Thursday, July 16, 2015
This was not a good day. Yes, some days on an extended vacation can be a disaster. Well this was one of them.
Ken had all along planned on going to computer stores to buy a back-up device. We have been risking all the photos and soon to be blog posts since leaving Canada by not have a back-up device. I got ready to go out and go to the rather close Ludwig Museum.
We walked to the Thai restaurant which is about a block or two from out Hotel. They served a quickly made Tom Kah soup, suitable but not exotic. I decided my foot hurt too much to go out and about today. I hobbled back to the Hotel and rested in bed. Ken went to find the back-up device.
Overall in was not a fun day.
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To keep things positive I will tell you about the most intriguing shower system we have had while traveling in Europe. It is right here in our Hotel room in the Coellner Hof.
If you look at the picture you will notice there are three shower heads - the big rain shower head, the smaller wand type shower head appearing to be attached to the main shower head and finally the smallest shower head off on its own, looking like a microphone for you singing in the shower type people. That smallest head is operated down below so it would likely be used for rinsing your hair while taking a bath. The rain shower head is wonderful and really covers you in water. The attached medium sized head can be used to direct water where you want it. The trio has not been matched yet. If ever we build a house they will have to accompany our bathtub plans.
Friday, July 17, 2015
I decide to go with Ken today. He will still be looking for back-up devices for our pictures, etc. My foot feels a little better from the rest I have been giving it and all the icing. I do not want to stay in the room by myself again today. Not fun.
We take the trains and trams to different areas of Cologne. There is not much really old architecture left in the city. Luckily many of the balustrades (about 24) and the huge downtown church made it through the bombing of World War II. Actually the Dom (the big church) needed extensive restorations seventy years ago. There are pictures behind glass outside the church showing the devastation. The first time I saw those pictures I was brought to tears.
The city looks rather like other big cities. There are more places with dedicated walking plazas then you would see in North America. We went into small to large geek spots or computer stories. One reminded me of Future Shop. That is where Ken ended up making his purchases.
I would leave Ken be and visit nearby stores more geared to my interests. I did notice that when they have sales on clothing, it is very much discounted to get rid of the merchandise. One place I looked was a custom made furniture shop. Bright colours and lush fabrics, both a consideration for a couch in a future home. They had unusual styles that were romanic and suited what I envision.
While looking for the computer devices I found a sports shop that sold Teva sport sandals for women. I was hoping for a pair of either grey or black sandals in a style I like. They had them plus when I asked about sale prices the English speaking clerk accommodated with the lowest price he could find them for on the internet. My feet might be back in business again. These grey Tevas are cushy soft, a treat for the feet. I decide to wear them right then and there. I have a purple and an orange pair exactly the same packed away somewhere in Canada. I know they will be take care of my feet better then the ballet flats I have been tortured with for the past seven to eight weeks.
After another salad and bun-wich up in our hotel room we decide to go for a walk in the neighborhood. Once thing we noticed is that occasionally we would see an old building amongst the newer buildings. Our best guess is that a few buildings remained intact after the bomb attacks of WWII. Odd thing to think about but here it was such a horrendous reality.
On a lighter note, we walked down by the Rhine River and saw large scale boats full of party-goers enjoying a Friday nights cruise.
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| Yes, this is a picture of someone walking their pig. |
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| Hotel Coellner Hof, Koln Germany |
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Wow, did we sleep in.
Oh well, we do not do that very often so we are allowed. It seems to depend on our room or maybe the city we are in but some places seem to lend themselves to sleeping later in the morning or not.
Ken very nicely said he would escort me to the Museum Ludwig if I could find my own way back. This is a cause for some anxiety because he is usually the one to navigate us through the countries and through the cities we visit. He again shows me how to make an off-line map on Google of the area I will need. Then he showed me how to find the different modes of transportation from the hotel to the museum and how to slide through them to find what I want. He is patient because if I get flustered I become a poor student. I navigate us to the Dom or giant cathedral by the train station to get practice. We have to eat before continuing as it is lunch time already, so a type of Noodle Box is our lunch spot of choice.
I decide on a Museum Card as this entrance fee gets you into two museums in two days and also pays for your transportation, e.g. train, tram, etc. We check out the museum shop for hints of what will be in the main museum, then Ken is off. He actually offered to come get me if I can not find my own way home.
The museum is relatively new and modern. The art from another era pops out from the white walls. There are floor to ceiling signs that tell about the art in certain designated areas, thankfully they have been thoughtful enough to have the signs in both German and English. I go into the first gallery not really knowing what to expect, having heard of only a few of the names that were mentioned in brochures (many of which were in German).
