that's why they call me mister fahrenheit

To celebrate what would have been the artist’s seventy-second birthday, we look through Dangerous Minds’ archives and find footage from Freddie Mercury’s legendary bash held at Old Missus Henderson’s club (closed in August 2008) in München in 1985. Invited guests were instructed to dress for the drag ball in black and white and parts of the party’s proceedings were incorporated into the music video for Mercury’s Living on My Own. At the time, Mercury lived on the nearby Hans-Sachs-Straße in the borough of Ludwigsvorstadt where Oktoberfest is held.

zwischenstopp: urspringen

Incorporated as a district of market town Ostheim vor der Rhön, I had passed by the village of Urspringen several times, noting the stone, Gothic Revival steep that dominates the fields and forest from an impressive distance but unable to find much information on it was never drawn to explore.
I ought to know better (by now) that the lack of scholarship or research is never a sign that a place isn’t worth investigating and was pleased that I stopped the car and took a look past the façades of half-timbered houses that line either side of the main street. Referred to as Villa Urspringa for the first time in church records from 811, it is the site where the tributary of the Streu, the Bahra branches in two and is itself the sources of three powerful natural water sources—Quellen or rather Springen, the strongest of which flows from under the church mount and through the village under a covered promenade.
The church itself, which was probably finished at the turn of the last millennium, was rebuilt after it was destroyed in a fire in 1841 and two neighbouring buildings were added, reflecting the architecture of the time, a school house and the parsonage. The village contains far too many historic cross-timbered farmers’ homes (Fachwerkhäuser) to list and along the Hauptstraße and down hidden alleys and would more than merit a follow-up tour, better-armed next time with more history.

ostheim vor der rhön

Taking advantage of the fine weather, H and I spent the afternoon enjoying the atmosphere of nearby Ostheim vor der Rhön (previously, here and here), first scrambling up and down the alleyways of the town’s landmark fortified church (Kirchenburg, previously here and here).

The complex’s maze of multiple warehouses and root-cellars for provisions plus a munitions dump and a powder tower made it a bastion for the people of the area to retreat to in times of strife and hopefully outlast a siege.
Historically, Ostheim was not aligned with the Catholic church that was the predominant influence in Bavaria and in fact existed as an exclave of the Protestant dukes of Henneberg, formally from 1920 to 1947 an outcropping of the state of Thüringen not geographically connected.

For simplicity’s sake, as was done for the Palatine territories on the Hessen side of the Rhein, Ostheim and the surrounding villages were made part of Bavaria as the American zone of occupation.
In order to maintain this island of independence throughout turbulent times is testament to the fortress’ imperviousness. Afterwards we took a stroll along the promenade of the river Streu, punctuated with footbridges and water-wheels that were once upon a time engines to drive various sorts of mills.
Finally, we ascended into the foothills of the Rhön to the Lichtenburg, the picturesque ruins of a high castle, a defensive garrison for a contingent of knights, from the eleventh century before returning home.

sperrzone oder deutsche-deutsche grenze

We owe the expanse of forest in part at least to being on the former border that separated East and West Germany (previously here, here and assuredly elsewhere) and the Grünes Band Deutschland (the German Green Belt) conserved by environmental organisations to form a natural reserve linked along the former Iron Curtain, forming a quite exceptional no man’s land of undisturbed species and habitats.
Today all that remains is a trail marker and a slight gradient change. On the Thüringen side, there’s carriage way for patrol vehicles that runs parallel to the corridor and a small memorial to two casualties of the intervening minefield during an escape attempt in 1965.
The first stages of the partition of Germany from 1945 to 1952 was also referred to as the “Green Border” before fortifications were established and movement strictly controlled but authorities on both sides soon realised that they needed to increase security measures in order to stem the flow of economic refugees in the eyes of the West and “spies, diversionists, terrorists and smugglers” according to the East.

