Invitation to Germany 2 of 7
fireplace.” (Well, since he spoke German, that’s not exactly what he said.) In the middle of the night we were awakened by a shout from the neighbor and the sound of the fire alarm at the nearby Rathaus (City Hall). Through the bedroom window, we could see a yellow/orange flickering. The mid-day fire had passed through a flaw in the flue, had smoldered for 12 hours, and now the home next door was on fire.
The local fire department is equipped to protect the huge Villeroy & Boch ceramics factory, and that equipment is also available to fight fires in the local homes. The firemen did a very good job, and although the two upper floors of the adjacent home were destroyed, Toni’s house and the house on the other side, had no fire damage at all. Thank goodness they built these row-houses separated by a very thick stone wall, right up to the very peak of the tile roof.
Since Jim sprayed water until Toni’s fifty-year-old garden hose burst, he of course takes credit for saving the whole place.
At that time our home in California was one of four in a building about 165 years newer, with dividing walls not even slightly fireproof. When Toni visited our home the following year, we told her we intended to entertain in the manner she had entertained us, and had scheduled the fire in our neighbor’s condominium for Tuesday night. She insisted that would be carrying hospitality much too far indeed.
(A few years later, while Cousins Josef and Ida were visiting, we experienced a very strong California earthquake. We suggested that reciprocity would not be expected during our next visit to Merzig.)
THE WEDDING OF A COUSIN
One day we attended a wedding in nearby Merzig. The beautiful ceremony was held at the very modern St. Josef Kirche, and although we could not understand what was said, we were assured that everything was in fact legal and binding, but in this case not so durable.
The bell tower, standing separately from the circular church, has jokingly been given the name “der Fahrstuhl ist ausser Betrieb” or “the elevator is out of order.” The bell tower consists of two slabs of concrete standing several stories high, with what looks like a small room near the top to hold the bells — much like an elevator stuck at the top of an elevator shaft.
After the ceremony, the wedding party and guests (about sixty family members and friends) went to the Ellerhof for a delicious sit-down dinner and reception. The charming restaurant sits high on a hill overlooking the city of Merzig, and includes several banquet rooms, all booked and busy this delightful September evening.
During a pause in the evening’s activities, Jim went outside to stretch his legs. As he stood under a tree at the edge of a cliff enjoying the view of Merzig below, he noticed a lady walk hurriedly from one of the banquet halls and run down a staircase to a pasture where a flock of sheep were grazing. It was quite dark, so without looking around she reached to the hem of her floor-length dress, pulled it high, lowered — oh well whatever; perhaps das Damen Zimmer (ladies’ room) was overcrowded.
Jim was still trying to decide what to do when a man joined her at the bottom of the stairs. They both laughed as she explained to him what she had done, and by now Jim felt he had to stay hidden under the tree.
In order to maintain status quo, he waited for ten minutes or so while the couple stood there talking and enjoying the view of Merzig, before he dared move from the shadows and return to the dining room. It had been too dark to recognize the lady in question and no one knows which party she was attending. The Cousins had a big laugh when Jim explained why he had been gone so long.
FINA AND KÖBUS
At the end of the First World War, Cousin Fina (who resembled the late Billie Burke, the movie star, when they both were many years younger) worked in a hospital filled with boys from the US Army. She had an autograph book where many of the soldiers wrote little poems and love notes to her. The German word for pillow is “Kissen,” and of course we believed Cousin Fina when she said that each time a soldier asked for a kiss, she brought him a Kissen.
Cousin Köbus had been captured by the Russians during WW II, and was held in a prison camp for several years after the war. Although he was a prisoner of war, the Russians required that he spend his time, and “earn his way,” as a cabinet maker. It was a great surprise when he arrived back in Mettlach, emaciated (he weighted about 120 pounds), weary, but alive, years after everyone thought he had been killed in the war.
COUSIN BÄRBEL’S JOB
Cousin Bärbel has an interesting job teaching the German language to Germans who are now returning from Russia. Four hundred years ago the Czar moved a group of Germans to Russia, hoping to impress the natives with the German work ethic, etc. Although they continued to think of themselves as German, recent generations were not permitted to speak the German language. During WW II, while Hitler and Stalin were still friends, Hitler wanted them moved back to Germany. Stalin wouldn’t allow that, and moved them even further east, to the Russian interior. Stalin wanted to make sure they would not be returned to Germany, even if Hitler captured a portion of western USSR.
Even after 400 years they are still considered to be German citizens, and since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, they are permitted to return to their ancestral home. The German government spends many millions of D-Marks to take care of them, to train them, and get them settled in their “new” homeland.
ST. LUTWINUS
During a recent summer, the outside walls of St. Lutwinus, the church two or three doors from the family home, were cleaned, and damage from two wars repaired.
At six o’clock each morning, rain or shine, the church bells ring, and ring, and ring. Jim counted as high as 265 dings one morning, but after a few days we are able to sleep right through Mettlach’s wake-up call, sometimes. Those first few days, we are probably the only people in town who hear the clock strike every fifteen minutes.
These bells are an integral part of life in Mettlach. There are four bells, and each, or in combination, are rung according to a specific plan. Bell number one, the smallest, but with a beautiful full sound, is the “praying” bell, and it dings and dongs at 6:00 AM, 12 noon, and 6:00 PM most days, but is silent from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday. Bells number one, two and three ring in glorious harmony before a normal church service, and all four bells are combined before a service on high holidays.
But, the harmony is missing when bells one and three knell for the death of a citizen of Mettlach. If there are three strikes, then a short pause, a man has died. If there are two before a short pause, a woman has died, and a child’s death is announced by one strike, followed by a pause. We would suspect church bells in other towns toll a similar story, but we are only aware of Mettlach’s bells, at the church just a couple of doors from the family home.
LIFE DURING WW II
We have suggested (without success) that the cousins write a book about family life in Germany during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. A book telling what each family member did, and how they lived through those years could be very informative and of interest to many people. Most books tell about the fighting and the people who directed the war, but we haven’t seen a book that tells what the ordinary people thought, and how they lived, and how they survived.
The younger men in the family were in the Army or Navy during WW II. One was killed in the famous battle of Stalingrad, one was wounded by an American hand-grenade in Luxembourg, and several spent varying lengths of time in Prisoner-of-War camps in the Soviet Union and France.
Early in the war, and again near the end of WW II, the women, children and older men who were still in Mettlach, were evacuated to other parts of Germany, so they would not be in the way of fighting armies.
The bridge across the Saar was destroyed, so a small ferry was needed to cross the river, and the train tracks and the railway tunnel were bombed out of commission. Several half-buried WW II bunkers are still scattered among the trees that cover the hills overlooking Mettlach and the Saar River.
