february '17: run me through kronberg.

the pond in victoriapark.

kronberg is a very exclusive & expensive little town on the outskirts of the taunus mountains. its exclusiveness also means that it's a very charming place where the quality of life is on high-ranking level. the medieval inner core is especially appealing, but so are the 19th century villas you can find all over the place. while i don't want to live here ( lease costs are exorbitantly high ), it's always nice to visit, though and take a stroll through the little alleyways of the old city. this time around i ventured outside of the inner core to explore more of this little town and that's what you'll get to see now :)

emperor friedrich memorial inside victoriapark. the park is named after emperor friedrich III's wife empress victoria ( obviously ), mother to emperor wilhelm II. she lived in kronberg until her death in 1901.

the park is rather small, but it was lovely nonetheless, albeit a bit dreary due to cold winter weather.

the gate house is part of the main entry to friedrichshof castle, the widow domicile of empress victoria. i didn't enter the property, though, i was unsure if it was allowed, since the castle now is a hotel and a luxury one at that. we all know how much rich people like it when totally random & normal people intrude their respective territories, so i stayed away from testing out those waters.

instead i continued my path around kronberg, taking photos of all kinds of architecture.

this was part of a driveway gate, which i really liked. no matter where you were standing looking at this gate, it always looked different. i love when a basic commodity is designed in such a sculptural way. it really enhances something that's actually mundane & commonplace.

this is the actual gate ( well part of it ). the visual aspect was really intriguing.

of course there was also your average residential dwelling, only with interesting details such as these massive orange balconies.

& villas with a contemporary touch.

this is the style i see everywhere nowadays, whenever a new house pops up. minimalist luxury? i really don't know what they call this style of architecture... 

i ventured my way to the medieval core. loved these dead tree details above a shop window! in case you didn't know, i have a 'slight' infatuation with everything wood related. in fact, the word baumtod in my url means tree death, or dead tree, depending how you want to look at it. i really like the look of dead wood and its structures.

timber frame vs modern facade on the schirn plaza.

this interesting building is a mix of church, shopping mall & museum. it's called streitkirche ( dispute church ) because it was directly erected next to the evangelical church st. johann and this caused huge disputes between the two religious orientations back in the day. also, the strange layout of the church is actually very debatable.

intricate wood carvings on house gables.

looking up to kronberg castle which was built in the 1220ies to 1230ies. this castle wasn't open either, so i ditched taking more photos of it. no castle luck was with me on that day :P

this little dwelling is the hellhof - a former residence of knights. it's situated directly at the foot of the castle mountain, and it's assumed that it had guarding purposes for the castle. nowadays it's an event location.

the view down to kronberg & into the main river valley.

for some buildings i cannot identidy their functions or determine their architecture. this building has such a train station feeling to it, but in a very medieval, maybe renaissance kind of way. it is not a train station, actually seems to be a residential building.

what i really like about medieval city centers are that the houses are really tiny and always lined up very closely. like this little house, that was squeezed between two more houses.

old timber framed houses & stone walls, you have a few keys to my heart ( which is a heart that needs millions of keys, haha ).

sometimes you have to squeeze through teensy alleys to continue your path on the other side.

 on the other side.

i basically want to move into every timber framed house there is.

i always wonder how cars actually fit inside these tiny streets. the owners must have some real ranking skills.

medieval houses are just perfect for still life shots.

grey, white & red house. let me move in, please? this is so pretty.

the zehntscheune ( tithe barn ), another event location. tithe barns were used for storing rent & tithes, something that was very typical in northern europe.

i loved the mix of modern & medieval elements here.

schulgarten ( school garden - a tiny little park ) with the post-modern arcade building in the background.

villa bonn, the city hall of kronberg. it was built in the early 1900s and is a mix of timber framed medieval architecture & art nouveau.

next to the city hall you could find another interesting structure. a lot of the houses in kronberg are a mix of old & and new, which is exactly my cup of tea. unconventional buildings are what makes a city so interesting, right?

i met a cat on my way to the cemetery. she actually seemed to be sick, but i couldn't help myself cuddling a little with her. all she wanted was some loooove.

yes, i couldn't leave without visiting a cemetery. cemeteries always let me gravitate towards them, no matter what and no matter how unpromising a cemetery might feel at first. this one in thalerfeld housed a very outstanding mortuary building.

concrete & stone bricks.

it reminded me of the church st. mauritius in wiesbaden ( to be seen here ), but of course this building had a totally different vibe to it & the function is clearly a different one. it was still a very beautiful building! not a bad place to hold burials.

i had a hard time shooting decent pictures, though.

i really do like these photos, though, because of the inside/outside components flowing into each other. can you tell what is inside & outside? it blended beautifully.

here's a better picture of the interior. it was suffused with light coming from the beautiful stained glass windows.

you also had a real good view onto the inner city of kronberg with the castle on top of the hill. i know, dead people can't really appreciate this view anymore, but duh, what a beautiful place to find eternal piece.

i soon made my way back to my car via such tiny paths through allotments.

i'm pretty sure i will revisit kronberg again & also the surrounding communities. there is still a lot to uncover.