![[German flag]](http://www.io.com/~rstrauss/demap.gif){kind=small}
This is Part II of a two part journal of our trip to Germany in July 1996.Part I can be access via the foregoing hyperlink. The following cities are covered in this
We took a cruise up the Rhein from Ruedesheim towards Koblenz. We actually only went as far as Boppard, then turned around for the round trip. It was about an hour's drive to Ruedesheim. The cost for a round trip on the KD River Cruises to Boppard was 50 Marks each for the adults and 2 Marks for the children. Today was the first day that it was hot. It was probably 80 degrees and the sun was strong enough to give us a sunburn by the end of the day.
What makes the Rhine so interesting to tourists is not only the historic ruins of several castles -- at some points there are two or three in view on opposing hills -- but the charming, old-world towns surrounded by fortified walls, towers and gates, and neat wine-growing villages framed by sunny vineyards on the steep hills. The number of vineyards and the places that they were able to locate them is amazing. Some very steep parts of the river bank had terraces every few yards with a few rows of grape vines above them.
The first town we passed was Bingen, and immediately after that is the Maeuseturm, a 13th century lookout tower. Legend has it that Bishop Hatto is said to have sought refuge in the tower from a horde of mice; in vain, the mice swam after him and devoured him. The tower was destroyed in the 1600s and rebuilt in the 1800s. Following that are two major castles, Burg Rheinstein and Burg Reichenstein. Several days later we visited these castles on foot and I have a detailed description of them later. Along the river we passed numerous other well-known wine towns such as Bacharach, Oberwesel, St. Goar and Boppard, many of which have medieval fortifications. Boppard, an old Imperial Town, has well-preserved remains of a Roman city wall. Along the way we passed the famous Lorelei, the rock outcropping, where, according to legend, a blonde woman sat combing her hair and lured sailors to watery graves with her eerily compelling song. Unfortunately, the rock is not overly impressive. It took about 3 hours to go to Boppard, which is in the direction the current flows, at which point we had a 2-1/2 hour layover. The time passed quickly as we walked around the town and then ate at an Italian restaurant in the Marketplatz, where we had some excellent pizza for about 10 Marks each, plus drinks of course. The trip back took 4 hours as we were sailing against the swift current.
After our trip we visited Ruedesheim briefly, walking its romantic narrow streets. One of the most famous streets is the Drosselgasse, which probably has more tourists per square foot than any other street in Germany. It is very narrow and has one wine and beer tavern after another as well as quaint restaurants. Appropriately, we ate at the Strauss Garden Restaurant.
![[Rathaus]](rathaus.gif)
![[Kriminal Museum]](krimus.gif)
![[Rothenburg]](rothburg.jpg)
Rothenburg is 2 hours away via the autobahn. Around Frankfurt it is very congested so we are leaving late to avoid traffic jams. I have found that 2 hours on the autobahn is as tiring and as stressful as 4 hours driving in Texas. Rothenburg is a medieval walled city built during the 12C-14C and many of those fortifications and buildings still exist. It is one of the most visited cities in Germany and well worth the trip. It has an excellent site on the Internet, which describes all of the interesting places to see. Most of the buildings lie behind the city walls, which give it a very decided medieval flavor. Some of the favorite sights that we saw were the dungeons where the Burgermeister, Heinrich Toppler, was taken prisoner and died in 1408; the Medieval Crime Museum, which has on display quite an incredible group of torture instruments, execution swords and axes, and official papers of the period; the Town Hall and sections of the towers and walls from which the city was defended. In the 30 Year's War the city was besieged and taken by the Catholic General Tilly, who supposedly spared the inhabitants when the former Mayor was able to drink a whole draft of wine ( 1 gallon) in one go. What is so remarkable about this town is that it is all real and authentic and has seen much that has taken place historically in the area for the last several centuries. There were more tourists here than anywhere else.
It was another day on the road today as we traveled South on the autobahn past Karlsruhe to Strasbourg, France. Saw our first traffic jam of epic proportions -- approximately 11KM of backup near Ramstein due to construction. Apparently, these are common and occasionally can be as long as 45KM. Upon entering Strasbourg, we exchanged our money and proceeded to underground parking at Rue Gutenberg, near the cathedral. The cathedral was so large that I could not get a good photo of it with my telephoto lens, and the other lens was broken. We stood in line for what we thought was a tour of the cathedral, only to have the window slammed shut in our face after several French women had cut in front of us. It turned out to be a lucky break in the end , but we were fuming at the moment. Some information in English on the hours that the cathedral were open and where to enter would have been very helpful, but it did not exist. At any rate, after walking all around the cathedral we found an open door near where we had been rejected. Apparently, the cathedral is closed for lunch and we had arrived during that period. So, in the end we got in for free, and found out that we had barely missed the opportunity of spending 75 francs (about $15) to see their famous Astronomical Clock strike 12:30pm, at which time the figures in the clock move to the greatest extent. More on that later.
