Autos and Gold

In total this trip we drove 3558km at an average speed of 72km/h and got 6.5L per 100km and were on the road for 47hrs and 16 mins round trip. It really didn't feel that long because even on the autobahns there was so much to see. Germany is trying to phase out its nuclear power and move to natural sources so windmill farms and solar farms are everywhere. In every village half the houses have roofs covered with solar panels. Australia could power the world if we covered the interior with these things. M did a fabulous job driving on the right, getting back to England without a scratch.

Cheers - GO FAST

Yes that is 130ish mph or 210km/h !
Our top speed photo is badly out of focus

The autobahns are amazing in Germany, when the 'go fast' signs popped up the Audi jumped to. One feature that was a bit tricky were the exits - instead of having one off ramp and then an intersection to choose which way to go they had two separate exits one after the other that our GPS didn't differentiate between - luckily it listed the destination so we were able to choose the right one in the nick of time. We were heading steadily south and the south exits were always after the north ones - it takes a lot of confidence to drive past what the GPS is pointing at - especially when changing down from 210km/h to 70! Another weird thing was that they slowed traffic for all dips and high bridges - just out of Cologne we would only have a couple of kms on 'go fast' then would be slowing down past 120km, 100km, 80km signs for another km then open road again.  It actually seemed more dangerous than leaving the go fast because a few drivers obviously had their cruise controls set on 120k and just kept going through all the slower ones which meant more passing later on. There had been an accident on the autobahn between Stuttgart and BadenBaden so we saw another downside of the big roads - the crawling four lanes could pack in a colossal amount of vehicles which takes a very long time to clear even if the accident is cleared super fast. A 45 min journey became nearly three hours.

We noticed that the two lane go fast was much more dangerous because of people pulling out to pass without looking whereas the four lanes were a blat - we drove in the third lane and had porches screaming past in the the fourth. Our Audi A6 was born for European motorways with its big wide tyres and fat exhaust - the boot space is phenomenal so a week's luggage for four + groceries + souvenirs and multiple coats still had room to jiggle.

A canola patch

The landscape was dotted with bright yellow patches of canola (it's called rapeseed over here) and fields sprouting green shoots which are probably grain crops coming up. We saw strips of field covered with polyurethane - covering the precious weiss or stengle Spargle (white or stalk asparagus) that enjoys its own festival time in May. It's also covering the early strawberries that are out in the markets. In lots of places we saw “Blumen Zum Selber Schneiden” where the land owners plant out 1/2 acres of seasonal flowers, provided cutting tools, plastic bags and a box to drop in the cash. A big bunch of flowers could be gathered for about 5 Euro - we saw masses of tulips when we were there. People must be honest or there wouldn't be so many of them. They cheer up corners of land that farmers or landlords aren't using for anything else. A very

socially disciplined enterprise. 

The scenery was almost as dangerous as the 2 lanes - just out of Zurich

On our way from Worms to Stuttgart we stopped in at Pforzheim. Willow was flying in from her week visiting friends from school in their hometowns - Milan, Venice and Genoa and Stuttgart was the closest airport to the Black forest drive we wanted to do, that had flights from Milan. We would have gone straight to Baden Baden for the day and night - Germany's Bath - instead of an fairly ugly industrial city if not for this commitment. 

The City welcome

 Pforzheim was completely flattened in 1945 from allied bombing raids. As the German centre for jewellery and watchmaking it was decided that this could be where precision instruments were being produced for the V1 and V2 rockets. Intelligence prewar stated that most businesses had workshops attached to their homes so wholesale bombing of residential and town centers was given the okay. On the 23rd of Feburary 90% of the town was destroyed killing over 17000 people. The bomber crews could still see the fires when they were 160 miles away, that would do my head in. Only one plane was lost in all the raids here, the surviving crew, bar one that escaped, were shot at a nearby village for war crimes. The rubble was put into a huge mound outside the city which filled an old volcano valley and covered with soil and vegetation, it is called Wallberg.

