1 Neckar view from Klein-Ingersheim Sacred vintner oath: our vineyards will defy any gradient.
2 Neckarweg Some trailblazing. The wayleave aspect is appreciated but I would be lost without a conformal map. Which is just a fanciful way to say that color dot maps (public transportation anything) do not work for me. - Sideshow: splotches of Parmelia physodes (the gray tree lichen).
3 Kallenberg near Hessigheim A float of cherry trees.
4 Kallenberg near Hessigheim Looks like fairly advanced goiter - grafting mishap, swallowed mushroom cloud? Somewhat exclusive, maybe one tree in 40. - The meadow is laced with lady's smock.
5 Kallenberg near Hessigheim You can rely either on rope tricks or you can take recourse to ladders.
6 Hessigheim You are now leaving Hessigheim. For a quick habitat check, olive trees are non deciduous, vines are. (The map says Mühlberg).
7 Hessigheim, vineyards vineyard pure
8 Hessigheim, vineyards Mostly dry stone walls. The top course reinforced with concrete blocks. L-shape would make sense.
Dyson angle: give me sufficient tilt and you can harvest nearly the same amount of sunlight everywhere on a given sphere. - Somewhat forced: what do you call vineyards on turntables? - Dimetrodons.
9 Hessigheim, vineyards A near ideal location for a concealed speed trap.
10 Hessigheim, vineyards The rites of spring: some daring vineyard fairies are airing their eiderdown pillows in the sun. Technically: rockcress, mustard family, in various flavors. The blue one should be purple rockcress, the yellow one alyssum (golden tuft), and the white one, not shown, candytuft. Paracelsus angle : growing='crescere'. The more in synch with the moon crescent the better. - Cardamine pratensis (Lady's Smock), selfsame family, flowers at about the time. Meadow and orchard staple.
11 Mundelsheim Mundelsheim. Arrow points to the relay tower next to the Mithraeum.
12 Mundelsheim And giraffes walked the narrow streets. The 'empaneled' (timber framed) flowers would be nearly impossible to see from the ground floor. - According to the plaque the residence of a former mayor (who also acted as taxman for the distant abbey Blaubeuren which owned much of the surrounding land). - Double dovecotes near the apex. No yawing weathercock.
13 Mundelsheim, plaque The 'Herzog' part is slightly puzzling. Mundelsheim fell to Württemberg in 1595, which at the indicated date, 1838, was run by a king (Wilhelm I) rather than by a freewheeling duke (Carl Eugen reference, military subsidies is us - receiving end - less glamorously: propped up by France and the Prusso-British block, sometimes simultaneously). For completeness' shake: puppet kingdom status from 1866 to 1918. (The jury is still out on the following century.)
Two variant reasons are regularly given for baking houses: fire prevention and scarcity of fuel. (The inscription reference to brandished swords is clear enough. If it gleams it burns. You wonder what those troubadours would make out of schoolyards full of scintillating bicycles.)
As for unsung tourist attractions, I can actually come up with one: single slot mailboxes. They apparently still exist. I will explain myself. Somebody once hit upon the glorious idea of a mailer participation in t...
14 Mundelsheim, Mithraeum The cult building was owned by the local vineyard 'baron'. Very much in the family chapel tradition. The early Irish church was beholden to the same concept. You want the service, you pay for it. The tithe idea (VAT in produce) is based on slightly different assumptions.
The plaque says Mundelsheim. Certainly hard on the municipal border to Ottmarsheim (which, in the prevailing spirit of incorporation, swap 5 village names for one, is now part of Besigheim).
15 Mundelsheim, Mithraeum Sol invictus. The flickering oil lamps, locofoco before its time, were placed behind the perforated stones. The particular pretzel shape is probably of secondary importance. The vault was often studded with stars (even as wizard robes).
16 Mundelsheim, Mithraeum The first thing you see when you look for the sanctuary. Strategic hilltop location. - A sacrifice in progress, a cleft bull skull and various vessel with offerings were unearthed, was apparently rudely interrupted by some disgruntled war bands, most likely anno domini 260) - The proximity of a navigable river, no additional overhead due to portage, will have been a plus.