The cathedral itself is the most impressive one we have seen to date. It was built over 3 centuries starting in 1176 AD. The amount of detail on the stonework inside and outside the cathedral was really amazing. Some of the original stained glass installed around 1200 AD is still in place. Inside the cathedral is a famous clock, which was built beginning in 1547 AD and finished 20 years later. It is called the Astronomical Clock and is about 60 feet tall and 30 feet wide with various clock works, gables and statuettes. The clock provides numerous readings-- the time the sun rises and sets, the days of the week, the days of church festivals and the eclipses of the sun and the moon. The greatest attraction is the movement of the automatic figures decorating its upper storeys. Every hour the figures move and strike a bell. At 12:30pm, the most spectacular moment occurs, when the 12 Apostles file past Christ, who blesses them. Many signs to watch for pickpockets abound.After touring the cathedral we went on a mini-train for a short tour of the town. This was not the best money we have ever spent as the commentary was in French and German, so I didn't understand much. We did have the opportunity to see the Petite France area and determine that we wanted to go back and see more. It is an area of narrow streets and shops with charming half-timbered houses. We walked through the square of the Ponts Couverts (Covered Bridges), which are dominated by four 14C towers which originally formed part of the defense of the city. We each had a beer for 20 francs each (about USD 4). As usual the price of a coke was almost as much at 16 francs each. We left Strasbourg about 5pm for the Black Forest.
We stayed at the Romischer Kaiser, just a mile outside of Triberg. It is a charmingly preserved Black Forest hotel, with lots of exposed wood, and pleasant bedrooms. We had a triple room for 120 DM. Some of the staff spoke English. We had an enjoyable meal that evening in the dining room. All of the other guests we met were American and all were staying there based on the Frommer's Guide recommendation.
We believe that we picked the best possible place to stay given our short visit. We were able to see Germany's highest waterfall, the Schwarzwald-Museum of Triberg and looked into many local shops featuring cuckcoo clocks and other carved items.. The Wasserfall is exceptional, and we walked about 5 km around it, much of it pretty steep. The falls drop some 530 feet in 7 stages and the scenery is quite impressive. After hiking around the falls we were fairly tired and didn't enjoy the museum all that much because our legs were crying out for some rest. We had lunch at the Tresor Restaurant.
We left there about 3:30pm and proceeded up the Schwarzwald Hochstrasse (Black Forest High Road) where some of the most panoramic scenery opened up before us. It was much slower than going via the autobahn, but was well worth the extra time. We passed through Baden-Baden and then got back on the autobahn and on to Frankfurt.
Just upriver on the Rhein from Bingen are the castles Burg Rheinstein and Reichenstein. Burg Rheinstein was used as a customs and duty fortress of the Mainz Archbishops. It fell into ruin in the late 1500s but was completely restored. Its most important period was from 1282 to 1286, when the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf von Habsburg lived here and controlled the unruly knights of the Rhein River. Visitors have included Victoria, Queen of England and Alexandra Feodorowna, Czarina of Russia, and many more. Two of the Princes and a Princess of Prussia are buried in a tomb in the castle and we saw their caskets. Burg Reichenstein was built some time before 1215 and so is one of the oldest of the Rhine fortresses. It is situated in the wine producing village of Trechtingshausen, about 5 km from Bingen. It is much larger than Burg Rheinstein, and has a large curtain wall flanked by two towers. You can drive up and park right outside the entrance to the castle. The rooms contain valuable furniture and a collection of arms and antlers. An excellent tour of this castle via the Internet may be found at the REICHENSTEIN site maintained by Caltim Designs. There you will find descriptions and photos which tell a very detailed and interesting tale of this castle's history and contents. Although this castle was larger and had more rooms that you can view, our personal favorite was the Burg Rheinstein because the outside was more easily viewed and photographed and the contents of the inside were better explained.
Next we continued through Trechtingshausen, which was not that interesting, and on to Bacharach, about 5 km further down the road. The town's fortifications are the best preserved in the Middle Rhein region. It is possible to walk along the whole length of the sentry walk on the Rhein front. Seven of the towers are still fully preserved, and we walked through at least two of those. There are many half-timbered buildings to be seen, some of which dated to the 1300s, such as the Altus Haus, which is now a restaurant. We stood on its front steps and noticed that it seemed to be leaning towards the street. Could the floors inside be level? On questioning Tim Vogel of Caltim Designs later he informed me that the bowls all have fill lines on them so that when they are laid on the sloped tables they will not spill over. I guess that answers that question.
