31 May 2010

Today we drove, and drove, and . . . Vienna to Berlin is a good long haul. We left Vienna a little earlier than planned, and decided to take the most direct route back through Austria and up to Berlin. The alternative was a possible route through the Czech Republic, that would have taken even longer. So we headed toward Linz, Austria, and then north into Germany.

The countryside in both Austria and Germany was very pretty, and reminded us of Oregon with the rolling hills and farm land, broken by forests of fir and other trees. It also rained much of the way, just like western Oregon.

We arrived in Berlin about 6:30 (18:30) and found our hotel without much trouble. Parking was another issue. So we double parked in front of the hotel to unload and then parked the car in a public garage for the next couple of days. We will use public transportation.

For dinner we walked to a local institution: Dicke Wirtin. It's been here for a long time and has been a gathering place for students during the past forty years.

Tomorrow we're off to explore Berlin with some guidance from the clerk at our hotel.

30 May 2010

We were not rushed this morning as the first item on our agenda was Mass at St Augustin at 11. This was another good suggestion from Lynne, as they were doing the Mozart Missa solemnis in C as the liturgy for the service. The word is that the music acoustics are better there than at St Stephen’s. The choir and orchestra do a large scale Mass every Sunday, and today it was for the Feast of the Holy Trinity. So the church was standing room only.

There was more music, including the Post-Communion hymn, Nun danket alle Gott, which we were able to sing along with easily auf Deutsch. It was a beautiful and worshipful beginning to the day.

When the Mass was over about 12:30, it was raining and we were feeling a bit short of time. We had planned to take the train over to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, to add another country to our list. But with the time and weather against us, we decided to stay in Vienna. We had lunch at Café Restaurant Palmenhaus in the former conservatory of the Hofburg Palace overlooking the Burggarten. It was a very nice setting inside during the rain.

After lunch the rain had stopped and we took the tram on the Ring Tour around the old city. We got off at the Rathaus and Parlament stops. We completed the tour at the Staatsoper, where we had started. From there we wandered up Kantner Strasse through the main shopping area. It is a great people watching area. Our goal at the end of the walk was St Peters, which had been suggested by a gentleman from Melbourne, Australia we met at Mass in the morning. There has been a church at this site since about 400 AD. The present building is from the 17^th century. While there we saw an announcement for a free organ recital in the evening.

From there we went to Reinthaler’s Beisl for dinner. It is a delightful old café. After a little more walking around, we came back to Café Hawelka for our after dinner coffee. This is one of the great old coffee houses in Vienna, recommended by Rick Steves and Lynne Heller, and is next door to Reinthaler’s Beisl.

We then returned to St Peters for the free organ recital including music by de Grigny, Bach, and Händel. I couldn’t find any information about the organ, but it sounded and looked like a late 18^th or early 19^th century instrument. It was a wonderful way to end a relaxing day in Vienna.

29 May 2010

Our European morning routine continued with a truly Continental Breakfast at the hotel. We were not rushed as we were not on a schedule. So after breakfast we took the tram to near the city center for our own walking tour of the city.

Our self-guided city tour began near the Staatsoper. We scouted out coffee houses and restaurants along the way. The Hapsburg Palaces are a large complex that we only saw from one side. That included St Augustin church, where we plan to attend Mass tomorrow morning.

We then headed into the city center to Stephansplatz, and spent some time in and around St Stephen’s Cathedral. Using our Rick Steves book, we took a self-guided tour of the cathedral. The center was blocked, but we could see most of the things noted. Then I climbed the south tower, some 400+ steps to an observation level about 60% of the way to the top. As usual, the views from the tower were wonderful. That afforded me a new perspective on the city, and good views of the tile roof, including its Hapsburg coat of arms.

A highly recommended coffee house, Café Bränerhof, was a good spot for lunch: a cheese plate, rolls, coffee (of course), and pastry. Boy, do they know how to make apple strudel!

We planned to next take the tram around the “ring,” but had trouble making sense of the maps. So we decided instead to go out to Stammersdorf on the outskirts of Vienna across the Danube, another non-tourist spot recommended by Lynne. There are many areas of heuriger around Vienna, but this one is not well known by tourists. It was a long tram ride to the end of the line, and then a several blocks walk to the recommended heuriger, a wine tavern. We only had a glass of wine, plus a bottle to take home. A neat experience we only knew about because of a “local” connection.

