Plauen<\/a>\u00a0Germany is where\u00a0my grandfather, Kurt William Leucht<\/a>, lived from about the age of 4 until\u00a0he left for America at age 18<\/a>.\u00a0 Here are some more sights from Plauen as I explored the area and walked in my grandfather’s footsteps.<\/p>\n The Peace Bridge (Friedensbr\u00fccke)<\/a> is a stone arch bridge built in 1905.\u00a0 The longest span is 90 meters which is nearly 300 feet.\u00a0 It’s one of the largest stone arch bridges in the world!\u00a0 There are no older bridges in the world containing this long of an arch span!<\/a><\/p>\n My grandfather was 9 years old when the bridge construction was finished, so I’m certain he would have marveled at this monster.\u00a0 He lived less than one mile (1.6 km) from this bridge, so he must have at least walked across it and under it as a teenager.\u00a0 Here’s what the bridge looked like in 1906.<\/p>\n And here are a few photos that I took of the bridge while I was there.\u00a0 It’s really quite impressive.\u00a0 Especially when you consider when it was constructed.<\/p>\n It’s quite difficult to get a photo of the entire bridge.\u00a0 It’s really big and there are lots of trees in the area.<\/p>\n The bridge is quite beautiful.\u00a0 The design is very organized and geometrical, but it also has some random elements mixed in.\u00a0 The bridge was badly damaged during the war, but it was restored quickly, even though that took a lot of the limited resources that were available to Plauen after the war.<\/p>\n The Old Magpie Bridge (Alte Elsterbr\u00fccke)<\/a> near downtown Plauen is the second oldest stone bridge in Saxony and one of the oldest in Central Europe.\u00a0\u00a0It was first mentioned in documentation from 1244.\u00a0\u00a0The bridge has gone through many restorations over these many years.\u00a0 You can definitely pick out some sections that are more modern than others.<\/p>\n My grandfather lived about 2 miles (3.2 km) from this old bridge.<\/p>\n It’s a pretty neat bridge and it’s amazing how old it is and that it’s still standing.<\/p>\n Just one block from downtown Plauen and one block from both town squares, overlooking the entire town, sits this old fort or castle<\/a>.\u00a0 I’m not sure which.\u00a0 It’s obviously under restoration right now.\u00a0 But I didn’t see any signage and I can’t find any information on the Internet about it either.\u00a0 Strange.<\/p>\n Whatever it is, it looks pretty awesome.\u00a0 And some of it is buried in what appears to be a hillside.\u00a0 But underneath that dirt, looks to be some really old walls and rooms.\u00a0 This was all completely fenced off for construction, so I couldn’t explore.\u00a0 I’m interested to find out the history of this structure and what exactly tourists in the future will be able to see and explore.<\/p>\n In my previous post, I mentioned Plauen’s textile and lace manufacturing revolution in the early 1900’s.\u00a0 My grandfather wrote this in his journal<\/a>:<\/p>\n After graduating [high school], I obtained a job with Otto-Baum & Son, who manufactured and exported lace.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I’m not exactly sure what type of work he did or how long he did it, though.\u00a0 While I was in Plauen, I was unable to find any listings or address for this Otto-Baum & Son company, but I’m guessing that in 1913 or 1914, when my grandfather was 17 or 18 years old, small family run lace businesses were all the rage.\u00a0 The population of Plauen actually peaked in 1912 due to the textile and lace industry there.<\/p>\n So it would have been an absolute crime for me to skip the official Lace Museum (Spitzenmuseum)<\/a> in town!\u00a0 The museum has on display, under glass, beautiful antique lace pieces such as these delicate gloves and scarf:<\/p>\n And some amazing clothing items too.<\/p>\n And also this incredible 1936 wedding dress.\u00a0 Sorry, I didn’t catch the dates on any of the other clothing items.\u00a0 I’m a dude.\u00a0 That’s my excuse.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n I’m guessing that this is a tablecloth.\u00a0 Very cool.\u00a0 And the display case is also quite impressive!<\/p>\n As a dude, and also as an engineer, I was most excited to gaze at the old antique lace making machinery, as opposed to looking at the actual antique lace samples on display.\u00a0 But I believe that guys and gals alike can both appreciate this historical local museum.<\/p>\n So this machine apparently pumped out copy after copy of the same small lace pattern segment.<\/p>\n Here are some examples of the small lace pattern segments so you can see what the machine above produced.\u00a0 These examples are about 6 inches tall or so.<\/p>\n This is the same example, but much closer so you can see the detail.\u00a0 Basically this detail area contains two leaves with decorative honeycomb-like ribbing.\u00a0 Each leaf is about 3\/4 of an inch.\u00a0 Pay close attention to the very short ribs on the right that are spanning between the two leaves.<\/p>\n This is the hand-drawn pattern that the operator used to “program” or to drive the giant machine.\u00a0 The leaves which are actually less than an inch long in real life are about 8 or 10 inches long on this pattern.\u00a0 And the tiny little, just a few millimeters long, ribs that span between the two leaves are an inch or more long on this pattern.<\/p>\n This display shows an example of how some of the lace products had to be stitched together by hand from numerous smaller sections, like a puzzle.<\/p>\n Here is a smaller and portable automated lace making machine.\u00a0 You can see the “programming” of this machine was performed by the long roll of punched paper tape<\/a>.\u00a0 Surprisingly, this punched tape programming technique had been used on looms for over a hundred years<\/a>.<\/p>\n The punched tape has holes in it that tell the machine which needles to move up and down and when to do so.<\/p>\n Here is a close up shot of the linear array of sewing needles on this portable machine that were programmed by the punched tape.<\/p>\n I thought this photo was cool so I took a picture of it.\u00a0 This photo shows the prevalence of factories in Plauen at the height of the textile and lace manufacturing boom.<\/p>\n This display was pretty neat.\u00a0 This particular lace example is very very textured and even three-dimensional.\u00a0 Amazing.<\/p>\n And here is an example of an antique and automated embroidery machine.\u00a0 From this angle, it looks basically like an old sewing machine.<\/p>\n But from this angle, you can clearly see the punched paper tape roll that is fed through the machine to move and control the stitching action.