This Extremely Old House

[JR]

I'm currently travelling in Europe on business. I finagled a day off to visit my brother in Heidelberg. He needed a little help with a project he's working on, installing base boards. We spent a couple of hours doing some work so the homeowner could go in to finish the oak floors this weekend.

The project is a remodel of a four-story house in Altstadt (Old Town) Heidelberg. The house is an unknown number of hundreds of years old. I know a few people did military service in Germany and these views from the balcony may be familiar.

In this photo you can see the signature twin mushroom domes of the guard house at the old bridge - about 75 meters away.


In this photo you can see the main church and the back of the Rathaus (City Hall) - the main squre is about 150 meters away.

I don't have a pic of the famous Schloss (castle) but it's only about 500 meters up the hill. The house is a mish-mash of construction techniques used over the years. It's being fully updated inside, with new oak floors milled from old beams, new slate fireplace, a little elevator, etc. The homeowners quarters will be on the third and fourth floors, with rental apartments on the first two floors.

Naturally, in an ancient city like Heidelberg, there are many restrictions as to the outside treatment. It's well worth the hassle, though, because it's a wonderfully charming city, with narrow cobbled streets and historic monuments. To be in this part of the city, which dates to the 1300's, is very special.

I was stationed in this area in the '70s, so this is a very nostalgic visit for me.

Just thought I'd share...

JR

[crokett]

Wow! That is an old house. I am used to 'old' being 150yrs or so. Heck, in the U.S. a 200yr old house is ancient.

Great pictures though and certainly those are some beautiful sights to see.

[michael.scheller]

Ich lang, in Deutschland wieder zu leben. Ich habe in Katzenbach nahem Landstuhl für 6 Jahre gelebt. Volksmarches, Bier, Speise und Freunde waren sehr besondere Erinnerungen.

[crokett]

Ich lang, in Deutschland wieder zu leben. Ich habe in Katzenbach nahem Landstuhl für 6 Jahre gelebt. Volksmarches, Bier, Speise und Freunde waren sehr besondere Erinnerungen.

Michael, I got as far as you lived in Germany for 6 years and assume the reference to beer is you miss the German beer.

For the rest, here is what babelfish spit out:

I long to live in Germany again. I lived in cat brook close land chair for 6 years. Volksmarches, beer, meal and friends were very special memories.

Cat brook close land chair

[WoodButcher26]

Michael, I got as far as you lived in Germany for 6 years and assume the reference to beer is you miss the German beer.

For the rest, here is what babelfish spit out:


Cat brook close land chair

I think he's talking about the village of Katzenbach, near the town of Landstuhl. That's near the city of Kaiserslautern. I lived in Landstuhl while I was stationed in Germany a few years ago, absolutely loved it. I miss a lot of things about Deutschland, but I miss the food the most...would do a lot for a GOOD schnitzel about now. Found a lot of poor imitations, but no good ones.


Kim

[crokett]

Ahh... that makes more sense. Thanks

[JR]

Wow! That is an old house. I am used to 'old' being 150yrs or so. Heck, in the U.S. a 200yr old house is ancient.

Yeah, you're right, David. Heck, in California it's pretty rare to find anything from pre-WWII.

It snowed here last night, and the place is just about as charming as can be.

BTW - funny translation!

JR

[Tom Slick]

it's always strange to look at a building then realize the United States of America didn't exist when it was built.
The oldest stuff out in Calif. was built by the spaniards in the 1700's. over in Europe on the other hand you can look a buildings that are multiple centuries old.

Thanks for the pics and post!

[JSCOOK]

Ah, Deutschland .... I've been in Heidelberg ... seeing the pictures bring back a lot of memmories!

My wife's side is from Germany (parents moved here about 30 years ago) ... and we've travelled Germany extensively when we've been there ... lots of relatives to visit .... and being a graduate of Architecture, I've absolutely love being there, and if the right opportunity ever presents itself, l'd move there in a heartbeat for several years just for the experience and culture ... but everything other than beer I find to be very expensive, well built, but expensive.

Speaking of old buildings, when we were in Rudesheim, we got to see part of Bromserburg Castle which dates back to 1000 ~ 1050 AD ... not a single door or window was striaght!



Were we live now in Kitchener, Ontario has the LARGEST german population outside of Germany ... our city Kitchener was originally called Berlin up until WW1 when they change it's name ... the surrounding villages and towns are stll named after those there ... BTW we have a Heidelberg, Mannheim, New Hamburg, etc ...

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