Aktion "Stolpersteine"

The artist Gunter Demnig from Cologne started a project called "Stolpersteine"(stumbling blocks) to remind of the victims of the NS regime. He creates stones with a brazen plate on top, giving some information about the victim (name, birth date, date of death), and installs them where they had lived (not only in Wiesbaden but all over Germany). Since the start of the project in 1997, he has installed over 7000 stones in 130 cities.

The (colored) stones in the photo are in the Wagemann Strasse in Wiesbaden (just to the right from yesterdays photo).

Related links:
Aktion Stolpersteine (only in German so far)
Closer view of the stones

Goldgasse

The Goldgasse ("gasse" means alley) is in the old part of the pedestrian area - a very nice area to do window shopping and have a coffee. This building is actually seperated into two houses as you can see from the exterior painting.

An ode to the wine...

It's all about the wine in this area - especially in summer when we have the wine festivals in all the different towns in the Rheingau and Wiesbaden as well. This fellow is part of the facade decoration of a house in the pedestrian area. I don't know who he impersonates - might be "Bacchus the Wine God". A mystery to be solved...

And then, looking closer, there is again one of these faces above him... I'm not sure what it is about them but I noticed them on several houses in the downtown area. Remember that I posted a picture of a door with one of them a while ago. Some of them show their tongue some of them don't - another thing I have to find out about...

This said - PROST! or ZUM WOHL! or CHEERS!

P.S. Since I was asked: This is the original color of the stones! I did not color it or anything like that!

Construction Area 1

On one of my first photos I posted on this blog, Simon from Talinn Daily Photo commented that he lived in Wiesbaden in the seventies and remembers the then ultra-modern pedestrian precincts well.

There are still a lot of areas that probably haven't changed much since. This is one of the buildings right at the beginning of the pedestrian and shopping area. They started to dismantle it to build a new shopping center there - the future Luisen-Center.

Here you can see all the layers of the facade - first they used little mosaics in between the windows, then they covered the whole building with metal blends and to make it somehow more "interesting looking" they added some sort of a framework on top...

Although it's just a construction area, it still has a story to tell...

Graffiti House

I'm quite sure that this must be the most colorful house in Wiesbaden. It has been sprayed all over with graffitis as an initiative for a more colorful world (www.aktionfarbenfroh.de). On the website it also says that they wanted to give sprayers the possibility to display their art without getting into trouble. There are some very nice details which I'm going to show you over the next few weeks as well.

P.S. For once I was glad that the trees don't have leaves yet. Otherwise it would have been hard to see... Well, everything has advantages and disadvantages!

P.P.S. I've just noticed that the playground I posted on Tuesday was also "sprayed" by Aktion Farbenfroh.

Arriving and Leaving at Wiesbaden Main Train Station

Since we switched our clocks to summer time last night (we "lost" one hour), I thought I post something time-related today. The Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) came to mind right away...

When talking to people from other countries they always tell me about the German "Pünktlichkeit" (punctuality). Especially the trains seem to have this myth that they always go on time according to the time schedule.

Well... let's say they try to. I could tell you endless stories about them not leaving on time of course but that'll just be in my little part of the world :-). The official statistics say something about 85-95% punctuality.

By the way, the Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof is a "Kopfbahnhof" (terminal station), meaning that when the trains come in, they have to leave "backwards" again.

Market Day

Cheese, fresh vegetables or fruits, fish, honey or eggs anyone? Just to name some of the choices... Wednesdays and Saturdays are market days in downtown Wiesbaden. The whole area around the city hall is covered with traders and their market stands.

Larger than any supermarket, superfresh, and a lot of them are "green" (or "bio" or "organic" - you name it). Some of them even loudly proclaiming their special offers (especially towards the end of the market around 2pm).

I tell you, you walk accross this place for about 10 minutes and then you'll see an offer you just have to take home with you... I ended up buying a bag of fresh, juicy oranges for my breakfast orange juice - Cheers!

