"No turn is a wrong turn"
"Did you ever wonder.....?"
Suzie and I do like the back roads, as you can see from some of the pictures in our recent travel report.
As all independent travelers will agree, "Travel fun does not always have to be expensive." Those beautiful red tile roofs? I always
wondered how they put them on buildings without nails. Here's the answer I learned while walking the wall.
One of Suzie's favorite travel funs is to walk the wall around Rothenburg odT, the wonderful little walled city
just south of Würzburg, Germany. Usually I go with her even if I'm not in the mood because I love to
watch her excitement at all the new things she sees each time she walks the one mile long wall. This time,
I took my camera "just in case I see something interesting." (My “point and shoot” Olympus D-520
digi camera with 5 to 1 zoom fits in my shirt pocket so it’s small.) Folks, let me share something with you.
If you ever want to make a return trip interesting, take a camera and LOOK for something that will make a good
picture. On this trip around the walls, probably my 6th or so, I saw - and photographed - wonderful things
I've never seen before!
This is a picture of the inside of a roof covered by very
old roof tiles on the wall in Rothenburg. Notice the horizontal wooden slats - these slats hold the roof
tiles in place on the roof without any nails...how you ask? If you will click on the picture to enlarge it,
you might be able to see a little clay "finger" on the backside of each roof tile just above the slats.
When the "little ol' tile makers" made the clay roof tile, this little finger was included in the mold
of each roof tile. This tile finger simply fits over the slat allowing the roof tile to just hang on the
slat with its bottom tile edge laying over the tile installed below it. Each row of tiles requires its own
wooden slat, and fits over – and holds in place – the tiles below it. And you'll find it interesting to note these
tiles are known to last hundreds of years on buildings, a number of which you'll see in your travels around Europe.
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Next along our wall-walk, we happened upon an old half-timbered building in its original state, unrestored and within arm's reach of my camera. |
Look carefully at the basic heavy beamed and mortar
structure. Its walls are built of vertical and horizontal wooden beams which are then braced with diagonal
wooden beams throughout. The spaces between the beams are then filled with mortar, or sometimes large rocks
and mortar. Builders and historians from this area will explain that the "wood lives and moves"
throughout its life, even through the years when built into buildings such as this. That's why many of the
half-timbered buildings you'll see in your travels may include wood beams that are no longer straight, or are sagging,
or likely different than when first built often centuries ago. That's also why you'll see old building restoration
preserving the original wood beams, but replacing the mortar between the beams.
And, as always, our wall-walk introduced us to many buildings we likely would not have seen by just staying on
the ground level, town center areas most tourists frequent. The house below is one very interesting example.
First you notice the strange shaped ceramic tile roof. Then you notice it is of half-timber construction
from the eves downward, and then its lower area walls are of stone. And it's built on a street corner and
a hill. Add the flowers, the nice paint colors, and the beautiful backdrop of ceramic tiled roofs of Rothenburg,
and you have one unique site and one great picture.
So if you want to see more than ever before, take
a camera and look for something a little different to take a picture that you think is special. And if you
can afford one of the digital cameras, it's a fantastic way to go these days. Just make sure you have enough
memory cards for all those pictures you'll want to bring home.
Ya say, “Bill…I don't want to build a clock... I just want to know what time it is.”
Here are some more reasons you may want a camera at all times:
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“ Ahhhhhhh, would you repeat that please?” |
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A Chimney Sweep pauses on a Rothenburg street, trying to persuade the woman to clean her chimney. She’s in her open window above. |
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A beautiful (and typical) scene in the Zentrum of Schwäbisch Hall, Germany |
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From the heart of Mittenwald Zentrum looking south, the majestic Alps rise in Austria, just a few kilometers away. |
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Just outside Interlaken Switzerland, there is a small road that seems to disappear into an Alpine hillside. It soon turns to just a two-rut trail then to a path, then to just grass. Above and overlooking this trail's end are the ruins of a small castle, still standing and offering safe harbor to those who enter. |
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Our favorite Swiss Alpine area is the Berner Oberland, especially in Lauterbrunnen, just south of Interlaken. It’s two lakes, Thunersee and Brienzersee that neighbor Interlaken on east and west. Early morning haze rising from the lakes and beautiful blue skies are a photographer's dream. |
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Lauterbrunnen and its valley. It will always bring us back to Switzerland. |
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A happy traveler is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
Glückliche rückseitige Straßen
und szenische Umwege zu Ihnen alle.
(Happy Backroads and Scenic Detours to you all.)
Travel is your choice - fun, fresh and different
if you’ll allow it to be.
I’d enjoy reading your favorite travel hints, too. E-mail me a few...
Happy Travels