It’s very frustrating that the language barrier makes it difficult to communicate, even with a dictionary, beyond a light conversation. While we don’t like to dwell on the war, we have tried to learn a little about what the Cousins did during that period.
While the German Army, was occupying a portion of North Africa, one Cousin said that a delicacy for Frühstück (breakfast) each morning was a slice of bread with a slice from a loaf of pressed-seedless dates. While walking through the local town one day they noticed a man tramping around in a small tub, as if he were stomping grapes to make wine. Closer inspection revealed that the man, with dirty bare feet, was stomping on dates to remove the seeds — the breakfast menu was changed immediately.
Right after WW II the Saarland was under the control of France, and the French understandably were not very happy with anything German. Jobs were assigned by the occupation forces, and almost as many hours each day were spent commuting — walking, riding a bike, or whatever — to and from the job, as were spent working.
One day the French Army came to each house and confiscated some furniture items, and some knives, forks, plates, and pots and pans for distribution to French citizens who had lost all their possessions in the war that was, after all, started by the Germans, and won by the French.
We asked several Cousins when they believed things were “back to normal” after the war. That is, when did they get up in the morning with enough to eat, had handy transportation to a job of their choice, and with no occupation forces to control their lives? The responses ranged from about 1949 to 1952. We were told that except for an incident with one French soldier, family members were well treated by occupation troops from both the US and the French Army.
Chapter 6
Trier and
The Mosel River
%NENNIG
Over a hundred years ago in Nennig, Germany, across the Mosel River from Remich, Luxembourg, a farmer was planting potatoes in the backyard (perhaps), when his shovel discovered a beautiful floor, a memento of a Roman home from a couple thousand years earlier. Romans ruled this area for hundreds of years, and their capital was just a few miles down the Mosel, in nearby Trier.
In the late 1800s a building was erected to protect the special floor, and in the 1980s artists from Villeroy & Boch restored the beautiful artwork. We have seen other mosaic floors, made of “millions” of small pieces of tile, in several different countries, including museums in the US, but we think this one is the most exceptional, both in pattern and in detail.
%TRIER
Germany’s capital of Roman Antiquity is a magnificent surprise. Located astride the Mosel River about six miles from the Luxembourg border, Trier is little known to most tourists who vacation in Europe, but it should be one of Germany’s most visited cities.
The oldest city in Germany as well as one of the oldest and most interesting on the continent, one motto says, “Before Rome, there was Trier.” Legend says that Trier was founded in 2000 BC (1300 years before Rome), and the Romans didn’t arrive until 14 BC. In 41 AD the Roman writer, Pomponius Mela, called Trier “urbs opulentissima,” a very opulent city. During parts of the next 500 years, it served as a major Roman Empire capital, and the headquarters for the court of six different emperors.
Trier had 80,000 citizens in the year 300, and after the ups and downs of commerce and wars over the centuries, now has a population of about 100,000. Near the Dom, or Cathedral, is a street called Sieh um Dich (Look Around You), and we did, for in Trier while we walked just 2,000 steps, we witnessed and enjoyed 2,000 years of history.
Several buildings constructed in the Roman architectural style (500 BC to 500 AD), are still on display in Trier. But most of the churches, abbeys, university buildings and gardens of Trier reflect (often combinations of) the beauty of the Romanesque (1000 to 1100s), Gothic (1100 to 1500s), Renaissance (1500 and 1600s), Baroque (1600s), and Rococo (1700s) periods, long after the Romans had left.
An example of Roman architecture, the mighty four-story Porta Nigra (Black Gate), built of huge cut stones joined without mortar, was built in the last part of the 2nd Century AD as part of the four-mile city wall. The Porta Nigra is one of the best preserved ancient Roman buildings in all of Europe. Transformed into the Church of St. Simeon for a century or two, the Porta Nigra is now the threshold to centuries of history, and has remained the entrance to the main shopping street of both ancient and modern Trier. Next door is the Simeon Monastery, founded in 1037, and restored in perfect style in 1936.
The Hauptmarkt (Main Market), one of Germany’s most beautiful town squares, is located a few blocks from the Porta Nigra on Simeonstrasse, the pedestrian shopping street. Trier’s Market Cross was erected in 958 AD on a granite pedestal dating from Roman times, and the Market Fountain, created in the year 1595, incorporates statues that symbolize justice, fortitude, temperance, and prudence. Germany’s oldest pharmacy, Löwenapotheke (Lion’s Pharmacy) was founded here in the 1600s, and a town-house nearby, built in the 1700s, is the birthplace of Karl Marx. Among the several sidewalk cafes in the Hauptmarkt, one can be recognized by the ever-popular Golden Arches — familiar food and drink, and there are clean restrooms on the second floor.
St. Paulin is an elaborate Rococo church, constructed in the mid-1700s on the site where a church had first been built in the late 300s AD. Frescoes on the ceiling depict the martyrdom of Saint Paulin, and he and other Christian martyrs were buried at this site in about the year 400 AD. Statues on the left of the altar represent Saint Paulin and Saint George.
As in the case of major churches all over Europe, many buildings have been built, enlarged, remodeled, and destroyed from time to time on the site of Trier’s fortress-like cathedral. A portion of a granite pillar from the original Roman building lies in front of the southern portal, and other portions were built and furbished in the Romanesque, the Gothic, and in the Baroque styles. Excavations have revealed remnants of a church that was erected in 325 AD on the spot where the Cathedral now stands. The next-door Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), built in the mid 1200s, is one of the earliest Gothic churches in Germany, and contains the tomb of Canon Metternich.
The most unusual church building in Trier (perhaps unique in all of Europe) is the Constantine Basilika, in what had been the Roman Imperial Palace. Originally built by Emperor Constantine in 310 AD, the Basilica is a massive rectangular brick structure that was used for court functions by the Romans for 100 years. In the 10th century it was presented to the Archbishop of Trier. Later it again became part of a palace, then it was used as a military hospital, and finally in 1856 was handed over to the Protestant community as a place of worship. Large photographs show the Basilika as it was at various times before WW II, and as it appeared after the bombing on August 14, 1944. It’s been beautifully renovated since that fateful day.
The interior of the Basilika is overwhelming: 220 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 99 feet from floor to the beautiful coffered ceiling, made of decorative sunken wooden panels. An enormous single-nave rectangular hall with no columns or obstructions of any kind — just one gigantic breath-taking “simple room.” And remember, while it was engineered, designed, and constructed without a modern day building permit, with an occasional redo it has served the citizens of Trier (and Rome) for nearly 1,700 years.
Next door to the Basilika, the pink Kurfürstlicher Palast is now used for offices of the local government. The guide book says the building is embellished with “serene Rococo” (an oxymoron perhaps), and there are many Baroque statues in the Palastgarten (Palace Garden) next door.
