Went into the ‘Saturn’ store on the way into town, four floors of electrics, electronics, gadgets and consumables. And they had the CD I have been looking for. We have been a little under whelmed by the amount of recent local music that we have heard on our travels. We have listened to the radio throughout and mostly it is just the same that we get at home without the kiwi content. I was expecting more local sounds without reverting to the folksy stuff. But anyway back to this CD, we heard some sounds that we liked by a German group on the plane on the way over here, and we finally found it in a store. Yet to listen to it, but we found it. Of course if we had been really keen, we could have searched iTunes and downloaded it months ago.
On our stroll into town we came across a few more groups of buskers. The quality of buskers in Munich really is very impressive. But getting back to the story, there were three Mongolian men playing Mongolian music. One had a … cello of sorts, one had a … double bass of sorts, and the third had a horizontal harp type arrangement that he was hitting with sticks like a xylophone. The bellies of the cello and double bass were like square packing boxes, and they each had only two strings. But added to the sounds of their instruments, they were making the most unnatural sounds and accompaniments with their mouths. We have heard these sounds before in this type of music, but we always thought that they were produced by instruments of some kind. Very cool.
We climbed the tower at St Peters, but this isn’t as impressive as you are led to believe, but it does give you a good overview of the city. Once down stairs we went inside and visited the holy relics. At the second alter down on the left there is a glass case containing a whole female skeleton, gift wrapped in very fine transparent silk, that is adorned with gold braids, gemstones and holding a gold quill. The glass eyes looking out of the skull were a bit spooky. But this is the Roman martyr Munditia, the patron saint of single women. Also in this church (which seemed a bit odd), was a bronze plaque remembering those killed in the first world war. I guess it was the bass relief of the German helmet that looked out of place.
We spent most of the day mooching around the city (having a quiet day) and ending up at the Englischer Garten and the beer garden by the lake. We stumbled over the nude sunbathers this time around. And nude was definitely the preferred form of ‘un’dress. Those even semi clothed were definitely the minority. What seemed odd to us was that there are crowds of sunbathers on both sides of the narrow stream that runs through the park, one side is clothed, the other side is not. We read a news article that somewhere in Switzerland (we think) they were having problems with too many nude German hikers. It seems the Germans have a problem with clothes.
Anyway, on to the beer. What has surprised us is that we thought that with Munich being the home ground of beer and everything beer related, that it would be cheap … it isn’t. The other thing is that there seems to be a definite quaffing mindset where it is expected that you will order beer by the litre gross. Anything smaller doesn’t count. This beer drinking preoccupation is not a genteel sport in any way, shape or form, it is all about quantity. That’s not to say that they don’t have good beer, I have developed quite a liking to their weissbier, and Justine their lager.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
MUNICH – Germany (Mon 24 Aug)
Our first mission today was to get some yoghurt to go with breakfast. This doesn’t sound difficult, until you add a few obscure translations. What we ended up getting was a … kinda yoghurt (well it had that on the container), but it was the consistency of thick milk and was extremely salty making our breakfast uneatable. We found out later that it was Turkish yoghurt, but I have no idea what they do with it, they certainly don’t have it with muesli and fruit. The perils of food shopping in a foreign country.
Our next mission was parking. We parked out on the street last night (free until 9:00am), with the understanding from the hotel that we would be able to park in their garage for the next three days (at a cost). We went to ask where we needed to go to put our car in the garage, and we were told “the garage is full, you cannot park there.” After some persistence we managed to negotiate with staff and guests who were leaving, that we could fill one of the spots that they were vacating. In the scheme of things not a difficult thing to do, but it involved going around and around with discussions. This hard line, ‘black and white’ response that you get so often here is probably what is responsible for their reputation. So different to what you normally get at home especially in the hospitality industry. We tend to try and find solutions rather than put up ‘brick wall’ responses. But when you dig a little deeper they are more than helpful.
Anyway, on to more important things, our Free Walking Tour of Munich. This is the third time that we have done these free tours and once again we were not disappointed with the quality of the information, and the entertainment value of these tours. We delved into the recent history with the origins of the Nazi party here in Munich, the resistance to Nazism and their memorial, the Beer Hall Putsch, the square where the rallies were held, the Hofbrauhaus, New Synagogue, the Glockenspiel, the street of the ‘Kristallnacht’ (Night of the Broken Glass), plus, plus, plus.
We heard many interesting stories along the way like the one about the origins of Octoberfest being a royal wedding celebration where the whole town was invited, and lasted three days. This party has continued annually every year until now with next year marking two hundred years. The population of Munich grows from 1.3 million to 7.0 million for the festival. Of the six breweries that are permitted to supply Octoberfest, 30% of their annual production is consumed in the two weeks of the festival. The beer hall tents are as big as aircraft hangers, and most interesting of all the Australian government (which normally has no presence here) sets up a temporary embassy for those two weeks. This is just a desk, a phone and a flag, with a queue of Aussies who have lost their passports during their drunken escapades.
We also heard about Henry the Lion who in 1158, on receiving the Bavarian kingdom went out and blew up a bridge as celebration. This was the bridge that the previous occupants had charged a tax to cross. But Henry wasn’t completely heartless, he built a new bridge, diverted the salt route (which was the gold of its time), across the new bridge. He then proceeded to introduce a tax to cross his new bridge. As you can understand there were a few grumblings about this and they finally can to an agreement, that 30% of the levy would go to the church for 150 years. Well the 150 years came and went and the church kept collecting, and this wasn’t discovered until 1938 when it was discovered during an audit. The interesting fact here is that the church never owned up to collecting the revenue, and has never had to pay back it’s 630 years of excess revenue.
We also discovered the different way Munich has of remembering it’s resent past, compared to Berlin. Berlin has huge monuments that people have to look at every day. Their philosophy being that if we are confronted with it everyday we will make sure that it doesn’t happen again. In Munich it is a lot more subtle, with small plaques that you can walk over without noticing, a memorial on a wall with no explanation about what it is, a row of gold cobblestones down the middle of a street commemorating the Nazi resistance, with no explanation. The memorials and reminders are all there, but you need to look for them to find them. Their philosophy being that if you know, you will find.
Our guide was an Australian guy who ahs been in Germany for a few years studying and he said something that appealed to us and that we could relate to. He said that after a year of traveling around he became jaded with ‘more history’, ‘just another old church’, ‘just another statue’. Then he realized that every statue represents a person, and every church represents a people of that time. I think this is a good thing to remember when traveling.
We gathered a wealth of information during the three hours both recent and historical, and we finished in the only way that would be fitting, the whole group in a beer garden having a beer and stew for lunch.
From here we decided to go for a walk through the Englischer Garten, a huge garden in the middle of the city. Soon after entering the garden you meet a wave. No really … as you follow the small river it emerges from under a bridge and forms a reasonable size permanent wave that people surf on, despite the no surfing and no swimming signs. Very cool, totally unexpected and right in the middle of the city.
As we walked back home we went into the Theatinerkirche. What was surprising here was that it had a very small minimalist alter and the entire inside of the church was white, except for a large black pulpit half way down the church. The whole inside was very elaborately carved, decorated … and white. It had almost a sepulchre feel to it.
MUNICH – Germany (Sun 23 Aug)
Justine woke up this morning feeling a little unwell (something she ate perhaps), so she sent me down to breakfast alone. This is when I confirmed just how little of the German language that I know. It seemed that our hostess ran the breakfast show with her husband following her orders. He was shuffling around in his socks delivering bread and boiled eggs to the tables, all the while grumbling away to himself in German of course. We have found that a German breakfast is not ‘breakfast’ without at least one boiled egg and a couple of Kaiser buns. Just as the coffee isn’t coffee without full cream milk (now that takes a little getting used to). But the cheeses and cold cuts that come with the fresh buns are well getting up for. However when we have had our buns for breakfast, a stop by the bakery for lunch, and perhaps a pizza or a kebab for a cheap dinner (as it is the only thing that is still open), there are some days that we feel completely ‘breaded out’, and would like to eat anything other than bread. Those are the times that we really look forward to a self catered meal.
