2 Exhausted 2 Write Quint-ennial
Vacation
"Sometimes
it's better to lose your map anyway
You may end up where you were going
Instead of where you thought you were"
– kendall brown
I printed 42-page itineraries for Gramma, the twins, and Alan and I so everyone would know where we were going and where we had been. The first page was headlined with the above quote. When I told people about the itineraries I was pouring so many hours and effort into, I said I knew God was laughing as I laid our plans. What I didn't know was that the angels watching me over God's shoulder as I laid our plans were laughing so hard they wet themselves.
April
28 - April 30, 2006 | May
1 - 3, 2006 | May 4 - 5, 2006 | May
6 - 7, 2006 | May 8 - 9, 2006
May
10 -11, 2006 |
May 12, 2006 | May
13, 2006 | Mother's
Day, May 14, 2006 | May
15, 2006 | May
16 -17, 2006
European
Hitchhikers We Picked Up '06 | Europe
2006 Archive | Newsletter Archive
So here's how it went down from May 8 to May 9 (You don't have to read any of the words! You can just look at the pictures. There will be no test.) :
MONDAY MAY 8 (VE-DAY)
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
-- Mark Twain
Drosselmeier
was quite overpowered by homesickness.
"O Nuremberg,"
he cried --
"O Nuremberg my happy home
How foolish I have been to roam
And how I yearn to return
To Nuremberg, my Nuremberg
Where houses all have windows
And churches all have doors."
I
shall refer to this next town with the spelling "Nürnberg,"
although it is just as correct with the above spelling from E.T.A. Hoffman's
"The Nutcracker and the Mouse King."
Nürnberg
(nyuhn-bairk) is in south central Germany, on the Pegnitz River, in
Bavaria, near Fürth. Nürnberg is widely known for its toys, honey
and spice cakes (Lebkuchen). Among the city's points of interest are the Hauptmarkt,
the main market square; the Gothic Saint Sebald's Church (mainly 13th century);
a castle (begun 11th century); the German National Museum; toy and
transportation museums; the house (now a museum) where the artist Albrecht
Dürer (all-brehjt dyoor-uh) lived; and extensive parts of the old city
walls (chiefly 15th century). 
So naturally the very first thing we sought out was -- a Geocache using only the hints. It led us up stairs (left) which took us past the oldest half-timbered house in Nürnberg.
I found it first and hinted to the girls where they might find it ( right).
We
continued up stairs to the castle grounds and to a small park on the 15th
century walls overlooking the city (left). We sorted through the cache there,
struck by how much the trees reminded us of a famous illustration of Tolkien's
work. Kilory left her Travel
Bug in the cache.
I
loved all the half-timbered houses. They make me want to decorate gingerbread
houses with half-timbers. Some of the buildings actually looked architecturally
wonky enough (right) to masquerade as some of the gingerbread houses I've
erected minutes before they self-destructed. Right angles?! Who needs right
angles!?
As a major center for producing military equipment, the city was badly damaged by Allied bombardments during World War II. After the war Nürnberg was a site of trials (1945-1946) of suspected German war criminals. The city has been completely rebuilt since the war, including restoration of its Old Town section.
After
reading the book "The Seventh Knot" we were quite jazzed to be in
Albrecht Dürer's old neighborhood.
Every bakery window had something totally scrumptious-looking, but this one really took the cake.
Nuremberg
has a number of remarkable fountains, but none is better known than der Schöne
Brunnen (shuh'nuh brun-nen), or The Beautiful Fountain, 60-ft of gold filigree
and color originally intended to cap the main tower of the near-by Frauenkirche
or Church of Our Lady. In 1390, as the completed spire was readied for its
removal to the church roof, the townspeople demanded it be left at street
level, changed it to a fountain and installed it in the Hauptmarkt across
from the church. In romantic Nuremberg, even the fence surrounding the fountain
has a legend. Six hundred years ago an unappreciated apprentice decided to
display his talents to his master by installing a 
seamless
six-inch ring brass ring in the fence surrounding der Schöne Brunnen.
Amazed townspeople couldn't believe the seamless ring, which had appeared
overnight, was man-made and attributed wish-granting powers to it.
After reading the book "Torch in the Darkness" (a fictional account of the brass ring and the disgruntled apprentice) we were quite jazzed to see the ring and the fountain. To protect the fountain from a street soccer tournament, the fountain had been covered with fencing, and to make it "artistic" the fencing had been covered with plastic and metal stackable chairs from the '70s so that the fountain wasn't actually visible. We weren't jazzed. Nikki still found the ring (inset right). Can you find it in the overall mess (right)?
The
Hauptmarkt was awesome, though, so we enjoyed that as much as we could. Technicolor
fruits, vegetables, flowers; and scores of varieties of fresh baked bread
everywhere one turned. Droooooooooool.