Lunch stop in Pforzheim              A great kabab shop by the Enz river with a confusing street sign

Top: 1944             Bottom: 1945                                                  Right: 2014 from the kebab shop bridge
Old photos from http://andrewvanz.blogspot.co.uk/2013_07_01_archive.html

I will always associate the scent of lilac
with this city, bushes of it were growing
out of cracks in canal walls and in the
 river beds, just beautiful.

Pforzheim was rebuilt over the next 20years but instead of reproducing what had been there this city decided to go modern and built pedestrian malls and wide roads with many iconic 1950s buildings. One of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen was a newly (in comparison to the ancient Cathedrals) built church in this city.  Since reading about this city though I have come to realise that it is really a memorial Church now. The church tower (Right in the image above) replaces the land mark church tower that was still standing after the bombing (Bottom image above). The barn shaped church standing completely separate and beside it can be forgiven for being built in the late 60s.

The stained glass reminds me of
the streets of rubble. (Outside view)

Left:  1960                                                  Right:  1970

Above:  Schmuckmuseum on a much clearer day
Below: Wall display to the right has J's gold lace choker

It is still considered the 'gold centre' of Germany.  We visited the Schmuckmuseum which has a huge collection of jewelry on display. One necklace in their 'historical' gallery was Josephine's (Napoleon's wife - Empress of France until he divorced her for someone who could give him an heir). It was a choker, a delicate web of gold that was studded with perfectly colour and sized matched rubies. It was truly beautiful. Unfortunately all belongings - including cameras had to be locked away before entering so I haven't got a photo.

Left:  Colombian Emeralds   Right:     A Byzantine - 6th C gold and pearl necklace
Images from  http://www.schmuckmuseum-pforzheim.de/ 

I had read that there was a museum with a solid gold wall - but had gotten us to the wrong place - we needed the Shmuckwelton not the Schmuckmuseum proving that one schmuck is not the same as another! I looked a bit of a schmuck myself when fighting through the German English divide trying to ask the curator which room the gold wall was in. She was wonderful and was able to show me a tourist brochure - in English that had the information we needed.

Top Left: farht just means ride people - it's not a bus for gaseous folk. Right:  Where we couldn't find the wall of gold.
Below - The wall of gold from a tourist brochure 

We put more money in the parking machine and headed off through town. The building we were directed to had a minerals museum in the basement and a jewelry museum on the third floor.  Both places knew of the gold wall and said that they were at the other place.  Another person told us that it was on the middle floor but all we could find were art and jewelry shops. We were running out of time so gave up looking. Petal found a gold bar lighter for her collection. (Yes unwise but most of them have no fuel!) Meanwhile waiting M had sat outside on some stairs and got 'gypsy slobber' on his hand so we rushed back to the car for hand sanitiser (Strangely Petal didn't have her?! Thanks Mrs Worker for that little dependency) to prevent the imagined typhus infection. The new areas were very similar to Sydney's Pitt street but with shorter buildings.

As we drove into Stuttgart we passed a Porche Museum and several buildings had huge Mercedes stars lit up and turning round on the top. Going by the material in the hotel, Stuttgart has a vibrant arts community and claims to be a big shopping haven. Trams rattle through the city and the train line close by sees hundreds of double decker car trays full of Audis. Mercs and BMWs being hauled to showrooms all over Europe.  The airport is small but seems to have a lot of traffic, Willow was one of only three women on her flight (none of who were offered any of the 'snacks') and the rest of the plane was full of suits. The Milan Stuttgart ticket was nearly double the price of the London Stansted Milan ticket - that doesn't make a lot of sense unless demand sets the price.

Two ways of catching solar energy snapped from a moving car. Doesn't seem much sense in the Bavarian snow but there are lots of them so it must make economic sense or the clever Germans wouldn't do it!

The hotel I had booked through booking.com had some water damage to the 'family room' we'd reserved so had passed us on to a sister hotel not far away. I googled booking.com to make sure the room prices were comparable and found that rooms at both hotels were half what they had been when I booked.  I couldn't cope travelling without most of the hotels pre-booked because I'd have to be making bookings each night while travelling or risk a drive by. So I pay the extra for peace of mind - still I don't like paying more than I have too - maybe I need to be braver next trip! 