The pantomime that our hosts and I performed during checkout, I am sure would keep you all amused, but somehow or the other I established that our hosts wanted to know if we wanted to stay another night (due to Justine not feeling well), did we want some lunch to take with us for the journey (for free), and the wine that had been in the fridge was free (it’s a shame that we only drank one of the three bottles that was there). We did buy a couple of bottles to go though, at the going rate of 3 euro per litre. The wine here really is cheaper than the water.
So while the church bells were tolling, less than 50 meters from where we were standing, calling the faithful to prayer, our hostess was doing a roaring trade selling the wine from their cellar by the case load. We felt pathetic just taking the two bottles.
Despite the language barriers, our hosts have been more accommodating, helpful and friendly than we could have wished for. This side of the German spirit has been displayed to us yet again. So much for stereotypes.
We left the valleys and vineyards today and headed down the flat lands of the ‘Romantic Road’. This is a series of roads that head from here down to Munich passing through a series of small medieval towns, and that is exactly what we did. We had a stopover at Dinkelsbuhl, in which the majority of the houses in the old town were built in the early 1500s. A very cool town with a mixture of plaster and half timbered houses and manors. They did have a market day going on with a number of stalls selling the usual things like piles of socks, shirts, beads, Australian hats, and sausages. With the occasional organ grinder for a bit of light relief.
But the stall that got me, was an Indian guy that had a couple of long tables set out with scissors of every shape and description, tweezers for every purpose, a whole range of surgical implements and dentist tools. And all the while yelling out his banter to anyone within earshot. A banter that seemed to carry the dominant theme of “rust free, rust free!” Hmmm … firstly it makes you wonder where he got them from, and secondly who would buy them, especially when you consider that this town has a small population and he had enough for each of them. I was expecting him to pull out ‘Surgical Procedures for Dummies’ or perhaps ‘101 for Dentists’.
When it comes to lunch and bakery goods, we had it on good authority to avoid the ‘Schneeballen’. They look like dough that has been rolled out flat, shapes cut out of it with cookie cutters, then these shapes gathered together, rolled into a ball about the size of a baseball, and then coated with various types of icing, chocolate and icing sugar. In other words, the leftovers from the bakers floor gathered up and rolled into a dough ball with icing. Are you tempted yet? A local delicacy that we managed to resist.
After spending quite a bit of time in Dinkelsbuhl, this town is a temptation that is hard to get away from, we headed on to Munich and checked into our hotel. A nice room with all the things that you need, plus a little bit to spare, but without the personal touches that you get in a B&B. We walked into town to orient ourselves and to find where the free walking tours start from, as that is our plan for tomorrow.
The buskers were setting up as we were about to leave, so we stayed to listen for a while. This is the first time that we have seen a busking group comprising of violin, piano accordion, double bass, drum box, and grand piano. I kid you not, these guys had a grand piano on wheels that they had brought along. You can imagine the discussions beforehand, “… and Otto, it’s your turn to bring the piano.” I have no idea how they got it there. It makes learning the violin an attractive proposition doesn’t it, it’s transportable. Once we had seen that, we just had to stay and listen, and they were really very good, playing a mixture of jazz and classical, and adding their own personal twists and showmanship. The quality and the mixture of styles here has been most enjoyable.
ERLABRUM (near Wurzburg) – Germany (Sat 22 Aug)
We had a wonderful night last night in an almost luxurious bed and breakfast. This place is a working vineyard (as seems to be most of the village) and these places really do take their wine making seriously, after all this is one of the major wine growing districts in Germany. According to our hostess (who spoke perfect English) over 80% of the wine that they produce is white, and judging by the awards and our limited palate, it is very good. After enjoying a wonderful breakfast we asked if we could stay another night, but unfortunately they are booked out, due to a wine festival in the town over the next three days. It’s a shame that we will miss it. But in keeping with the hospitality that we have experienced throughout Germany, she hopped on the phone and rang around other bed and breakfast places nearby and found somewhere else for us to stay tonight.
This is probably the first time during our travels that we have been booked in before 10:00am. As it transpired, this was a good move. We moved to another small rural winegrowing bed and breakfast on the other side of the Main River. Tonight we are staying in a double bedroom self contained apartment (with kitchen, bathroom, and lounge room) plus breakfast provided, for the same price as a room only. This is cheaper than last night, so that is definitely welcome. The challenge though is that this family doesn’t speak a word of English, and we only know half a handful of German. But somehow we manage to get by, but it does make it interesting. Despite the best of intentions on both sides, you don’t quite know what you are going to get, or what you have agreed to.
We are aware that the way that we are traveling for so long has a definite impact on the way that we spend, compared to most travelers who are on the road for a few weeks and tend to have the mindset that they will ‘put it on the credit card and deal with it later’, they also have everything planned out and paid for before they leave home. We don’t have that luxury. We have also become aware of how people that we meet. are extremely interested in our travel plans, the length of our stay, the flexibility of our plans, how far we are from home. It is encouraging for us, as it reinforces just how lucky we are to be able to do what we are doing, despite the fact that sometimes it feels like we are doing things the hard way. We are fulfilling an opportunity that not many people get to enjoy.
After we had checked in we drove through a multitude of small towns, the 1.5 hrs to Bamberg. Bamberg was for 800 years the capital of the ‘ecclesiastical principality’ ruled by the prince bishop beginning in 1007 AD. But that is not why we wanted to go there. We had read that this was a relatively undiscovered medieval town, and so we thought that it was worth a look, and we weren’t disappointed.
On our way there we were commenting on how pretty these towns are, but also how empty. They seemed to be like ghost towns with no sign of life at all. When we arrived at Bamberg, we think we found the answer, everyone was there. At first we thought that it was market day, and then we found that the stalls seemed to go on forever, winding their way through the old part of town, and then we discovered the real reason. Today was festival day. We still aren’t sure what the festival was about, but we suspect that it was something to do with either beer or wine as most of the stalls were dedicated to this, although they seem to drink a lot of either of these at the least provocation anyway.
We hit the centre square just as a procession was coming through. If you think that lederhosen is just for the tourist brochures, think again. This is heartland Germany and those without traditional garb today were definitely the minority. At the back end of the procession there was a very loud drumming band, and a couple of Latin American Samba dancers in full costume (definitely not lederhosen) looking like they had just hopped off the plane from Rio, followed by what looked like a maypole. We were soon to find out that the maypole was the main event (apart from the drinking). A group of eight guys lifted the pole into its upright position over a period of an hour. Of course the raising of something like that takes a lot of talking, a lot of singing, and a lot of passing around of HUGE steins of beer. Between every upward movement they would need to ensure that the stein had gone around at least once. After everything was upright and in place then the serious business of singing, dancing and drinking intensified.
About this time we headed up the hill to the Dom (closed), through the rose garden (wedding in progress), and on to St Michaels. A very cool church which has botanical themed frescos on the ceiling. This is fantastic medieval town that seems to appear in its unadulterated state. It doesn’t seem to have been knocked around too much by the tourist circuit, which is nice to see.
We finished the day today with a self catered meal and a bottle of ‘house’ wine. We were once told that there was no such thing as a bad red wine in Italy, and we proved that to be true. You can buy the cheapest wine in any Italian restaurant or pizza joint by the half liter, it will be served in the equivalent of a glass mug, and it will still taste damn good. We would like to suggest it is the same here in this region of Germany with their white wines. The only difference is that they take more consideration with the presentation than their Italian friends.
THUNGERSHEIN (near Wurzburg) – Germany (Fri 21 Aug)
After having such a fabulous day yesterday the evening and night turned to thunder, lightening and rain. This started as we were walking home from Cochem, when our walk home down the country road was illuminated by little stuttering flashes of lights in the sky, happening with such frequency that it was almost like a timing light. This created an eerie atmosphere as the shadows of clouds, hills and the castle were cast across the landscape. In between the rolling thunder we spent the night listening to the barges plying their trade up and down the river outside.
We were hoping that the weather would sort itself out overnight, but we woke to drizzle and grey sky, which looked like it had set in for the day. We headed out through Cochem, past the castle, and on through the Mosell valley to Koblenz where the Mosell and the Rhine rivers meet. Then we followed this through to Mainz where we met the Main River, and followed this through to our destination, 15 kms out of Wurzburg.