The Imperial Baths of Emperor Constantine is just a short walk from the Palace. The Bath extends 855 feet east to west, and 477 feet from north to south, and is one of the largest monumental ruins (three stories above ground, two stories below) from the world of antiquity. In almost no other complex is it possible to visit such a complicated subterranean passage system. The visitor sees the rooms in the order that corresponds to the bathing regulations of the time. First the vapourbath, then the Caldarium (hot bath), next the small round Tepidarium (a tempered bath), and finally the Frigidarium (the cold bath) which must have been one of the largest vaulted rooms of this type. Part of the three-story Caldarium wall remains standing.
The ruin of another bath, the Barbarathermen, is located just a few blocks west of here, near the Mosel River. Nearby, the Romerbrücke (Roman Bridge) is built on a foundation that has, despite wars and floods, served as a Mosel crossing point since the days of marching Roman Legions.
The 20,000 seat Roman Amphitheater, the oldest Roman structure in Trier, was built in 100 AD. Where once there were seats, slanted grassy banks remain, and unlike most other Roman Amphitheaters, the subterranean passageway under the main arena floor is still accessible by a flight of stairs. Under the playing field we walked among the huge timbers that support the 246 feet by 164 feet arena floor.
At one time the Amphitheater was part of the city fortification, then for centuries it was treated as a quarry, a common practice many places in Europe. Its stones were used to build other nearby buildings, just as hundreds of buildings in Rome (including St. Peter’s Basilica) were built with stones “quarried” from that Coliseum. In years past, they had neither the tourist market to justify, nor the preservationists to insist on, continued maintenance.
It’s hard to imagine a city with more beauty, more history, and with more fascination for the traveler, than Trier. Situated at the entrance to the Mosel Valley and the Saarland, Trier is an outstanding vacation destination. Tourists have no need to cross the Alps and visit Rome to admire the beauties of the Roman Empire, but if that opportunity presents itself, grab it.
TRIER’S VINEYARDS
Vineyards extend for miles along the steep hillsides that line the Saar and the Mosel Rivers. It’s instructive to see that only those portions of the hillside facing the sun are suitable for the vines, and many hillsides along the river are so steep that little cable cars are needed to enable the vinedresser to work his vineyard.
Inside the municipal boundaries of Trier there are over 3,000,000 “Riesling” vines, and subterranean Trier, a vast network of wine cellars, is like a city of its own, where the cellar foreman rules supreme.
PROBLEMS WITH THE DRIVER
Jim usually can find his way through any city without much trouble, but one time while driving through Trier with Emmy, her sister Hannah, and Cousin Toni as passengers, he noticed there was a great deal of chatter in German, and what sounded like an under-current of concern and discontent. After a few miles of driving on a road that didn’t seem familiar to him, someone finally said in English, “Where do you think you’re going?”
Now the truth came out, Toni knew we were on the wrong road and had said so several times. Emmy and Hannah had agreed with her, with apparently some added comments about the “dummkopf” driver. Now it was Jim’s turn to complain that they had been speaking German and had forgotten that someone was supposed to interpret Toni’s instructions.
THE MOSEL RIVER
From Trier, the Mosel River flows northeast towards Koblenz. Well now that’s not exactly correct, let’s try again: From Trier, the Mosel River flows north, south, east and west, and finally joins the Rhein at Koblenz. There, that’s better — it’s hard to imagine a more twisty large river, and it’s even more difficult to imagine one that is bordered with more beauty.
One tourist brochure shows that the river flows 125 miles between these two cities; the most direct road is about eighty miles; and a crow can make it in about sixty. There are ten dams on this portion of the river, with locks that can handle pleasure boats and barges carrying up to 1,500 tons of supplies.
For the adventurous, canoes can be rented for a trip on the Mosel. Canoes will pass through the locks with larger ships, and there are plenty of little towns with restaurants, hotels and campsites. We were told the canoe trip from Trier to Koblenz can be made in four or five days.
An auto road is available on one side most of the time, and both sides of the river part of the time. The thirty-four bridges and fourteen ferryboats will permit the visitor to change his mind, when the vineyards look greener on the other side of the river. Sixteen steamer mooring points give an idea of the number of choices, when someone decides to take a river cruise on part of this most fascinating waterway.
The steep hillsides that line the Mosel are covered with miles and miles of magnificent vineyards, many with huge Sonnenuhr (sundials) fixed to rocks high on the side of the hills. Somewhere between fifteen and twenty castles and castle ruins are found on mountain tops, on both sides of the river.
All those things we’ve heard about a river trip on the Rhein River, are found in abundance on the Mosel as well. Vineyards, castles, boat rides, and beautiful little towns and villages — the Mosel has them all, and in our opinion, is even more beautiful and interesting than the Rhein.
Probably 125 towns, villages and hamlets (Stadt, Dörf, Weiler, or das Dörfchen) are located between Trier and Koblenz, within a few miles of the Mosel; dozens more are in the surrounding hills. Some have only a few houses, and others are among the most beautiful we found anywhere on our trips. Hotels, guest houses, and tourist facilities abound, and campsites are available on the river banks.
%BERNKASTEL - KUES
About forty-five river miles from Trier is Bernkastel-Kues. Actually two little towns — Bernkastel on the east, and Kues on the west side of the river, or are they on the north and south side? Perhaps the left and right banks would be more correct. It really is a curvy river. These are exceptional examples of medieval market towns, with 400-year-old half-timbered buildings.
Bernkastel’s town hall, the market fountain, and the timber-framed houses date from the early 1600s. In 1583, just off the marketplace they built a charming little crooked, narrow, half-timbered, pointy little house, called Spitzhäuschen. Similar buildings are found in at least a dozen other German towns.
Funny thing, while tourist brochures advertise the artistic weather-vanes on the roof gables, TV antennas and satellite dishes appear more prevalent. Nearby on a plateau beyond Kues is a modern convention center, and cures are offered year round in the Middle Mosel Cure-Clinics.
From the marketplace a steep walking trail leads to the remains of Landshut Castle, or we could drive there on a narrow road. The castle was built in the mid-1200s, and has been a ruin since 1692. From here, the expanse of the largest continuously linked vineyard slopes in Germany can be seen. Vineyards and wineries have influenced these people, their culture, and their architecture for 2,000 years, and in early September the town celebrates the wine harvest.
One very cold frosty morning we stopped at a flea market in a village near Bernkastel. The market was opened with a flair as a large “oompah” band played long and loud. But just as soon as their part of the ceremony was finished, they ran for the warmth and the beer, of the nearby beer hall.
%HERMESKEIL
In the hills a few miles west of Bernkastel, in what appears to be an improbable location in the woods, there is the Flugausstellung Leo Junior (aeronautical museum). On display are several guided missiles and full-size airplanes, both commercial and military. Of all things, the original full-size plywood mock-up (non-flying version) of the Concorde (the super-sonic passenger airplane) is now used as a coffee-shop in the woods, on top of this mountain. The museum building contains aircraft engines, and numerous other exhibits.
