 Besigheim, Hochwachtturm
early morning Enztal approach
|  Besigheim
Enztal approach, base rosette of mullein
|  Besigheim, Hochwachtturm
Besigheim, the high place at the confluence of Enz and Neckar. Local adoptation of the 'from pillar to post' saying: from Hochwachtturm to Waldhornturm. The historic center is strung out between those two towers.
The nearby Hessigheim is a sister town of sorts. Main difference, Besigheim has all the shopping malls. The formerly inundation prone river banks on the Neckar side did come in handy. As for Hessigheim, the best you will find is a shop for rent notice. Hessigheim still has the rock garden (actually a cliff.) The rock spur on which the old Besigheim was built possibly an extension of the latter.
|  Besigheim, Hochwachtturm
The bay toilet is clearly visible. Double duty affaire I presume. And what good will it do if you pour boiling oil into an ordinary toilet bowel.
Tocsin and grain elevator will be located at the townward side. Makes sense.
|  Besigheim, Hochwachtturm
Split-leveled roof gables. Timeline: Watch towers are either circled by black crows or by firered double decker planes.
|
 Besigheim, Hochwachtturm
tocsin side
|  Besigheim
old house near Hochwachtturm. Somewhat sceptical in regard to the 13th century date. You do not survive that many fires unscathed.
|  Besigheim
old house
|  Besigheim
mainstreet towards Waldhornturm
|  Besigheim
Kirchstrasse near market square
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 Besigheim
Kirchstrasse. The vineyard shed which looks like a grandfather clock is also in the bridge picture.
|  Besigheim
There are cuckoo clocks and there are Neidköpfe. The one come with little birds and the others with party blowpipes.
|  Waldhornturm
Waldhornturm with viewing platform. To forestall any false expectations, did miss the visiting hours. There will still be enough other opportunities for getting short-winded. Most also confess complete ignorance in regard to the tower name. Roland was Pyrenees. Only good tower anecdote I can remember offhand is the one with all the fat butchers running away from the mouse and thereby causing a tilt. The leaning Pisa tower in question is located in the Rhine valley. Probably built on finest Rhine sand. No longer quite sure which particular errand did bring them to the tower in first place.
Both towers will date back to Staufic period. The free stones with flush edges and central bosse. (The Zähringer were the actual builders but 12th century is correct.)
|  Besigheim, Alte Kelter
Old press house and assembly hall. Location somewhat unusual. All the vineyards are on the opposite river embankments. Usual location of a press house, the lowest point of a particular 'catchment' area. Will concede that it is reasonable central.
|  Besigheim, Rathaus
The high perched City Hall. The town clocks are housed in the respective gables. No special turret needed. Will make for crammed office rooms.
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 Besigheim, Rathaus
The clock face plays it politically safe. All available heraldic arms are included. Wirttemberg (top righthand corner, the particular charge maybe better known from the quartered Porsche logo), Zähringer (bend gules, bottom left), town seal (market rights?, bottom right), imperial eagle (top left).
|  Marktplatz
Boris Becker training session
|  Marktplatz, Dreigiebelhau
Melville, still short of four gables
|  Marktplatz, Dreigiebelhaus
split leveled
|  Marktplatz
the turn of the century shop sign could be rendered as drugstore
|
 Marktplatz
patrician town house
|  Besigheim, Enzside
A backdrop waiting for a script. The row of houses between town wall and Enz were the old 'ban lieu'.
|  Besigheim, jlittlewood-scan Hochwachturm 1929
The salient 'lantern' tower, polygon top, is still there (previous pic). The base looks however differently.
|  Besigheim, Enzside
|  Enzside, Rathaus
The first of the two Littlewood links shows the same motive in 1929. Practically selfsame vantage point. Certainly somewhat humbling.
|
 Besigheim, jlittlewood-scan Rathaus 1929
(broken link to jlittlewood site)
|  Besigheim, Rathaus
|  Besigheim
one more Rathaus view
|  Besigheim
best guess: vineyard sign language
|  Besigheim, Enzside
"Komsomol" bridge. Construction apparently a six month job. Not bad for a piece of civilian engineering. As an aside, spelling still very much everyone's guesswork. You might get hanged for heresy but not for creative transcription. Fair exchange. - Ok, do not think that it was actually built by the Leningrad Komsomol. Wrong date for once. Wrong coat of arms too. (Zähringer claim marker.)
|
 Besigheim, vineyards
Enz upstream view
|  Besigheim, vineyard
Downstream view, the Enz flows into the Neckar behind the bridge. The next village behind the promontory is Walheim.
|  Besigheim
Hochwachtturm, church and castle, the consolidated view.
|  Besigheim
house with semi hipped roof
|  Besigheim
Enzside, town wall level -
corner house with bracket lantern
|
 Besigheim
Geranium bin. Mild paranoia: It will be noticed that this flower receptacle comes with the colors of the Staufic liege bond (the Austria and Switzerland colors). In this case cleverly disguised as traffic marker. And now it should be clear why barber shops should be avoided at all costs when you have to pass on classified information. Incidentally, the Staufer were also the inventors of the window shutters. After a hard day of tournamenting you simply have to hang up your battle shields somewhere. Dragon boat solution also on record.
[The liege bond background is conjectural.The Tell flag could conceivably also stand for a Cox-Orange Renette perforated by a quarrel. In any case some modifications. No such doubts for the matching Dannebrog. Official birth certificate, the skies of Tallinn just openend in 1219 and the token fluttered down. Most favored battle status nearly garantied. Comment Valdemar II: that Barbarossa is a sneaky one. And how was I supposed to know that the ...
|  Besigheim
House of a former first citizen. The fill-ins obviously not intended for publication. Usual mix of broken roof tiles and rubble. The particular name of the beautifying magic: rough cast. The stucco and plaster of Paris refinements came later.
|  Besigheim
house of a former first citizen
|  Besigheim
no idea how he got there
|  Besigheim
daring cat burglar - not sure where you can buy the fancy gecko hands
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