These valleys are punctuated with picturesque little towns and villages of stone and half timbered houses. Throughout these valleys it seems that every bend, curve, or kink in the river deserves another castle or fortification of some sort. These fortifications extend themselves down into the towns themselves and display themselves as towers, walls, gates, entrances to what are now railway tunnels. In many ways these structures dominate over the churches that have been the predominant feature in all of the towns that we have passed though during our previous travels. Often these castles are only a few kms apart and if the occupants were minded to, they could probably throw stones at each other.
The barges on the river run a continuous procession, shoving their way through the water as they shift their goods. Today, many of these were what looked like oil tankers flying Swiss flags. It is only when you see them passing each other that you appreciate how much they carry. The loaded barges push their way through with what appears to be only a couple of feet of freeboard, whilst the empty ones glide past in the opposite direction riding high.
While in Mainz we went and looked at something that I had been looking forward to for some time. We went to the Gutenberg Museum. And before you say ‘what is that?’, Johannes Gutenberg is the ‘Godfather’ of print. He was the one that invented moveable type, which you will appreciate, was a considerable improvement in efficiency on the handwritten, hand lettered publications (by a group of dedicated monks) that were the only means of written communication previously. In 1454 Gutenberg printed the 42 line Gutenberg bible, and there are two named copies of this in the museum. As you can probably tell this was pretty cool stuff for me. What Justine didn’t realize was that the whole four floors of this museum is dedicated to Gutenberg and printing.
What was a little disappointing was that despite the fact that this museum is dedicated to communication, there was a distinct lack of English translations, audioguides, or descriptions for those of us that aren’t German. So I became Justine’s personal guide for the four hours that we were there.
It was rather amusing when one of the tour guides became annoyed with us for talking very quietly in the corner of the ‘strong room’ (where the Gutenberg bibles are kept). Rather ironic when you consider the disturbance to the peace that they create in every tourist spot, whether it be a church, museum or library. They have a tendency to shout at a volume that will not only be heard by their group but also create enough collective noise to disturb anyone within shouting distance. These particular guides were being monitored on how long they were in this room, they had a ‘strong room monitor’ outside the door (I kid you not), who had come in and told this particular guide to move along as she had used up her allotted time, so she was trying to wrap it all up for her group. She suddenly interrupted her spiel to thump the glass case and tell us to ‘Shhhhhh!’ very loudly, when we were hardly making an audible sound. If we hadn’t been so surprised by the outburst we would have made a more dramatic response. But it isn’t the kind of thing that you expect.
As usual with these places the gift shop was a complete rip off. They were selling individual pieces on 24pt monotype (individual lead characters) for 2.80 euro each! I was standing next to an American couple who were looking at them and discussing buying some to use as stamps to hammer into leather. I thought I would help them out by telling them that they were unsuitable for the task. They just looked at me and bought them anyway, probably on principle. Oh well … you can but try. But despite all of that, yes it was pretty cool, and well worth the visit, in fact I would go again, but that is just me.
We arrived at our accommodation at about 6:30pm and headed straight out to get some dinner as we had already experienced the local perchance of closing up early so we wanted to beat them, but alas, too late. So it was back into the car and down the road the 14kms to the city to try and find something that was open. Not much luck there either. It is always surprising when you find that the bars and restaurants have all closed early (what we consider early) on a Friday night.
What we did find in our wanderings through the town though was cigarette vending machines on almost every corner. And we aren’t talking about corners on a city street. We are talking about on the corner of someone’s vege garden. Standing all alone in the middle of what appears to be an empty piece of land in the middle of nowhere, there will be a strong box which is a cigarette vending machine. And these things are less than 300 meters apart. It would be a case of “Hang on honey, I’ll just nip out for some cigies.” And walking down to the end of the garden to buy them. It also makes you wonder who the owners of this land are, and what they get out of it.
We were hoping that the weather would sort itself out overnight, but we woke to drizzle and grey sky, which looked like it had set in for the day. We headed out through Cochem, past the castle, and on through the Mosell valley to Koblenz where the Mosell and the Rhine rivers meet. Then we followed this through to Mainz where we met the Main River, and followed this through to our destination, 15 kms out of Wurzburg.
These valleys are punctuated with picturesque little towns and villages of stone and half timbered houses. Throughout these valleys it seems that every bend, curve, or kink in the river deserves another castle or fortification of some sort. These fortifications extend themselves down into the towns themselves and display themselves as towers, walls, gates, entrances to what are now railway tunnels. In many ways these structures dominate over the churches that have been the predominant feature in all of the towns that we have passed though during our previous travels. Often these castles are only a few kms apart and if the occupants were minded to, they could probably throw stones at each other.
The barges on the river run a continuous procession, shoving their way through the water as they shift their goods. Today, many of these were what looked like oil tankers flying Swiss flags. It is only when you see them passing each other that you appreciate how much they carry. The loaded barges push their way through with what appears to be only a couple of feet of freeboard, whilst the empty ones glide past in the opposite direction riding high.
While in Mainz we went and looked at something that I had been looking forward to for some time. We went to the Gutenberg Museum. And before you say ‘what is that?’, Johannes Gutenberg is the ‘Godfather’ of print. He was the one that invented moveable type, which you will appreciate, was a considerable improvement in efficiency on the handwritten, hand lettered publications (by a group of dedicated monks) that were the only means of written communication previously. In 1454 Gutenberg printed the 42 line Gutenberg bible, and there are two named copies of this in the museum. As you can probably tell this was pretty cool stuff for me. What Justine didn’t realize was that the whole four floors of this museum is dedicated to Gutenberg and printing.
What was a little disappointing was that despite the fact that this museum is dedicated to communication, there was a distinct lack of English translations, audioguides, or descriptions for those of us that aren’t German. So I became Justine’s personal guide for the four hours that we were there.
It was rather amusing when one of the tour guides became annoyed with us for talking very quietly in the corner of the ‘strong room’ (where the Gutenberg bibles are kept). Rather ironic when you consider the disturbance to the peace that they create in every tourist spot, whether it be a church, museum or library. They have a tendency to shout at a volume that will not only be heard by their group but also create enough collective noise to disturb anyone within shouting distance. These particular guides were being monitored on how long they were in this room, they had a ‘strong room monitor’ outside the door (I kid you not), who had come in and told this particular guide to move along as she had used up her allotted time, so she was trying to wrap it all up for her group. She suddenly interrupted her spiel to thump the glass case and tell us to ‘Shhhhhh!’ very loudly, when we were hardly making an audible sound. If we hadn’t been so surprised by the outburst we would have made a more dramatic response. But it isn’t the kind of thing that you expect.
As usual with these places the gift shop was a complete rip off. They were selling individual pieces on 24pt monotype (individual lead characters) for 2.80 euro each! I was standing next to an American couple who were looking at them and discussing buying some to use as stamps to hammer into leather. I thought I would help them out by telling them that they were unsuitable for the task. They just looked at me and bought them anyway, probably on principle. Oh well … you can but try. But despite all of that, yes it was pretty cool, and well worth the visit, in fact I would go again, but that is just me.
We arrived at our accommodation at about 6:30pm and headed straight out to get some dinner as we had already experienced the local perchance of closing up early so we wanted to beat them, but alas, too late. So it was back into the car and down the road the 14kms to the city to try and find something that was open. Not much luck there either. It is always surprising when you find that the bars and restaurants have all closed early (what we consider early) on a Friday night.
What we did find in our wanderings through the town though was cigarette vending machines on almost every corner. And we aren’t talking about corners on a city street. We are talking about on the corner of someone’s vege garden. Standing all alone in the middle of what appears to be an empty piece of land in the middle of nowhere, there will be a strong box which is a cigarette vending machine. And these things are less than 300 meters apart. It would be a case of “Hang on honey, I’ll just nip out for some cigies.” And walking down to the end of the garden to buy them. It also makes you wonder who the owners of this land are, and what they get out of it.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
VALWIG – Germany (Thurs 20 Aug)
Today it was hot, 38 degrees, and sweating.
We had a look around Trier before we left today and it had a surprising amount to offer in the centre of town. Before we arrived in Germany we hadn’t expected to see Roman ruins here. The most impressive here in Trier is the Roman North Gate, which is an impressive structure in the centre of the old town.