%COCHEM
Some time must be spent in Cochem, on the north side of the river, about thirty miles from Koblenz. A baroque town hall, a monastery, fortifications dating from the early 1300s, and the remains of the castle destroyed in the late 1600s, all make for an interesting visit. In 1877 they opened the two-and-a-half mile Kaiser-Wilheim railroad tunnel, which eliminates about ten very twisty miles from the railway trip between Cochem and Eller.
%KOBLENZ
The Mosel continues to twist and turn until its junction with the Rhein at Koblenz, a city founded by the Romans in 14 AD. Palaces, churches, castles, monuments, and towers — Koblenz has its share. While most European cities are satisfied to glorify their most “favorite son,” in Koblenz, the Mutter-Beethoven-Haus, the house where Ludwig’s mother was born, serves as a museum for various letters and documents.
“Deutsches Eck” (Germany’s Corner), is the name given to the narrow point of land at the confluence of the Rhein and the Mosel. About all that remains on this prominent landmark is the base that held a gigantic statue of Wilhelm I, erected in 1897.
High on the hill across the Rhein, Festung Ehrenbreitstein is the fortress built in early 1100, whose residents collected tolls from passing ships for a few centuries. The campsite just across the Mosel from the Deutsches Eck, is an excellent location from which we have watched the movement of the river boats and barges that travel on the Rhein and Mosel.
Chapter 7
The Eifel and Aachen
THE EIFEL
The area extending about 100 miles north of the Mosel and west of the Rhein to the border with Belgium, is called The Eifel. It is the idyllic land of hills and lakes and rivers and vast forests.
An almost endless array of natural beauty provides facilities for boating, fishing and hiking, and other outdoor pleasures. Charlemagne, or “Charles the Great” was King of the Franks (768-814) and founder of the first empire in Western Europe after the fall of Rome. His court was at Aix-la-Chapelle (in French), called Aachen (in German).
%AACHEN
Aachen is located where the borders of Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany meet. Charlemagne settled here in 794 AD and governed the territories of what later became France and Germany.
In about the year 800, Charlemagne designed, and ordered the building of the domed octagonal Christian sanctuary. The cathedral wasn’t finished until the Gothic chancel was consecrated in 1414, the 600th anniversary of his death. In the center of the octagon is the eight-sided chandelier with 48 candles, hanging on a 90 foot long iron chain.
Aachen has been a Spa City since the Romans arrived here in the first century, and forty-two kings and queens (several of them ranged from 3 to 11 years old), were crowned between the year 936 and the mid-1500s, when Aachen lost its designation as a coronation city. A city gate from Roman times, the Rathaus (city hall) built in the 1300s, and the cathedral are all worth sightseeing time.
On October 20, 1944, as the American First Army moved from street to street, 85% of the city was reduced to rubble and Aachen became the first German city to fall to the Allies in WW II. There was extensive damage to the Cathedral, but many other historic churches, museums and other buildings no longer existed after that battle.
Emmy’s father attended school in Aachen sometime around 1910, studying to be an architectural draftsman. One rainy Sunday (many years later) we strolled through the outdoor flea market and were able to buy a couple of books printed in English. Sometimes it has been difficult to get enough reading material to fill our evenings, but it’s surprising to see how many interesting books (printed in English) we have purchased for pennies in flea markets across Europe.
While doing research for this book we find it amazing how much we “learn now” that we wish we “knew then.” We have visited Aachen on three or four occasions, but as guidebooks are re-read, brochures, encyclopedias and other reference books are studied, what results is a great desire to re-visit and explore this fascinating old city, and for that matter, most other places we have visited one or a dozen times.
Our research for this book confirms that 425 days were not nearly enough to see and appreciate all of the beauties, the antiquities, and the points of interest in Germany.
%MONSCHAU
Just a couple of miles from the Belgium border, south of Aachen, the town of Monschau sits in a deep, narrow valley. We were told this valley escaped destruction during intense battles in WW II, because it is so narrow that artillery and tank shells were fired across the valley, rather than down into Monschau. Six other near-by well-maintained villages, some with huge protective roof-high beech hedges, belong to the Monschau district.
The Rotes Haus (Red House), home of a prosperous cloth-making merchant, Johann-Heinrich Scheibler, has been preserved with its 1700s interior decor, and is now a museum. Its main showpiece is the magnificent three-story carved-oak staircase that took Italian artists three years to complete. Townspeople are proud the owner refused to sell the staircase to John D. Rockefeller.
Monschau is truly a town for a “stroll-around” — the Fachwerkhäuser (row of crooked half-timbered buildings) reflected in the stream is an excellent picture-spot. One street was so narrow, and the houses so close together, that we had only inches to spare as we maneuvered through the town. During our most recent visit, we found that the tourist trade had grown so large they have established a “tourist train” to haul visitors between edge-of-town parking lots, and the center of town.
Construction began on the Protestant church in 1787. Its onion-shaped baroque steeple is 100 years older, having been transported here from Köln (Cologne) after its original church was destroyed by fire. Early one Sunday morning we climbed to the balcony to get a close look at the organ, and to meet the organist. She was English, and her German husband was a teacher in the local school system. She stated that they could live either in England or Germany, but felt they enjoyed (could afford) a better standard of living in Germany.
We stayed for the music portion of the church service, but left when the minister started to speak in German (what else), since we could understand nothing he said. It is one thing to take dictionary in hand and converse with the Cousins, but it’s impossible for either of us to understand someone speaking to an audience of German people.
SIEGFRIED LINE
The Germans built the Siegfried Line (Westwall) along their western border before WW II, and it was still in place and a major obstacle when the US Army tried to invade this part of Germany in 1944. Spread across the countryside near the border, acres of concrete “dragons’ teeth,” that were intended to stop the movement of tanks and other motorized vehicles during the war, are still in place.
Unlike the huge fixed defensive positions of the French Maginot Line (which had little success), the relatively simple Siegfried Line slowed or stopped tanks and trucks, and proved quite useful to the defending German Army. In several locations, just across the German border in France, Maginot Line installations are available for tourist visits.
%KONZEN
An ancient church located in nearby Konzen was built in 1160 in Romanesque style, and was reconstructed in 1450 in late Gothic style. The recent reconstruction contains those parts of the original church that remained after its almost complete destruction in 1944.
%EUSKIRCHEN
We visited Emmy’s Cousin Josef and family in Euskirchen several times, until he retired and returned to Merzig, near the family home (his birthplace) in Mettlach. Euskirchen is a pleasant city, with shopping of all kinds (including a McDonald’s in a second-story location), and an inviting residential area.
