Strasbourg, France

Strasbourg is a small town in France, about 2 hours from where we lived in Germany.  We didn't really know much about it when we took off, but the thought of "leaving the country" on a day trip sounded exciting.  I went with Caedmon and Jackie.

I have mixed feelings about Strasbourg, though I prefer to look optimistically on it.  I'm gald we went to France, but it looked very German, with the exception of the many canals and the more colorful and flowerful buildings.  All in all, it was very picturesque - straight out of a painitng - but there wasn't much to actually see.  And it was expensive.

The roads in France were worse, and the exits more like the ones on American interstates.  The exit signs were different and the mile makers were in the cneter of the raod.  The border was confusing - there was no toll, but there was a large crossing structure where people were stopping (perhaps they were just as confused as we were?).

At any rate, once we got there, we parked, and spent some time trying to get oriented and figure out where the center of town once.  We spent most of our time walking through and around "Petite France," where most of the canals intersected.  They offered cruises along them for about 8 euros (which included an audio tour).

   

      

We passed on the tour, but walked around the town, exploring the canals.  We stopped in a few tourist shops as well.  It was strange to hear people speaking a combination of French, Germany, and English.

A lengthy walk from there (or so it seemed in the 90 degree heat with Caedmon on my back) was the cathedral, which was one of the tallest buildings in Eruope.  I twas stunningly gothic and immense inside with a giant rose window above the entrance.

   

We walked back through Gutenburg Place for ice cream (which ran 8 euro a sundae - ouch!) and one last look around Petite France.

     

All in all it was nice to get out of Germany and see something different, but it was a little too much of a tourist trap for my liking.  I like to get out and go and see more old building that have stories behind them rather than half-timbered houses flowers.  :-)

 

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Limburg, Germany

I'd wanted to visit Limburg since we passed it on the way to Koblenz.  Even from the autobahn, the cathedral is the highlight of the town.

The church itself looks more like a half-timbered house than a cathedral, especially when compared to the monstrous cathedrals in Worms and Mainz.   The building is painted in whites and bright brown (almost orange).  It dates back to the 1100-1200's, though of course, as wil all buildings that age (and still standing) it has gone through extensive renovations.

More photos of the outside/inside of the cathedral:

  

The church wasn't all we saw in the town though.  We stopped by a little park overlooking the Lahn River and the Lahn Bridge, said to be built in the early 1300's.

  

We also ventured up the steep hill, into the old part of town, where the oldest inhabited building in Germany resides.  Some of the buildings just looked ancient.  Limburg is full of old structures and half-timbered houses.  It's exactly the kind of rustic town you imagine when you think of Germany.  There's a maze of tiny little side streets, plazas, and shops.

All in all it was avery quaint little town.  We had dinner at a nice little restaurant and found a shop that sold drndls and lederhosen.  Right next to it was a place selling local wines, so naturally we had to come home with one.

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Bonn, Germany

Bonn is about an hour and a half from Wiesbaden by car, and for about 50 years it was the capital of Germany.  Its said to be the 19th largest city in Germany.  It's famous for being the birthplace of Bethoven.

  

When we arrived it was sunny and 58 degrees - you can't ask for a better spring day in Germany. We  ent on a Monday though, so all of the museums were closed (and the two that were supposed to be open were closed for renovation). We also quickly discovered that the numbers on the map we got from the information center were off. With no clue as to how to find any of the major sights, we gave up and starte walking around.

We still managed to see a few of the key sights.  We walked by two churches, neither of which were open.  We went into the basilica as well, but they were starting a service so we had to leave.  We saw an overlook of the Rhein river and the Siebengebirge (literally "seven mountains").  We also saw the university, the Rathaus, and Bethoven's birth place.  It reminded me a lot of a university town - lots of open grassy areas.  There were also interesting book wagons and even a city book stand where people could take a book and return it for another one when finished.

 

We ended our stay trying to find lunch, but it was too crowded, so we settled for a wurst stand.  All in all, it was a great day to be out and about, but I probably wouldn't go back.  It was too far to drive for too little in return.

