Bad Homburg, Germany, Take Two

The town square

We visited Bad Homburg again with the Faegin family on Halloween night in 2006.  We mostly went to uphold a little tradition we had started (we went the previous year) and go out to eat.  We dressed the kids up, as last year we'd seen plenty of kids out trick-or-treating.  It was funny to see how an American tradition was gradually picking up in some pockets of Germany.

This time we went though, we actually saw one of the more famous sights, the Landgrave castle.  We couldn't believe we missed it last time.

The castle tower

A history of the castle, from http://www.bad-homburg-tourismus.de/en/entdecken/freizeit_schlosspark.htm:

All he left standing was the 14th century keep. The remainder of the medieval Hohenburg was torn down to its foundations to make way for a castle. Landgrave Friedrich II firmly believed in absolutism and was determined to make this very evident to everyone when he became the new ruler of the small Hessen-Homburg Landgraviate in 1677. "Friedrichsburg" – Friedrich's castle – was designed by Paul Andrich, and was the first neo-Baroque residence to be built – from 1680 onwards – after the Thirty Years' War. Its characteristic features, the wings grouped in a regular pattern around two courtyards, exist to this day. The keep was incorporated in the upper castle courtyard, and became the "Weisser Turm" - the white tower that is the landmark of Bad Homburg. The foyer displays a contemporary bronze bust by Andreas Schlüter of the builder of the castle, to whom Heinrich von Kleist gave literary immortality in his work "Prince of Homburg".

Caedmon all dressed up

The Landgraves resided at the castle until 1866, when the dynasty died out and the castle passed to Prussia – at which point the German Emperors "discovered" Homburg. They set up summer residence at the castle. Wilhelm II and his family were particularly frequent visitors to the spa town. The museum rooms at the castle house numerous treasures of art from the 17th through the 19th centuries, and bear witness to how "Emperors" lived. The Royal Wing with the Imperial chambers is, however, closed for refurbishment.

Holly & December near an old tower

The rooms on show in the English Wing are where Elizabeth lived after her husband, Landgrave Friedrich VI Joseph died in 1829. They reflect the personality, artistic talent and untiring habit of collecting things of this daughter of an English king who married into the Hessen-Homburg dynasty in 1818.

Her brother gifted two Lebanese cedars as a wedding present. These have meanwhile grown into majestic trees and can be found next to the portal leading to the Royal Wing. This part of the Castle Park is a formal Baroque garden, as indeed it was when Friedrich II was alive, and is bordered by the Orangerie. At the foot of the castle hill, an English landscaped park with romantic corners and a small lake invites visitors to stroll and relax a while.

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Dubrovnik, Croatia

Over the summer of 2006, we finally made it to the Balkans - something Nate had dreamed of since he first started studying Serbian-Croatian back in Monterey.

Even though it was slightly more expensive than a regional flight, we took an evening flight out of Frankfurt International Airport (that way I didn't have to take an extra day off work).

We had a brief layover in Zagreb.  The airport there reminded me of the Peoria airport - very small and quiet.  We arrived late, so nothing was really open, but we did get to step outside for a minute or two.  The flight from Zagreb to Dubrovnik was even shorter (about 40 minutes).  All in all it was about 2 1/2 hours from Frankfurt to Dubrovnik, including an hour long layover.  We flew Croatia Air, and the service was great.  We got actual food on the short, hour long flight, and we even got metal silverware   And they served wine (we had some of the "bijelo vino").

When we reached Dubrovnik the airport was just as small, but a little nicer (large windows, comfier seats, etc).  There was a little confusion over luggage (international vs. regional) but it was cleared up quickly and we went in search of a taxi.

The taxi ride itself was quite an experience.  It was fast and somewhat reckless  just like any other I've ben in, but it was fast and reckless over somewhat terrifying terrain.  We followed the coast almost all the way to the hotel, and the Croatian shore is almost like that in Monterey: steep, curving hills followed the water, and the roads we drove on were winding and twisting through them at astonishing angles.

When we arrived at the hotel, we had to fight out way through a swarm of French tourists in order to check in.  We got some neon bracelets (pink and green) to show that we had chosen the all inclusive option.  That was probably the best choice we ever made.  The hotel was a little warm (ok, downright hot) but nice.  We had a small room with a balcony and a view of the mountains (couldn't see the water through the trees).  There were two large dining areas downstairs and an outdoor patio.  The lounge/bar had an enormous window with a view of the sea.