We headed through the centre to the Dom. And yes we have more questions. Down in the crypt there are a couple of bones (yes more of them) with gold bows around them housed in a gold replica of the Dom. In the treasury (a room beside the alter as you go up the stairs) is the ‘Holy Nail’ (exactly how holy we aren’t too sure). Behind the alter in another room is the ‘Seamless Robe’. The seamless robe is in a coffin shaped box, that is housed inside a highly polished and ornate glass air-conditioned case, and this is inside a climatically controlled room. So the nearest you can get to it is about 5 meters away behind a steel grill and glass. Every 10 years they open up the room so that you can walk around it, but you will never get to see it. It is evidently too fragile to be tested for authenticity. So is this a case of the Emperors new clothes? Does it even exist? Who can be sure.
From here it was out of town past the Roman Amphitheatre, and then a walk past the pink Palace with its very ornate façade and wonderful grounds with statues, fountains and flower beds. We spent the rest of the days driving down through the Mosell river valley. The road hugged the river with acres and acres of vineyards on both sides of the river, little villages with white walled houses with slate grey roofs, the compulsory church sticking its head up in each village, and castles standing guard on the hilltops at regular intervals. Some of the castles were in a better state of repair than others, but even the worst off managed to have a few German flags flying and what from the valley floor looked like a café or restaurant open for business. Also at regular intervals were camping grounds, packed to the gunnels with tents and camper vans. We thought that the land around here would be too valuable to accommodate those kind of luxuries.
We arrived in Valwig and checked in, before heading into Cochem for a walk (about 3km away). This is a very cool little town with the compulsory castle on the hilltop above it, which looks most splendid when lit up after dark. Unfortunately the town had lost most of its sun by the time we got there so we need to have a brief visit in the morning before we leave town.
We had a look around Trier before we left today and it had a surprising amount to offer in the centre of town. Before we arrived in Germany we hadn’t expected to see Roman ruins here. The most impressive here in Trier is the Roman North Gate, which is an impressive structure in the centre of the old town.
We headed through the centre to the Dom. And yes we have more questions. Down in the crypt there are a couple of bones (yes more of them) with gold bows around them housed in a gold replica of the Dom. In the treasury (a room beside the alter as you go up the stairs) is the ‘Holy Nail’ (exactly how holy we aren’t too sure). Behind the alter in another room is the ‘Seamless Robe’. The seamless robe is in a coffin shaped box, that is housed inside a highly polished and ornate glass air-conditioned case, and this is inside a climatically controlled room. So the nearest you can get to it is about 5 meters away behind a steel grill and glass. Every 10 years they open up the room so that you can walk around it, but you will never get to see it. It is evidently too fragile to be tested for authenticity. So is this a case of the Emperors new clothes? Does it even exist? Who can be sure.
From here it was out of town past the Roman Amphitheatre, and then a walk past the pink Palace with its very ornate façade and wonderful grounds with statues, fountains and flower beds. We spent the rest of the days driving down through the Mosell river valley. The road hugged the river with acres and acres of vineyards on both sides of the river, little villages with white walled houses with slate grey roofs, the compulsory church sticking its head up in each village, and castles standing guard on the hilltops at regular intervals. Some of the castles were in a better state of repair than others, but even the worst off managed to have a few German flags flying and what from the valley floor looked like a café or restaurant open for business. Also at regular intervals were camping grounds, packed to the gunnels with tents and camper vans. We thought that the land around here would be too valuable to accommodate those kind of luxuries.
We arrived in Valwig and checked in, before heading into Cochem for a walk (about 3km away). This is a very cool little town with the compulsory castle on the hilltop above it, which looks most splendid when lit up after dark. Unfortunately the town had lost most of its sun by the time we got there so we need to have a brief visit in the morning before we leave town.
TRIER – Germany (Wed 19 Aug)
We left Cologne today via the A1 and made battle with the frequent roadworks on our way south to Trier. But first we made a detour through Luxemburg. On way there we made a few wrong turns and ended up being directed through single lane farm roads in various states of repair. It was nice to see a bit of the real countryside though. It made a nice change from the smoggy haze that we have been surrounded with recently.
Our first stop in Luxemburg was Vianden. A pretty little town with a stream running through its middle and being overlooked by an old castle on the hill. Little old streets, lined with little old plaster houses on either side. The impression is that this town is reasonable well off judging by the way the houses are well looked after. We battled the wasps at the local bakery to get some lunch. We’re not sure what the story is with the wasps, but they are everywhere and seem to swarm all the sweet little things in the bakery (buns and cakes). No one seems to be bothered by them, they seem to treat them more as a nuisance like flies. Kirsten (Copenhagen) got annoyed with us for trying to shoo them away, saying “Now you have just annoyed him!” Opps. Perhaps they aren’t as aggressive as the ones we have at home.
Our next stop was Luxemburg city, which was just that a stop, and not much more. It was very much a flying visit, with Justine doing a quick run around for some photos. Parking here is diabolical (even by European standards), besides we couldn’t be bothered with the visual pollution that was being disgorged by the tour buses when we were there. Dealing with them wandering around dithering their way across the road when they saw fit, was quite enough. So we moved on from the highlighter bright, glitter tee shirts shouting slogans like ‘I love NY’, and headed out of town towards our next stop Echternach.
Our visit here confirmed that we prefer the smaller towns to the large cities. This seems a nice town with lots of trees and leaves. Our visit here included a visit to Saint Willibrord Basillica. This was interesting to say the least. This basilica was consecrated in 1953 after it was almost demolished in the ‘Battle of the Bulge’. It had quite a new feel to it in a nice way, it had very cool stained glass windows that almost had a Picasso look to them. Down the length of the nave it had alternating square pillars and round columns. The usual crypt was underneath the alter end of the church, with the sarcophagi being very simple almost minimalist.
But to the left of the main door as you exit, there is a little room which is just filed with ‘Holy Relics’. This really is incredible. There are what appears to be tibia, bits of skull, knee caps, bits of pelvis, finger fragments, and numerous other bits and pieces of bone, far to many to describe. They are all carefully mounted into a large case that also houses St Willibrord’s robe.
This raises several questions. Are these all pieces of St Willibrord? If not, who else is in there and why? How did he manage to be broken up into so many fragments? And the big question, dare we say it, are they really authentic? When confronted with some thing like this it is hard not to be cynical about the whole relic thing. We were asking ourselves, are they authentic? and are they presented as real to confirm the authenticity of the man and therefore the authenticity of the faith? These questions are far too big for us to answer. But it does remind me of the quote ‘believe in God whatsoever you perceive him to be’. If this is what it takes for believers to believe, then I guess they have served a purpose.
One of the interesting things that we found as we were leaving this town was that the border between Luxemburg and Germany runs right through the middle of the town. We discovered this as we crossed national borders about three times as we were trying to get out. We’re just glad that we didn’t have to produce our passports each time. One of the main indicators that you were in a different country was the price of the fuel. Diesel is about 35 Euro cents cheaper in Luxemburg than Germany, so consequently there are very few gas stations on the German side of town.
From here we drove on to our final destination for the day, Trier. Or so we thought. GPS Jenny took us to the address that we had booked for the night, but the hotel was nowhere to be seen. We walked in circles around the streets for half an hour looking for the place and still no luck. The right street, the right number, but no hostel. We finally went into the railway station across the road asking for directions, only to be told that the place didn’t exist. So what now?! And then we had an inspiration, we broadened the search on GPS Jenny, only to find there was another place by the same name in a small village 10 kms away. And ‘Voila’, there we were. Right name, wrong town.
We were greeted by our ‘hostess with the mostess’, giving us the welcome that the German people are renown for. Blunt, direct, to the point of being rude. I quote “Here’s your key, breakfast is from 8:30 to 10:00, can you pay me.” As it transpired we found that breakfast was indeed served at 8:30, and if you turn up at 9:15, as we did, you will find that (a) there is not much food left as it doesn’t get replenished (b) what is left is cold, including the coffee. The other guests had obviously already experienced this as there was almost a stampede downstairs on the dot of 8:30. We then proceeded to upset our hostess even further by sitting at the wrong table. They all looked the same to us. It’s always interesting traveling around the various accommodations, you never know quite what you are going to get.