 Audi GPS - Near to the highest altitude in the Black forest

Bad means bath in German - this car in
the Baden Baden parking garage so the
letters must be a registration district thing.
Vdub is a very big global co. now

Willow smelling the Grimms bros. forest

One of the narrowest roads we travelled on in Germany - looks like State Highway One in NZ
This road goes past Schloss Linderhof, between Fussen and Omberammergau, through Austria.

The Audi didn't like the cobbles in this Ghent Convent, the whole car joggles.  So much can fit in the boot.

 Read:
Ken Follet, 'Century Trilogy'. Pan books

It took snippets of time over the whole trip (Had to keep M awake and be a second pair of eyes on the road so couldn't read in the car) plus a couple of good long reads before Willow got up to get through the 850 pages of the first one. (Lesson learnt - never let someone else start to read a book you're reading because they are sick of their text reading but don't have anything else to read and you aren't reading at the moment!) Guiltily read all last weekend to get through the 912 pages of the second.  M couldn't complain because he bought them for me!

The third is not out until Sept 2014 - Oh the pain of waiting.

A fair bit of detailed romance, violence, politics, faith in man and bravery. An excellent blend of Fiction adn Non-fiction. The first has the clearest summary of how WWI started than anything I've read BUT not suitable to be prescribed for YR9 History as his relating of Edwardian 'relations' are quite explicit! Seeing the Tsar's Russia through the eyes of the peasants and the Third Reich through the eyes of Social democrats and disenfranchised Nazi supporters at the collapse of Berlin is teary. How do we fill our parliaments with thinkers and doers instead of those that feel entitled. I found the descriptions of how intelligence operatives did their jobs fascinating and have realised that I am not a brave person.

Looking for Luther in Worms

Worms is a place. The German words for the soil aerating or gut invading minibeasts conjured in the English mind is wurm or Schneckengewinde or Holzwurm. And any Christian who has studied their faith knows who Luther is, one of the great reformers. He prayed for months while whipping himself up and down stairs to try and eradicate or clarify his own enlightenment. He became one of many strong voices that challenged the hypocrisies and heresy that had wormed into the Roman Catholic Church over the centuries.

We stayed at Hotel Huttl which was clean and right at the heart of the city. Our first stop was a huge ice cream store across the road. M had a scoop of snickers ice cream that was smooth but really tasted of that chocolate bar. The sun was dodging clouds and the breeze was cold so we got going with Pr Harker's notes at hand to search for reformation remnants.

Worms' Market square from the breakfast room. Trinity Church (Lutheran)on the right, Town Hall to the left.

The city walls have been here since before 900CE, but some sources say these ones were built around the 4th C.
The Museum is built into the arches further down but was closed on Mondays!  The Luther room in this place has his Bible from 1512 with markings in his hand. Amazing to think that 11 Centuries of people have passed under these stones.

A pedestrian gate - looks a little Hobbitish don't you think.

A WWII memorial to fallen German soldiers.

Martin Luther on the Pedestal surrounded by other Reformers, his forerunners John Wycliff, Peter Waldo, Jan Hus(Burnt at the stake in the 1400s for the same ideas as Luther) and Girolamo Savonarola. There are also figures and medallions representing the cities that supported the reformation.  Very colourful municipal gardens all around.

The scene in front of the reformation statue. Luther giving his testimony in front of Emperor Charles V who ruled over more people than Charlemagne.  The German prince Federick reminded the Emperor of his promise he had made to Luther for safe passage to and from Worms when he bellowed "this devil in a monk's robes'. Prince Federick then arranged Luther's kidnapping and hid him from the authorities. In this time Luther wrote out the New Testament in German - he was 37yrs old.

This plaque on the rebuilt Trinity Church has Luther's response to the demand that he recant his writings and beliefs at the Diet of Worms, he was only in this city for 10 days.  In English they are:
“Unless I am convinced by Scripture or by clear reasoning that I am in error – for popes and councils have often erred and contradicted themselves – I cannot recant, for I am subject to the Scriptures I have quoted; my conscience is captive to the Word of God.  It is unsafe and dangerous to so anything against ones conscience.  Here I stand.  I cannot do otherwise.  So help me God.  Amen.”