 



Our first real day in Croatia we slept in and went to enjoy our all-inclusive breakfast.  Like all meals there, it was buffet style.  It was kind of like any other European breakfast you'd see.  I ate a lot of cereal.  :-p

After our food settled, we ventured down to the beach, which was just beyond the hotel pool.  I was a bit bummed that it was pebble not sand, but I was expecting as much.  And the water more than made up for it.  It was the most beautiful blue-green water I'd seen.  It was a good temperature and so salty I could float easily despite being nearly 8 months pregnant.  And the most fun part was the fish.  You could just float around and see down about 8 feet and watch all kinds of fish swimming about.  They weren't all extremely colorful, but they were definitely tropical looking: yellows, blues, highlights or black, red, and purple.

 

 

  

And from here on out, I'll depart from retelling things chronologically and try to just fill in the details.

There were cats everywhere - at the hotel patio, in front of the hotel, behind it, all over.  I wasn't sure if they were friendly, strays, or someone's in the hotel.  There was also a feisty little puppy that wandered around, attracting everyone's attention.

There were trails and paths just past the hotel that connected it to other beaches, shopping areas, and neighboring hotels.  I think they all might have been property of Babin Kuk, but I'm not sure.  I discovered more and more fo the trails, beaches and shops by going on walks while Nate napped or swam (he was like a fish on this vacation).

The shopping center wasn't huge, but it was sizable.  At any rate, you could find an array of traveler essentials and souvenirs.  We purchased cards for entertainment and Nate got flippers.  I got a T-shirt and Nate got a beach towel (we still have both, 7 years later), and of course we found tons of postcards.  There was also an ATM in the shopping area - avery handy find.  The conversion rate wasn't bad.  $1 = 5.58 kuna, but the prices reflected that.  A deck of cards was 7 kun, a postcard was 2 kuna.  It was a little more expensive than I had anticipated, but only because I'd been told everything was dirt cheap.  Looking back on it, it kind of was, lol.  But it was far better than the euro.  Back then, it was $1 to .75 euro, and that depreciated as well.

But I digress.  The other beach that I found (which Nate to this day believes was a nudist beach) was rocky with large slabs, large rocks, and a small dock.

It rained quite a bit while we were there, but we didn't let it damper our spirits.  We spent a lot of time on the outdoor patio (which was covered) just drinking coffee, enjoying the view, and talking.  Occasionally we'd run across some very interesting people, like a friendly pair of Wiesbadener's there on vacation.  Most Germans actually seemed very friendly as tourists.  All of them, except the French, made a considerable effort to speak English.  The one French couple we did meet was extremely rude and, at the time, pretty much ruined my desire to see France (those as you'll see in this blog, that changed soon enough).  They continuously asked us if the seats were empty, but only in French, and then later the only English they spoke was to tell Nate "you eat for two."

But the Croatians we spoke with were very friendly.  We didn't see many except for the hotel staff, the taxi driver, and the airport workers, but those we did see, Nate talked to as much as humanly possible.  Most of them thought he had Croatian parents (due to his mastery of the language), which flattered him.  It was funny, because he spoke it well enough that they were always confused as to why this blonde haired American was talking to them in their language.  Meanwhile, I was mistaken as a German, French, and even a Croatian.  I guess you don't see many Americans in those parts.

On our second real day of being in country, we went to Dubrovnik's Stari Grad ("Old City") to walk around.  We took the bus, which dropped us off right in front of the old city gate.  The city is walled off on a peninsula that just out into the Adriatic - it's unlike anything I had ever seen before.  The town itself was somewhat like a maze once you entered it, with ramps and arch ways leading to the main city streets.  But the view once you entered was amazing.  Tall buildings lined narrows streets that looked like they were paved from polished stone.  The building all seemed to share a common architecture: orange roofs, tan building, lots of arches.

 

 

Unfortunately we hit the old city and a very crowded time, so we didn't stop in any shops or building, and we didn't go on the tour around the city wall because the stairs looked a little daunting for a hot, pregnant woman.  So we wove our way as far around the city as we could go on foot, and I took pictures of everything.  There was one spot where a large rock formation had been leveled off and people used it like a beach.  There was even a ladder going into the water.  And after the visit, the weather had cleared up enough for us to go back and enjoy another swim at the beach.

 

 

 

 

Each night we were there, I made a habit of going on sunset walks around the beaches, and naturally I took loads of photos.  Nate came along most of the time, I think usually just because he knew I enjoyed it.  One night we sat down at the Apertif bar and enjoyed a look at the water and horizon illuminated by the city lights.  Oh, and we saw a hedgehog one night.  The hotel always had a lot of activities going on, like aerobics  kids time, salsa dancing, "beach parties" at the pool, etc., and though we didn't really attend any of the events, we did listen to the music from our room one night.  We also took a dip on the pool one day, but it really didn't compare to the beach.