Our first stop in Luxemburg was Vianden. A pretty little town with a stream running through its middle and being overlooked by an old castle on the hill. Little old streets, lined with little old plaster houses on either side. The impression is that this town is reasonable well off judging by the way the houses are well looked after. We battled the wasps at the local bakery to get some lunch. We’re not sure what the story is with the wasps, but they are everywhere and seem to swarm all the sweet little things in the bakery (buns and cakes). No one seems to be bothered by them, they seem to treat them more as a nuisance like flies. Kirsten (Copenhagen) got annoyed with us for trying to shoo them away, saying “Now you have just annoyed him!” Opps. Perhaps they aren’t as aggressive as the ones we have at home.
Our next stop was Luxemburg city, which was just that a stop, and not much more. It was very much a flying visit, with Justine doing a quick run around for some photos. Parking here is diabolical (even by European standards), besides we couldn’t be bothered with the visual pollution that was being disgorged by the tour buses when we were there. Dealing with them wandering around dithering their way across the road when they saw fit, was quite enough. So we moved on from the highlighter bright, glitter tee shirts shouting slogans like ‘I love NY’, and headed out of town towards our next stop Echternach.
Our visit here confirmed that we prefer the smaller towns to the large cities. This seems a nice town with lots of trees and leaves. Our visit here included a visit to Saint Willibrord Basillica. This was interesting to say the least. This basilica was consecrated in 1953 after it was almost demolished in the ‘Battle of the Bulge’. It had quite a new feel to it in a nice way, it had very cool stained glass windows that almost had a Picasso look to them. Down the length of the nave it had alternating square pillars and round columns. The usual crypt was underneath the alter end of the church, with the sarcophagi being very simple almost minimalist.
But to the left of the main door as you exit, there is a little room which is just filed with ‘Holy Relics’. This really is incredible. There are what appears to be tibia, bits of skull, knee caps, bits of pelvis, finger fragments, and numerous other bits and pieces of bone, far to many to describe. They are all carefully mounted into a large case that also houses St Willibrord’s robe.
This raises several questions. Are these all pieces of St Willibrord? If not, who else is in there and why? How did he manage to be broken up into so many fragments? And the big question, dare we say it, are they really authentic? When confronted with some thing like this it is hard not to be cynical about the whole relic thing. We were asking ourselves, are they authentic? and are they presented as real to confirm the authenticity of the man and therefore the authenticity of the faith? These questions are far too big for us to answer. But it does remind me of the quote ‘believe in God whatsoever you perceive him to be’. If this is what it takes for believers to believe, then I guess they have served a purpose.
One of the interesting things that we found as we were leaving this town was that the border between Luxemburg and Germany runs right through the middle of the town. We discovered this as we crossed national borders about three times as we were trying to get out. We’re just glad that we didn’t have to produce our passports each time. One of the main indicators that you were in a different country was the price of the fuel. Diesel is about 35 Euro cents cheaper in Luxemburg than Germany, so consequently there are very few gas stations on the German side of town.
From here we drove on to our final destination for the day, Trier. Or so we thought. GPS Jenny took us to the address that we had booked for the night, but the hotel was nowhere to be seen. We walked in circles around the streets for half an hour looking for the place and still no luck. The right street, the right number, but no hostel. We finally went into the railway station across the road asking for directions, only to be told that the place didn’t exist. So what now?! And then we had an inspiration, we broadened the search on GPS Jenny, only to find there was another place by the same name in a small village 10 kms away. And ‘Voila’, there we were. Right name, wrong town.
We were greeted by our ‘hostess with the mostess’, giving us the welcome that the German people are renown for. Blunt, direct, to the point of being rude. I quote “Here’s your key, breakfast is from 8:30 to 10:00, can you pay me.” As it transpired we found that breakfast was indeed served at 8:30, and if you turn up at 9:15, as we did, you will find that (a) there is not much food left as it doesn’t get replenished (b) what is left is cold, including the coffee. The other guests had obviously already experienced this as there was almost a stampede downstairs on the dot of 8:30. We then proceeded to upset our hostess even further by sitting at the wrong table. They all looked the same to us. It’s always interesting traveling around the various accommodations, you never know quite what you are going to get.
MONHEIM am RHEIN – Germany (Tues 18 Aug)
We asked the hotel staff for the best way to get into Cologne and were told that the best way was to drive to Legenfeld (3.5 kms away) and catch the S-Bahn. Well as it transpired it was 7 kms into Legenfeld, and another 10 kms driving around in circles trying to find the S-Bahn. Then two trains went through while we were trying to understand how to extract tickets from the automatic machine. Some of these machines are very easy, others are a challenge to say the least. However we finally made it to Cologne.
As soon as you get off the train, the thing that hits you is the Cathedral. The Cologne Cathedral is magnificent. It is one of the largest churches that we have seen with vaulted ceiling reaching over 45 meters high. At one end there are a number of chapels (for various saints) set in a semicircular pattern around the main alter, which is the shrine to the three magi (the three wise men). A very intricate shrine made out of ornate gold, and it houses the relics of the three magi.
The cathedral is a visual feast from top to bottom, from the ceiling, to the fantastic stained glass windows all around, to the very intricate mosaics on the floor. It really was a spectacular experience, but the whole ‘relic’ thing brought up the discussion with us, about how did the Catholic church manage to get a monopoly on the relics. Were they the only ones that could afford them? Was it because of their power and wealth in times of old? Was it their means of generating revenue, or swaying the masses towards the Catholic way? Whatever the answer we had our eyes set on higher things. We climbed the tower, through the belfry (with it’s eight huge bells) and beyond. This took us up over 100 meters via the 533 spiral steps. After sitting down to steady our spinning heads we walked out around the walkway, looked down on the masses below, and looked up the remaining 57 meters to the top of the steeple. The top stone alone is 9.5 meters high. This really is an impressive cathedral.
What has been quite noticeable since we got back into Germany, is that we are back into the territory of the beggars. They were strangely absent in Denmark, but then that is a welfare state. But here in Germany, they even had them inside the church. Well to be fair, they were actually priests in their red garb, floating around with their alms boxes. The first time we have seen that.
Beside the cathedral there are the remains of the Roman gate to the city dated 50 AD. This is a reminder that this is where the Goths and the Germanic tribes med the Romans, and the Romans used the Rhein as a natural border between their territories, and set up the city Cologne. They did have a trading relationship, but this was tenuous at best. But this does explain the Roman remains around the central city, in fact some of these remains had to be demolished to put in the footings for the cathedral when it was first built.
We spent the rest of the day browsing the city before taking the half hour train journey back to Legenfeld, and then Monheim am Rhein. We grabbed a quick dinner on way through the train station, and we have to say that there is nothing funnier than seeing an angry German vegetarian who thinks that he has been served chicken. The ruckus died down when he discovered that it was indeed tofu.
As soon as you get off the train, the thing that hits you is the Cathedral. The Cologne Cathedral is magnificent. It is one of the largest churches that we have seen with vaulted ceiling reaching over 45 meters high. At one end there are a number of chapels (for various saints) set in a semicircular pattern around the main alter, which is the shrine to the three magi (the three wise men). A very intricate shrine made out of ornate gold, and it houses the relics of the three magi.
The cathedral is a visual feast from top to bottom, from the ceiling, to the fantastic stained glass windows all around, to the very intricate mosaics on the floor. It really was a spectacular experience, but the whole ‘relic’ thing brought up the discussion with us, about how did the Catholic church manage to get a monopoly on the relics. Were they the only ones that could afford them? Was it because of their power and wealth in times of old? Was it their means of generating revenue, or swaying the masses towards the Catholic way? Whatever the answer we had our eyes set on higher things. We climbed the tower, through the belfry (with it’s eight huge bells) and beyond. This took us up over 100 meters via the 533 spiral steps. After sitting down to steady our spinning heads we walked out around the walkway, looked down on the masses below, and looked up the remaining 57 meters to the top of the steeple. The top stone alone is 9.5 meters high. This really is an impressive cathedral.
What has been quite noticeable since we got back into Germany, is that we are back into the territory of the beggars. They were strangely absent in Denmark, but then that is a welfare state. But here in Germany, they even had them inside the church. Well to be fair, they were actually priests in their red garb, floating around with their alms boxes. The first time we have seen that.