On the way back into the city center we combined the tram with a commuter train and the U-bahn. We then walked to dinner at Gösser Bierklinik, a restaurant named for the town where the beer is made. Again with Lynne’s recommendation, we tried some new (to us) uniquely Viennese dishes: Blunzengrösti mit Sauerkraut, (blood sausage with potatoes, sauerkraut and fresh horseradish) and Kalbsbeuschi mit Knoedel (Veal lung, made like gulasch, with a dumpling). Sounds strange, but they were very good. And at least we tried some truly local food.

On the way to the trains, we finished the meal on the street with a lemon gelato. As usual, we found a city with much more to offer than time allows.

28 May 2010

We had to leave Ulm without a chance for Dick to climb the tower of the Ulm Cathedral. So I missed the world’s tallest cathedral tower.

From Ulm we drove east to Austria, passing by Munich. Crossing into Austria, we stopped at a rest area soon after the border to buy the windshield sticker license needed to drive there. The rest of the drive to Vienna, past Linz, was quick and uneventful.

We arrived in Vienna mid-afternoon and found our way to the hotel in the 10^th District. Vienna seemed much larger than I expected; it took a long time to get trough the city to our hotel. It’s on Rennwig Strasse across the street from Lynne Heller’s apartment (who gave us many good suggestions and is in the US right now).

After a little rest and a change of clothes, we headed downtown on the tram to pick up our tickets to the Vienna Philharmonic for a concert tonight. That left us time to find a restaurant for dinner near the Musikverein, and a bit of wandering in the city. The Staatsoper was as far into the city center as we had time for then. We returned for the concert, hearing another wonderful orchestra in a magnificent hall. Valvery Gergiev led the orchestra in a new piece by Dutilleux, the Elgar Violin Concerto, and Prokofiev's 5th Symphony. I feel very fortunate to have been able to hear the concerts we have heard here in Europe.

After the concert we wandered slowly into the city center to St Stephen’s Cathedral. When we arrived at the church a group was doing some readings (in German) and music for voice, guitar, and a few other instruments. At midnight there was a concert of organ and Gregorian Chant. These were part of Lange Nacht der Kirchen, with events going on in many of the Vienna churches. They used a new organ near the chancel, and seven men sang the chants.. Some of the music was familiar, and it was very good. The church was crowded, and there was a continuous laser light show running.

We left a few minutes before it was over to be sure to catch the night bus back to our hotel. It made for a late night (or early morning!) but was well worth the experience.

27 May 2010

The group tour is over, and we are now on our own. We rode with the group to the Frankfurt airport to pick up our rental car.

We left the airport and Frankfurt and headed to Underaichen, Leinfelden, and Musberg. This is a group of villages south of Stuttgart where some of Karen’s ancestors on the Bissinger side of the family came from. The family has been traced back to 1500’s. There were few a signs of family names, a business and a couple of graves in a church yard from the 19^th and 20^th centuries. It was interesting to see the area where they had come from. We visited a Lutheran Church in Musberg that was built in 1682. Since several generations of Karen’s ancestors were married in Musberg, it might well have been in this church. We also had lunch at Schwabengarten, a beer garden that has been in Leinfelden since the mid 1800's.

The next stop was Ulm, where we stayed over night. Dick had hoped to get to the city in time to climb the tallest cathedral tower in Europe, but we were a bit too late. And even with directions and a GPS, we had trouble finding the hotel. We walked in the city center and found an interesting mix of Gothic and medieval buildings (the cathedral and houses) and modern stores and shopping areas, all together. As we walked around the old city section before dinner, it rained. While we ate dinner in an Italian restaurant, the sun came out. So Dick went back to the Dom Square to take pictures of the cathedral in the sun.

Tomorrow it’s on to Vienna.

26 May 2010

This was our last full day on the tour, and for most the last full day in Europe. Before we got on the road to Rothenburg, we made an unscheduled stop at another of Ludwig’s castles, Linderhof. This is the castle he actually lived in most, and it has beautiful grounds. We didn’t take a tour, but enjoyed the grounds briefly.

Our destination for the day was Rothenburg, what Rick Steves calls “Europe’s cutest medieval city.” It is a beautiful, delightful city, which we had visited two years ago. But well worth another visit.

