A Galileo Thermometer
Wertheim, Germany is at the confluence of the Main and Tauber Rivers. I have seen many glass blowers over the years but not one quite as unique as Hans Joachim Ittig in this small town.
Hans had a wonderful sense of humor and was most
entertaining. He demonstrated how the Galileo thermometers are made. In fact
they are made nowhere else in the world.
Hans is a seventh generation glass blower.
In 1960 his grandfather decided Berlin was getting
too dangerous to live in, so he moved his family to Wertheim. His dad created a
new industry in their new city, and now 1000 people are employed in the glass
industry.
We visited his glass shop for an interesting glass
blowing demonstration while Hans made a small Galileo thermometer. I enjoy the
one I bought and am always amazed at how accurate it is.
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A Popular Legend 
Since ancient Greek mythology, there have been
legends of sirens, woman-creatures who lure sailors to their death with their sweet
songs. The legend is quaint, and I’ve been in a several other places where the
same legend has been capitalized upon.
Ancient Germanic legend places Lorelei, the
beautiful maiden, perched on top of a 440-foot high rock jutting out into the
Danube River.
A few years ago some wealthy person commissioned a
bronze statue of a beautiful maiden with long flowing tresses to be placed on a
point of land jutting into the river a few meters before the Lorelei cliff.
The water was rather shallow that year as the river
was down because of a drought. However, a telephoto lens easily captured the
statue. She looked about the size of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. Both are
much smaller than PR pictures depict and what people anticipate.
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