A return trip to Mainz to do some shopping was planned for today. We parked by the Rhein and walked to the Altstadt by the Dom, where it was market day. There were hundreds of people there shopping for flowers and vegetables.
After that we walked to the Gutenberg Museum, which shows the evolution of the printing business. It has machinery and displays of books showing how Gutenberg developed the moveable type and printing presses to produce the first typeset books, thereby automating the process. One of his early bibles, printed in about 1460, is on display. The museum paid 3.7 million DM for it, or about USD2.2 million. The museum was pretty boring, and is better left to a rainy day or for someone in the printing business.
On the way back to car we stopped at the Romanisch-Germanisch Museum, a "free" museum, which had no other visitors except for us. They had some interesting displays of pre-historical relics, such as pottery, weapons, metal pots, etc, dating from 3000AD to 800BC, but there was no explanation to go along with it. Since we had already been walking for 4 hours we quickly tired of it and did not even see the Roman section.
This city was particularly interesting to us because we have stayed in New Braunfels, Texas and visited the museum there which explained how Prince Solms of Braunfels came to Texas in 1845 and founded that community. He supposedly spent his whole time there in his armored suit because he was afraid of Indians. After a few months he went back to Germany and never returned to the community that he had founded. One has to wonder how the immigrants adjusted to the extreme differences in climate from Germany to Texas.
On the way to Braunfels we stopped off at the Kubacher Kristallhohle, a natural limestone cavern. We took the tour, which entailed going down into the cavern and seeing the cavern. It was 360 steps down, and the guide conducted his entire, lengthy explanation of the cavern in German. The formations were not very exciting -- the ones near New Braunfels are much more interesting.
As we drove up to Braunfels we could see the castle rising up on the horizon in the distance. It really looked like a fairy tale castle. As we drew closer it only got better. This was the type of castle that I had been envisioning we would see in Germany. It sits above the picturesque town of Braunfels and occupies several acres behind high walls with cannon apertures and arrow slits all around. Several towers rise above the walls. Just last week the area celebrated its 750th anniversary of its founding in 1221. We walked up to the courtyard and had lunch right in the castle. This time we got a tour in English. The guide took us through 14 of the 184 rooms. The present Duke still lives in the castle and was, in fact, there this day. We saw rooms full of furniture which was from the 16th - 19th century. The Knight's Room had armor and weapons all around the walls. We had to put on slippers to walk on the parquet floor, which was last replaced in about 1880. Its hard to say what was most interesting. There was a fully armored knight on horse with a lance, several other suits of knight's armor, and weapons from the 30 Years War when the castle was occupied by the Swiss. Many of the rooms had painting by famous artists, Van Dyke, Rembrandt, Titian, etc. Some of the tapestries were hand made in the 1600s. The guide reported that it would take 10 women 7 years to make one of these tapestries. In one of the rooms we saw a painting of Prince Charles of Solms, who founded New Braunfels in Texas. The family even had its own chapel, which dated from the 1400s, and included a relic (a bone fragment) from St Catherine, who died at age 24 in about 1215. We ended our tour at the castle wall where 7 French cannon fabricated in the early 1800s were pointing out towards the town in defense of the castle.
Bamberg was 220 km away from Frankfurt. Since we had made no reservsations we stopped at the information center to find a hotel. The first one was full and we ended up at the Hotel Weirich, which had a room for three for 180 marks (approximately $110). We started out on a walking tour based on a brochure that I had received in the mail from an Internet request. Most of Bamberg is original as it suffered little damage in WWII. In the 10C it was established as the capital of the Holy Roman Empire by Heinrich II. What makes this town particularly interesting to visit is that it is built on seven hills and crossed by two small rivers, with towers and spires as well as the ever-present half-timbered houses and inns. First we saw the Altes Rathaus, the town hall. This is considered one of the strangest in Germany --- the town authorities had it built on its own little island in the middle of the Regnitz River, halfway between the two town factions ( the ecclesiastical and secular sections of town). The present structure dates from 1461.There is the usual cathedral dominating the skyline. This one was built in 1215.An emperor and a pope are buried inside -- Emperor Heinrich II, the founder of the cathedral, and Pope Clement II. We saw several of the old tombs, except for that of Pope Clement which is inaccessible. Opposite this is the 17th century Neue Residenz, which we didn't go into, but did take some picture outside in their magnificent Rose Garden.