A wall mural on the city walk that guides tourists around the sights.

The Jewish synagogue in the Jewish quarter. 

Petal's scary tree photo in the land of Brothers Grimm and Peonies for Aunty H.

Left: Winegrowers fountain - The words say No Drinking water - Looks like the donkey has had to make do with the pressed stuff!  Right: The Art Museum

Left:  Church Tower skyline of Worms  Right:  Many houses showing both French and German style influences.

St Peter's Dom - overshadows the Lutheran church (Spire to the left in the right photo)  THe pink stone is common around the town.

Left: Under the bridge leading out of Worms to Bustardt over the Rhine
Right: Martins Gate at the Worms end of the bridge, First built in 1900, blown to bits in 1945, rebuilt and opened in 1985.

Luther in Brief  
Martin Luther was the son of a copper miner who bought the mine and sent his son to University in Whittenberg to study Law. In a lightening storm he freaked out and promised to give his life to God if only he was saved and so dropped out of Uni and became a Monk. He became so depressed from his over thinking in the simple tasks of Monkdom that his superiors ordered him to go back to Uni where he eventually was awarded a Doctorate of Theology. To teach well he had to study his topic in depth and became certain of God's Grace. He was horrified to see the selling of indulgences on his trip to Rome so people could commit crimes with impunity and buy their relative's freedom from the torture of hell and purgatory(taught in graphic - imaginative detail from Medieval pulpits) regardless of their relationship with God. When he saw fellow Germans back home waving these pieces of paper bought for their justification from his own Archbishop, who was trying to reduce his personal debt, he got really cranky. Luther wrote up his list of 95 protests against papal theology and practices and nailed them to the Castle Church doors in Whittenberg. This was the usual way to share a public notice in the University but the recent invention of the printing press meant that copies were spread throughout Europe.
The Pope excommunicated him and he was summoned to Worms for a Diet - he wasn't overweight - this is the name of a church meeting where theology and theologians are judged. The Diet sent him into exile. Luther eventually married a nun and had 6 kids. He wrote hymns and introduced congregational singing into church services. He translated the Bible from Latin into German so his literate compatriots could read of Salvation for themselves, this is also heralded as a major reason the language survived the dismantling of the Empire. He didn't support a peasant uprising that used his theology to declaim the 'natrual authority' of their unfair masters. When he found he couldn't convert the Jews to his ideas he wrote an emotional essay about 'farting blasphemers' who should have their treasure taken, their synagogues destroyed and homes(where they practice their blaspheming in secret) burnt down too. This was trotted out by the Nazis to legitimise their ethnic cleansing ideals. He died of natural causes at 62 still believing in Justification by Faith.

When a Faith becomes a political power and exists not only to lead people to God but to force obedience to an interpretation and to manage property and wealth - corruption of that Faith and separation from the God whose gift of free choice is the biggest argument for His love and concern for His creation is the sad outcome. Yet so many have died over the years fighting for the form of their religion - a few to preserve the power base but many because of conviction and so we become what Lucifer accused God of being - a monstrous control freak who rules His Universe through fear.

Read:

http://www.amazon.co.uk

Popular a memoir: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek
by Maya VanWagenen Penguin Bks 2014
When buying a novel prescribed by Petal's English teacher I found it was on a buy one get one free deal and couldn't resist this. An unpopular girl finds a 1950s guide for teen popularity and follows it as a social experiment. Set in a US/Mexico border town with drug busts in her school a regular occurrence and very interesting but happy family dynamics this teen author's first book is gutsy with some interesting insights. Every Yr8 girl should have a read.

""School is the armpit of life"  ....  "There is one thing that can help you navigate this sweaty smelly underarm and that is careful understanding of how the social food chain is organised." p7

"We can bring about a lot of change on this planet (and in our schools) by digging deep, finding our best selves and shining that light of compassion.  If we become afraid of what may happen or worry what others may think, it's easy to forget what is most important." p255

The Oldest City in Germany!?