It is our guess that Euskirchen would be considered a bedroom community for nearby Bonn, Köln, and the Renault factory in Brühl, where Josef worked as the Chief Accountant for many years. A large sugar mill just outside town processes the sugar-beets grown in the excellent farm land in this part of Germany.
%BAD MÜNSTEREIFEL
Cousin Josef lived on Route 51, just north of Euskirchen, and a multitude of Cousins live about 100 miles south in Mettlach, also on Route 51. We had driven this road numerous times, going from Cousin to Cousin, before we saw the Bad Münstereifel sign, just south of Euskirchen, with a picture of a town wall. Walled towns and villages fascinate us, and are always on the top of our destination list.
The Cousins were familiar with the local sights, but it never dawned on them that Bad Münstereifel was exactly what we look for as we travel in Europe. Nothing like it exists in the US, even in theme parks prepared especially for tourists. There are thousands of cities and villages in European countries that meet our specifications as a place that must be seen. On the other hand, when visitors come to Southern California, we often wonder what they are going to do with themselves. Many of the things supposedly of interest to tourists, are so familiar to us that we aren’t sure they are of special interest to our guests.
Emmy’s cousin Köbes worked for the company that renovated Bad Münstereifel years ago. That effort has left an interesting town surrounded by impressive ramparts, well-preserved fortifications dating from the 1200s, and many fine half-timbered buildings. The outstanding Klosterkirche (Abbey Church) has a Romanesque façade that is flanked by partly round, partly octagonal towers. A quiet stream flows through the town giving it a special charm for tourists and residents alike.
Chapter 8
Köln (Cologne) and
The Rhein
%KÖLN (COLOGNE)
The Empress Agrippa proclaimed “Colonia” a city in the year 50 AD, but pictures taken just after WW II show Köln then consisted of miles of piles of rubble, with the exception of the magnificent Köln Cathedral. Precision bombing on May 30, 1942 by 1,046 airplanes of the Allied Air Force, destroyed the main railroad station next to the cathedral, and the river bridges just a couple of blocks away, with relatively minor damage to the cathedral itself. By the end of the War, 90 percent of the inner city was destroyed.
Starting at the plaza in front of the cathedral, Hohe Strasse (High Street), the pedestrian shopping district, has been in operation for two thousand years. A half-dozen blocks from the cathedral, turn right and the shopping district continues on Schildergasse to the Neumarkt (New Market). By the way, it has been authenticated that the name of the famous perfume, “Eau de Köln 4711” (or “Eau de Cologne 4711”) is derived from the address of the house where it was originated. It was first made in 1709 by Giovanni-Maria Farina, an Italian chemist.
There are dozens of museums (with Religious art, and Roman glass and pottery) and hundreds of churches (designed and built from ancient times to post-WW II) in Köln, many reconstructed since 1945. One brochure shows there are still 12 Romanesque churches in the city, a great contrast to the Severinsbrücke (St. Severinus Bridge), a modern 2,300 foot bridge across the Rhein, suspended by cables from a single 98 foot pylon.
On the banks of the Rhein a dozen mooring-points await the decision for a cruise on the river. Steamer lines have boats for tourist travel, both north and south from Köln. The Köln-Düsseldorfer Line, for example, has been in business over 150 years, and has excursion ships that stop at dozens of different landing points on the river. In addition to day trips of a few hours, cruises of several days and nights will cover any portion of the river from Rotterdam, Netherlands to Basel, Switzerland.
Once we saw a barge loaded with John Deere farm equipment, sailing on the Rhein. We don’t know if the machines were produced in Europe, or imported from the US.
DER KÖLNER DOM (THE COLOGNE CATHEDRAL)
Construction of the Gothic masterpiece, Der Kölner Dom, started in 1248. In 1322 a temporary wall was constructed to enclose the chancel, and it was consecrated and used as a church. In 1437 all work stopped, with a large gap remaining between the towers and the chancel. We have a book with a drawing of the Köln skyline hundreds of years ago, showing the crane on the north tower of the cathedral, waiting for work to resume.
Four hundred years later (in 1842), construction was finally re-started, and another forty years were required for its completion. Isn’t that incredible, the two separate parts of the building standing there for 400 years. To put that in prospective, it took 634 years to build the cathedral; Columbus discovered America 500 years ago; and the United States is less than 250 years old. We find that amazing. We are quite sure the Golden Arches across the street from the cathedral, were not there to supply restrooms for those original builders.
The huge black cathedral, with massive twin towers and with spires that rise to a height of 515 feet, is nearly overwhelming. One reference says, “… but its proportions are clumsy and monotonous, and the tracery detail is repetitious.” That’s a little harsh, but it does help describe this stupendous Gothic masterpiece.
In comparison with other ecclesiastical architecture, these towers appear almost too large for the rest of the building. Usually cathedral towers blend in with the building’s façade, but these, with much sculptural embellishment, appear to protrude beyond the walls of the cathedral, and the bulky (but lacy) steeples extend well above the roof-line before the spires taper to a point.
Of all the hundreds of cathedrals and large churches we have toured, none even comes close to the feeling of “magnitude” projected by the Köln Cathedral. The floor space of 91,000 square feet (over two acres) makes it the third-largest Gothic cathedral in the world, after two others we have visited, Milan, Italy and Seville, Spain. The 150-foot high ceiling of the nave (the long central hall of the church) is the highest of any Gothic cathedral — we can’t help but be impressed. The very modern St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco is not Gothic, but its ceiling (nave) rises 190-feet above the floor.
During our first visit in 1970, we entered the cathedral through massive west doors, and in the north aisle saw a large dome-shaped bunker made of stone blocks. An English-speaking priest told us that guns and ammunition were stored there during the war. He said the Allies found out about the bunker and sent word to the Germans that it must be removed or the cathedral would be bombed. He told us that to make the point, a bomb was dropped near the base of the north tower, resulting in minor damage. (The Cathedral guidebook says fourteen explosive bombs hit the Cathedral in WW II.)
Other tourists, including our daughter, said they had been told that same tale, and that same anecdote was re-told during our second visit, a few years later. But the third time we stopped by, accompanied by Cousin Toni, the German-speaking priest said stained glass windows and other valuables had been protected in the bunker during the war. That made more sense, but we wondered what the real story was.
In 1991 Jim went to the cathedral office and repeated the fantasy we had been told twenty-one years earlier. The Cathedral architect was shocked to hear that yarn and showed us a book about the construction of the bunker in the late 1930s. Diagrams in the book detailed how stained-glass windows and other art would be stored for protection from possible damage during the war. He couldn’t imagine that priests had told tourists it had been a munitions bunker, but did admit it was the type of fable tourists might expect to hear.
