And Finally, The Last Days in Germany

 After we got safely home to Amy's house from Burg Eltz, we had to revise our now carless plans a bit and thus stayed closer to home on Friday, with a movie and some yummy gyros in the mix. It turned out to be such a blessing that my brother loaned me such an awesome car, because we were all able to get where we needed to go, even without Amy's van.

On Saturday, it was time to head back up to Schalbruch to spend two last nights with my brother and family, then head home on Monday. It was becoming surreal to think that we would no longer be in Germany in such a very short time.

Before we drove north, we took some time to go explore one last castle ruin above the villages of Landstuhl and Ramstein. It was a fascinating place, carved from vivid red sandstone that seemed so fragile, yet had lasted all these centuries. It was a lovely way to end our time together with our good friends. As I think I've said about 42 times, one of the best parts of this trip has been enjoying the hospitality of dear ones. Amy will likely not end up living near me again, so I am super-grateful for this week with her.

The day we got rescued by that fabu Mercedes truck, we were supposed to drive home through the lovely and scenic Mosel river valley, stopping in picturesque villages for ice cream along the way. That plan was not covered by the ADAC contract that Amy pays for, so on the way back to my brother's we decided to drive through the lovely and scenic Rhine river valley, the Mosel's big brother. It truly was lovely and scenic and I swear, there really was a CASTLE on the hills about every kilometer. I kept calling out to the kids, "Castle on the right!" "Ancient ruins on the left!" Amazing is the only way I can describe the visible history of this place. Anyway, we were aiming for ice cream at a town called Bacharach, but as we got there, the rain, which had been during our drive a charming and atmosphere-enhancing mist, suddenly became a savage downpour. That coupled with the fact that I had NO euro coins on me to pay for some parking caused us to stop briefly Bacharach (so we can say we've been there) but then we drove past, up the famous (and scenic) hills of the Rhine valley and back to the autobahn. It was okay, really. We'd been so blessed on this trip with sweet sights and special times. We couldn't really get greedy, especially when the rain was a blessing for the whole area after a super-hot week.

We had a hero's welcome from my niece and nephew, which was really fun. They are such great kids-smart and funny and so willing to shower us with love and affection. Before we went to bed, the grownups made our plan for our last day in Europe. We would go to some church in the morning, then continue our Sabbath-day devotions by going to Cologne (or Koln if you're German) to see the biggest cathedral of our trip.

And so we went: It was an easy drive to the perimeter,  an easy trip on the train to the station right next to said cathedral, a lovely day of enjoying Catholicism's finest art and architecture, lovely times donating my coins to buy a candle for my niece who said her prayer would be for all the people who were sick and for Jesus (it was quite sweet), and fun learning a bit about the history of Cologne and this impressive church. After the small and medium-sized cathedrals we've seen so far, this one is SO huge in comparison: Imposing and dark and gothic and unique because even though it was built in stages like most cathedrals were, this one had a consistent design vision and everything matches in style and decoration. I was very glad we went. I heard and read mixed things about Cologne, that it's plain and boxy and not such a nice place to visit, but our trip here on a sunny Sunday afternoon was full of city pleasures, with lots of people strolling in the plazas and streets and riverwalks, performing magicians, fountains, flea markets, and that amazing cathedral that survived the war because it was used as a landmark for planes (because it is so big) brooding over it all. I would definitely go back. It had a slightly calmer, quieter vibe than Amsterdam, but definitely felt quintessentially European, with all the diversity and of course the wonder always in my mind that this city has risen from ashes and been rebuilt from scratch in 70 years. Rock on Germany! Really, you impress me! I wonder sometimes if we in America could pull that off.  This blog has a bunch of really beautiful photos of Cologne that add significantly to my few here.

And so, here are the final photos I will share from our trip. I will write one last post that sums up the things I want to keep with me, but for now, I'm signing off. Thanks for taking the journey with me!

Landstuhl Castle:

Amy's family did their last family photo shoot here.
Gorgeous.

Even on a rainy day, look at the LIGHT!

Three boys keeping watch up high. 

The villages, framed perfectly. 

See the 6-year old there? This was one
of the walls that just seemed to grow
out of the sandstone. 

The entrance to the castle compound.

My kids do another one of their elegant poses. 

These folks all had such fun together. 

See?

Two lovelies looking down. 

I heart this photo.  

And this one. 

And maybe this one most of all. I could not have asked for
two more fun companions. They are the best.