\u00a0 I think the sewing machine stays stationary and the hoop with the fabric gets moved around.\u00a0 Pretty cool.<\/p>\n And here is the final product from the automated embroidery machine.\u00a0 Very nice.\u00a0 Especially for the time period that this technology was invented and used.<\/p>\n I passed<\/a> a nice looking local antique store<\/a> on my way to the town square and I thought it would be fun to check it out and to look for some items that were from the time my grandfather was living in the area.<\/p>\n I considered buying a piece of lace from the early 1900’s, but they were all out of my price range.\u00a0 This antique store had several beautiful samples, though.<\/p>\n I think they were from the worlds fair or something like that.\u00a0 Check out the cool lead seal with the crown embedded in it.\u00a0 That dates it before the first world war, I think the store owner told me.<\/p>\n There were some really cool items in this antique store, but I eventually landed on a vintage harmonica.\u00a0 Apparently my grandfather came over to America with a harmonica in his pocket.\u00a0 On July 22nd of 1914, my grandfather’s first day on the ship that took him to America, he wrote this in his journal<\/a>:<\/p>\n We arrived at\u00a09:00. We were invited to board the ship \u201cVaterland\u201d. […] We noticed that hundreds of people were waving their handkerchiefs and shouting farewell greetings to\u00a0us. We did the same.\u00a0 […]\u00a0 The German homeland disappeared in the distance. […]\u00a0 At 3:00 the call\u00a0to coffee came.\u00a0 After that, there was more activity on deck. Music was made with an accordion, while\u00a0some Bohemian country people were performing their dances.\u00a0\u00a0[…]\u00a0 At 7:00, the bells chimed for the\u00a0evening meal. It became stormier and the ship swayed a little. Despite the disturbance, there was still\u00a0dancing on the deck. I added to the concert with my harmonica. I went to bed at 11:00.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So I thought it might be cool to own an authentic German harmonica from that time period.\u00a0 Here’s the one that I purchased.\u00a0 It’s not quite as old as my grandfather’s, but it’s still very cool.<\/p>\n The case says Liebchen’s Gruss which means Sweetie’s Greeting.\u00a0 And it has a brightly colored sticker showing “sweetie” waving something in the air<\/a>.\u00a0 Possibly a harmonica.\u00a0 The case also says Made In Germany and “Ges. gesch.” which means registered or patented.<\/p>\n The actual harmonica is pretty basic.\u00a0 It’s in good shape, with just a couple spots of rust and no wear marks to be seen.\u00a0 “Liebchen’s Gruss” is etched into both sides.\u00a0 I’m happy with my purchase and I’m glad I noticed the antique store and decided to check it out.<\/p>\n You haven\u2019t quite seen all of\u00a0Plauen<\/a>\u00a0yet!\u00a0 In my next post, we’ll explore some churches and we’ll also explore the neighborhood where my grandfather grew up!<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0So stay tuned!<\/p>\n Thanks for your interest!<\/p>\n Kurt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plauen A few weeks ago after speaking at a software developer conference in\u00a0Berlin\u00a0Germany, I had the opportunity to take several personal days while there and I got to see some of the countryside!\u00a0 It was pretty great! Plauen\u00a0Germany is where\u00a0my grandfather, Kurt William Leucht, lived from about the age of 4 until\u00a0he left for America […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[110],"tags":[499,278,612,40],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3527"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3828,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527\/revisions\/3828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Friedensbr\u00fccke (Peace Bridge)<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Syratalviadukt_1906-1024x375.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1-oldest-stone-arch-bridge-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2-oldest-stone-arch-bridge-1024x339.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/3-oldest-stone-arch-bridge-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAlte Elsterbr\u00fccke\u00a0(Old Magpie Bridge)<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/0-oldest-bridge-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1-oldest-bridge-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2-oldest-bridge-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOld Castle Looking Structure On Hill<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1-old-castle-thingy-on-hill-1024x601.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2-old-castle-thingy-on-hill-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSpitzenmuseum (Lace Museum)<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1-plauen-lace-museum-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2-plauen-lace-museum-1024x978.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/3-plauen-lace-museum-649x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/4-plauen-lace-museum-1024x722.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/5-plauen-lace-museum-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/6-plauen-lace-museum-818x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/7-plauen-lace-museum-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/8-plauen-lace-museum-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/9-plauen-lace-museum-904x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/10-plauen-lace-museum-685x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/11-plauen-lace-museum-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/12-plauen-lace-museum-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/13-plauen-lace-museum-1024x815.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/14-plauen-lace-museum-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/15-plauen-lace-museum-1024x800.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/16-plauen-lace-museum-816x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/17-plauen-lace-museum-1024x825.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAntique Store<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/1-antique-store-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2-antique-store-1024x579.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/3-antique-store-1024x869.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/4-harmonica-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/5-harmonica-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBut wait, there\u2019s even more Plauen to explore!<\/h1>\n