Post photo: Houseboats in Holland | © Pixabay
As soon as I'm in Paris, I always try to stop by the Bouquinists on the Seine. The book boxes there are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, just like the banks of the Seine in Paris itself. Over the years, however, the many houseboats have aroused my interest more and more, especially those that are inhabited all year round, and when I had the opportunity was allowed to take a closer look at one, it was all over me and I had one more dream.
The diverse houseboats in Berlin and Potsdam then gave me more ideas and also gave me hope that my dream could come true one day. When an acquaintance from Szczecin offered to help me realize such a dream, even my wife began to think about houseboats.
Life usually doesn't take dreams into account and so we also had to realize that the Danube near Ulm is not navigable, and at least in the noughties such an idea met with little approval in Heilbronn, although it had been that since 1995 theater ship at the Friedrich-Ebert Bridge.
It is in the course of the federal garden show in Heilbronn Dieter schwarz now succeeded with the MS Experimenta drive another stake in the direction of Heilbronner houseboats.
I am still firmly convinced that the old Neckar could offer good berths for the first houseboats in Heilbronn from the Friedrich-Ebert Bridge to the Neckar Canal. And even if this dream has now dissolved in my favor, I am sure that there are enough other fellow citizens who would like to have such a dream, of their own houseboat, a houseboat for rent or even a houseboat restaurant in Heilbronn want to fulfill.
At least the city could now start planning after the BUGA period in order to at least create the conditions for such a community of houseboat residents in Heilbronn, especially since the municipal council, administration and city marketing like to call Heilbronn “the city by the river" to speak.
"It's hard to build a bridge across a river, but easy to cross the bridge once someone else has built it. And while you're trying to build the bridge, it's helpful to be able to fly."
Eugenia Cheng, quoted from Florian Freistetter
You have my vote for that too! Everything that makes our city on the river more livable is worth striving for. A lot has already happened, but in relation to the “city on the river” there is still not enough. We pull together! At some point everyone will understand what a "locational advantage" the Neckar has for Heilbronn. I like to lobby in this regard and I always invite people to take trips on the Neckar in and around Heilbronn with our “Seekuh”. An unforgettable experience!
You have our votes for it. A riverside city without houseboats would be like an excellent bike-friendly city, limiting bike lanes and favoring cars...