From Germany to Las Vegas

We arose early to drive up to Frankfurt, drop off the rental car, and check into the airport.  On the way there, we stopped at a rest stop to fill up our wonderful 9-passenger van with our last European fuel.  While Joe was paying inside the station, some questionable-looking hitchhikers appeared out of the fields below, took one look at our huge van, and asked for a ride.  We declined and hurried on our way trying to find some breakfast en route.

We had no such luck at finding something yummy so after checking in our luggage, we walked the entire airport looking for a bakery or small cafe to get something to eat.  Our searches were in vain and we stopped at the only kiosk in the middle of the hallway to get some pretzels.  The lady that managed that kiosk must have made bank because it was the only place in the whole airport with food and the line to acquire some was wrapping down the hall with a 20-30 minute wait!

Our flight left late morning and we spent it watching movies, looking at the snow, ice and glaciers over Iceland, Greenland, and Canada, reading and sleeping.  When we arrived into Vegas early afternoon, we breezed through customs and were happy to be home.  

The trip was amazing and we got to spend it with some amazing friends.  I learned a lot about the history, culture, and lifestyle of the German people and Joe was pleased to speak German, reminisce and share stories of his mission and experiences while living there for two years.  It is definitely a trip that we want to make again with our children and hopefully see more details and visit different places.  We missed our kids like crazy and loved sending them postcards and emails while we were away.  Tomorrow, after a good night's sleep, we are driving up to Utah to pick them up.  Can't wait to see them!

Germany: Triberg and Heidelberg

It is our last day in Germany.  I can not believe that two weeks have flown by so quickly.  We have packed a ton of cities, museums, cathedrals, and activities into our trip and this is our last day to finish up all that we want to see and do before travelling home.  I am missing my children like crazy at this point but feel like I need a few more days to soak up some more of Germany and all it has to offer.  Oh well.  We will come again.  Joe has already declared that we are coming back next year to see what we didn't see this year.  He just can't get enough of his first love (and I don't mean me!)

We started our day by grabbing our last breakfast at a bakery.  Soft breads, bagels, and pastries were consumed as we drove through the Black Forest to Triberg all the while looking and shopping for all the different and famous cuckoo clocks. 

These store-front clocks were amazing and fun because when they chimed during each hour, the woodcutter would chop wood, dancers would come out of the windows, cuckoo birds would cluck, and waterwheels would turn.   I loved them!

After walking through the quaint villages and debating over cuckoo clocks, we decided to take a quick hike to Triberg Waterfall.  It was another cloudy and somewhat rainy day but the hike was still fun and the waterfall was beautiful.

Sam and Marquessa standing on front of Triberg Waterfall.  (Can't find the pic of us)

After our hike, we headed into Heidelberg to check into our hotel for our last night in Germany.  We stayed in the Neckartal Hotel and after unloading, visited the Heidelberg Castle.  It was a quick visit because we got stuck in a lot of traffic on the way to Heidelberg.  Thus, the tours were closing so we just explored the grounds and took pictures of the outside of the castle.

Heidelberg Castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps.  The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demolition in the 17th and 18th centuries.  The earliest castle structure was built before AD 1214 and later expanded into 2 castles around 1294.  However, in 1537, a lightning-bolt destroyed the upper castle.  The present structures had been expanded by 1650, before damage by later wars and fires.  In 1764, another lightning-bolt destroyed some rebuilt sections.

When Rupert III of Germany became the King (Emperor) of Germany in 1401, the castle was so small that on his return from his coronation, he had to camp out in the Augustinians' monastery, on the site of today's University Square.  What he desired was more space for his entourage and court and to impress his guests, but also additional defenses to turn the castle into a fortress.

After Rupert's death in 1410, his land was divided between his four sons.  It was during the reign of Louis V, Elector Palatine (1508–1544) that Martin Luther came to Heidelberg to defend one of his theses and paid a visit to the castle.  He was shown around by Louis's brother, Wolfgang, Count Palatine, and in a letter to his friend praised the castle's beauty and its defenses.

It was during the Thirty Years War that arms were raised against the castle for the first time.  This period marks the end of the castle's construction; the centuries to follow brought with them destruction and rebuilding.  After his loss at the Battle of White Mountain on 8 November 1620, Frederick V was on the run as an outlaw and had to release his troops prematurely, leaving the Palatinate undefended against General Tilly, the supreme commander of the Imperial and Holy Roman Empire's troops.  On 26 August 1622, Tilly commenced his attack on Heidelberg, taking the town on 16 September, and the castle few days later.