Hessische Staatskanzlei

Wiesbaden is the capital of the federal state Hesse. For today I took a photo for you of the Hesse Prime Minister's Office (Staatskanzlei) with the three official flags in front of it (from left to right: European Union, Germany, Hesse).

As you can see, there is one flagpole empty - that's for flags from international official guests (or maybe when some of you guys visit ;-D).

Lichtblick

This is the window decoration of the light design store "Lichtblick" (means literally translated "light gaze/glance", but the whole word translates as "gleam/ray of hope" - I like that word play a lot!) in the Taunusstrasse. They always have fascinating light installations, so this probably won't be the last time you'll see some of their work here...

Theater Colonnades

Walking in the colonnades of the theater and opera house always makes me feel timeless (expect for the noise going on right now - there is a big construction area for an underground parking garage right in front of it). But can't you imagine how let's say a hundred years ago people were taking a walk here as well...

Related links:
Theater and Opera House from the back

Playground

A while ago a group of people came together to make this downtown playground a bit more interesting, friendly and cleaner for kids. And I like the result! Especially the walls that used to be grey or sprayed with some graffitis got a lot nicer with these colorful ones. Btw, "Spielen" means play. Sorry, kids are either in kindergarten or school...

Palast Hotel

The former Palast Hotel is right next to the Kochbrunnen.

In former times it hosted a lot of guests who came to Wiesbaden for special treatments with the water from the hot springs.

Nowadays it's an appartment building with some offices as well.

Smart parking

"Smart" is a car company (as you might know already) and this model is their smallest car in Germany. It's a lot shorter than regular cars so it's definitely easier to find parking.

Still longer than the width of a regular compact car. So the plan of this smart parker didn't really work out - he got a ticket for parking partly on the sidewalk...

Kaiser Friedrich Therme

The roman-irish bath - Kaiser Friedrich Therme - in Wiesbaden. Like the romans about 2000 years ago, you can take a bath in the water of Wiesbaden's hot springs here. There is also a finnish sauna, a russian steam bath, a tropical ice rain, a rasul, a sand bath, a "lumenarium" (room with different changing colors), a music/meditation room and a lot more...

Since cameras aren't allowed in the bath, I had to take a "photo of a photo". Credits go to Xenia Drebes who took this photo.

Feeding Ducks

These ducks seem to have a happy life here at the Rhine in Wiesbaden-Schierstein. Luckily the bird flu hasn't reached our region yet (at least as far as I know).

By the way, the water level of Rhine is nearly back to normal now, so hopefully no more floods this year...

Kochbrunnen by night

Wiesbaden has a lot of hot springs and 15 of them are bundled here at the Kochbrunnen. There's a fountain inside this pavillon spending the hot water rich with sulfur and other minerals. The temperature is around 65°C.

You can either drink the water (it's supposed to be good for your digestion) here or you can take a bath at one of Wiesbaden's bath houses (good for skin and organism).

Reflection of Wiesbaden Train Station

The Wiesbaden Main Train Station seen through a reflection in the windows of an office building next to it.

11th International Easter Egg Fair

Here are some of the eggs from the Easter Egg Fair we visited last weekend in Kloster Eberbach.

The technique used here is stitching - if you click for the larger image you'll see the little holes. Very delicate work so you can imagine that those eggs are quite expensive...

Related links:
More Easter Eggs from the fair
Picture from the hall where the fair was held
Easter Eggs (Wikipedia)

The storks are back here as well

Close to the harbor in Schierstein, I've spotted this old chimney with its new inhabitant (or probably returning, re-using the old nest, as I've learned in Dutchie's Rotterdam Daily Photo Blog).

When you look at older children's books you see the stork "delivering" babies to their families. It's a tale little kids have been told for a long time but I have no idea where it came from...

A Walk in the Spring Sun

As soon as the sun comes out these days, people put on their warm clothes and go out, talking a walk, especially during the weekends...

