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Detour into the Principality of Liechtenstein

When I first started this blog some years ago, I began by committing to my own photos, stories and historical explanations of places located exclusively in Germany, beginning with Stuttgart, where I was living at the time. Well, although there are still hundreds of more possibilities within the state of Baden-Württemberg alone abo ut w hich much can be written and photographed, I have decided that it is time to throw in a couple of locations not only outside of this state, but the Federal Republic altogether.  So, I am starting this out by presenting a place I had always wanted to visit when I was a kid. A place that not only has its own princely family, but also a real castle in which they live. A postage-stamp sized place that can be seen all in one day if you really want to cram everything in - not advised. Is it Monaco, home to the late Princess Grace, or perhaps the co-principality of Andorra? (Did you even know Andorra had "co- princes"?) Nope, it's bigger than M
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Eppingen of 'Fachwerk' Fame

The first photo in this blog entry is of the oldest Fachwerkhaus in Eppingen  as well as the entire region itself. Built in 1412, this structure must have fascinating stories to tell from the past of more than 600 years, and it is still lived in today!  It was such a pleasure to arrive in Eppingen and to find only then that this town was on the " Fachwerk  map". I have long been attracted to this beautiful form of architecture so it came as a wonderful surprise to me when I encountered so many examples of it still shown in many of the town's buildings. And, to make things even more exciting for this  Fachwerk  enthusiast, I found myself on a walkway into town from the train station lined with specific examples and explanations of the craft, as you can see below:      "Fränkischer Mann" ( Franconian Man ) "Raute" (* Hashtag *) "Wilder Mann" ( 'Wild Man' ) Corner piece When looking for somewhere i
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Ettlingen - that pretty town near Karlsruhe where Napoleon once slept

Ettlingen is approximately 10 kilometers by bike from my home in Durlach, which means little less than 30 minutes at my rate of pedaling. The bike path is clearly laid out with good signage, is quite easy (with a few minor inclines and fun dips) and altogether a lovely ride which takes me through wooded area and strawberry fields along the way.  Together with Durlach and Heidelberg, as well as many other communities on the right bank of the Rhine River across from French Alsace, Ettlingen suffered almost total destruction by fire at the hands of Louis XIV's troops during the Nine Years War (known in Germany as the War of the Palatinate Succession). The town's most well-known patroness, the Margravine Sybille-Augusta von Baden-Baden , widow of the famed Türkenlouis , Margrave von Baden-Baden, had the town rebuilt following the war and made the palace at Ettlingen her seat of power in her dowager years. Much of the city owes its present-day charm to the late Margravine.
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