All right, what Brainiac decided to say that the town of Appen was 20km from the city of Hamburg, when the place sits right next door? Does that mean from town center to town center?
Who knows? But, what I do know is Appen is the most populated of the towns within the Collective Municipality of Moorrege (Amt Moorrege in German). The first thing that came to mind was how many of Appen’s buildings had seriously sloped roofs.
Ohh, the first tip off that winters around here could be quite snowy. I didn’t see the white stuff first hand, I got the pleasure to see it on a blustery Autumn day in October.
Come to think of it, that’s the perfect time to see De Danzenbarg — a Bronze Age grave mound measuring some 20 meters across surrounded by multi-colored trees. Some of the archaeological finds from this prehistoric graveyard (circa 1500 B.C.) now sit in Schleswig-Holstein’s Archaeological National Museum.
As I’ve said before, this kind makes Appen’s more modern history seem not so historic after all. That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate a castle when I see one.
Who couldn’t appreciate the most minute details put into the construction of the Düneck Castle (in Moorrege). It isn’t a medieval one by any means, this is 19th century construction that looks more like a villa from France than a German fortress. Still, I wouldn’t mind staring at the Winter Garden and all the terra cotta accents all day if I lived here.
Still, Schloss Düneck isn’t even a great engineering marvel. Nope, that honor (I think) goes to the nearby Drehbrücke Klevendeich. It’s a swing bridge built in 1887, whose middle section “swings” out some 90 degrees to let ships navigating the Pinnau River go by. It’s become a national heritage site and is the oldest functional swing bridge in Germany.
Turning it around used to be done by hand. Wooohhh, that must’ve been a lot of work. I guess you need to keep busy to forget about all the snow. ;-)
