Weekend in HD

Caught the train after work last Friday to Heidelberg to stay for the weekend with Doris and Richard, the plan being to then play golf near Heidelberg on the Saturday.

Saw six-month old James Gordon for the first time, the new addition to the Brewis family. What a charmer. His proud parents said he'd be going on solids for the first time this coming week, which is when the fireworks will really start as regards nappy-changing.

Anyway, the golf was a good laugh. We (Rich, Steve, German friend Phips and I) went to Baden GC near Östringen-Tiefenbach situated in the Kraichgau. We all hadn't played for a while and were hence a bit rusty, though some more rusty than others. I was vying throughout with Steve for the prize for the number of golf balls lost. Phips was less wayward, but, by his own admission, he's played better. Rich was the best though, cracking it down the middle on most holes. He ended up carding a more than respectable 88.

I earned a few derisory comments - probably deservedly so - for the number of sweaters and jumpers I'd brought with me. The temperature was in double figures, and I ended up played in a t-shirt and pink short-sleeve polo shirt over the top. Caused a right kerfuffle in the car with all them layers flailing around. And they say I bring it on myself.

Later that day, Rich and I adjourned to a Chinese restaurant in Heidelberg for a meal and met up there with Steve, John & Berenice, Rachael and Michael, Ian & Ros, Rob and Keith.

After a leisurely breakfast the next morning with Rich, Doris and James, followed by Championship highlights on ITV1, I said goodbye and Rich kindly dropped me off at Heidelberg Hbf from where I took the train back to Weil.

An interesting photo...

...of that bridge again, taken from today's local paper.

Pictures of the bridge

Taken by the Badische Zeitung

Bridge over the River Rhine

Slight correction to what I reported last week: the bridge over to Huningue will be the world's longest pedestrian bridge. Anyway, it was set into position yesterday, and everything went according to plan. It will be open to the public from 31 December.

Here's a live webcam view of the bridge.

Pedestrian bridge to France

On a happer note, the new pedestrian bridge from Weil to Huningue over the Rhine to France is due to be positioned and set on its foundations this coming weekend.

Starting tomorrow, 8 November, it will be carefully lowered from it's current position in Huningue docks on to pontoons by means of sophisticated hydraulics. Then between 4 and 8 on Sunday morning (12 November ), the bridge will be moved to it's intended location on the Huningue side of the river and from 10am onwards will be turned 90 degrees across the river. It could be quite a spectacle. After all, it's set to become Europe's longest pedestrian bridge. However, I'm off to Freiburg on Sunday to watch SC Freiburg vs. 1. FC Köln, so I'll have to give it a miss.

The bridge is due to open to the public on 31 December.

Here's a description of what's going to happen taken from Weil's official website: http://www.weil-am-rhein.de/servlet/PB/menu/1158206_l1/index.html?pressID=5299&showPressDetails=true&menuLanguage=1

Here's computer image of what the bridge will look like

Mayhem in Lörrach

An item of local news for your attention:

Yesterday morning, a young lady was sighted on the roof of the town hall of neighbouring Lörrach. It was obvious she was contemplating suicide. Macabre and sad spectacles like these always seem to attract throngs of onlookers, and so it was that a hundred of so people - even families - were soon milling around in the square below gazing at the roof of what is Lörrach's tallest building by far.

Amid these scenes, some local teenagers among the crowd, some of them recognised trouble-makers who tend to hang around the Rathausplatz, thought it would be a good idea to shout "Jump!" repeatedly. Unbelievable.

Lörrach's tramps, who regularly hang about in the area between the railway station and the town hall, took exception to this and - to their great credit - confronted the gang of youths. A violent fracas ensued involving more than 40 people. The police waded in to arrest some of the trouble-makers, but were then physically attacked themselves by other teenagers. Six officers were injured, two of them seriously. A dozen teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 are now facing charges. The mind boggles how twisted some people are.

All the while, the girl, aged 21, was still on the roof. Thankfully though, after four hours she was finally persuaded to come back into the building and is now receiving professional help.

Here's a report in German

Pics

Total and utter tangent but here’s a few pics of Weil:

Wine fair in Basle

I nearly didn’t go this time but the people I was due to go with had other plans. But I went anyway all the same.

Anyway, this year’s fair was dominated by lovely Austrian white wines. Lots of Grüner Veltliner and Riesling to try. And the St Laurent red variety too.

After a while, I got round to the stand of “Wii am Rhy”, a fairly new wine shop situated in Kleinbasel. Tasted a nice white from the Pfalz, the 2005 Steinacker Riesling by Weingut Leiningerhof - very tropical and luscious.

PS: Silvia Benzinger of Weingut Leiningerhof was the Deutsche Weinkönigin 2005/2006. The girl at the stand said that Silvia would have attended the fair, but had to cancel at short notice. Gah!