When the Swedes captured Heidelberg on 5 May 1633 and opened fire on the castle from the Königstuhl hill behind it, Tilly handed over the castle.  The following year, the emperor's troops tried to recapture the castle, but it was not until July 1635 that they succeeded.  It remained in their possession until the Peace of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years War was signed.  The new ruler, Charles Louis and his family did not move into the ruined castle until 7 October 1649.

On 29 September 1688, the French troops marched into the Palatinate and on 24 October moved into Heidelberg. At war against the allied European powers, France's war council decided to destroy all fortifications and to lay waste to the Palatinate in order to prevent an enemy attack from this area.  As the French withdrew from the castle on 2 March 1689, they set fire to it and blew the front off the Fat Tower.  Portions of the town were also burned, but the mercy of a French general, René de Froulay de Tessé, who told the townspeople to set small fires in their homes to create smoke and the illusion of burning prevented wider destruction.

Immediately upon his accession in 1690, Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine had the walls and towers rebuilt.  When the French again reached the gates of Heidelberg in 1691 and 1692, the town's defenses were so good that they did not gain entry.  On 18 May 1693 the French were yet again at the town's gates and took it on 22 May.  However, they did not attain control of the castle and destroyed the town in attempt to weaken the castle's main support base.  The castle's occupants capitulated the next day.  Now the French took the opportunity to finish off the work started in 1689, after their hurried exit from the town.  The towers and walls, that had survived the last wave of destruction, were blown up with mines.

 

In 1697 the Treaty of Ryswick was signed, marking the end of the War of the Grand Alliance and finally bringing peace to the town.  Plans were made to pull down the castle and to reuse parts of it for a new palace in the valley.  When difficulties with this plan became apparent, the castle was patched up.

Karl Phillip's successor Karl Theodor planned to move his court back to Heidelberg Castle.  However, on 24 June 1764, lightning struck the court building twice in a row, again setting the castle on fire, which he regarded as a sign from heaven and changed his plans.  Victor Hugo, who had come to love the ruins of the castle, also saw it as a divine signal:

   "One could even say that the very heavens had intervened. On 23 June 1764, the day before Karl   Theodor was to move into the castle and make it his seat (which, by the bye, would have been a great disaster, for if Karl Theodor had spent his thirty years there, these austere ruins which we today so admire would certainly have been decorated in the pompadour style); on this day, then, with the prince's furnishings already arrived and waiting in the Church of the Holy Spirit, fire from heaven hit the octagonal tower, set light to the roof, and destroyed this five hundred year old castle in very few hours."                                                                                                      --Victor Hugo, Heidelberg

In the following decades, basic repairs were made, but Heidelberg Castle remained essentially a ruin.
Heidelberg Castle receded even further from his thoughts and the rooms which had still had roofs were taken over by craftsmen.  The structure was decaying and the townsfolk were helping themselves to stone, wood, and iron from the castle to build their own houses.  The statuary and ornaments were also fair game.

The savior of the castle was the French count Charles de Graimberg.   He fought the government of Baden, which viewed the castle as an "old ruin with a multitude of tasteless, crumbling ornaments", for the preservation of the building.  Until 1822, he served as a voluntary castle warden, and lived for a while in the Glass Wing, where he could keep an eye on the courtyard.  Long before the origin of historic preservation in Germany, he was the first person to take an interest in the conservation and documentation of the castle, which never have occurred to any of the Romantics.  Graimberg asked Thomas A. Leger to prepare the first castle guide.  With his pictures of the castle, of which many copies were produced, Graimberg promoted the castle ruins and drew many tourists to the town.

In 1883, the Grand Duchy of Baden established a "Castle field office", which made a detailed plan for preserving or repairing the main building.  They completed their work in 1890, which led a commission of specialists from across Germany to decide that while a complete or partial rebuilding of the castle was not possible, it was possible to preserve it in its current condition.  Only the Friedrich Building, whose interiors were fire damaged, but not ruined, would be restored. This reconstruction was done from 1897 to 1900 by Karl Schäfer.