rallye und rhön-zügle

For certain holiday week-ends, the historic train station in the town of Fladungen (where we’ve often visited in the past for their now discontinued classic car shows but worth a visit any time) will reanimate its fleet (two) of steam locomotives (built in 1924 by the firm Krauss-Maffei in Munich and the only ones of their kind still in operation) and antique Reichsbahn passenger cars for fun little short-haul whistle-stop tours.
We boarded for a journey to Ostheim and back, a stretch of road that we were familiar with but never quite from this perspective and pace, plus it was interesting to see the feats of practised engineering and mechanical dexterity that went into pulling of the operation and prompted one to reflect on what a revolutionary marvel that such an engine would have been when it first went into service.
It was a funny coincidence that we were best acquainted with Fladungen through an auto show that was no longer held and went next to see an assortment of classic cars reach the finish line (we were not sure who was in the pole-position but I guess it just counted if one could finish intact) and present themselves for inspection in the Kurpark of Bad Kissingen down the road a bit.
The storied spa town has been hosting the Sachs Franken Classic since 2000 in conjunction with Bad Kissingen’s twelve hundredth year since its first documented mentioned and the race, sponsored by ZF (Zahnradfabrik—Gear Factory—but also a mostly-owned subsidiary of Zeppelin Foundation, a manufacturer of automotive parts) runs through the region’s forests and vineyards, and it was inspiring in both instances that with maintenance and care such artefacts can remain active parts of the community.

trennung von staat und kirche

Controversially (but one is forgiven for not glomming on to this particular problematic mandate since there are so many others to choose from) Bavaria’s new Minister-President has decreed that crosses must hang in all state government buildings from 1 June on wards. Every city hall I’ve been in already has a crucifix hanging non-obtrusively in an office corner but I think that was out of a personal choice and affirmation, rather than something regulated as explicit symbolic value and a way to show solidarity and “commitment to Bavarian identity and culture.” The president went on to explain that the crosses are not in violation of the principle of government neutrality in religious matters because they are specifically agnostic and instead represent the universal values of charity, human dignity and tolerance. No word if there are to be standard-issue crosses to be displayed or if the manner of participation will be left up to individual municipalities or how compliance will be monitored.
Kontrovers (aber man verzeiht, dass man sich nicht auf dieses spezielle Problem berufen hat, weil so viele andere zur Auswahl stehen) der neue bayerische Ministerpräsident hat angeordnet, dass ab dem 1. Juni in allen Regierungsgebäuden Kreuze hängen müssen. Jedes Rathaus, in dem ich schon war, hat ein Kruzifix, das nicht aufdringlich in einer Büroecke hängt, aber ich denke, das war eine persönliche Entscheidung und Bestätigung, anstatt etwas als ausdrücklichen symbolischen Wert und eine Art Solidarität und ,,Engagement zu regeln zur bayerischen Identität und Kultur.” Der Präsident erklärte weiter, dass die Kreuze nicht gegen das Prinzip der Regierungsneutralität in religiösen Angelegenheiten verstoßen, weil sie spezifisch agnostisch sind und stattdessen die universellen Werte der Nächstenliebe, Menschenwürde und Toleranz darstellen. Aber keine Angabe, ob Standardkreuzungen angezeigt werden sollen oder ob die Art der Beteiligung den einzelnen Gemeinden überlassen bleibt oder wie die Einhaltung überwacht wird.

but our princess is in another castle

 I was impressed to see that our old hometown, which was undergoing quite some extensive construction work under the streets of the historic old town to modernise its gas lines and feed it from a biofuel processing plant, had been creative enough to canvas over the site with a Super Mario Brothers’ theme—sort of like the neat frieze of refrigerator magnets that my sister had given us a few years back. Each panel represented a different level and told about renovation challenges, timelines and the benefits that would eventually materialise. Mario’s companion is a sea-monster called Nesi—which is also the namesake for the fleet of buses that comprise the local public transportation (NES being the license plate designation for that county—Neu Stadt an der Saale) and the video game segment even incorporated the landmark gate towers of the Altstadt.

zwischenstopp: stockheim

On the old path in between Ostheim and Mellrichstadt lies the village of Stockheim, which was party to much the same intrigues and exchanges of ownership as other places in this region, but is particularly noted for its vernacular architecture.
The old, gabled and half-timbered Rathaus—the city hall whose administrative functions are now finding themselves displaced, is presently a restaurant and pension but was formerly known as an Amthaus, an administrative centre for a feudal bureaucracy and later as a Zehnthof, a repository of tithes, a tenth of one’s income or harvest rendered to the church. Formerly protected by a wall with watchtowers (Warte), one of these was also designated as a Darre or a Darrhaus, a place, usually silo-like where hops were dried as part of the beer-brewing process. The surviving tower is itself a source of tales told by people of Willmars (strangely enough) across the valley which include a kidnapping dwarf and a shoe-maker’s apprentice who did not succumb to hardship and give up once in the company of lumberjacks.

