Catching up: Hat, Heavy, and Instruction
A few weeks ago I had a friend staying for a few days, and we visited a small, famous town close by from the Staufer era, Bad Wimpfen. It's situated on a hill, with a huge tower towering upon the historical center, called the Blue Tower for its blue "hat". Not a real hat, of course, but in German, the roof of such a tower might be referred to as hat or hood in poetry, old folk tales and such.
We were also quite surprised by the odd, heavy structure wrapping around the tower proper and learned that this was a support system temporarily applied because the roof's weight is so heavy that it eventually caused damage to the wall. Since the roof is not new, but everything was diligently restored a few decades back, I'm wondering how they could miss such an important static issue....
The city has various fountains and wells, and around one, we found something we really loved: all kinds of concrete and stone containers, of the kind usually placed to prevent unauthorised parking, had been planted with herbs and vegetables like coctail tomatos, small peppers or cucumbers, and even one or two tiny fruit trees, and came with the explicit instruction to make use of them so they would serve their purpose and grow better.
They looked beautiful and smelled delicous, but the explitic intent to plant them for the use of whomever comes by or lives close is what really deligthted me.
We were also quite surprised by the odd, heavy structure wrapping around the tower proper and learned that this was a support system temporarily applied because the roof's weight is so heavy that it eventually caused damage to the wall. Since the roof is not new, but everything was diligently restored a few decades back, I'm wondering how they could miss such an important static issue....
The city has various fountains and wells, and around one, we found something we really loved: all kinds of concrete and stone containers, of the kind usually placed to prevent unauthorised parking, had been planted with herbs and vegetables like coctail tomatos, small peppers or cucumbers, and even one or two tiny fruit trees, and came with the explicit instruction to make use of them so they would serve their purpose and grow better.
They looked beautiful and smelled delicous, but the explitic intent to plant them for the use of whomever comes by or lives close is what really deligthted me.
I love the planters too, and their friendly message. One town I know has cherry tomato plants in its flowerbeds and people are welcome to pick if they see ripe ones in passing. Much nicer than look-but-don't-touch.
I fully agree about take-your-pick instead of look-but-don't-touch which is the usual.
I really like the idea of the 'help yourself' fruit and vegetable containers.