Beside the cathedral there are the remains of the Roman gate to the city dated 50 AD. This is a reminder that this is where the Goths and the Germanic tribes med the Romans, and the Romans used the Rhein as a natural border between their territories, and set up the city Cologne. They did have a trading relationship, but this was tenuous at best. But this does explain the Roman remains around the central city, in fact some of these remains had to be demolished to put in the footings for the cathedral when it was first built.
We spent the rest of the day browsing the city before taking the half hour train journey back to Legenfeld, and then Monheim am Rhein. We grabbed a quick dinner on way through the train station, and we have to say that there is nothing funnier than seeing an angry German vegetarian who thinks that he has been served chicken. The ruckus died down when he discovered that it was indeed tofu.
MONHEIM am RHEIN – Germany (Mon 17 Aug)
We spent most of the day in Bremen today, browsing around the town. The old quarter, ‘Schnoor’, is very cool with little old houses and shops from the 1700s squashed in against each other on cobbled alleyways and streets.
We went from here into the main Markplatz, and into St Petri Dom. A great old church with high vaulted ceilings and pillars constructed of pink, grey, and ochre stone. There are two crypts in this church, both marked as ‘Room of silence’, although when I was there, there wasn’t much silence going on. There were a bunch of kids running around screaming and yelling and turning the lights on and off.
After leaving the church and having a browse around the city centre we decided that lunch in the park was in order. So we headed down to Stadtgaben, just a few meters from the Markplatz. We ended up spending a few hours there enjoying the sunshine and a doze on the park bench. It was one of those afternoons when it seemed the right thing to do, to stop and smell the flowers.
Late in the afternoon we headed down to Monheim am Rhein, 17 kms out of Cologne, and checked into our hotel. We headed into town to find some dinner and ended up with pizza (again), although we have to say that it was very good, despite the stares from the locals. We got the impression that they don’t get many visitors mingling in this town.
We went from here into the main Markplatz, and into St Petri Dom. A great old church with high vaulted ceilings and pillars constructed of pink, grey, and ochre stone. There are two crypts in this church, both marked as ‘Room of silence’, although when I was there, there wasn’t much silence going on. There were a bunch of kids running around screaming and yelling and turning the lights on and off.
After leaving the church and having a browse around the city centre we decided that lunch in the park was in order. So we headed down to Stadtgaben, just a few meters from the Markplatz. We ended up spending a few hours there enjoying the sunshine and a doze on the park bench. It was one of those afternoons when it seemed the right thing to do, to stop and smell the flowers.
Late in the afternoon we headed down to Monheim am Rhein, 17 kms out of Cologne, and checked into our hotel. We headed into town to find some dinner and ended up with pizza (again), although we have to say that it was very good, despite the stares from the locals. We got the impression that they don’t get many visitors mingling in this town.
BREMEN – Germany (Sun 16 Aug)
We said good bye to our hosts this morning … well actually we didn’t, we didn’t really get to see them much at all. Justine got talking to our host last night and he came out with an … interesting story about himself. The story goes that he spent some time in NZ and was in a relationship with a Kiwi girl. They had returned to Denmark together and had been together for some years when his girlfriend (GF1) had to return to NZ due to family illness and he was to follow her after selling up and sorting out their things. He had everything sold, had tickets in hand, had said his goodbyes, when girl number two (GF2) comes knocking on his door and says “I have loved you for a long time and I don’t want you to leave.” His response was “and who are you?” But it was enough for him to give up his plans, stay in Denmark, marry GF2, and have three kids with her. And GF1? Well she is still living in Palmerston North somewhere. We wanted to see this GF2 but she was out on the town when we arrived, and was still in bed recovering when we left. Either that or she had heard hubby telling Justine the story and was keeping a low profile. Hubby rose in time for us to say good morning to and then he took the dog for a walk. We had about 420 kms to cover today so we had to leave our money and run. Very strange to stay in a B&B and hardly get to say “Hi!” to our hosts. But it was a nice place in a very rustic kind of way, looks like an old stable in the half timbered style. We got greeted by a note pinned to the front door directing us to our room, and security is obviously not an issue as there were no locks on any of the doors. However we have noticed throughout Denmark that crime seems to be minimal.
Anyway, on to our stopover, Ribe. This is the oldest town in Denmark, and it shows with cobblestones and wonky old half timbered houses as we have become accustomed to seeing, but whereas other towns seem to reserve a short street or two to display this type of old architecture for the tourists, this is what Ribe is. It is old, it is aged, and it has done so gracefully, holding its age well. Although in some places judging by the number of zimmer frames outside the front doors of the cottages, it appears as if the original occupants are still in residence. Being Sunday, everything is closed except for the church, the museum, the bakery, and a couple of ice cream shops. The ice cream shops here never seem to close, they are the only ones that don’t.
We browsed around the central city for a while taking a few photos between light showers, and dodging dark clouds. The weather here is still a little suspect with frequent showers, and a strong cold wind. So no different to what we have experienced in the rest of Denmark really. The only advantage in the wind is that it blows the clouds away quickly to reveal the sunshine, the other side of that is that it blows in more clouds as well.
After a while we headed to the Viking Museum, which took us through the years in this town since 200 ad, and a very interesting ride it was too, including Vikings, Christianity and the local witch burnings. In keeping with the theme of the visit, we thought we saw ‘Thor’ (or what appeared to be one of his direct descendants) as we were leaving town. A solid looking older man with very long blond hair tied back in a plait at the back and an unruly beard at the front. All he needed was a helmet and he would have fitted the bill perfectly.
We reached Bremen (of the singing farm animal fame – donkey, dog, cat and rooster) late in the day and were glad of the warmer temperatures of Germany. It was nice to be able to walk into town, grab some food, and sit and listen to some live music in the square, without freezing our bits off. As we were walking home we passed through ‘Lloyd’s Passage’ and saw the hand prints of James Last … we thought he was long since dead. There was no sign of his go-go girls though. A shame :-)
Anyway, on to our stopover, Ribe. This is the oldest town in Denmark, and it shows with cobblestones and wonky old half timbered houses as we have become accustomed to seeing, but whereas other towns seem to reserve a short street or two to display this type of old architecture for the tourists, this is what Ribe is. It is old, it is aged, and it has done so gracefully, holding its age well. Although in some places judging by the number of zimmer frames outside the front doors of the cottages, it appears as if the original occupants are still in residence. Being Sunday, everything is closed except for the church, the museum, the bakery, and a couple of ice cream shops. The ice cream shops here never seem to close, they are the only ones that don’t.
We browsed around the central city for a while taking a few photos between light showers, and dodging dark clouds. The weather here is still a little suspect with frequent showers, and a strong cold wind. So no different to what we have experienced in the rest of Denmark really. The only advantage in the wind is that it blows the clouds away quickly to reveal the sunshine, the other side of that is that it blows in more clouds as well.
After a while we headed to the Viking Museum, which took us through the years in this town since 200 ad, and a very interesting ride it was too, including Vikings, Christianity and the local witch burnings. In keeping with the theme of the visit, we thought we saw ‘Thor’ (or what appeared to be one of his direct descendants) as we were leaving town. A solid looking older man with very long blond hair tied back in a plait at the back and an unruly beard at the front. All he needed was a helmet and he would have fitted the bill perfectly.
We reached Bremen (of the singing farm animal fame – donkey, dog, cat and rooster) late in the day and were glad of the warmer temperatures of Germany. It was nice to be able to walk into town, grab some food, and sit and listen to some live music in the square, without freezing our bits off. As we were walking home we passed through ‘Lloyd’s Passage’ and saw the hand prints of James Last … we thought he was long since dead. There was no sign of his go-go girls though. A shame :-)
AARHUS – Denmark (Sat 15 Aug)
We left Strandby today and headed down to Aarhus, not a long drive and this was a good thing considering the weather. It rained most of the day. It was much like what we would expect fro weather at home in mid August, but it is meant to be mid summer here.
We stopped at a little place called Aalberg on the way and visited the Viking graveyard. This is a very cool place. The oldest and largest Viking graveyard, in this part of the world. The first impression as you drive up and walk into the field, is that this field is just littered with stones. But these stones are organized into circles, ovals and triangles. Quite a few are arranged in the outline of a Viking ship with a large stone at the bow and stern. There are over 700 graves in the field dating back to well over 1000 years and these stones have been undisturbed. Incredible. The custom in the day was to arrange the stones into a boat shape, build up a pyre of wood and sticks, place the body on top and cremate it. So it was within these stones that the remains lay until as it says ‘dust to dust’.