zwischenstopp: willmars

We’ve previously wrote a little bit about the village of Willmars when we went exploring some ruins and contemplated hunting for mushrooms but the side of town one spies from the road is also pretty picturesque and compact—everything that makes a proper village all right together. The bakery/general store is co-located now with the fire department removed a bit from the main street but everything else is right there.
The settlement was originally in the hands of a cadet-branch of the Franconian dukes of Henneberg, controlling the lands with imperial immediacy from the forests of Thüringen to the banks of the Main, from the early thirteenth century onwards.
Once the line died out with no legitimate heirs in 1583, Willmars and its neighbours reverted ownership to the Duchy of Saxony.
With the major re-distri-bution of sovereignty within the Holy Roman Empire of 1803 (der Reichsdeputationshauptschluss), the villages once again traded hands and came into possession of the Free and Imperial Knights von Stein zu Nord- and Ostheim—more or less for keeps and more on this venerable family to come.

zwischenstopp: neustädtles

One of my new low-stakes but hopefully rewarding projects is to document all the scenic but not at first blush distinct places that I pass through when going from home to work on what’s been several years of a long weekly commute. I’d like to stop for a moment in each place with one of the first villages that I go through to being one of a population of about two hundred called Neustädtles (little new town).
Documented for the first time in the 1420s when the village was sold to the Knights of Tann, the territory on the mountainous border of Bavaria and Thüringen exchanged hands several times until finally coming under the ownership of Julius von Soden, count of Ansbach (the previous owner a casualty of the French Revolution).
Charged with managing the surrounding forest he established the manor with several apartments and offices en suite to issue fishing and hunting permits in the early eighteenth century. Though broader events informed the village’s allegiances in the following centuries, its character is essentially unchanged.  Stay tuned to see where we’ll pause next time.

hallstattzeit

No plunder and tomb-raiding for us of course, but we were taken aback to discover rather casually that there is an ancient Celtic ensemble of burial mounds (Hügelgra- bernfeld) to explore essentially in our backyard. The substantial artefacts and grave-goods recovered here are late iron age and correspond to the ascendency of the Frankish Merovingian dynasty. Apparently this one site is part of a larger trail that extends over sixty kilometres through the region and once the weather turns fairer, I think that that’s a path we’ll embark on.

new year’s eve eve

H and I went to a village fete for the Winterval—actually to usher old the old year and make way for the new, granted a bit, ever so slightly early but I doubt that a community even could compete with the war-zone of firecrackers that typify New Year’s (Silvesternacht) revelry—around in and around the Kirchenburg (fortress church) complex which was illuminated with hundreds of candles and torches for the occasion.
One can find quite a few of these defensive structures in this area but this particular compound in Ostheim vor der Rhön constructed between 1400 and 1450 and outfitted to withstand a protracted siege and support a sizable amount of refugees is one of the largest and most elaborate in Germany.
After a few carols, mulled wine (Glühwein) and a word from the Burgermeister, a group of marksmen (well, members of the volunteer fire department) ascended the Waagglockenturm (originally a signal tower visible over a vast distance as a warning to the next settlement in case of attack) with hand-canons and fired off several incredibly loud volleys. We have shared glances of this place here and there before but soon we will treat you to the full, proper tour. 

daytrip: hochrhön

We had the chance to do a bit of local exploring near our home and we found the ruin (die Mauerschädel as it’s singularly known) of a fortified church built around the year 1000 and abandoned about three centuries later during the height of the plague (Pest) in the fields behind the village of Filke, the inter-German border separating Bavaria from East Germany once passing through the nave of the structure.
In the 1970s, the whole of the structure was ceded to Bavaria for security purposes. Though the outbreak of the plague is considered the likely culprit for its eventual abandonment, another anachronistic suggestion is that once bulwarks of the region, Filke and other surrounding settlements that essentially became ghost-towns before being eventually repopulated sacrificed themselves to the marauding tribes of the Huns, able to Christianise the scouting parties only to be later betrayed and massacred. A maiden in white is said to haunt the grounds, but that is a relatively recent embellishment.
Afterward, we took another detour to see some marshland in a nature reserve (the whole region is a nature reserve, really, but there are also specially designated areas that are protected from traffic and development) but the trails didn’t really get very near and the scrub separating it from the path was intimidating. H and I did however get the chance to explore the deep woodlands and encountered some deer that bounded past us before we could react.
More our pace, however, we found an assortment of mushrooms and toadstools that we resolved to learn about and come back to the clearing where they seemed to thrive.
The forest directly behind our house are baronial lands, still in the same family, and we wouldn’t want to be accused of poaching.