From the bridges in the Old Town we had a wonderful view of Little Venice, the picturesque fishing houses which line up along the River Regnitz. We took a cruise down the Regnitz, but the only good part was the beginning in Little Venice. The latter part was next to a warehouse section where they were unloading barges with huge river cranes. As usual we did a lot of walking and saw many sights, such as the spot where Marshall Bertheir of Napoleon's army fell or was pushed to his death in 1815 from the Neue Residenz. We stopped at a cafe for a break where I tried their famous Rauchbier (smoky beer). It was awful -- tasted like it had bacon grease in it.
We had breakfast in the hotel as it was included in the price. On the way out I passed a plaque which indicated that the building was built in 1405. While we were eating our continental breakfast the dining room was full of locals being served heaping plates of potatoes, bratwurst, and even beer.
We left Bamberg at 10am and headed for Nuremberg 40 miles away. Nuremberg was heavily bombed in WWII, but was rebuilt. Nearly all of the city's attractions lie within the medieval fortifications, parts of whose walls remain. We were somewhat lost in the beginning and wandered around wondering if there was anything to see. We passed the Spittlertor, one of the four , round large gate towers which connected with the city walls. Then we bought a guide and found many interesting places to see. Once we got our bearings we went to the Markplatz where we saw one of the city's keystone historical monuments, a 60 foot high gold painted fountain with 30 figures arranged in four tiers. At this spot fifty years ago, right where we were standing, were numerous Nazi flags and a platoon of soldiers, which were captured in a photo that was in shown on a poster in the nearby St. Sebaldus Cathedral . It was an eerie feeling.
Next, we went into the cathedral, which had been 70% destroyed by bombs in April, 1945, then faithfully rebuilt. Originally built in 1273, it had huge pillars, an elaborate shrine of St. Sebald, whose remains are encased in a brass monument cast in 1519. I took pictures of several old photos which were on posters and showed what damage the cathedral had undergone in April 1945. One interesting relic was in the church. It was a cast of two pig's feet, made in the 10C, which were supposed to be good luck. Across from the cathedral is the Altes Rathaus, underneath which is a medieval prison with the original cells and torture chamber, a gruesome attraction. We toured this and saw where condemned prisoners spent their last days before their execution. The dungeon functioned as such from 1332 until the 18th century.
Our next stop was the Tiergartnerplatz and Albert Durer House. It looks like a scene from the Middle Ages -- fortified buildings with sentry wall on one side of the square, the Zoo Tower Gate dating back to the 13th century in the center, a half-timbered house on the right called the Pilatushaus, and the Durer house on the left. We had lunch at a cafe right next to the Durer House. Albert Durer, a famous German artist and painter, bought this house in 1509 and worked and lived here till his death in 1528. As we walked along the street we looked at the plaques on the buildings indicating when the house was built and who the original owner was. Many dated from the 15th and 16th century. On the way out we passed by the Zeughaus, a building with two towers erected in 1588, which was formerly an arsenal.
There is one important building which we missed and should have visited. The Kaiserburg, a castle built in 1050, by Emperor Heinrich III. Every German emperor for 500 years visited here. It was the focal point of two wars in the 1400s.
On the way home we were stuck on the autobahn for 3 hours in a traffic jam caused by an accident and truck fire. We didn't move during that period and ended up being sent off by the highway department to an alternate route. We were near the beginning of the jam, which was about 15 km long altogether.
For dinner one evening we went into the Sachsenhausen area of Frankfurt, which is a residential area with several biergarten type restaurants. Unfortunately, it had rained earlier and we were unable to eat outside, and seating inside was at a premium. The places we checked out were crowded, noisy and very smoky. Groups were seated together, which makes for much "gemutlichkeit". We eventually found a table at a restaurant and had Apfel wine, beer and wiener schnitzel. For the 4 of us the bill was about 120 marks.
Six of us went to a restaurant in Russelsheim called Kleines Russelsheimer Brauhaus at An der Wied 1. It was a great little restaurant which brews its own beer on the premises. The kettle and other equipment was right there in a corner of the restaurant giving it a unique look. The beer tasted pretty good, too.
Saturday we left for Houston at 11:40am and arrived there the same day at about 8:45pm, an hour late. The trip home was aided by the 7 hour time difference. . About the only news we have been able to get is about the Olympics and about the plane which crashed off Long Island several days ago. Because of the plane crash, the security in the Frankfurt airport was very tight.
Comments or questions? Drop me a note at rstrauss@io.com