We visited three places that each claim this title and passed several more.

The Moselle valley was lined with  resorts on the Lux side and camping parks on the German side and vineyards on both

 Following the Moselle river from Schengen up to where the E44 bridges the river we crossed into Germany. The ancient Roman gate at Trier had been recommended to us as an interesting stop so we wound down the 51 and crossed the Moselle again into the city. Every time we go to a new place we are so thankful for the GPS guiding us to Parking stations.

The Audi came home to the land of it's birth and finally found car parks that it could fit into with ease, the UK has very short and narrow spaces. We uncouth Aussies laughed every time we saw an exit sign on the German autobahns!

The GPS on M's phone finally made contact with its satellites and was able to show us a route to the 'Black Gate'(Porta Nigra). I find that when planning itineraries for our trips I am constantly battling the desire to see everything with the knowledge that the best bits of travel are often the unexpected which need 'free time' in which to occur. Our trips are not restful - we go home for that. We are constantly surprised how messed up our compass is here in the northern hemisphere - North just always seems to be in the wrong place. In Trier we marched along the streets noting landmarks in case the GPS dropped out again and we had to find our own way back to the car. The great thing about old city centers is that they are usually quite compact and crammed with church bell towers of various colours and shapes so wandering usually gets you back to somewhere you recognise.

Staring at a book sale knowing there was no point in browsing.
Left: towards tourist information and the Roman gate. Right: opposite end of the street towards the main market square.

Trier makes some big claims for itself. The tourist info center next to the Black Gate sold a booklet in many languages (I bought the UK/USA one - no Aus or NZ flags on the English version cover!) and found on the first page that Emperor Augustus established a city here in the land of Treveri, a Celtic people which "makes Trier Germany's oldest city" They celebrated their 2000th anniversary in 1984 but Kempten (Allgau -south of Munich) celebrated theirs in 1950 for they claim a written mention in an historical document as their city status point. A quick google on this subject brings up some fairly emotional posts and difficult to prove arguments.

The last of the Roman walls and gates of Trier, from Medieval times called Porta Nigra (The black gate)
Left: standing in the centre of the gate, iron portcullis used to be in the arches with internal wooden gates.

The Porta Nigra is certainly an impressive site. It was once one of four gates into a walled Roman city.  The stones are held together with only iron clamps cast into place with lead. It was built near the end of the 2ndC but it was probably called the North gate (in Latin?) as it was just part of the 6.4Km of the city wall. As it aged,  the sandstone turned grey and black which gave rise to the name in Medieval times. The top story was converted to a church at one stage with cloisters on the second floor. A Greek friend of the Archbishop in 1028, who was a hermit, asked to have himself bricked into a small cell where he lived until his death in 1035. As this gate overlooked the markets since 958 I'm not sure how isolated he would have been.

We found a Villeroy & Boch outlet store just across the road from the Black gate. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I always thought the company was Italian but discovered that the two families had their headquarters in Western Germany with close links to Lorraine and Luxembourg before they merged. Although the prices were excellent and the products elegant, we resisted temptation and left to explore the Hauptmarkt and look for lunch.

A quiet day in the market square. We bought thin crusted oval pizzas that were served in cardboard sleeves for lunch.  The red cross in the center was built to commemorate the city's right to hold markets in 958BCE. The fountain we are sitting in front of is of St Peter and the four cardinal virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance)

The scent of spring flowers carried on the breeze made up for the light spray blown our way from the fountain.
We saw so many florists in Germany and all with creative displays and affordable prices. These are just market stalls.

Trier claims that their Dom(Cathedral) is one of the oldest Christian church buildings in Europe - it is the combination of two churches built side by side in the 4thC. Their most famous relic is a tunic said to be the one Christ wore and lost to gambling soldiers at the cross.

