Where's Bertie? He's still at the Stellplatz at Hattingen.
Weather: Sunny. Cool start, but by afternoon warm enough to be jacketless when in the sun.
The river was steaming when I took a trot along it this morning, and as I was on the shaded side, it was a chilly-fingered outing.
That was a good reason not to go back out until after lunch: to give the day time to warm up. By the time we headed into town just before 1pm, it was perfectly warm in t-shirt and fleece, provided you weren't in the shade for too long.
Steaming river
Our trip into town turned out to be one of our best sightseeing endeavours on record, which was entirely thanks to the efforts made by the town council/tourist information board. We started by heading to the Allt Rathaus...
See the wonky spire behind the Allt Rathaus? They'd like you to believe that it was intentionally built this way to withstand the prevailing winds.
...where we found an information board that I (well, Google) duly translated.
Not the Allt Rathaus board, but by way of an example, one I snapped later.
At the bottom of that board, directions were given to get to the next point of interest, and thus our unexectedly comprehensive tour started.
There was just one place where we couldn't find the next board, which caused a slight hitch in that we were relying on each one to tell us the location of the next. We worked out in which direction it was likely located and sure enough, we were soon back on track.
Sightseeing is hungry and thirsty work. As we sat down and I surveyed the size of the cakes we'd just bought, I suggested that maybe one between the two of us would have been adequate. I'll not disclose quite how soon after the first the second photo was taken.
I didn't keep count of how many points of interest we visited, but it was enough to fill over two hours, and I think we walked pretty well every street in the town centre in the process. What I particularly liked (aside from the fact that the signs were all succinct) was that they hadn't ignored the modern, ugly (achitectural mistakes) buildings, but had highlighted them and explained how they came about, along with the dates when the attitude to redevelopment changed.
Here's a selection of snaps to try to convey what we saw:
It was a 2km walk from Bertie to the Allt Rathaus, taking us through a park where the variety of colours were striking. I hope they come across in this snap.
A badly composed snap of the Church Square
Delightful wonkiness in evidence behind the church.
Narrow streets one row back, behind the church square
The house on the left was deconstructed in another town and reconstructed here, with the information board noting that it doesn't fit in with the style of the town as it's too wide and agricultural looking. The house on the right is originally from the town, but from a few streets away; it wasn't clear why it was deconstructed and moved to this spot. The middle house is recent, but has tried to mimic the dimensions and style of the historic half-timbered houses.
Adjacent to the houses in the snap above was this flat-roofed monstrosity, dating from 1968. The information board told the story as to how the tendering process and policy at the time allowed something so out-of-keeping to get built in the heart of the old town, with the clear message of 'We'd never allow this now'.
Foundations smaller than the house you want and don't have a neighbour on one side? Just build out further on that side!
What a shape! Unsurprisingly, this building has protected status and is now owned by the town.
Smallest half-timbered house in the town, made that way as it needed to fit on the foundations of one of the defensive towers of the old town wall.
The retained part of a commemorative exhibition (from 1997...maybe?) related to the end of the iron and steel industry in the town.
A strong contender for Fountain of the Trip
No pissing in our street or we'll cut off your balls?!
Such an opportunity for Gayle Imitates Art, but Mick vetoed due to the number of people around.
Weather: Sunny. Cool start, but by afternoon warm enough to be jacketless when in the sun.
The river was steaming when I took a trot along it this morning, and as I was on the shaded side, it was a chilly-fingered outing.
That was a good reason not to go back out until after lunch: to give the day time to warm up. By the time we headed into town just before 1pm, it was perfectly warm in t-shirt and fleece, provided you weren't in the shade for too long.
Our trip into town turned out to be one of our best sightseeing endeavours on record, which was entirely thanks to the efforts made by the town council/tourist information board. We started by heading to the Allt Rathaus...
...where we found an information board that I (well, Google) duly translated.
At the bottom of that board, directions were given to get to the next point of interest, and thus our unexectedly comprehensive tour started.
There was just one place where we couldn't find the next board, which caused a slight hitch in that we were relying on each one to tell us the location of the next. We worked out in which direction it was likely located and sure enough, we were soon back on track.
I didn't keep count of how many points of interest we visited, but it was enough to fill over two hours, and I think we walked pretty well every street in the town centre in the process. What I particularly liked (aside from the fact that the signs were all succinct) was that they hadn't ignored the modern, ugly (achitectural mistakes) buildings, but had highlighted them and explained how they came about, along with the dates when the attitude to redevelopment changed.
Here's a selection of snaps to try to convey what we saw:
Words of wisdom from Mick eh?
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