The Bottomleys’ and Gaugers’ Trip to Germany, Poland, and Czech Republic: Thursday, October 3, 2013

Starting out yesterday in Ney, before the previously mentioned Stau.

Breakfast at our house, cleanup, and checkout with Frau Koller. Her place was a great spot for our first couple of nights here. Off in the middle of nowhere, quiet, peaceful, lovely, but convenient to the rest of the world. Other than a rather flaky Internet connection (had to be near windows or at one specific end of the dining room table), everything else was great. Such a bargain it was. Thanks, Airbnb.com.

GPS took us down to the Rhein at Bingen, though we did have to interpolate its instructions a bit. The Queen (our GPS features the voice of Queen Elizabeth, or a reasonable facsimile thereof) did tend to suggest a lot of turns at places up in the hills that just didn't seem to exist in reality, and occasionally she would have a minor senior moment but catch up shortly thereafter. But it all worked out.

We came into Bingen on a different route from the previous time and had to search around a bit to find the part of the city we were looking for. But we succeeded. Got a nice picture of the crane (which will soon replace the original one in the October 1 post) and then got on the auto ferry across the Rhein to Rudesheim. Quick journey, quite lovely view down the river, and all for € 7.90. Reasons for taking the ferry?

- Fun

- There aren't any bridges in this part of the river.

Stopped in Rudesheim for coffee, pastry, and a bit of a walk. Bought a small book of Rhein legends (in English). There are many such legends. It will be fun to read. And we found a postcard for Steve, the oenophile, that illustrated and described the many varieties of German wine.

Our impressions of the Middle Rhein Valley: It easily meets its reputation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hillside vineyards, castles atop many of the peaks, wine, architecture. In the words of the Michelin Green Guide's rating system - Worth a Journey!

Confusion on the way out of Rudesheim. We had intended to head north along the east side of the Rhein and then set out cross-country to Goslar via Marburg and Hann Munden. But lack of signs and confusion over GPS and map reading sent us instead toward Frankfurt on the Autobahn, and it was just too late to recover. Traffic was very heavy, and then we encountered the Stau that we mentioned in yesterday's post. It turned out to have been caused by a very smashed up tractor trailer about two miles ahead of us. Which, at Autobahn speeds, means that we would have avoided it had we gotten there about two minutes earlier. But we didn't. Or we might have become a part of it.

Autobahn all the way to the turnoff for Goslar. It would have been a more interesting ride had we turned off a bit to the south and gone up the back road through the Harz Mountains, but we were ready to be done with driving for the day. Goslar is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had been here in 2000 and were very happy to get back. While it's popular among Germans, it is kind of out of the way in its location near the former West-East border and doesn't seem to be very well known to tourists of other nationalities.

A surprise awaited us when we arrived at our hotel in the woods. It was basically two long rows of parallel buildings with one then continuing at a right angle, all painted to look as if they were composed of separate smaller ones from the past, and very shabby. We crossed our fingers and checked in. While we still haven't learned the history of the place, it appears to us that it was rescued from total shabbiness, nicely brought up to modern standards inside, and painted and adorned with relics on the outside to present the appearance of lots of old buildings, whether once real or totally imaginary. Friendly staff that speak English, large dining room, and very quiet atmosphere out in the woods.

[Later research (2016) leads us to believe that this was originally a Kaserne (barracks) of the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Guard). Considering Goslar’s location up against the former border, this seems like a logical explanation. It did have that no frills military look about it, before the paint job and the interior work.]

After getting settled we drove into town (not far, but it was getting close to dark so we chose not to walk). We had hoped to have dinner at the Ratskeller, literally the basement of city hall (Rathaus), only to find that the Rathaus was undergoing a renovation scheduled to last five years. So much for a repeat of the great meal we had there in 2000. But all was not lost, as we simply went to a restaurant across the street and had a delightful dinner. We have long made a point of avoiding the English language menus in German restaurants, since they just seem to describe things in such a simplified fashion as not to tell us what is really being offered. But through a miscommunication we got one anyway, in addition to the regular German one. The English one was extremely well done, with even more good info than was to be found on the German one. So through synthesis of the two, we all ended up being very happy eaters.

Then a good night's sleep was had by all.

Very nice breakfast buffet today at the hotel. Next began a day of many surprises. We took the trail through the woods to the edge of the Altstadt (old town) and then headed in to town. However, we had forgotten that today was the Day of German Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) celebrating the reunification of West and East after the Fall of the Wall, which meant that most of the stores and some of the restaurants were closed. Strangely there appeared to be no official celebration happening in Goslar, though we saw lots of scenes of activities elsewhere in the country on TV. (A later look at the local newspaper showed that there was a regional celebration nearby, on top of the highest mountain in the Harz.) Berlin's celebration at the Brandenburg Gate is supposed to extend into the weekend, so we should be able to join in when we arrive there.

Closed stores included all the ones we had eyed when we were in town the night before. So, on to Plan B. First stop was at the tourist office, where we got lots of good information. Then we simply started taking in the sights. There were lots of them. Architecture, some dating back to the 1100s or before, is stunning. I took so many pictures of buildings encased in artistically arranged patterns of slate that I'll make a separate album out of them rather than attempting to post them all here. Lunch was simple but tasty. Noon performance of the 1968 Glockenspiel commemorating 1000 years of mining in the area was amazing. We captured that on video. A few stores that catered to tourists were open, and there were indeed lots of tourists due to the holiday. A visit to the Tin Figure Museum was fun. Especially interesting were a set of tin figure dioramas illustrating the Grimm's fairy tales, which were all set in the Harz Mountains area around Goslar and very popular in local folklore. The dioramas weren't labeled, but there was a quiz that visiting school children could take to see how many they were able to identify. We got a few of them right—Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel.