Karen took to short city tour, and Dick took the longer one. The highlights of the tours were the wall (which Dick’s group walked part of) and St Jacob’s Church, a fine gothic cathedral. The highlight of the church (besides the beautiful new organ) is the wood altar carved by Tilman Riemenschneider. It is an incredible masterpiece of wood carving. The left panel depicts Palm Sunday, the center The Last Supper, and the right Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is fascinatingly clever that Judas can be removed from the Last Supper picture, more clearly revealing St John, asleep.

We had pouring rain during part of the tour. By the time the tour ended, the sun was out and shining beautifully. So at the end of the tour, Dick and a few others of our group, climbed to the top of the Rathaus tower for wonderful views of the city and countryside. We were the last people the man at the bottom let go up before closing. It is well worth the trip up about 275 steps to the top.

After our final dinner as a group at the hotel, we saw the Town Hall clock strike ten, and then joined a small group for a late night drink at Hell. (It’s the name of the tavern and means “bright” in German.) We finally settled in to our room, probably the best we had on the tour, on the top floor of a [modified] medieval house. It was fun looking out over the tiled roof tops of the town.

25 May 2010

It was a leisurely morning for us in Oberau. Most of the group left early to visit Mad King Ludwig’s Neuschwanstein Castle. Since we had been there less than two years ago, we decided to stay at the hotel and take a taxi in to Oberammergau at nine.

The town was fairly quiet when we arrived, before the massive crowd there for the Passion Play. We were particularly interested in the many wood carvers in town. After visiting several, we decided on a Nativity in a modern style apparently unique to the Oberammergau carvers. It turns out we actually bought it from the carver and he “signed” it for us.

After lunch at an Italian restaurant on the edge of town (that served German food), we attended a performance of the once-every-ten-years Passion Play. It is truly amazing what the town of a few thousand people do. It has a cast of thousands, a very good orchestra and chorus, and hundreds of people doing “back stage” work. Since it’s all in German, it’s a good thing we know the story so we could follow it. They do provide an English text. It is not a strict word for word Biblical account, but certainly tells the true message clearly. It was something we’re glad we had the opportunity to experience.

There is a supper break of about two and a half hours. We went back to the same restaurant for dinner. Since the whole production lasts about five hours, it was a bit late returning to our hotel in Oberau.

24 Nay 2010

Today was a travel day, from Salzburg to the Oberammergau area by way of Munich.

Otto took us on back roads through the edge of the Bavarian Alps part of the way from Salzburg. The mountains were beautiful, as was the countryside with its farms and villages. Even the weather cooperated with blue skies and bright sunshine. It was a wonderful drive, even after we joined the autobahn to Munich.

Munich is an interesting city, having been rebuilt after the war mostly in the old style. The bus cannot go into the center of the city, so we parked on the edge of the old city and walked in to Marienplatz, at the two Town Halls. Interestingly, the old Town Hall looks more modern than the New Town Hall. The new one in many ways looks more like a gothic church at first glance. Without the religious symbols, it clearly is a secular building. Its main feature overlooking the platz is the glockenspiel, We arrive a few minutes before its noon show of bells and mechanical dancing figures, which lasts about seven minutes. It was interesting to see (and hear), especially since we had missed it when we were here two years ago.

For lunch, we skipped the Hofbrauhaus, since we had eaten there before, and headed around the square toward the Frauenkirhe, and ate at NurnbergerBratwurst Glockl am Dom . The food was wonderful, plenteous and very Bavarian. We sat outside in view of the cathedral.

After lunch we had a walking tour of the city led by another very good local guide. Starting in the Marienplatz, then to the Frauenkirche, and on through the neighborhood to the English Garden a little north of the city center. There we found people surfing in a canal where the water fall creates a continuous wave. In a very orderly fashion, surfers jumped on their boards (short ones) and surfed the river. Many had longer rides than we’ve seen at the beach!

We returned to the Marienplatz to meet the group and head back to the bus. From Munich we drove south toward the mountains and Oberammergau. On the way we stopped at the Wieskirch, an example of rococo stile art and architecture. It was a local holiday and a Mass (in English) was going on. It is an interesting pilgrimage church. In the morning there had been pilgrimages from four nearby villages with the residents in local dress. After their mass they were celibrating by eating and enjoying music from a band. From there we drove to Kloster Ettal, a Benedictine monastery, with a chapel nearly as ornate as the Wieskirche.

