Thursday, July 06, 2023

Braunschweig-Time Part II

 

If you like, here is the second part of the lille book (I only picked the highlights).
 
 Adolph Freiherr von Knigge wrote the "The journey to Braunschweig". It became one of the most-read novels of the 19th century (no, I have not and don´t intend to read it).
It was about a group traveling to Braunschweig to see Jean-Pierre François Blanchard rise with his balloon (Knigge describes it as boring after attending the event).
A real bummer, though, must´ve been when the LZ 129 Hindenburg floated above Braunschweig on March 28th 1936.
 
 
Must´ve been impressive to scary.
 
The Fire Brigade Braunschweig was 2019 the first in Germany having digital blue light.
(Yes, go ahead, laugh - Germany lives behind a rock...)

And when in 17th century you sent a letter, you gave it to the princely Brunswick state post office and Henry took care it arrived safely.
 
 
This one is from 1990 (I moved to Braunschweig in 2001 and sadly never saw one.
Today it´s 85 euro-cent!!! Quite a rise!
From time to time they ask Henry to do the job again, the book says.
I will "catch" him then!
 
You may be familiar with Till Eulenspiegel.
The book reveals he was not funny, rather mean.
Yet...
 

And certainly Kalle is mentioned, Carl Friedrich Gauss, he stands right around the corner from where I type. Just turn left, left, pass the little Gauss-bridge and at the end of the road you find him. He was a mathematician, geodesist, and physicis-guy and for many the friendly-looking man on the 10-DM-note.
 

At age 3 he corrected his father in accountancy. At age 9 he was the fastest pupil  adding the numbers 1 to 100. The teacher thought it´ll take a while. Not for Gauss.
1+100, 2+99, 3+98...makes 50*101=5050, done.
 
They said he could calculate before he could speak.
Reckon you know the Bell curve - his work.

Henry 🦁 I was symbol of...

 
For part I see here, if you like.



18 comments:

River said...

When in 17th century you sent a letter..."
They had stamps way back then? In the 1600's. I did not know that.

River said...

I used to wish I was smarter mathematically and with science too, but I don't care anymore. I understand enough to get by and can manage my money and stay within my budget.That's good enough for me now that I am old.

Iris Flavia said...

Well, I assume the book is right. Let´s simply put it to "a long time ago" :-)
The basics are more important, right!

If Henry resumes his job, you´ll sure find him in your mailbox :-)

Tom said...

...a stamp is way more than pennies these days.

Granny Sue said...

Fascinating! I told a few Til stories back in my storytelling days. I had to pick and choose because as you say he was kind of mean. The Hindenburg actually crashed about 50 miles from where I live. We have visited the crash area. It is quite remote. What a scary, horrible thing to happen. So sad.

Christine said...

Interesting

magiceye said...

'Cultural capital of Europe' in 2010! Wow! Impressive.

CJ Kennedy said...

All fun facts. Henry is so handsome no matter what age

Iris Flavia said...

Tom, yes, it´s ridiculous. I mean.. in times e-mail, e-cards and all that for free...

____

Granny Sue, nice thought mean old Till really was read worldwide.
Oh, what coincidence with the Hindenburg. It must´ve been awful. Is the crash site a museum now?

____

Christine, yes, Braunschweig has some history.

____

magiceye, yes, makes one a tad proud!

____

CJ, Henry sure blushes ;-)

Bill said...

To mail a letter locally here costs €1.45. Very spendy these days if you had to mail something.

Iris Flavia said...

WOW. That is expensive!!

RedPat said...

I don't even know how much it costs to mail a letter here.

Spare Parts and Pics said...

I'd like to read more about Gauss. He sounds fascinating!

Iris Flavia said...

And he was! He was a genius and the whole town is still proud he was a Braunschweig-person!
Often I see tourists stopping at his memorial, reading about him from the signs provided (sadly in German only), they take pics and since a few years he is illuminated in the dark half of the year, too!

Jeanie said...

These are all very interesting. I'd never heard of Gauss. I've enjoyed this post a lot!

Iris Flavia said...

Thank you, Jeanie.
Oh, I thought Gauss is known world-wide.
Poor dude, that, glad I could introduce him to you!

William Kendall said...

Can't recall the last time I mailed anything.

Iris Flavia said...

I did about two weeks ago - but just for fun.