And Dom Cologne:

Checking the map at the train station. I actually love this little
tableau.  

The Dom. Incredible. 

Look at the detail of these carvings. This
is a mix of old and new, and each one tells
a bible story. 

Acres of stained glass. We decided we like the geometric
designs better than the pictorial ones. 

Huge. 

Massive.

Perhaps the oldest thing we saw on our whole trip. This arch
is from Roman times, I think from about 50 AD. Cologne
has many Roman ruins, it seems. 

A rare photo of the photographer and friends. I still get
goosebumpy when I think that I was there, 4000 miles away,
Standing on stones made by people 2000 years ago!

So, is my nephew hilarious or what? He
totally did that on purpose. This is a scale
replica of the ornaments on the top of the
cathedral spires. Check out how tiny they
look in the photos and gain some perspective. 

These two drew quite a crowd, all trying to
figure out the trick. 

The coolness of the European rail system. 

The coolness of the American teen. 

L takes a break. 

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned how much I
Love. This. Baby. 

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A Fairy-Tale Castle

Eleven days have gone by since I last wrote, and since I'm not quite done recording and reminiscing about Europe, I need to get cracking. Life is barreling along in the meantime, with a trip to and from Chicago last weekend and the day ever closer when I take my only girl off to college, far away. So, you can see, I must write, and quickly.

Our grand European adventure ended with two more castles, the biggest cathedral of all, and plenty of satisfying time with special people in the mix. Let me just say that the grandeur and variety of ancient architecture never grew boring or predictable for me. I did not once feel the words even well up in my brain, "Oh brother, ANOTHER old castle." Didn't happen. I loved it all.

And so, picking up from where I left off, it's now Thursday, July 26th and we're still staying near Ramstein Air Base with our pals the Parishes. There's a castle that she's anxious for me to see, and this actually will please Rick Steves, because it's his favorite castle in all of Europe. It's called Burg Eltz and it is unique among castles because it's never been destroyed and descendants from the original family who built it still retain possession and actually reside there.

Along the way, the car behaved beautifully until we were off the highways and driving on single-track dirt roads that crossed wheat fields. Then the gearshift did the whole disconnect thing again. Oh how our hearts dropped to our feet. This time, Amy was brilliant enough to realize that the car had actually stalled out, rather than just drifting to a stop, and knew that we had been left in some gear rather than neutral. So, she started it up, and we eased our way up the hills to the castle parking lot at a very slow pace (it turned out to be first gear), grateful that we were not still back in that wheat field.

We paid our pittance for parking-I think it was  2 Euros, 50 cents, and called ADAC again. They promised to send someone and since we were there, we took the lemonade route and went to tour the castle.

And oh, what a castle! It can't be seen from the road. It can't be seen from the parking lot. You actually walk about a mile from the parking lot to the castle and then, all of a sudden, a secret valley widens out before your eyes and you see this:

I know! I was actually here! It's grand and has a bridge to cross over to get to it, with places where guards would have stood watch. It has a courtyard, its own chapel, staircases, cool stone dungeons, and all the places where you can see that it was built and carved right out of the existing rock, as so many castles were. It was astonishing in scale and beauty. I loved the setting most of all, and again, found my mind understanding better how so many of the great tales of literature and fantasy came about. This does put one in mind of adventures and what must have gone on all those centuries to keep it running and protected and preserved. A river runs through the valley, so we followed stone steps down to the shade and cool water. The kids skipped stones and enjoyed a break from the heat while Amy went back to wait for the car people to come. We lost our phone service, so after a while we went back up to see what was up with the car and savored our last views of this amazing place.

Defensive rampart with stones for dropping on unfortunate enemies. Each of the round rocks is the size of a giant pumpkin. We wondered if they used catapults. 

Some of the details of the half-timber construction. These are the parts of castles that are seldom seen because they get destroyed or decay first. This place was fascinating in it's completeness.  

The view from below, at the river's edge.

We walked another way back to the carpark, through the woods on a path carved from the edge of the cliff that allowed
several last views of Eltz from different vantage points. 

Burg Eltz

Our heroic driver secures the van to the wrecker while a very hot, tired crowd looks on. When he was done, we piled in for our 2-hour ride home in a very expensive Mercedes. Not exactly the Mercedes one dreams of, but we sure were grateful. 

