Wanderings and Ramblings : Hanging Out at the Mannheim Water Tower

Earlier this week, the kids and I trekked over to Mannheim for an appointment. Unfortunately, we got there to find out the group session had been cancelled, and no one had thought to notify us. Fortunately, that left us with some time on our hands to go down to what was both Marika and Rio's favourite "hang out" spot when they attended school in Mannheim--the water tower.

Mannheim was pretty much flattened during World War II. The huge, baroque palace has been rebuilt--but it "feels" a little bit like the new material that it is. Most of the rest of the city is a very orderly (always was, this city was built on a grid system in the early 1600s! no little winding streets here), and rather ugly and utilitarian, compared to the rest of the country. The exceptions are Luisenpark (which I have never been to, there is an admission fee, and we just never seem to get to it--hmmmm, maybe a field trip, and blog post are in order!) and the Water Tower area.

The "Wasserturm" is considered the main landmark in Mannheim. A little bit of history that did survive the war. It sits at the base of the main shopping district, with the large, old theatre on one side and the train station just down the street on the other.

Here is a more close up view:

All around it, are pretty gardens, and trees, with a smaller fountain on the "city side" (as you see in the photo above) and a large fountain, and more park like space on the side you come up to as you drive into Mannheim from Heidelberg:

It's just a really calm, pretty area with lots of shady spots, lovely flowers, and places to cool your feet on a hot day. On pretty much any nice weather day you will find a few hundred residents of all ages relaxing on the grass or on the waters edge.