Back in Germany.

We are back in the German speaking world for a few days.  Here are some highlight pictures from Trier, Heidelberg, and Rothenburg ob der Tauber.


In the oldest church in Germany, the Trierer Dom (Trier Cathedral).

Helene and Danielle at the back of the cathedral as the late afternoon sun fills the church with light.

James and Anita making their way through the pews.  In the alter far behind them is a reliquary containing the Holy Robes of Christ, brought to Trier by Constantine's mother Helena after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

How the local women's hockey team trains?

In front of the definitely frilly Elector's Palace in Trier.

Fountain in the Marktplatz (market square).

Inside the Roman city gate, called the Porta Nigra because of it's dark colour.  This is the only gate of this former Roman outpost to survive the middle ages - because it had been turned into a church.  When Napoleon's army came through here in 1803, he had them strip it back down to the original Roman structure, removing almost any evidence that it was a church for 800 years.

Ready to roll.

Journaling in the hall of the Trier hostel.  Most of the students have been  writing quite a bit in their tour journals.  Which makes me happy, and will make, for them, a great personal keepsake from this trip.

Our Heidelberg Castle guide Greta shows us around the castle with her special keys.  I think she has done this tour a few times.  She may have even lived in the castle before it became a ruin.

 

Greta explains how the giant wine barrel was filled, and then pumped up to be served to the prince's guests.  And also how the wine was awful.  She also told us the recipe for beer soup, which I may have Lisa make for me when I get home.  It's a popular breakfast in some parts of Europe.  According to her.


Medieval plumbing.  Just have the toilets jutting out over the outside of the building.  No problem.

The Renaissance section of the Heidelberg Castle.

One of the restored halls of the castle.

Prince Rupert - the guy the town is named after - is in the top centre.

Stained glass in the castle.

This thing held 55 000 gallons of poor quality wine.

People used to have dances on top of the barrel.  Chris had finished his dance and decided to take a closeup picture of the ceiling.

Matt, Ashton, and Josh relaxing outside the bus.  Well, I think Ashton is relaxing anyway.

In the centre of Heidelberg.

A different perspective, showing the castle on the hill overlooking the town.

Heidelberg University, where the greatest invention known to mankind was first dreamed up and created by young Baron Karl Drais.  The bicycle, of course.


In Rothenburg - close detail of the famous woodcarver Tillman Reimenschneider's Altar of the Holy Blood.

Taking it all in.

In the Kriminal Museum in Rothenburg - this is an actual "indulgence" someone bought in the Middle Ages. This one gave the owner 100 days of absolution of sins.  He could do whatever he wanted for those 100 days.

Cathy checks out some masks of shame.

An Iron Maiden.

The teachers of the past were well armed.

Would you be able to survive?

The last face many condemned men and women saw.

No one threw tomatoes.

In the Marktplatz of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

The kids loved the scavenger hunt, and even got a chance for a bit of German themed souvenir shopping.

At night we went on a tour with the Rothenburg Night Watchman.  Very entertaining and informative.

The night watchman makes us happy that we didn't live in the middle ages.

Just outside the city walls of Rothenburg.

Andrew has displeased the night watchman.

My group and our night watchman in the market square.



Reggie really wanted to play with the halberd.

Verdun

Verdun was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare.  In 300 days, 300 000 men lost their lives, and 400 000 men were injured - many in life-altering ways.  After the war, during the grim task of clearing the fields of unidentified bodies (130 000 of them), it was decided that an ossuary would be built to house all the remains, French and German, with no attempt at distinguishing between them.  The war had cost too many lives - perhaps this could be a symbol for peace, for the need to avoid war at all costs.  Unfortunately, by 1932, when this ossuary was completed, Europe was already on the road to another war.

 Anita appears to be shaking hands with this WW I soldier.

 Some of the kids, like Calder, spent a lot of time in the Douaumont Museum. 

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 This German soldier looks only a little older than the kids on the trip.

 In front of the museum.

 It is usually fittingly cold and miserable at Verdun.  Today - warm and sunny - so we took advantage of it and had a picnic in a nearby park.

Reginald displeased me.

 Enjoying the picnic.

 In front of the ossuary is a French military cemetery.  Magdalena is looking at the graves of the French colonial soldiers who came to Europe from Africa to fight for France.  Their graves face Mecca.

 Victoria amongst the 15 000 graves.

 The ossuary, covered in scaffolding this year, is in the background.

 Contemplating Verdun.

 The Moroccan headstones.

 Magdalena and I in front of perhaps a distant relative.

 Heading down the path to the chapel of Fleury.  Fleury was one of nine French country villages completely destroyed during the Battle of Verdun.  They rebuilt the chapel, but no one wanted to return to live here.  Now only small markers amongst all the shell craters show where the village people once lived and worked.

 This is one of the few places where it is actually safe and allowed to walk amongst the shell craters.

 Rens takes a break from driving and visits Fleury with us.

 The unique landscape of Verdun.

The kids found some old metal object buried deep in the ground - just the top was showing.  There were bullet holes in it.

Paris Day 3

The day we were all waiting for?  The Paris shopping day.  At least we got to start with a creepy visit to the permanent residence of 6 million Parisians - the catacombs, and Notre Dame cathedral.  We had fun on the metro (not so much) - due to a malfunction the train stopped for awhile as we were waiting to board and it got really crowded in there.  Another beautiful day in Europe though!

 Kim and Jessica have fun waiting in line at the Catacombs.

 Emma does as the sign says, and stops!  Arrete!  C'est ici l'empire de la mort.

 One little bit of the 1.5 km former Roman stone quarry that is now the Catacombs.  In 1785 it was decided that Paris' many cemeteries surrounding its many churches must be emptied for public sanitation and land use reasons - for decades processions of bone-laden carts, led by a priest, would make their way to this spot which at that time was outside of the city.

 I wish this guy could talk.  When did he live?  What was his life like?

 Emma asked that I FOR SURE put this picture on the blog.  I think that's what she said.  On the second of our three metro rides.

 Milling about in front of Notre Dame cathedral.

 The size of the smiles indicate how much they are looking forward to having a bit of shopping time right after this.  Reggie is highly enthused.

 Behind the altar in Notre Dame.

 My shopping group - on their way to some new experiences - including eating falafel in the Jewish quarter and riding in a Parisian taxi.

 Magdalena and I in front of my wife's favourite restaurant in Paris, where she ordered strawberry mushrooms.

 Hello Cathy.

 On the Carousel in the Tuileries Gardens.

 Recovering from the tea cup ride.  Hannah likes to spin it fast.  Magdalena, not so much.

 It was an exhausting day; however...

...some people are just full of sunshine all the time, even on an overcrowded long metro ride!

Es ist ein langer Weg zurück nach Deutschland.

Das Wetter ist weiterhin erstaunlich. Wir haben ein paar sehr arbeitsreiche Tage in Paris, Verdun, Trier, Heidelberg und Rothenburg ob der Tauber hatte, und wir haben gerade eine Tour durch die Stadt mit den berühmten "Night Watchman". Ich werde einige Bilder morgen vielleicht Post.