Our drive ended in Oberau, where our hotel is for the next two nights. We have a beautiful alps view from our room, howeer we have to look over the neighboring Shell station. Tomorrow we will see the Oberammergau Passion Play.

23 May 2010

This morning we bid farewell to Prague and headed toward Salzburg. The drive through the Czech countryside was lovely, through rolling farmland and forests. After a couple of hours we crossed the border into Austria. Since the EU, there is no stopping at borders or visa stamps in your passport.

Our lunch stop was in Austria at a new rest stop named Landzeit. It reminded us of the Marche we had seen in Toronto and Frankfurt. Lots of choices of food and very good.

We arrived in Salzburg a little ahead of schedule, so we couldn’t check into the hotel. Therefore, we got back on the bus and headed to the old city center. We were scheduled for a walking tour of Salzburg, which was a good introduction to the city.

Our tour began at the Mozarteum and continued into Mirabellgarten. There are always flowers in bloom here. It is a very nice place in the middle of the city. (It is also the site of scenes from The Sound of Music.) We continued and crossed the Salzach River. On the way were grand views of the Hohensalzburg Fortress and the Dom. The skyline is filled with towers and spires of many churches.

We walked down Getreidegasse, with its many shops, each with a unique wrought iron sign. These signs are from the time of the medieval guilds. This street been a Salzburg staple for shopping since before the time of Mozart. On the street is the house in which Mozart was born. Here he composed some of his earliest works as a child. We toured the house. It gave a good idea of life then.

The next stop on the tour was the Residenz Platz with its fountain. It has been a center of Salzburg activity since Roman times, and includes a residence of the Archbishop. Then we were on to the Cathedral, or Dom. Officially it’s the Cathedral of St Rupert and St Virgil. This has been the site for a church or cathedral for many centuries beginning in 774. The present Baroque cathedral was built in 1628. It contains a large central dome over the crossing, which is beautifully painted. The dome was reconstructed after WWII. The transept contains domes, also. There are five organs, four at the crossing and one in the gallery. Our guide told us they used all five this morning for Pentecost. Too bad we were traveling on a bus!

After the formal tour ended here, we considered taking the funicular up to the Hohensalzburg, but did not have enough time. So we walked a bit more around the old section, taking a somewhat circuitous route back to the bus. We stopped at two more churches, St Peter and the Franciscan. Our tour was complete with a crossing of the Salzach River and a few more blocks to the bus.

Dinner was schnitzel at the hotel. It was quite good. Tomorrow it’s on to Munich and Oberammergau.

22 Day 2010

Adolf, our bus driver, had to take today off, so we had a different bus and driver for our tour into Prague. But he took a busman's holiday and joined us for our tour.

We started at the Prague Castle, a large complex on the hill above the city. It includes the cathedral of Prague, St Vitis, and the palace. We were met at the gate by sentries standing in little boxes. When our guide obtained our tickets, we stood in a very long line to tour the cathedral. She said she had never seen so long a line. Just our luck to be there at the beginning of a three-day weekend for Pentecost Monday. But that gave her time to give us good information while standing in line.

St Vitis is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe. It was built in sections, which is clear on the outside from the color of the stones. There are many large stained glass windows, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. Many side chapels line the side aisles. The main organ is only a façade, and a small 6-stop organ plays for services. (We didn't hear the organ.)

We then continued our tour of Prague Castle, moving on to residence and office parts of the buildings. An interesting (for a history buff) room is where the "defenestration of Prague" occurred. Apparently this happened three times in history, not only just before WWI. Elsewhere in the building, it was a fairly "normal" medieval castle: large, ornate, and overwhelming.

From the Prague Castle we descended a large series of stairs toward the Vlatava River, and the Charles Bridge, crossing into the Old Town area. The bridge is about 800 years old and is lined with statuary. It is a pedestrian bridge with some merchants and stalls, and was quite crowded today, especially with reconstruction going on.

The center of the city in the Old area is a wonderful Medieval city. Prague survived WWII without bombings. In the last 20 years, there has been much done to upgrade and refurbish the buildings. It is a charming city.

In the city, we walked the streets, saw many old buildings and squares, and fought the crowds. Particularly interesting, was the Astronomical Clock. It is a clock tower about four stories high that has a clock that "performs" on the hour. Mechanical characters parade by, or are animated. Very interesting. There are also several more large churches. Many of the narrow streets are now lined with shops. (Maybe they have been for centuries.)

