Dolores and I are back, and the time has come for us to soldier on. We come back with many resolutions and good intentions. We plan to speak German together one hour every evening, and we plan to see more of Thuringen and the surrounding area. So far we've seen the hills around Jena, but little beyond that. We've traveled as far as our feet can comfortably take us. Now it is time to set out by bike and train.
Despite these intentions to venture out beyond our happy valley, today we walked to one of the few hills we had not yet climbed. We went to see the Bismarkturm. I had often seen the top of the Bismarkturm peaking through the trees on to of the hill just southwest of town. I was curious to see this tower that looked like a castle from a distance, though the name somewhat dampened my curiosity. I still held out some hope that the tower might be the remnants of some medieval ca
stle, named after some long forgotten Bismark, though I feared that it was a Nineteenth century fake. And so it is.
Its a pretty cool looking fake, but a fake. I was most impressed by the uneven stones used in its construction. None of the stones are exactly the same size, and I found myself marveling at how stones of such different sizes could be fitted together to build rows of equal height. There isn't much information to be found about this tower on the internet, though one seemingly official website reported that it is used as a water tower. Interestingly enough, I also found that there are Bismark towers -- Bismarkturme -- all over Germany. Everywhere, in every forest and every small town, there are towers built and named in honor of Germany's first chancellor. I guess that gives Angela Merkel something to shoot for.
Despite these intentions to venture out beyond our happy valley, today we walked to one of the few hills we had not yet climbed. We went to see the Bismarkturm. I had often seen the top of the Bismarkturm peaking through the trees on to of the hill just southwest of town. I was curious to see this tower that looked like a castle from a distance, though the name somewhat dampened my curiosity. I still held out some hope that the tower might be the remnants of some medieval ca
stle, named after some long forgotten Bismark, though I feared that it was a Nineteenth century fake. And so it is.Its a pretty cool looking fake, but a fake. I was most impressed by the uneven stones used in its construction. None of the stones are exactly the same size, and I found myself marveling at how stones of such different sizes could be fitted together to build rows of equal height. There isn't much information to be found about this tower on the internet, though one seemingly official website reported that it is used as a water tower. Interestingly enough, I also found that there are Bismark towers -- Bismarkturme -- all over Germany. Everywhere, in every forest and every small town, there are towers built and named in honor of Germany's first chancellor. I guess that gives Angela Merkel something to shoot for.
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