Once in Aarhus (or rather our B&B 17 kms out of Aahus) we drove into town. We walked around town for a bit, but our prime objective was to visit ‘Den Gamie By’. This is promoted as an outdoor museum. It is a collection of old houses from around the area, of different ages and styles that have been demolished and reconstructed on this site, to form a village. Most of the houses are of a half-timbered nature as is characteristic of the area, and they date back to the 1500s. They range from small apartments of craftsmen’s cottages, to large mansions and factories. These are more of the half timbered ‘chocolate box’ houses with wonky timbers and odd angles. All very very cool. One of the things that is admirable, is that this museum was first started in about 1902. Someone had the foresight to start reconstructing these houses in the mid 1920s, through to the late 1940s, and even now as we speak they are still reconstructing demolished houses on one end of the site, so this is an ongoing preservation project. Another thing that is very cool is that as we have walked around Aarhus and others here in Denmark, we have seen houses of exactly the same construction as the ones in this museum. Of course this is a museum and so you need to pay to see them, or so you would think, but just to maintain a habit, we managed to see it for free. If you come during the day you will pay 100kn each, but if you turn up after 6pm you can wander around the streets for free. We preferred the later. We didn’t get to see much inside the houses, but it was the houses themselves that we were most interested in anyway.
We stopped at a little place called Aalberg on the way and visited the Viking graveyard. This is a very cool place. The oldest and largest Viking graveyard, in this part of the world. The first impression as you drive up and walk into the field, is that this field is just littered with stones. But these stones are organized into circles, ovals and triangles. Quite a few are arranged in the outline of a Viking ship with a large stone at the bow and stern. There are over 700 graves in the field dating back to well over 1000 years and these stones have been undisturbed. Incredible. The custom in the day was to arrange the stones into a boat shape, build up a pyre of wood and sticks, place the body on top and cremate it. So it was within these stones that the remains lay until as it says ‘dust to dust’.
Once in Aarhus (or rather our B&B 17 kms out of Aahus) we drove into town. We walked around town for a bit, but our prime objective was to visit ‘Den Gamie By’. This is promoted as an outdoor museum. It is a collection of old houses from around the area, of different ages and styles that have been demolished and reconstructed on this site, to form a village. Most of the houses are of a half-timbered nature as is characteristic of the area, and they date back to the 1500s. They range from small apartments of craftsmen’s cottages, to large mansions and factories. These are more of the half timbered ‘chocolate box’ houses with wonky timbers and odd angles. All very very cool. One of the things that is admirable, is that this museum was first started in about 1902. Someone had the foresight to start reconstructing these houses in the mid 1920s, through to the late 1940s, and even now as we speak they are still reconstructing demolished houses on one end of the site, so this is an ongoing preservation project. Another thing that is very cool is that as we have walked around Aarhus and others here in Denmark, we have seen houses of exactly the same construction as the ones in this museum. Of course this is a museum and so you need to pay to see them, or so you would think, but just to maintain a habit, we managed to see it for free. If you come during the day you will pay 100kn each, but if you turn up after 6pm you can wander around the streets for free. We preferred the later. We didn’t get to see much inside the houses, but it was the houses themselves that we were most interested in anyway.
STRANDBY – Denmark (Fri 14 Aug)
We headed up the coast today to Skagen and beyond. This is the most northerly tip of Denmark and if you drive just a few kms north of the town, and then a twenty minute walk along the beach you can stand on the little sand spit with a foot in both seas, the North and the Baltic seas (that is if you can do so long enough without getting frozen toes). Of course you could take the bus from town and then hop onto the tractor tour which will take you right to the point, so that you only have to walk about 10 meters, but we preferred the walk, except it wasn’t long enough.
The walk along the beach is quite interesting, as there are some very large bunkers amongst the sand dunes, we imagine from one of the many wars that they lost. One of these bunkers is sitting just a few meters out in the water, and that makes you wonder how it got there, as it seems unconceivable that that either a bulldozer or a crane would be able to shift it there, and if in fact it did, why. It doesn’t seem to be damaged enough for it to be accidental, or the victim of the weather, so it makes you wonder … why.
On the road between Skagen and the spit there is a lighthouse (complete with the lighthouse keepers hut) and also a reconstruction of the original lighthouse that you can climb. After climbing what is effectively a ladder up the inside of this brick construction you find a brazier on the top, in which they used to light the flame. Very cool.
But back in Skagen itself, this is another cool town, although they have become very accustomed to the tourists and cater for them very well. From what we observed, this seems to be the place to go if you want to get a team together and do a pub crawl via bicycle. By the end of the day you see some very loud and wobbly riders, who we are sure have had a ball. Consequently the town is crammed with eateries, drinkeries, souvenir shops and bike hirage.
We had a bit of a browse through town, but we quickly decided that we wanted an indoor pursuit as, despite the sunshine (they boast the most sunshine hours in Denmark, which doesn’t seem to say much) the wind here is freezing. So we headed to the Skagen Museum, which wasn’t actually a museum, but what we would call a gallery.
They had a large exhibition on for Anna Ancher (a local artist of international repute) celebrating 150 years since here birth. The majority of the work on show was hers, but there was also work of other artists of her time (mid 1800s to early 1900s) including PS Krøyer, and her husband Michael Ancher. They call that the ‘Golden Age’ of Skagen art. At that time there were a lot of artists coming here from all over Europe to paint the special light that exists here. Even now Skagen has an artists feel, it feels very much like Nelson, only much smaller, being the home to many artists and craftsmen.
On the way back to Strandby from Skagen, we decided to take a detour and head to the west coast just to see what it was like. We came across a small village by the sea with an unpronounceable name, with a collection of small thatched cottages scattered amongst the sand dunes. This place is certainly a lot more rugged and more of a functional fishing village, compared to what we have seen. The coast itself is very much like our west coast, very wild and rough, with an unruly attractive quality. I imagine that in rough weather the shutters on the cottages get put to good use.
The walk along the beach is quite interesting, as there are some very large bunkers amongst the sand dunes, we imagine from one of the many wars that they lost. One of these bunkers is sitting just a few meters out in the water, and that makes you wonder how it got there, as it seems unconceivable that that either a bulldozer or a crane would be able to shift it there, and if in fact it did, why. It doesn’t seem to be damaged enough for it to be accidental, or the victim of the weather, so it makes you wonder … why.
On the road between Skagen and the spit there is a lighthouse (complete with the lighthouse keepers hut) and also a reconstruction of the original lighthouse that you can climb. After climbing what is effectively a ladder up the inside of this brick construction you find a brazier on the top, in which they used to light the flame. Very cool.
But back in Skagen itself, this is another cool town, although they have become very accustomed to the tourists and cater for them very well. From what we observed, this seems to be the place to go if you want to get a team together and do a pub crawl via bicycle. By the end of the day you see some very loud and wobbly riders, who we are sure have had a ball. Consequently the town is crammed with eateries, drinkeries, souvenir shops and bike hirage.
We had a bit of a browse through town, but we quickly decided that we wanted an indoor pursuit as, despite the sunshine (they boast the most sunshine hours in Denmark, which doesn’t seem to say much) the wind here is freezing. So we headed to the Skagen Museum, which wasn’t actually a museum, but what we would call a gallery.
They had a large exhibition on for Anna Ancher (a local artist of international repute) celebrating 150 years since here birth. The majority of the work on show was hers, but there was also work of other artists of her time (mid 1800s to early 1900s) including PS Krøyer, and her husband Michael Ancher. They call that the ‘Golden Age’ of Skagen art. At that time there were a lot of artists coming here from all over Europe to paint the special light that exists here. Even now Skagen has an artists feel, it feels very much like Nelson, only much smaller, being the home to many artists and craftsmen.
On the way back to Strandby from Skagen, we decided to take a detour and head to the west coast just to see what it was like. We came across a small village by the sea with an unpronounceable name, with a collection of small thatched cottages scattered amongst the sand dunes. This place is certainly a lot more rugged and more of a functional fishing village, compared to what we have seen. The coast itself is very much like our west coast, very wild and rough, with an unruly attractive quality. I imagine that in rough weather the shutters on the cottages get put to good use.