A group of us had dinner at a small cafe with very good food and Czech beer. We then did some shopping where we found a Czech nativity to add to our collection. After a brief stop in one of the large city squares (where I tried a unique Czech pastry from a street vendor), we headed back to the bus for the ride back to the hotel.

Since we had our main meal in the afternoon, we drank dinner at a bierstube near the hotel with a group of our traveling companions.

Tomorrow, it's off to Salzburg.

21 May 2010

Today’s morning drive was relatively short from Leipzig to Dresden. We spent most of the day there, touring and with free time.

As usual, we met local guides who gave us an excellent introduction to their city. Dresden has miraculously recovered from the fire bombing that virtually destroyed the city at the end of WWII. Much work still continues. Many of the rebuilt buildings use stones from the bombed buildings to be rebuilt, supplementing those with new stone of the same type. During the Soviet years, churches were not allowed to be rebuilt, and almost all construction was in modern (for the 50’s & 60’s) style. The last twenty years have seen the most dramatic reconstruction.

Our tour started at the Jewish synagogue, a modern building with walls that are not straight. From there we walked to what will be the modern art museum when it opens later this year. Next to that is the art school of Dresden. Both of these buildings are reconstructions of bombed out buildings.

A prime example of the reconstruction with old materials is the Frauenkirche, which was rebuilt to match the original as much as possible. The old and new stones are mixed; the old well blackened with age, and the new very light. The new will match the old in about ten years or so. This is St Mary’s, or The Church of Our Lady, which was a large Roman Catholic church before the Reformation, but then became the main Protestant/Lutheran church in the city. The interior is clearly late Baroque, or maybe even rococo. It is a beautiful church.

On our way through the city, we visited both old style and modern buildings. At one point we passed a mosaic mural of the ruling family of Saxony, made with 24,000 Meissen ceramic tiles. It is about 300 meters long. Rather impressive! This brought us to the Hof-Kirche, the Roman Catholic cathedral, built by the ruling family next to their palace. Both are impressive buildings. The cathedral has a Silbermann organ from the 18^th century, which survived the fire bombing because it was removed from the church and stored in a safe place.

The final stop on the walking tour was the Zwinger, the palace complex for the ruling family for more than 800 years. It is now a series of museums. We ate lunch at an outdoor café here. We then had about two hours for free time before we got back on the bus.

We returned to some of the walking tour sites, and went to a shopping mall. We found a store that specialized in Christmas items and bought a new Nativity (laser cut wood with a tea light) and some tree light ornaments. The next stop was the Meissen porcelain outlet store. We had walked by the main store, but didn’t even go in after seeing the prices in the window displays. At the outlet, we did buy one small piece off the seconds table.

We left Dresden and drove to Prague. When we crossed the border into the Czech Republic (which we didn’t even notice on the highway!) we added another country to our list. We are on the outskirts of Prague in a very large hotel. Tomorrow we will explore Praha (Prague).

20 May 2010

This was an incredible day! Both church history and music history brought to life.

We first traveled to Wittenberg, Martin and Katie Luther’s home for 36 years. We started at the Castle Church, which was originally part Elector Frederick’s new university. The rest of the university is no longer around, but the church stands tall in the town.

Our Wittenberg guide was excellent, a young (compared to us, at least) woman whose English was immaculate, her knowledge and understanding complete, and her sense of humor keen. We first had a thorough introduction to the Castle Church, ending at the door on which Luther nailed his 95 Theses. OK, not the actual doors; they burned in a fire in the 19^th century and have been replace with metal doors engraved with the Theses.

Continuing the tour, we walked through much of the old city, including the central square and rathaus. Luther preferred to preach at St Mary’s church which we visited near the center of the city. In fact, our guide told us he didn’t preach at the Castle Church, only St Mary’s.

After lunch at Brauhaus Wittenberg. (their dark beer was very good, as was the soup and salad) we met the group at Lutherhalle, Martin and Katie’s home in Wittenberg. It now houses the world’s largest Luther collection. Another very interesting and informative stop. Even Dwayne Brandt, our resident Luther expert, said he learned something new. The “Table Talks” table is original and well worn.