Golf

Weil now has a new attraction. An indoor golf centre called "Greenpoint" opened at the beginning of October, and I tried it out yesterday.

I arrived to find I was the only one there - on a Sat morning - so there isn't much word on the street about it yet. The actual facilities were quite impressive: landscaped with an artificial grass surface, with a small pond with a trickling fountain in the middle, a practice green, a bunker, sound effects of twittering birds, plus there was also a netted area for practicing.

It's main attraction though is the simulator where you can "play" the famous golf courses of the world. Herr Banholzer, the retired-looking gentleman who runs the complex, invited me to have a try on it. He loaded up the Old Course at St Andrews for me, and I found myself playing the Road Hole first. You just tee the ball up and let rip. The sensor does the rest, measuring the scientific aspects such as velocity, angle of club approach on the down-swing, etc. My tee shot was a cracker! Second shot landed in Hell Bunker, then I bailed out..... on to the asphalt at the back. Anyway, up to four people can play on it, and it costs EUR 33 for an hour. For extra EUR 10, you can subsequently have your swing analysed on the adjacent simulator. To begin with though, I just paid a tenner for 60 balls for the "driving range".

The new centre has a website, albeit one that's still "in construction":

http://www.greenpoint-weil.de

Europapark

Was at Europapark yesterday. Went on the Silver Star, good fun.

Day 4

Just to prove that I did make it to the end and that this hasn't all been photo-shopped...















An unremarkable road sign, but it marks the end of the Markgräfler Wiiwegli and the finishing line of my journey.

Day 2 & Day 3

Day 1

Markgräfler Wiiwegli

Bit of a break from this blog for a good while. Sorry about the delay, I know you’re all on tenterhooks…

I was on two-week holiday, among other things. Had a lovely time. Went home to see family, then went on a four-day hike (from 8 to 11 October) along the “Markgräfler Wiiwegli (Weinweg)” from Weil to Freiburg, thus completing a trek I’d been wanting to do for a good few years.

The Markgräfler Wiiwegli is a 78-km sign-posted path leading from Weil to Freiburg. It goes through some of the loveliest wine country you’ll ever want to see and also delves occasionally into the Black Forest.

Anyway, I walked the length of it over four days. Here's a brief chronicle of the journey:

Day 1
Start the day (a glorious sunny Sunday morning) in Weil-Ost, where I begin my walk. Beautiful views and smells await: harvest is in full swing and the vineyards reak (pleasantly) of wild yeasts in the air. After a scorching July, tempered by a rainy and cool August, September was unsually warm and wet. By that time, the grapes were well ripened. The warmth and the rain in September, however, caused them to split and, consequently, rot. This is when winemakers need to act quick to save their year's work. Various harvesting teams were out that Sunday hand-picking (main red Spätburgunder grapes).

Five hours later, I eventually got to the end of the first day's walk in Blansingen, where friends Pete and Nicole kindly put me up for the night.

http://www.wandermagazin.de/media/archive/1158.pdf

Day 2
An evening of Neuer Wein (Sauser), proper wine, beer and schnaps took it's toll that Monday morning - another lovely cloudless and warm day. After a slight rigmarole with a blister on my left foot, I eventually departed at midday and set off for Müllheim, the next evening's stop.

Everything was going swimmingly with pretty views of the Rhine and the Vosges and me starting to shake off the hangover when disaster struck. Just north of Bad Bellingen I decided to have a short sit-down on a bench in the middle of a field and enjoy the view. The problem was that I left my non-digital camera on said bench and didn't realise I'd done so until around 40 minutes later as I was approaching Schliengen. Bugger. Virtually ran back to the bench but the camera was gone. Bugger. Some passers-by however said I should go back down to Bad Bellingen town hall in case someone had handed it in. I followed their advice, and, hey presto, some honest soul had indeed handed it in!

Subsequently decided to quit while I was winning (I was knackered already) and went back to Weil to sleep.

http://www.wandermagazin.de/media/archive/1159.pdf

Day 3
To make up for not reaching Müllheim the day before, I planned to take the early train back to Bad Bellingen and then continue where I'd left off, though not just to Müllheim but to the third stop: Staufen. What a day! I reached my destination over 7 and a half hours later, knackered but extremely satisfied. Another glorious day, if somewhat hazy. The main stretch between Müllheim and Staufen, in particular, took in all the best that Markgräflerland has to offer: vines, Black Forest, cosy villages, the feeling that time had stood still.

