Pez in Unlikely Places

Today we went to Bad Wimpfen for their six-hundred-and-something-ith Zunftmarkt. Which was an interesting market that hasn't changed for six-hundred-and-something years. In fact, everyone is still wearing their clothes straight out of the renaissance, which happened less than six-hundred-and-something years ago, if I remember correctly (six-hundred-and-something years is a long time, and I might have some details mixed up). I am still trying to figure that anomaly out, that and the one where they take Euros, a currency that has been around for way less than six-hundred-and-something years. Heck, the Euro hasn't even been around for six-hundred-and-something weeks!

Anyway, this six-hundred-and-something-year-old market really isn't important to this story, other than the fact that it was the reason that we were in Bad Wimpfen today. And the fact that we were in Bad Wimpfen today is only important because that's where Bad Wimpfen's Blauer Turm ("Blue Tower" for the non-German-speakers) is located. Which makes a lot of sense, because they would call it Some Other Town's Blauer Turm if it were located in some other town.


When we visited Bad Wimpfen last summer, (when I took this picture of the Blauer Turm) the tower was closed, so we couldn't climb it. Not today! It was open and we were ready to do some aerobic stair training. So we whipped out our Euros and started walking up the stairs. We started to think we were getting a freebie, because there was nobody at the bottom of the tower to collect our money. Maybe we were sneaking by while the ticket seller was in the bathroom or something. Silly us, we only paid if we made it to the top! Which is nice, if you happen to die of exhaustion on the way, at least you didn't have to pay for the bullet that killed you.

(I know the tower looks kind of stubby and short in the above picture. It really is massive, but it looks smalle because of that wacky thing called perspective. That and they build really tall houses in Bad Wimpfen, since the only direction to build is up.)

After plunking down our 1 Euro ($1.32 for the non-Euro-Users-that-happen-to-use-the-US-Dollar), we proceeded to the final couple of steps to the outside. But before we reached the daylight (right before the pointy bits start in that picture), we reached the Pez machine. Why there was a Pez machine inside this tower, a dozen or so floors above the ground, I do not know. What I also don't know is if the guy/gal who refills the Pez machine has to pay admission to the tower when (s)he refills it.