Another Random Observation About Germany… It took a while to figure out a few things about German naming conventions, and street names are kind of interesting. Our dorm is located in Kandern, on Feuerbacherstraße. Straße, or strasse, translates to street, so when you’re in Kandern, Feuerbacherstraße is the street that leads to Feuerbach. Likewise, when you’re at the other end of that same street in Feuerbach, it’s called Kandernerstraße. Cool, right?
But the street naming convention goes a little bit deeper; when Germans refer to an individual from a certain town, they will add “er” to the end of the name of that town; someone who is from Feuerbach is a Feuerbacher, someone from Kandern is a Kanderner, someone from Freiburg is a Freiburger… So Feuerbacherstraße is the street that a Feuerbacher will walk when he goes home to Feuerbach. Makes perfect sense!
We walked over the hill and ended up in Feuerbach a couple of weeks ago; such a cute little town. Here are a few photos. First one is a sign over a bench that was built to wrap around a tree.
Here is the text from the sign translated to English:
The Resting Bench
She now stands where the place is great
For hikers a true treasure,
The human being is grateful,
The limbs rejoice.
The bank, it is for all here
And therefore we wish,
That all be careful,
Therefore,
So that the next one may rejoice
At the bank, every day.
To you, to us, not to us
That wishes everyone
Family Wakaluk
Basically an invitation for hikers to stop and rest their feet. Very cool, and very typical of people in this area. Now that we’re back in Sioux Falls, I have a mind to build something similar in our front yard for human being passers by to rest and let their limbs rejoice.
The day we made that hike to Feuerbach was a beautiful day, and the clouds were spectacular! This was taken from the top of the hill called Schornerbuck between Kandern and Feuerbach, near the Feuerbacher Höhe.
“Höhe” translates to “height”; usually when you see that word on signs around the Schwartzwald, it refers to the top of a pass or high point with a scenic overlook. It’s not easy to pronounce; I’ve been told that pronouncing the o with the umlaut is like vocalizing a long e sound with your lips pursed like you’re saying “oooo”. Lots of times I’ll see it spelled in English verbiage as “oe” instead of just an o with the umlaut.