Renovation of the cathedral’s north tower (war damage?) was underway during one visit. The repairs were still clean and nearly white, compared to the 750 year old, very soot-black of the spires and the remainder of the outside walls. (In many places they must blacken any repairs to match the rest of the building.) When Jim asked the man at the Tourist Information Office across the plaza from the cathedral entrance, if they planned to clean the entire building, he replied, in a rather irritated manner, “What makes you think it needs to be cleaned?”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the whole thing sparkling clean? Since it took hundreds of years to build Der Kölner Dom, it has never been seen both clean and complete. Cathedrals, monuments, and impressive buildings all over Europe have been carefully cleaned in recent years, and the results have been spectacular. But as one man said, “They are washing off not dirt, but tradition.” Since there are towns and cities (such as Edinburgh, Scotland) where the people objected to the cleaning, buildings in those cities remain with the layers of “tradition” that have accumulated over the ages.
BRÜHL CASTLE
Less than 10 miles from Köln, sitting in the midst of a formal garden in the town of Brühl, a castle called the Augustusburg was named after the man who built it in the early 1700s. Inside is a splendid Rococo staircase held in place with pillars of telamones and caryatids. (Those are fancy words that mean the pillars are in the form of male and female figures.) The castle tour was very interesting, but they did not let us use our video camera. During his term of office, President George Bush visited Bonn on official business, and a special formal state dinner was held for him, in this castle.
Emmy’s Cousin Josef worked in Brühl for the auto maker Renault for many years, and in 1988 we bought an RV, built on a Renault truck frame, from one of his colleagues. That was an excellent vehicle that served us well for 245 days of living, and 25,400 miles of travel through 14 countries during two trips (it was parked in a farmer’s barn between trips). With a new tire in Bordeaux, France, another in Agrínio, Greece, a brake job in Merzig, Germany and the cooperation of the exchange rate, this excellent, comfortable, Diesel powered vehicle cost us about $13 for each day we traveled — about the cost to rent a bicycle. In this vehicle we spent a night in the most outstanding campsite we have seen; the top deck of a ship sailing the Adriatic, from Brandisi, Italy, past Greek Islands, to the city of Patra.
%RODENKIRCHEN
As the Rhein River passed Rodenkirchen it was filled with river barges, passenger boats, fishermen, and speed boats, while airplanes headed toward the nearby airport. High-rise buildings and steeples of a local church were framed by a sky of sunset colors, along with golden streaks on the river. On the walkway beside the river, a lady was pulling a child’s four-wheeled wagon especially fitted for a dog that had lost the use of its legs. She said the dog looked forward to the ride each day.
In the riverside camp grounds Jim greeted an elderly man who responded with a big smile and a question, “American?” When Jim said yes, he immediately smiled, crossed his wrists and said, “Idaho 1945!” Using his couple of words of English and Jim’s couple of German, it was determined the man had been in a Prisoner of War camp in Idaho in 1945. Jim understood his home was near the Rhein and said, “Idaho in 1945, and you are alive, on the Rhein in 1945, you might have been killed.” It was amazing, the look on his face indicated he hadn’t thought of that before.
Many people don’t remember, or perhaps never knew, that Prisoner of War camps were located in the US during WW II. We needed to send ships to Europe filled with our soldiers and with food and war supplies, so instead of sending empty ships home, they were filled with prisoners, who were then housed in camps all over the United States. If we had kept the prisoners in Europe, we would have needed more ships filled with food, etc., to take care of them. As one example, the Los Angeles County Fair ground was used as a POW camp. Jim remembers at Camp Perry, Ohio, miscreant US Army prisoners were being guarded by sentries with guns, while the gates that were to contain Italian and German Prisoners of War, were about rusted off their hinges.
RHEIN RIVER
The 850-mile Rhein River, perhaps the most famous European river, has its beginning in the southeastern part of Switzerland. It starts at an elevation of 7,690 feet with the overflow from Lake Toma and the melting of the Rheinwald glacier, not far from the St. Gotthard Pass.
From there the Rhein flows through the Fürstentum (Principality of) Liechtenstein, then forms the border between Switzerland and Austria, and flows into and out of the Bodensee (Lake Constance). Near Schaffhausen, Switzerland, it cascades over the sixty feet high Rheinfall, reputed to be the most picturesque falls in all Europe.
The Rhein forms much of the border between Switzerland and Germany to the town of Basel, then turns northward and serves as the boundary between France and Germany. North of Strasbourg, France it leaves the border and flows through Speyer, Mannheim, Worms, then from Mainz (where it is nearly 1,500 feet wide), through the castles and vineyards of the famous Rhein Valley, and on past Koblenz, Bonn, Köln, and Düsseldorf. After 540 miles in Germany, it turns west and flows through The Netherlands, where it is called the Maas River, past Rotterdam to the North Sea.
The 120 river miles from Köln to Mainz is the most famous portion of the Rhein and is known to tourists the world over. The beautiful vineyard covered hillsides, topped by dozens of castles and ruins from medieval days, are rightfully a major part of millions of vacations.
Of great importance to travel agents and tour guides, the location of the Rhein River facilitates the movement of hordes of tourists from London and Amsterdam to mid-Germany, and on to Austria, Switzerland and Italy. The hundreds of passenger boats are a handy place to deposit train-loads and bus-loads of tourists, then a few hours or days later, the tour groups continue their vacation using surface transportation.
Chapter 9
Bonn
%BONN
The capital of West Germany was located in Bonn from 1949 to 1999. The Bundestag (Parliament) and the Bundesrat (Federal Council) were located in the Bundeshaus (Government house), a modern building complex facing the Rhein River.
After the Berlin Wall was built on the 13th of August 1961, the West German government convened in the Reichstag (the German Capitol prior to WW II) in West Berlin at certain times over the years, to serve notice to the East Germans and the Soviets that Bonn was just a temporary location for West Germany’s government.
Until late 1989 it was hard to imagine the two Germanys becoming one country again in our lifetime, but millions of people hoped, prayed, and expected that would happen. So imagine the feelings of the West Germans, especially the residents of Bonn, when the Berlin Wall came down on the 10th of November 1989. It was soon determined the German Government would be returned to Berlin by the end of the century. A few months ahead of schedule, the Bundestag convened in the Reichstag, Germany’s Capitol building in Berlin, in September 1999.
In 1979, the first time we drove through Bonn, a big civic advertising campaign was underway. There were dozens of billboards and thousands of signs and bumper stickers with the word “BONN” printed with a lipstick kiss in place of the “O,” leaving no doubt of their obsession with their hometown.
Beethovenhaus (birthplace), Beethoven-halle (concert hall), Beethovenstrasse (street), Beethovenplatz (square), are among the many applications of this name in Bonn. They are more than casually interested in making sure everyone is more than casually informed about their most famous “favorite son.” In Bonn they don’t want anyone to forget that Ludwig van Beethoven was born here on December 16, 1770 (he died in Vienna in 1827). His birthplace is, of course, a museum, and the finest concert hall in town is the home of a “Beethoven Festival” every two years.