The building on the left is the Dom(Cathedral), the one on the right is Liebfrauenkirche(Church of Our Lady)

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Holy_Robe_in_Trier.JPG
Pilgrims at the 2012 viewing of the tunic. It is seamless, has taffata and
silk patches and was dipped in rubber in the 18thC to try and preserve it
so carbon dating is not possible. Several other churches claim to have
the true tunic with different legends of how it was found and bought to
Europe. It is usually kept in a reliquary and is unable to be viewed.

Superb artistry in the Baroque stucco west dome ceiling.

While M and Petal were visiting the Dom, I doubled back to buy the giant Pretzels that seem to be the staple snack of Germany to dip into our cuppa soups for tea that night. We had listened to a 'Learning to speak German' audio book in the car and I proudly used the 'This please' (Das bitten) with the recommended pointing gesture after my 'Gutentag'(Good afternoon) and held up fingers for the quantity. As frequently happened on this trip the lady serving smiled and responded in confident, if strongly accented English. The cheese and pumpkin seed ones were nice, the plain were heavy and very salty.

The White building on the right is the Steipe, it was built in 1430-83 as a drinking house for
the City Council. The Red House(center) has the words 'Before Rome, Trier stood 1300 years,
 may it continue to stand and enjoy eternal peace. Amen!' Both buildings were destroyed
by the Allies in 1944(perhaps an officer who read Latin choose the target) and were rebuilt.

The house Karl Marx was born in - now a Museum
filled with documents from his life.

The warm spring sun, copious Easter decorations and flowers made this a very pretty stop but we decided to push on to Worms without sidetracking north to Eifelpark. The brochure promised a giant toadstool swing, Wallaby kangaroos (Europeans don't seem to be able to distinguish between the two), bears and wolves.

Although Worms is said to have been a center for farming and even markets since 5000BCE and a Roman garrison since 1CE claims for oldest city in Germany are argued against by others because of long periods of empty settlement. On the way back from Bavaria we stopped in Koln (Cologne) which is also on the list of oldest city. It grew to a major town in 19BCE at the crossroads of two busy trade routes, the River Rhine lent aid to the last leg of the land routes north from the Mediterranean and the from the East. Cologne celebrated it's 1900th anniversary in 1950. It seems to me the definition of 'city' and the accuracy of interpreted documents will always leave room for dispute in this competition and Trier would be wise to remove the absolutes of its claims in the tourist trivia.

Left: Even the sausage shop was displaying marbled, boiled eggs for sale this Easter
Right: M came to Germany determined to have white asparagus with burnt butter sauce (we saw fields of plastic covered  farrows growing this specialty and strawberries) and I was looking forward to a slice of genuine Black Forest Gateau.

http://www.amazon.com/HHhH-Binet-Laurent-2013-Paperback

Read:
HHhH by Laurent Binet, Grasser et Fasquelle 2009
English translation Sam Taylor, Vintage Books 2012

Historical Nonfiction - The author talks directly to the reader as he grapples with how to present his research - how far to storyise it. It's an interesting voice and certainly gives a clear picture of how history can be bent through the lense of retelling.
The title is an anacronym for a saying that did the rounds in Nazi circles - "Himmler's brain is called Heydrich" Heydrich was a forceful brute who made the Final Solution efficient after acknowledging the waste of ammunition in mass executions and the toll it was having on even his toughest stormtroopers. The Czechoslovakian WWII trauma is related through the eyes of two agents sent by the Czech control in London to assassinate the 'Blond Butcher'. There is no real happy ending. The author's understanding and sympathy for Czechoslovakia makes this area of conflict warmer than a mere listing of events.

"It's funny how, as soon as you take a close interest in a subject, everything seems to come back to it." Chapter 11

A suggestion is made that Heydrich has Jewish ancestry - lack of evidence leads to exoneration but Himmler is worried that rumour may make his prodigy a hindrance to his place in the Nazi hierarchy.  Hitler's advice is -
"This man is extraordinarily gifted and extraordinarily dangerous.  We would be stupid not to use him  The Party needs men like him, and his talents will be particuarly useful in the future.  What's more, he will be eternally grateful to us for having kept him and will obey us blindly." Chapter 33.

"It is noon.  It has taken 800 SS stormtroopers nearly 8hrs to get the better of 7 men." Chapter 250