Stone Streets

As a kid growing up in Alabama, I was used to the employment of 'chirt', concrete, asphalt, and dirt for surface road material, and then I came to Germany to discover stones.

It's a fascinating art.  Stone streets can be simple and have been around since the Roman ages.  Stone streets can be complex with an artistic touch.

In my youth working here in Germany with some of the older German guys....I had one chance to work on a chapel approach area at Rhein Main, and there was a simple forty foot walkway that our crew had put up.  The old German that I worked with.....was fairly accomplished with this business, but as I discovered.....it takes a good bit of effort to prepare the ground, ensure everything is even, and then lay the bricks.  It's an intense job, if you take it serious.

The plus-side of stone streets?  There's virtually no maintenance ever required.  I've been on Rome streets that probably were laid in the mid 1800s.  I admit, they probably ought to be pulled up and have the ground prepared again....evened out, but the stones are in great condition and could last another hundred years.

So I'll find myself walking down through an area....when I should be admiring the buildings or the scenery, but instead.....I'm gazing at the ground in front of me.

It's art in a way, and you have to appreciate it.