Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home

Posts from the ‘Spring’ category

T10 Slow wet tracks to Trier

E09

Travel day 10, Europe day 9.

An atmospheric low-pressure system is stuck between a low over northern France and a high over the Baltic states. The “stuck” low moves slowly over a region, but drops a lot of water in quick time.

Heavy rainfall in southwest Germany today disrupted surface traffic, including cutting off in places a key interregional and interstate rail route between Saarbrücken (Saarland) and Trier (Rheinland-Pfalz). With the route hugging the bank of the Saar river, dislodged trees and minor slides cut the route in several places, even though the swollen Saar didn’t wash out the tracks. What is normally 90 minutes with a single train took over 5 hours with a delayed train from Saarbrücken that stopped abruptly in Dillingen, a flow of pax to replacement bus service to Mettlach, and finally, single-track train service to Trier.

As of writing, maximum river heights/depths have yet to be reached as rain continues to fall, and areas of reported flood damage will broaden over this Pentecost holiday weekend.

From DWD’s WarnWetter weather warning app, at 1455h: deeper the red, the heavier the rain. It’s purple on today’s assigned route between Saarbrücken and Trier.
1555h: this dislodged tree (upper left) just south of Saarburg affected the northbound track, reducing all traffic in this area to single-track. I’m on a northbound train on the southbound track.
At this part of the Moselle-river bank in Trier is a Hochwasser (lit., “high water”) or flood alert. The symbol/sign: no vehicles beyond this point.
1838h: the Moselle is a “wae high” against the bank.
2207h, from website of Germany’s national flood reporting centre. Green: good; yellow-orange: caution; red: danger; purple: it’s bad.

I made three images above with an iPhone15 on 17 May 2024; the first and final images are screen captures. All listed times are in the CEDT time zone. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

T09 SB: VĂślklingen Ironworks, WHS

E08

The massive industrial facility providing wealth, economic growth, and stability in the bilingual Saar region went from a duration of many decades, to a new form of sustainability including art and museum space, as well as an industrial park to highlight its 1994 inscription as UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site covers an area of almost 7.5 hectares (185 acres).

The ironworks, located to the southwest of VĂślklingen train station.
“Kunstfabrik” (art factory), by jaume, 2022.
“Tenemos miedo a las nubes”, by e1000 (2024) for Urban Art Biennale.
“Black is beautiful!”, by Jef Aérosol (2014), for Urban Art Biennale.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 16 May 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

T08 SB: Blieskastel’s Oppenheimers

E07

My visit to Blieskastel’s city archives taught me there were many who shared the surname Oppenheimer. As future immigrant to Canada and becoming Vancouver’s 2nd mayor, David Oppenheimer (1834-1897) grew up in the house at Kardinal-Wendel-Straße 58. Seeing in-person at the city archives the book containing Oppenheimer’s birth certificate was “historic.” A number of David’s relatives including his mother are buried in the city’s modest Jewish cemetery.

Not related to David’s family was Anna Oppenheimer who once lived in the house at Kardinal-Wendel-Straße 62 in the early 20th-century. The Stolperstein (stumbling stone) embedded in the cobblestone outside the latter address tells us Anna was deported by NS-forces in 1940 and died on the way to Theriesenstadt.

With a total population of about 20-thousand, Blieskastel is served by hourly-frequency regional-trains with a 30-minute trip from SaarbrĂźcken (SB).

Kardinal-Wendel-Straße 58, where David Oppenheimer spent his childhood.
Kardinal-Wendel-Straße 60-62: another Oppenheimer family, not related to David’s.
Book containing David Oppenheimer’s birth certificate (Stadtarchiv).
David Oppenheimer, born 1. January 1834 in Blieskastel (Stadtarchiv).
Entering the city of Blieskastel in the rural district of Saar-Palatinate (Saarpfalz-Kreis).

I made the images above with an iPhone15 on 15 May 2024. I couldn’t have done this research without the help of R. Berger at the city’s archives. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

T07 SaarbrĂźcken: fresh in the Saar

E06

Located in southwest Germany near the French border, the name of the city is literally “bridges over the Saar (river)”.

These are first-time first-visit observations on a warm muggy late-spring afternoon.

Ludwigskirche (Ludwig Church): city symbol.
SaarbrĂźcker Schloss (SaarbrĂźcken Castle).
Southeast view from the castle wall over the Saar river.

I made all images above with 0.5x digital-zoom on an iPhone15 on 14 May 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

T06 Heidelberg: Church of the Holy Falcons Featured

E05

The Church of the Holy Spirit stands tall over Heidelberg’s Market Square. But up top its central steeple is an annual springtime renewal: a new family of falcons.

For a number of years, volunteers have managed the “nest box” in the steeple above the clock face, and run the Wanderfalken website. A couple of falcons pair up, mum lays eggs in the cozy church box on high, and parents raise the chicks over a timescale of weeks: until the chicks “disappear” in flight. All of this is in view of everyone who has Internet access.

The nest’s entrance faces “out” to the east, as seen in “Webcam 1” with Heidelberg’s Karlsplatz and Kornmarkt visible. Webcam 2 faces “in” to the “back” of the box, and Webcam 3 from the outside faces west to the roost next to the entrance.

Church of the Holy Spirit, facing west from Marktplatz (Market Square): 1x digital zoom.
Falcon nest in the square above the clock face. In shadow to afternoon light, you can barely discern the presence of a falcon on the perch. 10x digital zoom.
Perched is a guardian at the gate.
Two sleeping chicks.
Two chicks grooming themselves.

I made the first two images above with an iPhone15 on 13 May 2024, plus remaining same-day screen captures from webcams on the Wanderfalken website. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.