We then drove back to Leipzig for the rest of the day. We stopped downtown for a walking tour of the old city, this time with more Bach sites than Luther sites. Our first stop was the ThomasKirke where Johann Sebastian Bach was the Cantor for the last 27 years of his life. Luther had preached there in 1539. But Bach was the main attraction here. And I was thrilled.

I had received permission from the Cantor to play the “Bach organ” at St Thomas. After a little difficulty connecting with the person who was to give me access to the organ, Karen and I climbed the stairs to the side gallery where a new organ was installed in 2000. This is the “Bach organ,” designed as a close copy of the organ of Bach’s time. (The other organ in the church is a late 19^th century Romantic style organ.) I set the music on the rack, pulled the stops for a full plenum registration, and played the Fantasie in D, BWV570. The organ filled the church with a wonderful sound.

We then continued our tour of the church and the town. We visited the central square, St Nicholas Church (Bach’s other church), the old Rathaus, and some of the old merchant’s houses, now serving as shopping and business centers. The tour ended at Auerbach’s Keller, a favorite hang-out of Goethe, where we had dinner.

Our dinner was a bit rushed and before the rest of the group, so Karen and I could get to the Gewandhaus for an all-Bach orchestral program by the Gewanthausorchester led by Ricardo Chailly. They played the Sinfonia to Cantata 174, three keyboard concertos, and the Third Orchestral Suite. It was a wonderful musical ending to a music day.

Our final adventure of the day was finding the right trolley to return to the hotel. We made it OK.

19 May 2010

This morning we traveled to Buchenwald to tour the concentration camp there. Appropriately, it was a miserable, rainy day. This was a men’s work camp, not a death camp. Yet about 56,000 people died here. It was once again a reminder of the tragedy that can be perpetrated by humans.

Our next stop was Eisleben, the birth and death city of Marin Luther. He was born in a house in which his parents rented space. He was named Martin because he was baptized on St Martin’s day at the church of Sts Peter & Paul, at the age of one day. Sixty-three years later, he returned to arbitrate a business disagreement. He was ill at the time, and died while there on this mission. He lay in state at St Andrew’s church on the market square, where there is, of course, a memorial statue of him.

After our Eisleben walking tour, we drove to Leipzig where we will stay for the next two nights.

18 May 2010

This morning we were off to Eisenach, both a Luther and Bach city. On the way into town, we stopped at the Wartburg Castle, perched on top of a hill just out of town. Here it was that Luther hid for ten months as “Junker Jörg” after the Diet of Worms.

It is an interesting medieval castle, with all the sorts of rooms one would expect. The castle was begun in the 8^th Century, and is fairly typical of medieval castles. It has also seen many additions and revisions over the years, something else common with such buildings. And the remaining Luther connection is mainly one fairly small room. It was here that he translated the New Testament into German. (Truth in history: there is no ink spot on the wall from his throwing an inkwell at the Devil.) It was very good to see and experience this important piece of Luther/Reformation history.

We then drove into the town of Eisenach for lunch and a walking tour. The tour started in front of the house in which Johann Sebastian Bach was born. There is, of course, a large statue of him in the park near the house. We saw the house where Bach lived as a young boy.

We then walked through town to the house where Martin Luther boarded as a student. At the town square is the church in which Bach was baptized.

Erfurt was our destination for the night. After dinner at the hotel we embarked on self-guided walking tour of the town. This is where Luther attended university, studying to become a lawyer. The Augustinian monastery where Luther became a monk was our final destination before returning the to hotel.

17 May 2010

It was a very early morning for us. We needed to be at the Frankfurt airport by 7AM to meet the rest of our group flying in from Portland. However, they were delayed in Chicago (big surprise, there!) and were therefore two hours late. Seven of us were there waiting, as was Otto, our driver. If that’s our worst hitch, we’ll be fine.

From Frankfurt we drove to Rüdesheim, a town on the Rhine River. There we boarded a tour boat for a cruse down the river to St Goarhausen. This section of the Rhine is lined with villages, castles, and vineyards. Most of the castles date from the Middle Ages and were built to tax the river traffic and offer “protection.” Apparently, it was a lucrative business. The vineyards are spectacular because of their setting on the very steep hillsides along the river. This makes for some creative farming methods, including remote control tractors to go through the rows of grapes down and up the steep hillsides. Just south of St Goar is the Loreley Rock, an outcropping about 130 meters high where the legend of the Loreley seducing sailors with their beautiful singing to their deaths on the rocks in the river, took place. We did not hear them singing.

