Where's Bertie? He's still in the car park at the sports facility by Ludwigsburg.
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine this morning, rapidly clouding over at lunchtime such that we expected thunderstorms this afternoon, then all clearing again. High-twenties.
There's a strange lack of information on t'interweb as to the exact nature of the town museum in Ludwigsburg. That would have put us off going had there been an entry fee, but as it's free, we thought we may as well pop by on our way to our main event of the day to see what it was all about.
Well done and moderately interesting was the answer. I was particularly entertained by the room proudly claiming that Ludwigsburg has produced such a host of inventors of important things that life would be almost impossible without the town.
A curious display for anyone passing through without picking up the room's explanatory booklet (versions available in German, French and English)
Here's the list of claims made:
Note particularly the statement "Infections would keep us confined to bed (Penicillin)"
"Hold on!" I said "Penicillin was not invented in Ludwigsburg." Proceding further through the booklet I discovered that some of the claims being made were at the high end of tenous. Here's the further explanation of the Penicillin claim:
You may note from the disclaimer at the bottom of this paragraph that Karl Pfizer left Ludwigsburg for America in 1842. A Google search tells me that he died in 1906. So the claim that without Ludwigsburg we wouldn't have Penecillin is based on the company in America that was used to produce the drug in its early days having been founded by a (long dead) chap who was born in Ludwigsburg. There were many of these 'disclaimers'. I don't know how tongue-in-cheek the intention was when putting the display together, but it amused me no end.
I said yesterday that the town looked relatively new, and we also learnt via the museum that it was founded in the early 1700s. People then had to be encouraged to move in, which was achieved by giving free land, free building materials and an exemption of taxes for 15 years. It seems, however, that whilst the town wanted residents, it only wanted a certain sort; it didn't want the lowly workers making the place untidy. As industry and trade moved in, there was a campaign (in a 'do this or you'll be sacked' sort of way) by one of the leading companies (a coffee-substitute merchant) to make its employees move out of the town to surrounding countryside. The missive conveying/selling this to the workers was (viewed through a modern eye) amusing indeed.
Suitably edified, and with lunchtime upon us, we hastened towards the main event of the day: my birthday lunch (yes, I am stringing the celebrations out; more of a birthweek lunch, I suppose). My chosen location was a popular restaurant in the Market Square. It was a good choice and we were wise to arrive early: by the time we had our food in front of us, a queue had formed.
The market square was being used as intended today
The restaurant has a tiny menu but even so, I struggled to choose and we rubber necked at looking at other meals as they were delivered.
There's nowt to report from the rest of the day. I'm not one for kipping in the afternoon, but that's exactly what I did today. I hope I don't come to regret that at bedtime!
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine this morning, rapidly clouding over at lunchtime such that we expected thunderstorms this afternoon, then all clearing again. High-twenties.
There's a strange lack of information on t'interweb as to the exact nature of the town museum in Ludwigsburg. That would have put us off going had there been an entry fee, but as it's free, we thought we may as well pop by on our way to our main event of the day to see what it was all about.
Well done and moderately interesting was the answer. I was particularly entertained by the room proudly claiming that Ludwigsburg has produced such a host of inventors of important things that life would be almost impossible without the town.
Here's the list of claims made:
"Hold on!" I said "Penicillin was not invented in Ludwigsburg." Proceding further through the booklet I discovered that some of the claims being made were at the high end of tenous. Here's the further explanation of the Penicillin claim:
You may note from the disclaimer at the bottom of this paragraph that Karl Pfizer left Ludwigsburg for America in 1842. A Google search tells me that he died in 1906. So the claim that without Ludwigsburg we wouldn't have Penecillin is based on the company in America that was used to produce the drug in its early days having been founded by a (long dead) chap who was born in Ludwigsburg. There were many of these 'disclaimers'. I don't know how tongue-in-cheek the intention was when putting the display together, but it amused me no end.
I said yesterday that the town looked relatively new, and we also learnt via the museum that it was founded in the early 1700s. People then had to be encouraged to move in, which was achieved by giving free land, free building materials and an exemption of taxes for 15 years. It seems, however, that whilst the town wanted residents, it only wanted a certain sort; it didn't want the lowly workers making the place untidy. As industry and trade moved in, there was a campaign (in a 'do this or you'll be sacked' sort of way) by one of the leading companies (a coffee-substitute merchant) to make its employees move out of the town to surrounding countryside. The missive conveying/selling this to the workers was (viewed through a modern eye) amusing indeed.
Suitably edified, and with lunchtime upon us, we hastened towards the main event of the day: my birthday lunch (yes, I am stringing the celebrations out; more of a birthweek lunch, I suppose). My chosen location was a popular restaurant in the Market Square. It was a good choice and we were wise to arrive early: by the time we had our food in front of us, a queue had formed.
There's nowt to report from the rest of the day. I'm not one for kipping in the afternoon, but that's exactly what I did today. I hope I don't come to regret that at bedtime!
There's nothing wrong with an afternoon kip! Enjoy...
ReplyDeleteI was glad of it when a thunder storm, that was clearly going to keep us awake, arrived at bedtime.
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