In the 20th century, Americans spread Heidelberg's reputation outside Europe.  Thus, Japanese also often visit the Heidelberg Castle during their trips to Europe.  Heidelberg has, at the beginning of the 21st century, more than three million visitors a year and about 1,000,000 overnight stays.  Most of the foreign visitors come either from the USA or Japan.  The most important attraction, according to surveys by the Geographical Institute of the University of Heidelberg, is the castle with its observation terraces.  Some of the visitors fall in love with the town, so they decide to get married at the castle. There are about 100 weddings a year at the castle's chapel.

We had our last German meal at the Goldener Falke Restaurant in the Market Plaza and then stopped to buy German chocolate and last minute items to take home.  Sam is still trying to figure out how to read about German food.  And he was trying to distract the waiters from seeing him pull out a Diet Coke from his backpack to refill his glass.

We walked along the shopping district and took our last pictures of Heidelberg as it started raining.  How ironic that we started and ended our trip with clouds and rain.  But it was still a wonderful and memorable trip with some sunshiny moments too.  As it began pouring, we jumped back into our van and headed back to the hotel.  We had another tiring night ahead of us with no air conditioning AGAIN (although the rain kept us cool) and the packing and re-organizing of our luggage before a long flight home!

Germany: Stuttgart, Ravensburg, Freiberg

Early Tuesday morning, Joe drove the Oldhams to the train station to catch a ride to Frankfurt before flying home.  When he got back, we and the Aikeles grabbed breakfast at a bakery and headed into downtown Stuttgart to tour the Porsche Museum.  It was really interesting to see the different parts of the cars, how they were built, and how Porsche has evolved over time both in technology and in styling and design.  Sam and Joe were in heaven as they were surrounded by fancy cars all in one place. 

 Standing next to their favorites

 

  

When we were done in Stuttgart, we headed into Ravensburg, which is the other town that Sam's ancestors were from.  We went to see the apartment where his great-great grandparents originally lived but weren't able to go inside.  There was construction on those buildings as they were turning them into a hotel.  Next to the apartments was a little cafe in the bottom level of what we thought had been a monastery back in the day.   Sam and Marquessa sneaked into a back stairway behind the cafe and climbed up into the roof tower to get a view of the city.  I was worried that we may get in trouble for being in a "construction zone" or sightseeing in "restricted areas" but Sam declared, "I own this place!" and off they went.

The apartment buildings being renovated into the hotel.

The stairway leading to the great views of Ravensburg.

   

The Aikeles, many generations later.  Good looks still run in their family!

After quickly driving through Ravensburg, we continued south through the Black Forest to Freiburg.  We stopped for some pictures at Bodensee (Lake Constance), which is a lake on the Rhine River at the northern foot of the Alps.  The shorelines are in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

 

 

When we arrived in Freiburg, we checked into the Novotel and walked through the city.  Freiburg is a college town so we enjoyed the evening walking around, relaxing and people-watching.

 The views from our hotel room

Freiburg was founded as a free market town and was strategically located at a junction of trade routes between the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea regions, and the Rhine and Danube rivers.  In 1200, Freiburg's population numbered around 6,000 people.  At about that time, under the rule of Bertold V, the last duke of Zähringen, the city began construction of its Freiburg Münster cathedral on the site of an older parish church and was completed as a Gothic cathedral in 1513.  In 1218, when Bertold V died, the counts of Urach assumed the title.  The city council did not trust the new nobles and wrote down their established rights in a document. At the end of the 13th century there was a feud between the citizens of Freiburg and their lord, Count Egino II of Freiburg.  Egino raised taxes and sought to limit the citizens' freedom, after which the Freiburgers used catapults to destroy the count's castle atop Schloßberg, a hill that overlooks the city center.  The furious count called on his brother-in-law the Bishop of Strasbourg for help.  The bishop answered by marching with his army to Freiburg.

According to an old Freiburg legend, a butcher named Hauri stabbed the Bishop of Strasbourg to death on July 29, 1299.  Henceforth the citizens of Freiburg had to pay an annual expiation of 300 marks in silver to the count of Freiburg until 1368.  In 1366 the counts of Freiburg made another failed attempt to occupy the city during a night raid.  Eventually the citizens were fed up with their lords, and in 1368 Freiburg purchased its independence from them.  The city turned itself over to the protection of the Habsburgs, who allowed the city to retain a large measure of freedom. 

The Martinstor, one of the original city gates in Freiburg.

