23 August 2008
Backnang
Morning was the usual bakery run but oh dear, the bakery was closed. A lady pointed us to the other two bakeries. We told her that we are staying in Allmersbach and she immediately knew who our landlord was. It certainly is a small place. Outside the next bakery I spotted a new jam jar on the street. No, not cockney rhyming slang, A woman was in the middle of a bag disaster and some of her shopping was in her car but some of it had managed to escape. Dad returned with the Westies from Backnang station and Richard had a family travelcard. Seizing the opportunity we took the card and the bus and went off to Backnang.
The tourist office was closed but another visitor to the town saw our map containing an historic trail and asked us where we got it from. The answer was, "We got it from here, but on Wednesday when it was open". The trail was something we had never done. On many occasions we had come to town but in search of the doctor or the Max Meyer department store. The long and interesting history had never been a single thought but this time I was more of a tourist. The town had been trashed several times. In 1235 by Henry VII and his dad in a royal power struggle. In 1525 by revolting peasants. At the beginning of the 1600s in the thirty year war, and in 1693 by the French and then the RAF in 1944. Fortunately, somebody kept the plans safe and usually the buildings were restored within a few years. Starting at the town hall there were no less than 31 places on the trail. We started at the town hall which was reconstructed after the French burnt it down. We marvelled at the dreadful reconstruction of the Governor's Office which was just approaching completion. The original half timbered features seem to have been replaced by stucco with a timber effect painted on top. Elsewhere the turbulent history was evident.
The bell tower used to be attached to St Michael's Church in the 13th C. 1519 it collapsed, rebuilt 1614, wrecked again 1693 and rebuilt in 1699 to the 1614 plan and the choir rebuilt in 2000. The Augustinian canonry had become the main protestant church and over their refectory was now the protestant deanery. The Roman Catholics now have a much later unremarkable church further up the hill. At various places along the river and in town the ancient city walls from 1220 can be seen, now a little worse for wear. One stop was Chelmsford Platz which boasts a K6 red telephone box donated by their twin town, complete with pink T-mobile phone. There was also a small post box more usually seen in rural parts of England.
Lunch was at Chelmsford Platz in a pleasant and trendy street cafe of the type that seems to have taken over the centre of Backnang. We also peered in the window display showing the 1964 Telefunken TR4 computer. Memory 4k Words and it fits into a single room! We trekked back up the hill to the station. According to the history trail this line was being doubled and improved at the time that Mr Beeching was taking apart the UK network. We caught the bus and walked back to the house. There was nobody there but an almighty racket of kids was echoing around. We could see a trampoline in the distance being pounded up. After a while we realised that it was the children. When we got closer we saw that the trampoline and swing were in the grounds of Landgasthof Sonne and that it was the grandchildren making all the noise.
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