I've spent a little time in Wetzlar for my job. I always liked the town but never had much time to run around and see the sights because I was working. So, I told myself that someday I'd be back.
So it came to pass that in that time, when my sabbatical came up, I went to Wetzlar and goofed off for a couple of days. I stayed at the Wetzlar Bugerhof, a nice, reasonably priced hotel that's not a tourist trap. The place is situated in the old post office, on a large park. It's right up the hill from the Cathedral, or Dom, and the hotel is nicely situated for excursions into the heart of the old city.
Here's the Dom. This is the Gothic section of the church.
The city was a walled fortress in the dark ages, eventually becoming the seat of the supreme court. The catherdal was started as an abbey, then reconstructed as a gothic twin towered church. This part of the structure is very ornate and it's built of red sandstone. Only one of the towers was built before money got tight. When construction restarted, new cews went to work and a new, lighter type of stone was laid down. The architectural style changed, too, moving through the styles of "baroque" to "rococo". It's an interesting structure. Click here to see another photo that shows the two types of building styles.World War Two passed the city by and there are many interesting examples of "half-timbered" architecture have survived in Wetzlar. Many of the structures have "guild marks" carved into the woodwork. The guild marks show the date that the building was constructed and the guild that was involved. Notice that the timbers often have pronounced curves in them.
There are times when a 20mm lens isn't wide enough
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