So, I got to Staufen, where I stayed at the Gasthaus und Hotel zum Hirschen. After an evening meal at the Kornhaus, I retired for the night and hit the sack at 9.30pm.

http://www.wandermagazin.de/media/archive/1160.pdf

Day 4
The last gasp. Well, not quite. Wasn't going to Mordor, or anything, but it felt like it somehow. Another sunny start, but it was one of those inversion weather days when there's pea-soup down in the Rhine valley. Firstly flirted with the Black Forest again, then eventually reached the village of Ehrenstetten where it was suddenly foggy, though still mild. Visibility was barely 50 metres, and I subsequently almost got lost on a vineyard between Kirchhofen and Ebringen (see link to map below). Eventually found my way though and after about five hours and a wrong turnng into the woods south of Freiburg, I finally made it to the finishing post. Was expecting some sort of sign saying that "this is the beginning/end of the Markgräfler Wiiwegli", but all I saw was a sign with the distance in kilometres to Staufen where I'd come from, plus an Eiscafe across the street. Had a "Rothaus Tannenzäpfle" beer there and a Stracciatella, then got the train home.

http://www.wandermagazin.de/media/archive/1161.pdf

Some photos in my next entry..

Côtes de Weil 2

Weiler Schipf is the steep vineyard overlooking town. Back in the 18th century there was an earthslide on this hill that took away a huge portion of vineyard. This was probably caused by the predominantly clay soil and non-porous sandstone underneath becoming saturated with rain. True story!

It is probably no coincidence that the word for “to slide” in the local dialect (Alemannisch) is “schlipfen”.

The main grape varieties in this vineyard are the Pinot varieties, and especially Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder). Facing south to southwest and situated close to the buildings in town below, Weiler Schlipf is a heat trap. With average temperatures and precipitation similar to the levels found in Germany’s warmest town, Ihringen, by the Kaiserstuhl, grapes have little difficulty ripening here.

Côtes de Weil

Apart from the aforementioned chair fetish, Weil still has a lot to offer. Statistically, the southwest along the Rhine valley is the warmest and one of the sunniest regions in Germany. In turn, the area in Switzerland around Basle is the warmest and sunniest part of the country, if you take Sion and the Rhône valley out of the equation.

It goes without saying that wine growing has a long tradition here. Weil’s vineyards are situated on the western face of the Tüllinger Hügel (hill) which separates Weil from the town of Lörrach. First you have “Weiler Schlipf”...











...situated on the south-southeastern spur of the hill, then comes “Haltinger Stiege” a bit further on north-westwards, then the hill forms a slight basin and then curves round into a steep south-facing slope up to the village of Ötlingen. The vineyard on this slope is “Ötlinger Sonnhole”:











There is another named vineyard situated on the other side of the hill called “Tüllinger Sonnenbrunnen”, but that one belongs to Lörrach.

Details of grape varieties, soils, etc. in my next post.

Chairs (lots of them)

So, like I was saying, Weil has made a bit of a name for itself thanks to it's chair-making industry. As a way of doffing their proverbial caps to this fine art, the marketing brains at the Weil Business & Tourist Information Office came up with the novel idea of strategically placing oversized designer chairs at street corners, outside shops and restaurants throughout town. Some of these specimens are so big you would need some form of climbing equipment to clamber on to them. Others are more modest in size but no less awkward to sit on. Personally I find the chairs add a nice quirky touch to Weil.

However, there is, I believe, a danger of overplaying this aspect. This was the case in July 2000, when Weil entered the Guinness Book of Records with the record for the world's longest unbroken row of people sitting on chairs. I don't know exactly what the final distance was that was achieved, but the record attempt started at the Vitra museum situated near an approach road and ended by the town hall right in the centre of town: maybe a mile and a half or so. I remember that day clearly, walking with a bemused look on my face past a long row of Germans sitting on chairs and listening to the strains of DJ Ötzi bellowing from a hastily erected stage.

Since then, there have to date been no more record attempts to speak of.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. First of all, a quick summary: I live in Weil, Germany’s most south-westerly town situated on the border with Switzerland and the city of Basle. Weil am Rhein – to give the town its full name – is known primarily for its chairs and its design museum. Chairs, because the German chair-making company Vitra has its headquarters here. Museum, because the Vitra Design Museum is based here. The museum building was designed by Frank O. Gehry, supposedly the same bloke who designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

Weil (pronounced “vile”) has been my home for almost six and a half years, and I’ve grown curiously fond of the place in that time. It’s hard to put my finger on it, though maybe it’s a combination of living on the doorstep of Basle, where I work, but living away from it all in a different country altogether. With 30,000 inhabitants, Weil is neither small nor big. However, it seems a lot more bustling than other towns of that size, probably because of the influx of foreign visitors who come here to purchase their weekly groceries. Walk into the town centre on a Saturday morning and the roads are chocker with Swiss and also French-registered cars. Thanks to this additional clientele, Weil's retailers are in a privileged position compared with their counterparts from most other German towns.

Are your eyes are glazing over? Sorry!

Watch this space for more cutting-edge insight from Weil am Rhein.