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THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016

Bad Nauheim to Limburg

Another day another adventure in the lives of travelers and so it was for us. We have been on the road as it were for no more than a few days but already the days a merging as if they were but one. Anyway the chronology of this account may be somewhat disjointed and the character's names altered to protect the innocent but there remains some truth in it.
We were heading for Bad Nauheim yesterday when our attention was alerted to an odd construction on the roadside, two in fact, the purpose of which was not at all obvious.

What is this construction used for?

Curiosity got the better of us so on our return down the road we took advantage of the large and, for once, free car park and stopped for a look, see if we could find out what this was all about. Around the back was a large "Wasser Rad" , around 60 feet in diameter driving two large arms up and down and up and down these being part of a pump. The purpose was beginning to become apparent ( with a little help from an information board) these pumps pumped (as they would) water to the top of the aforementioned wall and it, in turn, trickled down over the faggots that were packed into it, and then into a drain at the bottom.

The Wasser Rad

"So what?" you may scream, but I may have missed out a vital cog in the train. This was in 1750 and it was when salt was very important and it was found that Schwalheim in the Nauheim district had a source of low concentrate salt water ( around 3%) and this was the ingenious way in which it was extracted, the water evaporates a it trickles down the faggots and they in turn receive an ever increasing layer of salt which can later be harvested. Anyway I thought it quite clever for 1750.

Later that day we had the good fortune to arrive in Budingen, regarded by some as the most beautiful town in Germany. At least that was the majority verdict of a survey of local residents, the "keep Budingen Beautiful Society" are said to have scored it particularly highly. It is very nice, but was the scene of what could have been a very sad story many years ago. The good Count Anton of Ysenburg and Budingen had just married Elisabeth of Wied in her home county. This was in 1522 so transport still wasn't too good so they arrived back in Bubingen very tired and went straight of to bed and Count Anton was soon happily snoring away, but not so Elisabeth. Elisabeth was unable to sleep because of the noise of the a frogs chorus from just outside of their window. She gave poor Anton a good dig in the ribs and told him in no uncertain terms that either the frogs go or she would. To cut a long story short Anton soon had the whole town awake and they were tasked with ridding it of frogs, but what to do with them now they were caught. Incineration, death by a firing squad of archers even the butchers were considered but they wanted no bar of it. Then someone came up with the idea that the perfect ecological solution would be to drown them in the river Seemenbach and so it was done and it worked a treat. Now of an evening only a soft croaking may be heard and that was good enough for Elisabeth, she stuck with Anton and they lived happily ever after. The townsfolk in turn have since bragged that theirs was not only the most Beautiful town but it was free from frogs and so now the frog is the towns mascot.

I was Just left Sitting There whilst Mrs Currin looked in a shop when my mind wandered away to stories about frogs being kissed by Princesses and when I awoke....

I must say though that Budingen is a little stunner of a town complete with Schloss and an array of half timbered houses.

Mrs Currin in the Grounds of the Schloss

The area in which we are touring around, that is near and around Frankfurt has an abundance of very pretty and colourful towns and I never tire of the wonkeyness of it all.

Mrs Currin amongst the Wonkies in Limburg.

Earlier today we visited Worms, the stamping ground of Martin Luther to whom we largely owe the Protestant Church after he refused to retract his denunciation of the Catholic Church at the Diet of Worms for which he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor in 1521. It was here in Worms that we learned why there were no shops open. It seems that it is 40 days since Easter Monday and that was the day that our Lord ascended to Heaven so this is a good reason for a public holiday here in Germany and as it would in New Zealand a holiday falling on a Thursday seems like a good reason for taking Friday off and having a real bottler of a long weekend. Here in Limburg, where we are spending the night there are thousands of then camped on the riverside, cheek by jowl, no one in the river, just wonder what it is they do all day. Anyway a bonus of all this Jesus going to heaven on the 40th day means that there are no trucks on the motorway today....hooray.

Mrs Currin's ankle is still giving her a bit of jip, but she remains stoical and she "no complain" even managed to buy a crepe bandage at the apotheke, oh my what a lot of German I have forgotten. Still I can still manage "Schwarz Tee and Macchiato Espresso" and not be too surprised by what we end up getting. It is all a bit of fun.