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Fasching Parade in Wiesbaden, Germany

In Rio, they have Carnival; in New Orleans, they have Mardi Gras; but in Wiesbaden (and the rest of Germany), they have Fasching.

This is an insanely busy parade that lasts for HOURS upon end, and it was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  I think we went down about an hour or so into the parade and left after 2 1/2 to 3 hours, and the parade was still going strong.

We walked down from our house, as we had a feeling it would be insanely busy.  Good guess on that one.

Caedmon backpacked it.  He was too little to really care about much of it, and despite all of the ruckus, he fell asleep.

This was probably the most normal thing we saw the entire day.

People didn't just throw out candy, they threw out bags of popcorn, lanyards, and all kinds of crazy stuff.

The marching bands were pretty cool.  Everyone was dressed up in some kind of elaborate costume.  I personally prefer the dragons to the huntsmen with wooden shoes below.

Yep, they are handing out drinks.  Beer, wine, I don't even know what else, and this was probably at about 10-11am.

I'm not sure what the story is with the hats, but each group seemed to have the same type but a different style/design.

Shooting off canons always adds a little pep to the parade.  And yes, they did shoot it.

Oh look, more beer!  Yeah, I have never seen so many happy, probably drunken, people.

See below.  ;-)

So this was my first taste of a real mardi gras style celebration, and it was something else!

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Koblenz, Germany

Koblenz was our first trip out after Caedmon was born.  We decided to drive, and he was great in the car.  It was only about an hour's drive on A3 and the weather cooperated nicely.  We got turned around a little when entering the city, but we ended up parking in a nice central location.

We got out, geared up (Caedmon in the backpack) and started walking along the Rhein.  on the opposite side of the river there were some interesting building, and on the top of the steep jagged cliffs was the fortress Ehrenbreitstein.  From waht I've read, it's the second largest stronghold in all of Europe (the first being Gibraltar).  Sadly, all of the ferries crossing the river seemed to be closed for the winter.  A lot of attractions seem to do that.  We considered driving over but we hadn't even seen the rest of Koblenz yet.

 

So we continued along the Rhein until we reached the Deutches Eck (German Corner).  There was a huge statue of Kaiser Wilhelm there, looking out over the confluence of the Mosel and Rhein rivers.  I think they said the base was 70ft tall and the statue, which was destroyed and rebuilt (with some contraversy) was another 40ft high.  I twas interesting, the inscription said soemthing about how the reich would never fail as long as there was faith and backing (don't quote me on that).  I twas interesting considering the town was mostly destoryed in WWII.  And they displayed an American flag and an EU flag there.

Along the base of the podium were the crests of all the states in Hessen, emblemized on pillars forming a semicircle around the monumnet.  In fron tof it extended a mass of land, bordered by the flags of the states.

We spent a good deal of time walking around up there.  I snapped photos while Nate read the inscriptions and wrote down some of the words/phrases for study.

From there, we went up along the Mosel and walked to St. Kastor Kirche.  Inside, Nate found a newspaper clipping on display from 1944 when the church was bombed in WWII.  There was a painting of the Madona and child, I'm assuming from the middle ages by the look of it.  The ceilings were very interesting and elaborate, and the church's history went back to the 800s.  As with many buildings that old, it was rebuilt, but parts of the old structure remained.  There was also a nearby bridge mostly constructed in a the 14th or 15th century (I don't recall witch).  3 of the middle pillars had also beed destroeyd in bombings, but most of it remained.

  

 

In the plaza above where we parked, there was an interesting fountain that depicted the history for Koblenz from the Romans to present time.

     

After walking around all day, we were ALL rather hungry, so we set out in search of food, which is rather hard to find between 2-4.  We ended up at a wine house that looked a bit like a cafe.  I had spaetzle and Nate had rumpsteak, but even more delicious than the food was the wine.  I twas called Hausmeternich Rissling, 1/2 dry, and it was the best so far in Germany.

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