STRANDBY – Denmark (Thurs 13 Aug)
We had a long drive north today of about 580kms. So we scheduled a stopover at Roskilde on the way. Unfortunately the weather was pretty ‘hit and miss’ with showers and intermittent sunshine, and Murphy’s Law was dictating that it rained when we stopped and shone when we were driving.
We had a bit of a browse around the town of Roskilde and wound our way down to the waterfront by the Viking Ship Museum to have our lunch. We didn’t go through the museum, but we found that you can see quite a bit of what they have to offer as it is outside. They have workshops where they construct replica Viking boats based on the remains that they have found and they take groups out on the water. There is also the boat there that they sailed to Ireland and back. Very cool. A lot of very interesting information. It is at this point that we have to say that all this was situated in a large corner of a public park with no fences, gates, or ticket monitors. Because as we crossed the little bridge to leave we saw a little sign that said ‘valid ticket holders only permitted’, and then we saw that these signs had been scattered around. Oppps! We just saw most of the museum without paying.
From here we took the trek north, and there is nothing really to say about that, except that for the first time on our travels we started playing games in the car to keep ourselves occupied like ‘I spy’ and a few others that we invented along the way. This is what the Danes have driven us to.
We arrived in Strandby fairly late in the day, well after the supermarket had closed, which isn’t saying much for this part of the world. We still haven’t got used to the way that everything closes so early. So after checking in, we went for a stroll around the village and grabbed the only thing that was available for dinner … burgers and chips. OK we did have a choice, it was either that or a hotdog.
While we were eating, we found ourselves sitting in the middle of a small town showdown. We don’t know exactly what was happening, but is seemed that someone and his family were hanging around one of the fishing boats at the far end of the wharf from the burger joint. Our impression was that these people had had a falling out, as there were secretive conversations, hurried phone calls, cars racing off in all directions, people watching each other from each end of the wharf. It was almost like a scene from an old western, all we needed was the tumbleweed.
Anyway back to our B&B, it was run by a lovely, well traveled couple, who did everything that they could to make our stay comfortable. It seems to be common for the owners of these B&Bs to be well traveled themselves, and it certainly makes for interesting conversations.
We had a bit of a browse around the town of Roskilde and wound our way down to the waterfront by the Viking Ship Museum to have our lunch. We didn’t go through the museum, but we found that you can see quite a bit of what they have to offer as it is outside. They have workshops where they construct replica Viking boats based on the remains that they have found and they take groups out on the water. There is also the boat there that they sailed to Ireland and back. Very cool. A lot of very interesting information. It is at this point that we have to say that all this was situated in a large corner of a public park with no fences, gates, or ticket monitors. Because as we crossed the little bridge to leave we saw a little sign that said ‘valid ticket holders only permitted’, and then we saw that these signs had been scattered around. Oppps! We just saw most of the museum without paying.
From here we took the trek north, and there is nothing really to say about that, except that for the first time on our travels we started playing games in the car to keep ourselves occupied like ‘I spy’ and a few others that we invented along the way. This is what the Danes have driven us to.
We arrived in Strandby fairly late in the day, well after the supermarket had closed, which isn’t saying much for this part of the world. We still haven’t got used to the way that everything closes so early. So after checking in, we went for a stroll around the village and grabbed the only thing that was available for dinner … burgers and chips. OK we did have a choice, it was either that or a hotdog.
While we were eating, we found ourselves sitting in the middle of a small town showdown. We don’t know exactly what was happening, but is seemed that someone and his family were hanging around one of the fishing boats at the far end of the wharf from the burger joint. Our impression was that these people had had a falling out, as there were secretive conversations, hurried phone calls, cars racing off in all directions, people watching each other from each end of the wharf. It was almost like a scene from an old western, all we needed was the tumbleweed.
Anyway back to our B&B, it was run by a lovely, well traveled couple, who did everything that they could to make our stay comfortable. It seems to be common for the owners of these B&Bs to be well traveled themselves, and it certainly makes for interesting conversations.
COPENHAGEN – Denmark (Wed 12 Aug)
Today I had a date with the embassy (an ongoing saga at the moment). I hit the NZ Consulates Office as soon as they opened, and although they were very nice about it, I was told that the Consulate was unavailable all day. They redirected me to the British Embassy (again), I went and saw them first when in Prague. Well if I thought the security was tight in Prague, that was a dream compared to here in Copenhagen. It was like getting into a prison, I was just hoping that they would let me out again. However it is reassuring to know that if you ever do need them, and you do manage to get inside, then you will probably be pretty safe … from the outside. And I have to say that the dealings once you get in there, are very pleasant indeed. Anyway without boring you with the details, two hours after starting out I managed to walk out again with the signature that I required.
While I was doing all that Justine was browsing though the Danish National Gallery. Once I caught up with her in the gallery there were a couple of sections here that I had read about that I really wanted to see. I had read that there was quite a bit of Picasso and Matisse here and I wanted to see them before we left. To say the least, what they had didn’t reach the expectation of their promotional material. There were two Picasso pieces and about six from Matisse. The two Matisse sculptures that I saw were very cool though. There were many Danish works that were well worth the visit too.
After finishing here we went for a drive up the coast. This was going to be flying visit as we had spent more time in the city than we had expected. We stopped off at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. We were just going to have a wander around the surrounds, but the large Henri Moore sitting outside the museum door was a bit of a tantalizing taste just begging us to go in … but we didn’t succumb … this time.
Our next stop was Kronborg Castle. We started having walk around the grounds, however our visit was cut short by torrential rain. That seems to be the order of the day here today. Intermittent showers means, a hot sunny day interrupted by cold squalls that last between 10 to 45 minutes. Enough to get you soaked to the bone. However we saw the castle that is known as ‘Hamlets Castle’ despite the fact this castle was built since the time of Shakespeare, so figure that one out. Also of interest is that this point of the coastline is the narrowest point with Sweden, hence the castle. In times of old Denmark made its money by charging every boat or ship that went through the channel a levy, and the castle was built to enforce that tax.
Further up the coast we came to a little fishing village called Gilleleje. This is a very cool little town with small, double story, thatched roofed houses. The main focus however is the fishing boats and this is obviously their mainstay. Boats of every shape and size, they are there. A lot of the commercial boats have quite a different shape to what my unpracticed eye is used to seeing. They seem to be very short and squat, some of them almost look like the proportions of the classic bath tub toy boat, but they must work for the waters that they have up here.
While I was doing all that Justine was browsing though the Danish National Gallery. Once I caught up with her in the gallery there were a couple of sections here that I had read about that I really wanted to see. I had read that there was quite a bit of Picasso and Matisse here and I wanted to see them before we left. To say the least, what they had didn’t reach the expectation of their promotional material. There were two Picasso pieces and about six from Matisse. The two Matisse sculptures that I saw were very cool though. There were many Danish works that were well worth the visit too.
After finishing here we went for a drive up the coast. This was going to be flying visit as we had spent more time in the city than we had expected. We stopped off at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. We were just going to have a wander around the surrounds, but the large Henri Moore sitting outside the museum door was a bit of a tantalizing taste just begging us to go in … but we didn’t succumb … this time.
Our next stop was Kronborg Castle. We started having walk around the grounds, however our visit was cut short by torrential rain. That seems to be the order of the day here today. Intermittent showers means, a hot sunny day interrupted by cold squalls that last between 10 to 45 minutes. Enough to get you soaked to the bone. However we saw the castle that is known as ‘Hamlets Castle’ despite the fact this castle was built since the time of Shakespeare, so figure that one out. Also of interest is that this point of the coastline is the narrowest point with Sweden, hence the castle. In times of old Denmark made its money by charging every boat or ship that went through the channel a levy, and the castle was built to enforce that tax.
Further up the coast we came to a little fishing village called Gilleleje. This is a very cool little town with small, double story, thatched roofed houses. The main focus however is the fishing boats and this is obviously their mainstay. Boats of every shape and size, they are there. A lot of the commercial boats have quite a different shape to what my unpracticed eye is used to seeing. They seem to be very short and squat, some of them almost look like the proportions of the classic bath tub toy boat, but they must work for the waters that they have up here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