Across the Hofgarten lawn from the University, the Rheinisches Landesmuseum is the home of a prehistoric collection. The Roman Antiquities Department is filled with altars, terra–cottas, glass, etc., and gold and silver pieces from the Frankish period, medieval art, and 19th Century paintings and engravings are on display.
Cousin Josef’s son Reinhold and daughter Bärbel attended the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelm-University at Bonn. The University, with 23,000 students, was founded in 1818 and is housed in the Kurfürstliche Residenz, a charming old building adorned in the baroque style, right in the center of town.
TENNIS WITH REINHOLD
Reinhold is now a medical doctor, a kidney specialist, and with his wife Christiane and two children, lives a few miles west of Bonn, in Ueckesdorf. One year Reinhold invited Jim to play tennis at his club, frequented by hospital and medical school personnel. Jim never did get used to sliding around on the wet clay courts, and he nearly died of thirst. (Must we discuss the final score?)
Jim couldn’t believe there were no water fountains at a tennis club. The tennis players drank beer, soft drinks, and it rained a lot, but like most Germans, they rarely drink plain water out of a tap. We can’t count the number of times we have been told that “Wasser ist zum waschen.”
IMAGINARY COST TO VISIT A CATHEDRAL
One day we were walking through downtown Bonn with Cousin Josef (an accountant by profession) and his wife Ida (pronounced Ee’-da). As we toured the thousand-year-old Münster (Romanesque and Gothic Collegiate Church), Josef and Jim did a few calculations to estimate the cost per visit by parishioners and visitors over the centuries.
They assigned generous costs to build, remodel, repair, and maintain; estimated the number of parishioners and visitors who might have entered the old cathedral each day; then divided by the nearly 300,000 days of its existence — and of course there is no sign the cathedral has completed more than a tiny portion of its life span. The cost per visit must be minuscule. What might it cost to visit a modern day church, one that may be expected to last only a hundred years or so?
SHOPPING FOR A RING
During one trip through Europe Emmy was looking for a new ring. Her finger was sore from trying on one after another in one country after another — but nothing had just that “right look.” While in a jewelry store in Bonn she tried on one ring before she had taken off the previous one, and there it was — the exact “look” she had wanted all along. Bonn supplied the “look,” Los Angeles supplied the ring a couple of years later.
DARK BLUE LIGHTS
In a restaurant near Bonn we found the restrooms were very dark, and what little illumination there was came from a very dark blue bulb. We were told that some restaurants (including some McDonald’s) use that blue light to keep the drug users out of their restrooms. Dark blue is the color of the vein in the arm of a druggie, and in these restrooms they can’t find the vein, so must do that at some other place.
%BUSCHHOVEN
In 1989, while on a cruise in the Greek Islands, we met some very nice people, Peter and Uli, who live in Buschhoven, just a few miles west of Bonn. Peter is a Colonel in the Germany Army, stationed at the nearby “Pentagon,” and is in charge of pharmaceutics for the German Armed Forces. We met them on the Greek Isle of Pátmos, when they rode in our taxi as we came down the mountain from the cave where The Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation.
In 1995 we spent a night in our RV in their driveway. The next day, after breakfast in their beautiful home, they took us sightseeing in Bonn, Brühl, and around Buschhoven. At one place they stopped to show that water is still delivered in their small suburban town, through a 2,000 year old Roman Aqueduct. There is a sample section of the aqueduct on display (the hole is maybe 2 feet wide, 3 feet high, straight on the sides and bottom, but arched on top). A plaque in the street tells the story.
%DONRATH
One day as we approached the town of Donrath, a few miles northeast of Bonn, there were signs advertising an antique market. We went out of our way several miles to find the market, then after paying $1.50 each for admission, found nothing that interested us, even a little.
After paying our way into “special” antique markets in several countries, often held in a local civic building, we don’t remember even one that was really worth the time and money — well that one in Chester, England and maybe another one or two, parted Emmy from some of her money. Well, so Jim also buys a few things here and there. The outdoor street markets and the thousands of stores filled with antiques and non-tiques, satisfy our curiosity better than the organized bazaars with admission charges.
MARIA LAACH ABBEY
Near the Autobahn, mid-way between Bonn and Koblenz, this Romanesque Abbey, originally called Abbatia S. Mariae ad Lacum (St. Mary’s Abbey on the lake), is situated near the largest of the volcanic lakes in this part of Germany. Built largely in the 1100s, towers were added, the ceiling was vaulted, gothic windows were cut in the walls, and more alterations were made in the baroque style over the next 100 years or so.
Inside is a three-nave basilica with two choirs and two transepts. The outside is surmounted by six towers, with the central tower above the west entrance being dominate. From a distance, the Maria Laach Abbey reminds us of the Romanesque Cathedral in Worms.
In consequence of the French Revolution, the church stood deserted for the first 90 years of the 1800s, until the Benedictines were able to buy the Abby and give it a new lease on life. Benedictines have lived in the monastery since 1892, and high mass is held at 8:15 AM, with vespers in the evening.
Our “Aral Auto-Reisebuch” (Auto guidebook published by the gasoline company, Aral) says “Am NW-Ufer ein Campingplatz mit Gaststätte, Badestrand, Spielplatz, Minigolfanlage.” That must mean, “A lake shore camping-place with restaurant, bathing beach, playground, and a mini-golf course.” That should keep anyone busy after touring the old Abbey.
The “Aral Auto-Reisebuch” is filled with pictures and detailed maps, and was extremely useful even though we couldn’t read German. The book cover, and the color at the Aral gasoline stations, is blue.
RHEIN RIVER CRUISE
One day, with several of Emmy’s Cousins as companions, we rode the train for a couple of hours south from Bonn to Bingen, then returned to Bonn on about a seven-hour Rhine River cruise. Lunch was served in the fine restaurant on board the ship. It would have been an even more pleasant day had the weather cooperated, but while we try to control many things while we travel, the weather leaves us only two choices — enjoy or ignore.
A tourist driving a car on his vacation may wish to take a Rhein cruise at least part of the way. Park the car and use a “train-boat” or “boat-boat” round trip between any two of the many towns along the way to accomplish that goal. Some of the tourist boats permit the passenger to “step ashore” for a visit, then board a later boat, using the same ticket. Pleasant roads on each side of the river are connected by sixteen bridges, nine auto ferryboats and twelve passenger ferries, all within these 120 miles of historical beauty. Depending on a traveler’s destination and his interest in the villages and castles along the river, from an hour to a long vacation can be spent, all within a few miles of the Rhein.
It seemed like a good idea to disclose the number of castles that might be found along here. A look at the pictures in the tourist brochure “The Rheinlauf, von Mainz bis Köln,” shows dozens, and a tourist book shows pictures of thirty or so along the Rhein.