Though the Rathaus was closed for major renovation they did have one exhibit open, which was well worth a visit. A room totally covered on walls and ceiling with gorgeous murals had been locked up for centuries and forgotten. The murals were largely of a religious character, believed to have served to motivate the City Council (Stadtrat) to act with compassion and integrity. Some time later the room was rediscovered and opened to public view. This was apparently done in rather an uncontrolled fashion, and the artwork began to deteriorate significantly. The room is now closed, dimly lighted, and visible only through glass. Conservation efforts are well underway, and the room is giving up some of its secrets in scribbled artists' notes discovered under the panels. They have constructed a wonderful recreation of the room and show a tremendous video there that illustrates the artwork and explains what they know (or surmise) about its history. It was like being in a mini Sistine Chapel!

The next big event was a hike up the 231 steps of the tower at the nearby Lutheran church. Marvelous 360 degree view from the top, on a lovely, clear day. We chanced to be up there when the bell bonged three times to symbolize 1:45. It was dramatic.

By about 5PM we were ready to head back to the hotel. But on the way we passed a pair of tents set up for some sort of small fest. This led to the next big surprise of the day. We quickly learned that we were at the local Islamic Center, operated by the Turkish community that got started in Germany during the Guest Worker (Gastarbeiter) program in the 1960s, and this was their contribution to the Day of German Unity. They invited us into their mosque which featured very lovely tile work, and in more modern concepts, a screen on which was projected a PowerPoint slide.

We talked for quite a while about their experience in Germany and their questions about American views toward their faith. Their words, and the words on some of the displays in the mosque, were strongly opposed to the actions of the few who have committed horrible deeds in the name of Islam. After quite a chat with a teenage Turkish-German girl and her mother, Sue Anne gave them her business card with the address of her blog, and showed them a couple of drawings she had recently completed. The girl was also an artist and showed us a magnificent drawing of hers—on her iPhone. Then they invited us to join them in the food tents next door.

We had reached the point in our day of walking that we knew we wouldn't be up to a big meal at supper time, so the light offerings in the tents were just right for us. Aimée enjoyed the tea so much that later on one of the women took her back to the little store in the mosque, where she bought some tea to take home. The rest of us bought Turkish candy.

After we had settled down and started into our meal, a group of teenage Turkish-German girls came over and sat with us and engaged in lively conversation. Lots of fun. The girls all appeared to be very bright, pursuing their education, interested in learning about the world, and contemporary in their outlook though dressed traditionally. (Although a couple of them were wearing head scarfs with tartan or Burberry patterns!) There were many interesting insights into aspects of being Turkish and German at the same time. There was no problem with our taking pictures (we asked), and they even volunteered to take some for us so we could be included. Again, Sue Anne showed her recent artwork and handed out business cards to the girls, who eagerly scooped them up and promised to look at her blog.

Then a walk back to the hotel via some more stunning architecture. It was nice to sit down on soft chairs and relax. Light snacks for the rest of supper.

It's too late to include pictures and videos in this post today. And the Internet setup here isn't well configured for that kind of activity anyway. It will be a challenge just to get this text up online. Tomorrow we head back into town briefly to catch up on a few things we couldn't do because of the holiday. Then up to Helmstedt to take in a place along the (former) West-East border that had significance in Bruce's Army time in Germany, and to visit the nearby Border Museum. Then to cross the former border and head to Berlin. Assuming that the Internet setup in our hotel there is acceptable, we'll try to get today's pix and video posted here after we arrive there.

Pictures from our day in Goslar.

View looking down street at our hotel in the woods.

You can understand why I called it funky.

View up the street

Sue Anne and Bruce's room was on the ground floor of this section.

Subaru Forester friends please note that this is the home for the OberForster.

Eagle fountain in city square

Aimée and Sue Anne in city square

Walls covered in artistically arranged slate are very common here.

I took so many pictures that I'll just post this one as an example, and create a separate album of architecture shots when I get home.

View through a window at the Rathaus mural exhibit

Art historians believe that the knobby fingers appear to point to there being just one artist involved in this series of paintings. Or a very strict art director with his own ideas of how to do things.

An unknown figure, but clearly an important one. Well fed.

Another of the same genre

Fascinating store on the town square. Sample of some of their edible offerings, this being Wild Boar Liverwurst.

Another interesting feature of the store was lots of large jugs of various kinds of liquors, with hoses extending from them so that you could literally BYOB and fill it up.

Lunch coming up!

My Currywurst mit Brotchen

Fascinating combination shoe shine stand and piano.

It looks as if some of the patrons had left body parts behind.

A frieze of sculptures of people going about their trades surrounds this building just below the eaves. This woman is churning butter, but she is better known for having been caught in the act of scratching herself. She is now one of the beloved symbols of the city, and the namesake of the restaurant where we ate last night

Clockwork mechanism inside the church tower. Out of this entire mass of gears, one can only see three actually turning, the last one almost imperceptibly.

Aimée and Steve at the top, with bell right above them. We had only a few minutes left before it would have announced 2PM.

We took 360 degree shots from the tower, but this one is probably the most interesting.

Another set of bells part way up. There was no explanation of why there were two separate sets.

The stream runs right through town, and over the centuries it has become fully integrated into the architecture.

Water wheel is no longer in use.

Rapunzel diorama at the Tin Figure Museum

Hansel and Gretel

Diorama depicting the Glockenspiel in the city square.

We took videos of it in action but aren't yet able to post them here.

The four of us, all grandparents, posed for pictures to turn into postcards to mail to our grandkids.

We use a great online service called Touchnote. Upload a pic, select an address, add a message, and they print it out as a postcard and mail it in the country it's addressed to.

There's no cost to sign up. You prepay a deposit and then work your way through it as you send cards.

They also have apps for iPad and Android.