Clocks

In the market place in Hallstatt, Austria, a large digital clock next to a traffic light, controls traffic through a long one lane tunnel. The light changes every six minutes, so it’s possible to leave your car in the street, shop until the clock is almost run down, then jump in the car and go.

In France, Rouen’s Rue du Gros–Horloge, a bustling pedestrian street, connects the Place du Vieux–Marché (with Ste–Jeanne d’Arc Church, and the spot where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431) and the Place de la Cathédrale (the Notre Dame Cathedral that was painted about thirty times by Claude Monet in various light and weather conditions) a few blocks away. The street passes through an arch below the Gros–Horloge, or Great Clock. This old single–hand clock is the most popular monument in town.

In downtown Munich, in the tower of the Neues Rathaus (New City Hall) in the Marienplatz, the nearly 300-foot-high Glockenspielturm (a large carillon) plays its melody and displays moving enameled copper figures, at 11:00 AM daily.

The Weltzeituhr (world time clock), in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz, is a 32-foot-high steel wheel covered with aluminum and enamel, that displays the time in cities all over the world. While the Berlin Wall still stood, my comment was, “Who cares what time it is in Tokyo, East Berliners know what time it is in West Berlin, but they still can’t visit there.”

In the main marketplace in Nürnberg, Germany, the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) is the center of attention at noon when the ornamental clock, “Männleinlaufen” (little men running), strikes twelve and the statues of seven electors move round and round to swear allegiance to the Emperor.

Face St. Mark’s in Venice, Italy, and to your left is the Torre dell’Orologio e Procuratie, the clock tower built in the late 1400s. Statues of two Mori (Moors) giants have been striking the hour with sledge hammers, for 600 years. The statues rotate and the hammers strike the huge bell. The dial bears the signs of the zodiac, and a clock tells the time using Roman numerals.

Downtown Bern, Switzerland, is excellent with blocks of arcaded shopping streets, with a beautiful clock tower in the middle of The Marktgasse, the smart and lively main street.

The most famous clock, London’s Big Ben, is in the tower of Westminster Hall, the British Parliamentary buildings. Despite WW II damage to the building, Big Ben continued to keep time and strike the hours.