We grabbed some nibbled and headed back to the car, parked on Albrecht Dürer's old street, rubbernecking, dawdling, and gawking as we went.
It
was off, then, to the Rhine River Valley, with its castles and ghosts of robber
barons.
Headed toward Aachen, we could only find lodging in Düren.
TUESDAY MAY 9
"A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it." -- John Steinbeck
Aachen
(French Aix-la-Chapelle), near Belgium and the Netherlands, is known for its
mineral springs (the hottest in central Europe) and has been a health resort
since the 1st century AD. The major manufactures include marzipan, chocolate,
gingerbread, and textiles.
Noteworthy structures include the town hall [at right*], built in 1353 on the ruins of Charlemagne's palace, and the cathedral (the chancel of which was built in the 13th-14th century), which contains Charlemagne's tomb and throne.
*We, as usual, enjoyed the city's marketplace -- this time in the shadow of the town hall. Please note the bipedal horse chef (lower left) watching the proceedings.
Aachen
is the equestrian center of Europe. The city has artsy decorated horse statues
everywhere. At right, if I've got it correctly, the artsy horse is looking
toward the steeple of the cathedral at Charlemagne's palace.
The
city is rich in historical associations and is thought to be the birthplace
of Charlemagne. During his reign (800-814), Charlemagne built his palace and
cathedral in Aachen.
We went inside the cathedral to see Charlemagne's resting place. (This is not our photo of his elaborate casket, at left -- no photography allowed.) The history of it! I was truly awed.
But...
I
was here for the Aachener printen! In 1996 I had purchased a printen mold
in Aachen, and I wanted another one to hang on my wall with my springerle
mold collection (these pictured are on my wall). *sniff* I wasn't able
to find another to buy as a souvenir. *sniff*
"Printen",
the nationally renowned confectionery of Aachen, are a type of gingerbread.
Today's chronicler has a difficult time of finding documentation in the annals
and archives on the history of printen and its artistic forms. He or she must
be satisfied with "historical morsels" of bakery history from the
tradition-rich Aachener ("Öcher") printen bakers.
But "Napoleon
is to be blamed for everything- - even for the printen!"
Napoleon in the year
1806 imposed the continental blockade against England. Although his large-scale
attempt to decisively weaken the British through this blockade failed, it
ultimately revived Europe's inventive spirit in the food sector.
The
best example for this: the Aachener printen bakers. They had to do without
many spices and especially the American wild-flower honey, which before the
blockade, was traded from England. True to the adage "necessity is the
mother of invention", the bakers grabbed their molasses jar!
Moreover, because Napoleon understandingly promoted the cultivation of sugar beets for reasons of continental self-sufficiency, there was now domestic sugar made from sugar beets to replace foreign sugar cane. However, with molasses and beet sugar, the printen dough became sticky and could no longer be pressed into the fine baking moulds. The taste was also different. Thus, the "rougher" molasses and beet sugar-containing "Napoleon"-printen was born...
I
dragged the troupe through Aachen looking for the Alt Aachener Kaffe Stuben
which is more of a museum with its printen molds all over its walls. I'd seen
it on a PBS Christmas in Germany documentary and visited it in 1996. 
On
the way we saw oodles of horse statues and fascinating stuff one would never
see in America. In 2006 as in 1996 when we approached the interactive fountain,
we could see it only through the hordes of children positioning and endlessly
re-positioning the brass figures. I love that fountain!
Reflecting its Rhineland roots, the Roman spa city of Aachen takes its February carnival very seriously, so much so that it has been dubbed the "fifth season". Highlights include the farcical award ceremony Orden wider den Tierischen Ernst (the medal for combating deadly seriousness).
We had lunch at a Nobis printen store that had a sandwich shop, then took off.
There are no more pictures or adventures to tell about this day: We were to spend the rest of the day toodling down country roads through Belgium to tour Reims, France and stay overnight. A child asked about Luxembourg and I explained there wasn't time for Luxembourg and I was sorry. The other two adults heard Luxembourg and decided we should go. I explained, I thought, as clearly as possible again that there wasn't time for Luxembourg and I was sorry. All decided there was no need for me to be sorry and that we had time for Luxembourg. We spent the rest of the day zooming down generic concrete highways, right through Luxembourg without stopping once, and at the end of the day they asked why we were so off schedule and so far away from Reims. I kid you not.
April
28 - April 30, 2006 | May
1 - 3, 2006 | May 4 - 5, 2006 | May
6 - 7, 2006 | May 8 - 9, 2006
May
10 -11, 2006 |
May 12, 2006 | May
13, 2006 | Mother's
Day, May 14, 2006 | May
15, 2006 | May
16 -17, 2006
European
Hitchhikers We Picked Up '06 | Europe
2006 Archive | Newsletter Archive
We hope you enjoy your visit.
