing plus bespoke luggage labels

fourteen years ago: a visit to Dresden 

fifteen years ago: corporate bail-outs 

sixteen years ago: agents of the apocalypse  

markkleeberger see (12. 644)

For the first leg of our return camping trip after many, many years to the Mecklinbergischer Seeplatte, we took another campsite on the Leipziger Neuseenland–this time in Auerhain on the southwest coast.

like the other lakes of this resort region, it is a flooded lignite mining operation and was developed for Leipzig‘s bid for 2012 Olympics–around the time that potential venues were realising the onus of hosting the games which had become more of a showcase and prestige project for despots and authoritarians, ultimately awarded to London. Built to specifications as a whitewater and slalom standards, like Germany‘s first for the 1972 Games, the facility now boasts a marina for canoeing enthusiasts as well as professional training for the national team with attendant obstacle course as well as standing waves for surfing practise.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more on teletext pages (with synchropoticæ) plus US vice presidents’ day

twelve years ago: August holidays and observances

fifteen years ago: visa requirements for travel 

sixteen years ago: more flea-market finds 

gegenschein (12. 583)

Light pollution being a topic of particular concern to us, appreciating the fact that we are privileged to be far removed from most of the effects and most holidays too are spend under the stars, we liked learning about the metrics that went into this app—via MetaFilter—that uses the Bortle Scale, which builds and improves upon the way astronomers generally gauge the quality of the observations, naked-eye limiting magnitude (NELM) and judging the apparent brightness of the faintest visible objects, to make a better informed assessment of one’s environs and how far those margins might extend when looking up from a given location. The enlightening nine-step classification system with visible phenomena, untethered from a specific constellation or distant galaxy, with the most optimal including the zodiacal band (false dusk), regions of the Milky Way casting shadows on the ground with starshine and the above occurance of counterglow (not pictured—it’s much more subtle than that—see here for an actual attempt to image it), a brighter spot in the night sky centred at the antisolar point caused by the backscatter of sunshine on the opposite side of the Earth by interplanetary dust. Though previously described, the term was coined by Alexander von Humboldt during his South American expeditions, noting that this slightly illuminated spot appeared at midnight.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the asteroid Pallas (with synchropticæ) plus Lonesome (1928)

thirteen years ago: more security theatre plus the Vertue of the Coffee Drink 

sixteen years ago: hundredth blog post