Week 28: Jason Interacts with More Farm Animals

Last weekend we took a walk around the city of Bernkastel-Kues, which is really two cities on either side of the Mosel River and, like many cities in this region of Germany, has its own ruined castle looking down on the city below. We've been through here before on our bikes, when we rode between the towns (and Weinfests) of Zeltingen-Rachtig and Brauneburg. On that trip we just passed on through, so we took an afternoon to see the area at a slower speed.

Bernkastel is the less modern of the two and they were just starting to set up for their Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market), which started a week after we were there. (We're very excited to visit a few of the Christmas Markets once we get back from our Thanksgiving trip to the States. We've already had the Gluewein, a heated mulled wine at home.) During our wandering we came across a very narrow house from the 15th century, known as the Spitzhaeuschen. 

Spitzhaeuschen

We also took a walk across the bridge to Kues, which, being the more modern portion of the city was a little less charming, but made for a nice walk. It also gives a good view back to Bernkastel. In the back of the picture below, you can see one of the cruise ships. There are a number of dinner and tourist cruises that take passengers up and down the Mosel on trips lasting from a few hours to many days.

Me with Bernkastel in the Background

On Sunday, we went off to an open-air museum about an hour or so from our place. Essentially, this museum has houses and buildings collected from one region of Germany on display for visitors to walk through. For those of you from New England, it is on the lines of Strawberry Bank or Plimoth Plantation.

Jason and I had been to a fantastic museum like this just outside of Copenhagen when visiting Denmark a few years ago and had really enjoyed ourselves. The museum here in Germany, while much smaller than the Denmark version, was still quite nice. There were many examples of Fachwerk buildings throughout the museum. They even had a nice exhibit (though, all in German) showing how the buildings are constructed. The basic idea is that you frame out the house with timbers, then fill in the spaces between the timbers with things to keep out the cold--mostly sticks covered with straw, mud and plaster.

Open-Air Museum

As many of the buildings were taken from farming communities, the museum included quite a selection of animals, including cows, chickens, sheep and goats. We took some time to visit with a number of them. They animals were once again fascinated by Jason.

Pig and Jason

Jason and Sheep

We are on our way back to the States for a bit for Thanksgiving. While it will be great to see friends and family, I am looking forward to getting back and having some more Gluewein!

Week 27: Short Days

As winter is creeping up on us, our days are growing remarkably shorter, with the sun rising around eight in the morning and setting around 4:30 in the afternoon. We've also been having quite a bit of fog, which tends to last until around noon-time then comes back again after the sun sets. This gives us all the more reason to get outside while the sun is up. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, many of the towns in our area have hiking/walking trials that take you through the countryside around the town. In our area, there are a series of nordic walking trails (yes, you use poles--it is crazy...just look at the link). Our town, like many of the other sites, has three: a 3.6 km, a 8 km and a 15.9 km. We decided to do the longest, which passes near our apartment, works its way down a significant hill, then follows along the Kyll River before coming back through the village of Preist and through fields back into our town.

One road proceeds through a yellow wood...

The weather was perfect for being out hiking: nice, crisp fall weather, with no clouds and bright sun. As the afternoon wore on, we noticed the moon in the sky...

...which stayed put as the sun set.

The last part of the hike was through the woods. With the sun setting, it was getting dark very quickly. Luckily, I had asked Jason to throw his headlamp in the bag we were carrying. He was very excited to use it, and tried many of the settings as we were walking along. For your own reference, a blinking-white headlamp does not give the best view of the upcoming trail.

This portion of the trail was well known to me, as it is where I go mountain biking during the week. Right near the main path into the woods, there is a shrine, as you often seen throughout the countryside here in Europe. This one looks like a tiny church and is very well maintained. It includes a small pew and some kneelers, along with some long burning candles and a number of plaques thanking for the help of Mary and Jesus. I have passed by it many times, but had never stopped for a close look. It was a nice place to rest for a few moments with the quiet autumn darkness closing in around us.

Our total hiking time was about 4.5 hours. We started at about 2pm with the mid-afternoon sun, and by the time we were back home, it was completely dark out.

On Sunday, we went to Vianden Castle in Vianden Luxembourg. You may recall that about a month ago, we were in Vianden for a hike. This time, I was flying out for a work trip for Luxembourg in the evening, so we decided to stop by and visit the castle itself. The castle was completely rebuilt in the 1970s and 80s from a complete ruin. Now it is quite nice, with a number of spaces that look like they are used for events and possibly even royal occasions.

Vianden Castle

In the castle, there was an exhibit about Charlotte, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. Unfortunately, we could only understand snatches of it, as most of it was in Luxembourgish, with a smattering of French and German. Anyway, Charlotte was the leader of Luxembourg during WWII and, from what we could gather, she lived in exile during much of that time in England. From looking at the history, that makes sense, as the Germans invaded Luxembourg on their way to France. She later abdicated in favor of her son. The current ruler of Luxembourg is Henri, her grandson. The castle was a good visit and had some great views of the surrounding area.

Week 26th: Bonn

For those of you who are about my age or older, you may remember Bonn as being a rather important city: it was the capital of West Germany. In doing some reading before and after our trip we found some rather choice quotes regarding the city, mostly how it was an unassuming capital, and more of a sleepy one-horse-town rather than a bustling international city. This podcast has a good profile of the city, including the impression (or lack-thereof) it made on visiting diplomats.

From our perspective of living out in the boonies, it is certainly a city. We had our lunch, then walked through the downtown area, where we came across the Altes Rathaus (old town hall). As you can see in the picture, it is quite pretty, with the ornate stairways and gold trim.

Jason and the Altes Rathaus

From the downtown, we walked to the Museumsmeile (museum mile) and went to the Haus der Geschichte (literally: House of History). This museum covered the modern history of Germany, starting just after WWII, going through the rebuilding of the country, the separation into East and West and reunification. One interesting thing we learned was regarding the various zones Germany was split into after the war. As you may remember from high school history, Germany was split into four separate administrative zones, one for each of the allies (UK, France, US and USSR). 


We all know what happened with the USSR's section, but what I didn't know is that the Western allies were not equal in administration. For example, France refused to let there be any industrial base in its region. It removed all the factories and wanted to turn Germany into an agrarian country--one that could never attack it again. While this happened to some degree in the US and UK zones, there was a recognition, first in the US sector, then later in the UK, that to have a successful, modern economy and to reduce unemployment, you need industrial jobs, so the destruction of the factories stopped. Where we live is smack in the middle of the French zone, and there is still an amazing lack of industrial base.

The museum set up two parallel tracks for the two halves of Germany. It was very interesting to see what was happening in the West and compare it to what was happening in the East during the same time period. After we left the museum--unfortunately we only made it to about the mid-1950s as we arrived only 90 minutes before the museum's closing time--we reflected on the fact that in the US we learned very little about the history of East Germany. For example, we had no idea that there was a popular uprising in 1953 that necessitated the institution of martial law throughout the country. Of course, the West couldn't really do anything to help, as it would risk war with the USSR, but it would seem like such an occurrence would be good reinforcement that the commies are no-good-bastards and, therefore, a good thing to include in our high school history narrative with the clear anti-communist thread that, at least, my history teachers took.

So, it is a really good museum. We need to go back and see the rest, maybe some other rainy or cold day this winter. And, to anyone who visits, we'd be happy to bring you there. Plus, admission is free!

Bonn is looking back