Midway between Bonn and Koblenz stands the remains of the Ludendorff Bridge, at the town of Remagen. During WW II, as the German Army retreated they tried to destroy all bridges across the Rhein. Only part of the explosives on this bridge exploded, and it stood long enough for several divisions of the US Army to cross the Rhein. The Germans concentrated artillery fire on the bridge and it fell on March 17, 1945.
US CITIZENS LIVING IN GERMANY
In the 45 years from the end of WW II to the fall of the Berlin Wall, there were dozens of United States Military Bases of one kind or another, spread across southern Germany from the French and Luxembourg borders on the West, to Austria and Czechoslovakia on the east. The hundreds of thousands of Americans, including members of the Armed Forces, their wives and children, the school teachers and other support civilians, left their mark (and billions of dollars) on towns and cities in the southern half of Germany. (The Armies of England and France occupied other portions of the country.)
In a store in Aachen we met a middle-aged lady (a daughter of a former US Army officer), who was married to a Professor at a German University. She had nothing good to say about America and Americans, and spent her time expressing her dislike of anything associated with the United States. When we asked for specifics, she suddenly was very busy and had no time to discuss the reasons for her feelings. She was the unusual one. Most US Military personnel we talked to were happy to be stationed in Germany, and over the years we have met US Military retirees who stayed to live in Germany.
Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and Burger King were crowded with Americans, in addition to German citizens and tourists from many countries. As mentioned earlier, Emmy and Cousin Toni were delighted with their lunch of Mexican food at the Wendy’s in Worms.
Many US tourists make fun of the fast food restaurants and say they don’t patronize them. (Of course they do, they just don’t like to admit it.) For the tourist, perhaps the most important “menu item” of the US fast-food franchises, is their restrooms. The clean, readily accessible restrooms in McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s make them a welcome sight for (to be polite) sore eyes. Just imagine the billions of dollars that are spent world-wide each year by people who dropped by the fast-food place (in the US, or elsewhere in the world), intending to just use the restroom?
Those American fast food restaurants are also located in the parts of West Germany (and Europe) where there were no US military and their entourage.
US ARMED FORCES
During our first several trips, people we talked to in several countries asked why US Armed Forces were still stationed in Germany. Some thought it was because we still did not trust the Germans. We said the US Military has stayed in Europe to help protect Western Europe from a possible invasion by the Soviet Union, or other Eastern European countries. When countries such as Poland, East Germany, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia had uprisings and were invaded/dominated by the Soviet Union, the US was helpless and could not go to their aid. After all, no Americans had been directly involved.
American military personnel, and their families, were stationed near the West German/Eastern European border. If someone invaded from the east, among the first to be killed would be a US soldier, or perhaps his wife and children. That sounds terrible, but it would ensure immediate support from the US Government and its citizens, and permit the Army to resist the invaders.
Remember Pearl Harbor? WW II had been underway for a couple of years, friendly countries had been invaded and perhaps a million people had already died, but the US did not enter WW II until American facilities had been attacked, and US Military personnel had been killed.
When Poland was invaded by Hitler in September 1939, England and France did not come to the aid of Poland even though they had signed agreements to do so. German citizens have told us that at the time of the invasion of Poland, the entire German Army was in the east. England and France could have captured Berlin almost overnight, and the war would have been over before it expanded throughout Europe, and to the Pacific Ocean area. But Hitler was confident that since no Englishman or Frenchman had yet been killed, there would be no immediate response from the West.
Our answer was given in response to questions from young people in several countries, but Jim wondered what the people involved would think of his speculation. He asked US Military officers, including a retired four-star General, what they thought of this concept. Amazingly, they all agreed.
Chapter 10
Kaiserslautern to Freiburg
%PIRMASENS
While visiting an artist studio in France one year, we met a US Services High School teacher who lived in Contwig, near the Air Force Base in Pirmasens, just east of Zweibrücken. Our RV would be for sale later that year, so we asked that he post an advertisement on the bulletin board at the base. A couple of months later he decided to buy the RV himself, so we delivered it to his home a few days before we boarded our plane for the US.
He and his family had lived in West Germany for several years, and had accumulated an impressive collection of antique furniture, music boxes, and old clocks. The rooms were filled and walls of their home were covered with an exceptional collection. Several of the music boxes were the size of an office desk, and some had been sent to a factory in Switzerland to be reconditioned. A museum had offered a large sum (six digits) of money for one or two of the more elegant instruments.
A couple of years later we returned to the Air Force Base at Pirmasens looking for an RV to buy. While driving around the base looking for a parking lot that was supposed to have an RV for sale, we must have made a wrong turn. How did we know? Well, we found ourselves driving down a road (runway) between huge US Air Force fighter jets. That was a very impressive sight to us, and we were a very surprising sight to the military guards who wondered how we did that. Thank goodness a World-Class emergency didn’t occur just at that moment.
FARM VILLAGE
We then drove on the little back roads, north towards Kaiserslautern. What a delightful drive. These little farming communities, too small to be on our map, were quite different from other farming villages just thirty or forty miles to the west. The towns and countryside from one part of Germany to the next are often in contrast, and the change may be abrupt.
In many of the farm-villages the farmer and his family live in one end of a building, and the animals in the other. Next to the building, along the street, there may well be a pile of straw and cow manure. The story is, “… the higher the pile, the richer the farmer.” That’s logical — he probably has more cows than the farmer with the smaller pile.
%KAISERSLAUTERN
One year, in the PX parking lot at the US Army base just outside Kaiserslautern, we looked at a couple of VW camper vans that were for sale. Several years earlier we had spent a one-month vacation in a VW, but by now we were spoiled and wanted (and found) something bigger than that.
When we stopped here in 1991 after the Gulf War had started, we found new gates had been installed, and entrance to the base shopping center was carefully controlled. By 1995, the gates were again open, and we could visit the restaurants and small stores, but of course we are never allowed in the PX, or Post Exchange — that’s for military personal only.
We looked in the PX parking lot of several US Bases before we bought a Dodge RV at the Benj Franklin Village near Mannheim in 1979, and another at the Nellingen Barracks, near Stuttgart, in 1983. Other years, we looked on US Bases, but found nothing we wanted to buy.
We’d love to tell about Kaiserslautern, but come to think of it, while we have driven past here more than two dozen times on Autobahn Route 6, and have stopped at this Army Base several times — we’ve never actually visited the city of Kaiserslautern. It is so handy, and we always seem to be near here, so we keep thinking we can see it anytime we wish, and it appears we still think that. There are always plenty of new things to do and see on each of our “next” trips.
%RAMSTEIN
The first time we went to the US Air Force Base near Ramstein, ten miles west of Kaiserslautern, we noticed that the road was very, very, very wide, and very, very straight,
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