And PS. It was a great day to visit a Fairy-tale castle, because that day was my 26th wedding anniversary. I hope our descendants will still be talking about us in 800 years!

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A Church Hewn In a Cliff and an Adventure

My apologies if you get to this blog in a feed or a reader and the post title is different. I changed it after I published it because the post was getting too long. The other things described in the original title are coming soon.

Our journey next led us down near the giant US air base at Ramstein and the home of some dear family friends. There was fun for all in this busy, happy home filled with 7 kids, a dog and a turtle. We spent a lot of time this week just being together: watching the new season of Sherlock, taking walks and runs around the neighborhood eating Greek sandwiches, playing games, and all that good stuff. I was able to read an actual book, work on my knitting project, and catch up with Amy. Perfect.

There were a still great sights to be seen though, and even a couple of adventures along the way.

Wednesday July 25, we drove about 45 minutes to Idar-Oberstein, which happens to be the gem-cutting capital of Germany. It is also a nice-sized town nestled into green hills and rocky cliffs.  The souvenir shops were filled with colorful stones and interesting things made of minerals, including classics like stone flowers and grapes. The uncommon beauty was to be found in the amazing jewelers' shops on the other end of town. There were gorgeous things in every precious and semi-precious stone imaginable. If you like colorful, sparkly things, you would enjoy looking around here.

Above the town is the Felsenkirche, or Crag Church, built right into the stone of a fairly vertical cliff face. There is even a legend to go along with it. We climbed all the way up to marvel at the construction, hear the water dripping through the caverns behind the structure and enjoy the view. It was super-hot this whole week, much different than the cool days of the first two weeks, but we made the best of it.

"In memory of the deported and murdered Jewish citizens of the
city Idar-Oberstein"

The girls take a moment to enjoy the garden

Another castle peeks out high above the town
center

Looking back down the stairs
leading up to the Rock Church 

View of the town

It was HOT-in the 90's. Unusual for this area.  

The steeple of the church above the town

Someone's courtyard and front door. The efficient use of space
in Europe was a thing of beauty. This little spot was all of about
6 feet on any side. 

Our Violinist. 

A better view of the church. I didn't get any great shots of
this because I just never found the sweet spot. Fortunately,
there are plenty of good images online.  I did make a quick
watercolor sketch, though, so I'll have that at least. 

This town also has a lovely Walkplatz, the largely car-free business district, complete with a museum, eateries (our choice was ice cream) and two fun fountains that were the perfect way for the kids to cool off. I will always remember the moment when, as we were sitting on a bench in the flower-filled square, a violinist opened his case and began to serenade the crowd. There was a bit of a breeze, the little children were playing happily in the water while Sara and her pal sat chatting nearby, and I actually think I had not a care in the world for all the minutes that melody twinkled out over the afternoon. I felt utterly calm and refreshed.  I can recall it now and my shoulders relax just a little bit.

As we were driving away, considering a stop at an alpine slide, the adventure part of the week officially began. Amy's gearshift went limp in her hand and the engine of her van completely disengaged from the outside world. We were stuck, and on a main road with not even a shoulder to cry on or pull over onto.

We did the resourceful thing and put out the emergency triangle 100 meters behind us and called the autoclub. The cars obediently changed lanes and there were no traffic troubles. Then we waited. And waited. I had time to make that sketch of the church. And walk back to town to get a few groceries. And see the emergency triangle get smashed flat by a white BMW.  Then traffic started to snarl up so we got resourceful again and went and started directing traffic ourselves with the shards of the triangle. It was a dream come true, I tell you, to direct traffic on a hot afternoon in a medium-sized German town. It was awesome to see the responses, from grateful acknowledgement to blank stares to angry gestures. After a couple of hours of that, and no auto club, the police did take notice and come and help us with the traffic. They were very nice about the whole thing. Moments after Amy's husband came  to rescue us with the neighbor's van, ADAC showed up and fixed the car on the spot and we all went home, tired, hot and gritty from standing in the road, but totally safe and sound. With the exception of the sweet little 18-month old, we were not too worse for the wear. Amy felt terrible of course, but for me, it was all part of the Great German Adventure. I'd seen a show all about ADAC and other organizations like them in Europe on some cable channel, so I thought it was cool that we would see them in action!

It was still a good day, in spite of the long wait for help. The kids were brave and pretty patient considering the circumstances, Amy and I kept each other laughing in the face of ridiculousness,  and it all worked out fine.

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