The bus met us at St Goarhausen and brought us back to Rüdesheim, our home for the night.

There were a couple of hours of free time before dinner, so we wandered the town. It is a fairly typical medieval town, either preserved or rebuilt. Its main industry appears to be tourism, with many shops, restaurants, and hotels. After a tour of mostly window-shopping, we stopped to have a caffé. Then it was back to the hotel and a delicious braised pork dinner. We also introduced ourselves to the group and did some procedural things. The tour is off to a good start.

16 May 2010

This was our first full day in Europe. And it was a lovely day in Frankfurt. By the time we walked to the Dom for church, the clouds were breaking up and the sun was shining. The walk to church along the Main River was punctuated by the sound of many church bells ringing. It was a wonderful sonic sensation to go along with the visuals of the river, city, and several church steeples standing in the skyline.

When we reached Römerberg, Frankfurt's central square, we saw St Paul's Lutheran Church on the platz where we could hear the service in progress--the congregation singing a hymn. After looking around the mostly deserted square a bit, we made our way to St Bartholomew's Cathedral (The Kaiser Dom) for church. The air continued to be punctuated by the pealing of church bells!

We had read that the 10 o'clock service was in English. Alas, it was in German. Even so, I was able to recognize and follow the Epistle Lesson from Revelation, a familiar passage. And we could sing most of the hymns and liturgy from the missal. But didn't get anything from the sermon. The organist played Bach for the Voluntary, and a lively more contemporary piece for the Postlude. The church was rebuilt after the War, but still retains some interesting older altar pieces and the Sleeping Mary Chapel.

After church, we looked around the platz some more, and had lunch and an outdoor food stand. We, of course, had frankfurters—the authentic thing. It came with a kaiser roll and potato salad. A good lunch, especially accompanied by Apfelwein.

From there, we continued our walking tour of Frankfurt, passing several churches along with all the businesses. We stopped at Paulskirke, a former Lutheran church. It was the meeting place for the original unification of German as a state in the 19th century. It was mostly destroyed in WWII and rebuilt. It is now a meeting place rather than a church. From there we went to the Zeil shopping street/district, with many fancy stores. We continued along Fressgass with many eating places for all the office workers. Pretty quiet on a Sunday afternoon!

At the end of Fressgass, we saw the Alte Oper, actually the new opera house/concert hall rebuilt in the old style after the War. The next stop on our walking tour was the Goetehaus. Here, too, we only saw the outside. Then it was back to the hotel for a little rest.

On the way to dinner, we returned to the Dom in hopes of photographing some of the ancient artwork and alter pieces. We were not able to take to time to do that in the morning after the service, because there was another service starting soon. When we reached the Dom, the was a service going on. So I didn't get the pictures of the inside I had hoped, only a couple in the morning.

We then headed across the river and up Sweitzer Strasse for dinner at Adolf Wagner. The pork schnitzel and potatoes were very good. As was the apple strudel we finished with. A good finish to good day.

15 May 2010

First day in Europe! The flight from Vancouver to Frankfurt was smooth and uneventful--just like we like plane rides to be. Landed in Frankfurt with overcast skies. (Looked a lot like home.) Found our hotel (the Paris Hotel), settled in and rested, then explored a bit. Saw a series of scull races on the Main River. (This is Frankfurt am Main.) Had dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant specializing in ramen noodle dishes. Very good! And no [other] tourists. Hope it continues to clear up and we avoid rain.

14 May 2010

Here we sit in the Vancouver, BC airport. It's still a couple hours till our Frankfurt flight leaves. Nice leisurely layover, good lunch, fairly quiet in the airport. Then a long flight to Germany. See you in Europe. :)

13 May 2010

Everything is packed (except what we need in the morning). Our ride to the airport is arranged. The house is essentially ready for us to leave it for three weeks. So in the morning, we are off to our next adventure, three weeks in Europe. Stay tuned.

Europe 2010--preparations

One week from today we will fly to Frankfurt to begin a three-week trip to Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. The first 10 days will be with a tour from Concordia Portland to Oberammergau (Passion Play) and Luther & Bach sites, plus Salzburg and Prague. After the tour, we will stay for another 11 days and visit more of Austria and Germany, including Vienna, Berlin, and Bielefeld.