Wednesday, June 19, 2013

A visit to Böblingen, Germany

I visited Böblingen, which is known for...well, it's a southwest suburb of Stuttgart.There isn't a huge amount to see in the city of less than 50,000 residents, but apparently there's a butcher's museum there. Darn, I missed it!

I drove into town, which is not my favorite thing to do. Böblingen is rife with speed cameras, so drivers, beware. They had some of the newer ones that I just read about; it looks like a post with black bands (cameras) around it. Apparently those kind can catch several cars at once.

The traffic light system is interesting. I was there on a weekend so many of the traffic lights were dark. However, they're "on demand" traffic lights, so to speak, for pedestrians. They are mounted on the side of the road and there are only two lights: amber and red. When a pedestrian pushes the walk button, the light will turn on and turn to yellow for the car to slow down, then turn to red to allow the pedestrian to cross. There are regular traffic lights that cycle through all of the colors, but those seem to be located at busier intersections.

I took a stroll around the city. In one area, the pavement for the length of a block was painted with figures and decorations like this:

I also walked to the "see" (English: sea). I always feel my lips twitching into a smile when I see signs for German "seas." Many of these are glorified lakes. However, "see" can refer to a lake, as well as even to what I would consider a sea. I walked through the Stadtgarden and gazed upon the beautiful, muddy waters of the glorified ponds, I mean, "sees". The park was rather nice, though, and there are trails that extend from the park for bike riding and walking.


There were a lot of slugs on the path. I recently watching a horrible wildlife video about slugs so I wanted to be nowhere near these two. Yet, oddly enough, I found myself taking a picture of them.


I saw this sign within a sign: Stop [eating animals].
I then finished my 3 mile walk because I was tired after working all day and then driving several hours to get to Böblingen. I'm glad I went out and enjoyed the evening, though.

2 comments:

  1. And to make it even more complicated, "der See" ist "the lake", "die See" is "the sea" :-)

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  2. Great to know the articles and how they tell them apart - thank you :) I do still giggle over pond-sized "lakes." Maybe I'm a bit of a lakes snob because I do come from the Great Lakes state, after all.

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