 

 

   
 

 

 
 

And that, in a nutshell, was our stay at the hotel Minceta.  we had a direct flight back, which was uneventful except for an instance with passport control.  Nate went through security before me not realizing he had my ticket with him.  Fortunately I knew enough Croatian to point at him and say "moj muz" hoping to get my point across, and I did.  lol.  We sat at the airport and indulged in some Coke and pastries before our flight.  The taxi ride to the airport was during daylight hours this time, so we had some incredible views on the way.

And that was our trip.  We really didn't "do" much of anything (thanks in part to pregnancy), but it was very relaxing, and we both still look back on it as one of the best trips we've taken so far.

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Kloster Eberbach, Germany

We actually visited the monastery along with our German class.  Our instructor, Linda Schmidt, organized a tour for us, and we visited both the monastery and a nearby winery.

We started at the monestary, which was interesting.  I honestly don't remember many of the details.  There were meeting halls, a huge courtyard, and a bunch of ther connected buildings.  The rooms were very plain and simple, as was demanded by their way of life.

The below is an abbreviated description of the history of the abby from Wikipedia.


"Kloster Eberbach was founded in 1136 by Bernard of Clairvaux as the first Cistercian monastery on the east bank of the Rhine[...]



Eberbach soon became one of the largest and most active monasteries of Germany. [...] At its height in the 12th and 13th centuries, the population is estimated to have been about 100 monks and over 200 lay brothers.

Eberbach Abbey was also very successful economically, principally as a result of profits from the cultivation of vineyards and the production of wine. At least 14 members of the family of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen were buried in the church. Among them was Count Johann IV of Katzenelnbogen, who was the first to plant Riesling vines, in a new vineyard in the nearby village of Rüsselsheim [...]

In about 1525 it is said that in the abbey there was an enormous wine barrel with a volume of between ca. 50,000 and 100,000 litres, which in the German Peasants' War of 1525 was heavily used by rebels from the Rheingau, who were encamped just below the monastery.

The abbey suffered severe damage during the Thirty Years' War, beginning with the attack of the Swedish army in 1631. Many valuable items from the church and the library were looted, and the monks were forced to flee, of whom only 20 returned in 1635 to begin a laborious reconstruction.

The 18th century however was a period of great economic success: surviving accounts show that the abbey profits were regularly invested on the Frankfurt money market.

The final decline set in with the French Revolution. After the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss the abbey was dissolved on 18 September 1803 and with its assets and territory became the property of Prince Friedrich Augustus of Nassau-Usingen"

And more on the buildings, again thanks to Wikipedia:

"The buildings form one of the most impressive monastic sites in Germany, preserving structures of the highest quality from the Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque periods. A list of goods, the "Oculus Memoriae", survives from as early as the year 1211, giving information on the possessions and premises of the abbey complex.

The existing buildings include:

• The abbey church, a three-aisled Romanesque basilica with transept, containing the tombs of some of the Archbishops of Mainz;
• The cloisters, the south side of which is  othic, the north side partly Gothic and partly Romanesque and the remainder a 19th century restoration;
• The Chapter Room, a late Gothic square room with a central pillar, restored with ceiling and wall paintings;
• The Fraternei, an early Gothic room with heavy vaulting, used since the Middle Ages as a wine cellar. It is also known as the Cabinetkeller, which is the origin of the use of the term Kabinett as a quality description of German wine;
• The Dormitorium (dormitory), an early Gothic room about 70 metres long  ontaining vaulting and short columns with sculptured capitals, and one of the few such rooms of this size and quality remaining in Europe;
• The north wing, refurbished in the 18th century and containing the refectory, with a Baroque stucco ceiling by Daniel Schenk. It replaced the earlier Gothic refectory to the north;
• The west wing, accommodating the library, where the abbey museum was set up in 1995. This contains inter alia the oldest surviving Cistercian glass window in Germany (of about 1180), the original capitals from the cloisters, now replaced by modern replicas, various sculptures, portraits of Bernard of Clairvaux and Baroque furnishings;
• In a separate building to the west of the monastic quarters, the "Converts' Building" or "Lay-Brothers' Building", containing the lay-brothers' refectory (45 metres long) and the Laiendormitorium (lay-brothers' dormitory) (at over 80 metres long, the largest surviving Romanesque secular room in Europe), and attached to it a Romanesque wine-cellar and various small domestic buildings from the 17th century;
• Beyond the monastic precincts to the east, the hospital, service buildings and 18th and 19th century wine cellars."

Wine tasting was somewhat more fun.  Everyone was greeted with a class of champagne and we went in to see the tools used for wine making and watched a video about it.  then we got to taste the wines (well, Nate did).  They had brötchen and grape juice too.

Dinner was terrible.  Ther ewas such a large group that the menu was limited and it was extremely expensive.  

All in all though, it was still a good day.

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