Rhodt unter Rietburg Local Custom Tips by Trekki

Some Berliners live here?

I don’t have the slightest idea why one of Berlin’s icons, the Ampelmann, is decorating parts of the pavement in Rhodt, but... it is there and funny enough, the little men form a path which leads to the centre of town. I have asked several locals if they know the story behind these cute guys but none had an idea. A mystery still to be solved!

The Ampelmann is a famous icon of Berlin, our capital city. It was once designed in Eastern Berlin and used throughout all ex-GDR. After the reunification, Berlin locals were up in arms at the idea that it would be replaced with the boring European symbol for pedestrian crossings. Luckily the protests were heard and now it is the official symbol at all electronic pedestrian crossings. Some western cities even adopted it.

Update, August 2012:
Thanks to Heike Lang, the friendly woman at Rhodt's tourist office, I have the story behind these cute little icons on the pavement: they are indeed meant to guide the visitors into the centre of Rhodt. And this is why I saw them on the pavement near our parking place.
The story is: follow the little men on the pavement and... you'll be there soon.

© Ingrid D., August 2011.

continue with next review

Creative decoration of distribution boxes

Already on our way from the parking lot to Rhodt’s centre and Theresienstrasse we saw these distribution boxes which are painted all over with wine and fruits and other colourful motifs. We saw even more in Theresienstrasse! After some research in www I found out that these paintings have been initiated by Rhodt Academy (unfortunately no website), when artist students have been inspired to paint 20 of these boxes with motifs representing “Mediterranean fruit garden”. I love the idea, homage to the very much Mediterranean climate in the region and the diversity of southern European fruit which grows here.
Rhodt’s tourist office provides a map with locations of each of these 20 boxes; a walking path through the village connects each of them.

© Ingrid D., August 2011.

continue with next review