TRAVELS & OBSERVATIONS

Beginning about 40,000 years ago early man was recording their memories in cave paintings. Much later, he began to write poems and prose. But only in the past 100 years has it become possible for us to record and interpret the world around us through photography.

My wish is that these photographs will speak to you of the world as I have seen and experienced it.

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Sunday, June 27, 2010

France - Building Design Details

Each country, and each region, has its particular building designs and the particular details are evident in the building profiles, doors, windows, wells, fountains and more.  But underlying the differences from country to country is the even more remarkable commonality you find in certain features as you travel from country to country.

Following are some examples of Buildings from France.


Sologne, France (15)






Sologne, France (7)
La Courtairie (12)

Water Pumps and Wells of France,
Houssay (10)  Sologne, France (31)
 Houssay (22) Houssay (17)

And, Doors of France,
Tours, France (93) - Copy Tours, France (62) - Copy
Lavardin, France (12) - Copy
Blois (9) - Copy

To see other Building Design Detail photos such as the Door Knockers below,
go to my photography website at: http://glennovinger.smugmug.com/

Tours, France (104) Tours, France (22)

Thursday, June 10, 2010

RETURN TO FRANKENSTEIN

Frankenstein, Saarland, Germany

On June 4, 2010, I returned to Frankenstein, Saarland, in Germany.  It might be more correct to say that I traveled to the village where my earliest known ancestor, Johaan Konrad Nabinger, was born in 1796, because I certainly had never been to Frankenstein before and in fact until recently didn't even know that Frankenstein played a part in our Family History.

One of many Nabinger Tombstones in the Church Cementery 

But Frankenstein, a small village of only a few hundred people, today has 67 telephones registered to Nabingers who are living in or near the town. On June 4 I visited a Mrs. Manfred Nabinger, 80 years old, whose grandfather told her the story of 3 Nabinger brothers moving to Frankenstein from Switzerland in the mid 1600's. Unfortunately, no-one seems to know the names of the 3 brothers.  The story tells of the 3 brothers arriving in Frankenstein where 2 stayed and one brother left for America.

Houses & Gardens of Frankenstein

Today, Frankenstein is a quiet village on a stream through the steep hills of southeastern Saarland.  The highway passes through town and though the railroad passenger station is now closed, one can purchase train tickets from an automatic ticket dispenser for the occasional trains that still stop there.

Above the town stands the ruins of the Frandenstein Fort/Castle, a remnant of the days in the 1600s and early 1700s when the Nabingers left for America to escape the domination of the Palatine (palatinus in Latin, plural palatini). The Palatine was the local high-level official attached to the regional ruler or court.

Since the 1600s Frankenstein and Saarland were at times controled by various rulers from the east in what is now Germany and at other times controlled by rulers from the west in what is now France. At times parts of Saarland were independent.  Today Saarland is a state of Germany and the people are German speaking. Unfortunately, the residents of Frankenstein have little knowledge of what happened to their long lost relatives who left for "America".