We had a 40 minute drive into Darmstadt to visit the Mathildenhöhe Artist Colony. The enlightened local ruler founded the campus just before 1900 to foster arts. The place has a very good reputation now because the founders of a couple early 20th Century architecture movements, one of them the Bauhaus movement, went to school here. The school got another boost when Darmstadt was flattened in WWII and the city needed quick solutions to rebuild.
We toured the museum, walked the grounds, visited the Russian Orthodox Church on the grounds (not sure why that denomination), and went up the tower to look over the city.
It was just a few blocks to the Waldspirale. The literal translation is “forest spiral.” It is a large apartment building with a floor plan in a large U shape. At one end of the U it is about 3 stories high. At the other end it is 11 stories. That's the spiral. The forest is because there are trees growing on the roof. A main description of the place is delightfully funky. I don't think any two windows are the same, some appear oddly positioned. The outside is painted in bands of color. And... well enough of words. Pictures are better.
We bought food at the next door Aldi's for lunch. Then drove the rest of the afternoon heading north (well, northeast then northwest because no highway goes directly north from Frankfurt). We are now in Bad Salzuflen which is close to a few more ancestral villages. We'll be here three nights.
Not far from the hotel in the middle of town was a festival of some sort. I saw lots of booths set up, and saw a couple offered food. So we waded into the crowd. I soon realized all the rest of the booths sold only drinks. So, a German party where everyone drank. No thanks.
We went to an Indian restaurant for supper. Niece will suggest this style of food every chance she gets. Brother used to have clients nearby so has been in town before and even to this restaurant. We had pleasant seats outside with grape vines hanging from the beams over our heads. The temperature was a delightful 75F. Alas, 20 minutes passed before our order was taken and well over an hour after that before we were served. It wasn't just us. I saw people at three other tables tap watches as they complained about the slow service.
Because of the slow service I didn't have time to go through photos to go with already written posts.
I could hear the band playing at the party well into the night.
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