Munsterplatz, or Cathedral Square

The silver mines in Mount Schauinsland provided an important source of capital for Freiburg.  This silver made Freiburg one of the richest cities in Europe, and in 1327 Freiburg minted its own coin, the Rappenpfennig.  At the end of the 14th century the veins of silver were dwindling, and by 1460 only around 6,000 people still lived within Freiburg's city walls.  A university city, Freiburg evolved from its focus on mining to become a cultural center for the arts and sciences.  It was also a commercial center.  The end of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the Renaissance was a time of both advances and tragedy for Freiburg.

In 1457, Albrecht VI established one of Germany's oldest universities. In 1498, Emperor Maximilian I held a Reichstag in Freiburg.  In 1520, the city ratified a set of legal reforms, widely considered the most progressive of the time.  The aim was to find a balance between city traditions and old Roman Law.  The reforms were well received, especially the sections dealing with civil process law, punishment and the city's constitution.

In 1520, Freiburg decided not to take part in the Reformation and became an important center for Catholicism.  In 1536, a strong and persistent belief in witchcraft led to the city's first witch-hunt.  The need to find a scapegoat for calamities such as the Black Plague, which claimed 2,000 area residents (25% of the city population) in 1564, led to an escalation in witch-hunting that reached its peak in 1599.  A plaque on the old city wall marks the spot where burnings were carried out.
The 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries were turbulent times for Freiburg. At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War there were 10,000-14,000 citizens in Freiburg; by its end only 2,000 remained.  During this war and other conflicts, the city belonged at various times to the Austrians, the French, the Swedish, the Spanish, and various members of the German Confederacy.  Between 1648 and 1805, it was the administrative headquarters of the Habsburg territories in the southwest of Germany, when the city was not under French occupation.  In 1805, the city became part of Baden.

Freiburg Minster, a medieval cathedral.

The last duke of Zähringen had started the building around 1200 in romanesque style, the construction continued in 1230 in Gothic style.  The minster was partly built on the foundations of an original church that had been there from the beginning of Freiburg in 1120.  In 1827 the Minster became the seat of the Catholic archbishop of Freiburg and thus a cathedral.

It has the only Gothic church tower in Germany that was completed in the Middle Ages (1330), and miraculously, has lasted until the present, surviving the bombing raids of November 1944, which destroyed all of the houses on the west and north side of the market.  The tower was subject to severe vibration at the time, and its survival of these vibrations is attributed to its lead anchors, which connect the sections of the spire.  The windows had been taken out of the spire at the time, and so these also suffered no damage.  The tower has 16 bells, the oldest being the "Hosanna" bell from 1258, which weighs 3,290 kilograms.

We were not allowed inside the cathedral because they were setting up for a celebration and visit from the Pope but we were allowed into the entryway.  It was beautiful.

On October 22, 1940, the Nazi Gauleiter of Baden ordered the deportation of all of Baden's Jews, and 350 Jewish citizens of Freiburg were deported to a southern French internment camp. They remained there under poor conditions until the majority of the survivors were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz on July 18, 1942.

Freiburg was heavily bombed during World War II.  First, in May 1940, aircraft mistakenly dropped approximately 60 bombs on Freiburg near the train station, killing fifty-seven people.  Later on, a raid by more than 300 bombers on 27 November 1944 destroyed a large portion of the city center, with the notable exception of the Münster, which was only lightly damaged.  After the war, the city was rebuilt on its medieval plan.

It was occupied by the French Army in 1945, and Freiburg was soon allotted to the French Zone of Occupation.  In December 1945 Freiburg became the site of government for the German state Badenia, which was merged into Baden-Württemberg in 1952.  The French Army maintained a presence in Freiburg until 1991, when the last French Army division left the city, and Germany.

Because of its scenic beauty, relatively warm and sunny climate, and easy access to the Black Forest, Freiburg is a hub for regional tourism.  The longest cable car run in Germany runs from Günterstal up to a nearby mountain called Schauinsland.  The city has an unusual system of gutters (called Bächle) that run throughout its center.  These Bächle, once used to provide water to fight fires and feed livestock, are constantly flowing with water.  They were never used for sewage, and during the summer, the running water provides natural cooling of the air, and offers a pleasant gurgling sound.

The Historical Merchants Hall, is a Late Gothic building on the south side of Freiburg's plaza.  Built between 1520 and 1530, it was once the center of the financial life of the region. Its façade is decorated with statues and the coat of arms of four Habsburg emperors.

After wandering through the streets, it started getting dark and we started getting hungry.  We stopped for pizza at a cafe near the university.  We relaxed there for a couple of hours and soon after the sun set, it started raining so we headed back to the hotel.