Here you can see them promenading along the harbor of Wiesbaden-Schierstein (a suburb of Wiesbaden), doing some boat and bird watching.

Happy 1st Birthday to Paris Daily Photo

Please join me in congratulating
Paris Daily Photo Blog to its 1st anniversary!!!

Eric (the author of the blog) has received
greetings from all over the world.

Spring is close...

I was so happy when I spottet those "Schneeglöckchen" (snowdrops) that I had to share them with you. The snow is melting and it seems like spring is finally not too far away anymore. Although they've been saying in the news that we're gonna have a cooler weekend again, I don't care - I've seen the first signs... Big Smile!

Café Maldaner

First of all - sorry for the reflections in the window - I'm still trying to figure out how to avoid them...

This is one of the oldest (if not THE oldest) "Kaffeehaus" in Wiesbaden, founded 1859. I just love their sense of decoration - a bit old style but stylish and very "gemütlich" (cozy/comfortable). I think you can get that feeling from their window decoration.

Please click on the image for the enlargement to better see the details!

Detail of a Door

I walked by this door the other day and thought this was an interesting detail. It looks like an old door to me and I wonder what made the original owner wanting to have a mask like this on his door... I'm assuming it's to protect the house and scare everything that's bad away. What do you think? Any other ideas?

Russian Church

No, we did not leave Germany, we're still on top of the Neroberg in Wiesbaden. This is the Russian-Orthodox Church St. Elisabeth of Wiesbaden.

It was built around 1855 by Duke Adolf von Nassau in honor of his wife, the russian princess Jelisaweta Michailowna (grandniece of Czar Alexander I and Czar Nikolaus I). She died in childbed (together with the child).

Nerobergbahn

To get up to the Neroberg you can either take the car, your bike or walk, or you can take the "Nerobergbahn" - a funicular run with water (very environmental friendly :D) from 1888.

There are basically two trains connected with a steel wire - one train is uphill with the tank full of water, the other one is in the valley station with an empty tank. When both let go off their breaks they start moving automatically.

Related topics:
Neroberg; Funiculars (Wikipedia)

Neroberg

The Neroberg is a 245m high hill in the north of Wiesbaden. You can get a nice panoramic view of the city from the top of it. In summer you'll find lots of people up here in the Biergarten or just lying in the meadows taking a sun bath.

Snow in Fence

It's been snowing nonstop yesterday - about 15-20cm, which is quite unusual around this time. The snow even got stuck in the fence, as you can see on this photo.

Btw, you'd say "it's raining cats and dogs" - is there such an expression for snow as well?


Related topics:
Shoveling snow

Kaiser Wilhelm I

May I introduce: Kaiser Wilhelm I (1797-1888) or actually a statue of him that you can find in the "Kurpark" in Wiesbaden.
He was King of Prussia and later German Emperor (Kaiser) of the German Empire with Otto von Bismarck as his Prime Minister.

Besides all the political and historical things to say about him, I found interesting, what Bismarck had to say in his memoirs. He described Wilhelm as an old-fashioned, courteous, infallibly polite gentleman and a genuine Prussian officer, whose good common sense was occasionally undermined by "female influences". (source: Wikipedia)

Film crew

Happened to walk by this scenery the other day - they were filming a commercial for the new Tucson (Hyundai) for the korean market right in front of the Wiesbaden city hall.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a good angle at the "stage" which was the stairs of the city hall to the right, where they had set up a whole wedding scenery with bridesmaids and lots of flowers (roses to be exact).

Since most of us will probably never see this commercial, I can tell you more about it (according to one of the guys on the set I talked to): it's a story full of passion and jealousy that will end with a wedding ring being thrown away...

Snowy Kurpark

Winter obviously is not over yet - we got a bit more snow over night. Here in the Kurpark (the main park in Wiesbaden) the ducks don't really seem to care. There are even wild "Nilgänse" (Nile geese) at the partly frozen lake.

In the background you see the back of the theater and opera house of Wiesbaden from 1894.