truppenübungsplatz

Earlier in the week, I was visiting the NATO training grounds and mission support installations at the northern and southern boundaries of the two hundred and thirty square kilometre base in Grafenwörh in the Oberpfalz in eastern Bavaria. Conducted under the auspices of the US Seventh Army since 1945, Prince-Regent Luitpold designated the land outside of the village as the best-suited terrain for the principality’s soldiers to drill in 1907 and commissioned the construction of the reserve.
The water tower remains the landmark of the post—Tower Barracks, and the village is pretty charming as well. Luitpold, who presided over Bavaria in the name of his nephews Ludwig and Otto who were both deemed unfit (mad) to reign due to mental incapacitation, made several miscalculations and miscarriages including the military build-up that made the Great War an inevitability, eventuality instead of an possible outcome which are certainly of immeasurable geopolitical importance.

Included in that registry of miscalculations too was perhaps the royal decree that denied Friedrich Trump repatriation to his home in Kallstadt near Darmstadt for his failure to  discharge his military obligations to hearth and Heimat back in 1905 (Austria had ceded the western part of the Palatinate to Bavaria in 1816 and remained part of that kingdom then Bundesland through 1946).  Dear Leader’s grandfather had to once again leave his roots in Germany (after petitioning for the right of residency) and return once again to America to realise his own destiny.

pew-pew

Two young boys in Erding outside of München are apparently the subject of investigation for having fired rubber pellets from toy guns at Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun while he and his entourage were cycling through the Altstadt. No injuries were sustained but the incident was reported to local authorities, nonetheless. The king, also styled Rama X, owns a few holiday homes in Bavaria and it is unclear if this occurrence might not have further repercussions, as it is illegal to insult the king—but with Germany’s intention to over-turn its law on lèse-majesté (Majestätsbeleidigung), any wounded feelings would probably not have legal standing.

fronleichnam

Though this moveable feast of Corpus Christi is not technically a national holiday observed in every German state, on this ecumenical jubilee year (DE/EN) that marks the five hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting the ninety-five theses on the door of the royal chapel of Wittenburg, all Germans are accorded all the observances. Bavaria (where we live) has the most liberal public holiday schedule with thirteen, minus Reformation day, and other states granting fewer ranging from nine to twelve (like Hessen, where I work). Affording all holidays to everyone is a symbolic way to counter sectarianism as a few observances are markedly celebrated or disdained to the envy of neighbours clearly along historical Catholic or Evangelical majority territories.

kegelbahn

Via Boing Boing, our attention is turned to marvel at the photographic eye of Robert Goetzfried as he explores the patterns and retro architecture that frame bowling alleys—lanes for Kegeln to be more precise, that one finds in bars, restaurants, sports club houses and guest houses in Germany. With the rules of the game having been codified by none other than reformer Martin Luther, it’s probably apt to characterise devotion to the game, especially in rural Bavaria where most of the images were captured, as a religious one.  Ogle the photographer’s whole gallery at the links up top.

as the crow flies or bird’s eye view

Via the always captivating Everlasting Blört, we are introduced to the video and photo-hosting and –sharing platform that is dedicated to the genre of the rather peerless perspective of aerial drones, Dronestagram. For instance, here is an establishing shot (without the need for zooming in from a great distance) of the German memorial hall of fame Walhalla near Regensburg taken from a heretofore impossible angel.

sunday drive: bad bocklet

We’ve visited Bad Bocklet previously but I hadn’t before taken the time for a stroll through the Kurpark (Spa) until now and gather a virtual bouquet for Mother’s Day.
                                                           The thermal baths and the surrounding gardens were first landscaped in the back in the seventeen hundreds by the Bishop Electors of Würzburg—and those familiar with the other properties of that diocese would certainly recognise their style and influence.
During the Napoleonic Wars, however, the lands of Würzburg were awarded to the Duke of Tuscany which also the look of the place, I think. Unfortunately, I did not have a cup handy to sample the spring waters, but I’m sure we’ll get another chance.