I was totally blown away by the art at the Ludwig, especially the Expressionism art. It was colourful. The colours were so dynamic, the images stylized and dynamic. One of the artists I had heard of from this group was Marc Chagall. I am a more realism oriented artist so was surprised that I was so taken by Expressionism.
Liking realism I the art that was titled The New Objectivity also took my by surprise, the quality was amazing - Otto Dix being one of the artists. I remember taking about him in an art history course, first year university.
Another group of artists was the Cologne Progressives which included artists like Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee.
There was more than one room or gallery dedicated to the art of one artist - Bernard Schultze (1915 - 2005) who was a leading exponent of gestural abstract painting in Europe.
After this gallery I was tired. I had definitely not lost interest but knew my interest was waining. How could I run out of steam with all this amazing art to take in? Some of the amazing artists were: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Pablo Picasso to name a few.
I was slowly, then quickly running out of battery power with my iPhone. It made me wish I had brought a charging device or one of my two digital cameras. I did not know for sure that I would be able to take pictures in the gallery. I asked and pictures were allowed, just do not use your flash. I always like to ask and respect the wishes of the gallery.
By the end of the afternoon, my gallery experience was much longer than I had imagined, I headed off to the train station and back to the hotel. My navigation skills are still intact. I did get lost once but realize that where I was did not look familiar. I got out my trust Google Maps and yup, I was going the wrong way.
I should have taken water to the gallery as I was very thirsty once I realized it was time to go.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
This is the day of our 29th wedding anniversary!
Wow, how time flies when you are having fun.
We had a nice breakfast in our room with Ken going for chocolate croissants as an anniversary treat. He escorted me to one of Colognes premier art galleries - Wallraf-Richartz Museum. Ken escorted me there, but had me actually using Google Maps to navigate, figuring out the train routes and platform numbers, etc. That way I could find my own way back and he could continue with what he was doing back at the hotel.
This art gallery was not very old, at least compared to galleries I had visited in Den Hague, NL. It had clean, modern lines. The entrance inside was very spacious with a gallery shop off to the side. Ken and I visited the shop. Sometimes that gives you clues as to what to expect in the gallery - not really a give away for this gallery. I used the Museum Card I had purchased yesterday as my entrance fee.
There were three floors of amazing art. Each floor was divided into smaller rooms or galleries. When I entered each gallery I would read the almost floor to ceiling size sign (German and in English) describing the art from that era or gallery. Some of the paintings had longer descriptions I started with the floor that had religious art. To be honest I had never been a religious art fan, I think it might have been that I never gave it a chance and really knew little about it. This art was colourful and painted with a masters precision. It was all about the etherial and had little to do with life of the common man. Actually at the time of painting much of this art, these painting were not counted as art but were part of the religious culture of the time. They were more teaching tools.
In this post I do not want to tell about every era or every little gallery. I will touch on some what most interested me. I entered one gallery which was passed most of the main religious art and there was a painting called, "The Light of the World" by Gerrad van Honthorst painted in 1622. Actually it might have been called "The Adoration of the Shepherds". I felt very privilege to be able to see such a world reknown Christmas time painting, often seen on card, etc. After gallery upon gallery of centuries old art you were slowly taken into more recent centuries with artists such as Auguste Rodin, Van Gogh and Claude Monet. Paul Cezanne's "Still Life with Pears" really drew me in and I could not stop looking at it. An artist that painted in a similar style to Monet was Paul Signac and several of his paintings did the same thing to me. I was mesmerized.
At the end of the museum tour I went off, by myself, and headed back to the Hotel and Kenneth. I did not have any hesitation on where to go or how to get back. Our anniversary supper awaited and off we went. Ken had done some scouting about and found an area of restaurant. We chose an Italian place with pizza as our entree. Not, perhaps a particularly expensive place but it will be a memorable supper.
Monday, July 20, 2015
The day was started by packing up our clothing and computer gear so we could move on to Marburg, Germany.
When we first decided that we had to go to Germany we though we could do the same thing as in Holland. it was thought that we could have a home base then take day trips to other communities in the region. Germany seems to be too expansive of a country to do this sort of traveling. We received suggestions from good friends who have traveled recently in Germany, one even lived in Germany, on where to go that is near the Rhine River. These places were all too far from Cologne and then when we checked out our next destination of Marburg. Day trips from there did not seem feasible to places we wanted to go to. After coming to the realization that day excursions would not work. We decided that Marburg had enough things to do that would hold our interest. We could decide from there where to go next. We have become a bit leis faire about booking rooms with lots of lead time. We booked last night but the B&B place did not get back to us to confirm until we were away from the Colne Has Hotel. Cutting it a bit fine did not seem to really affect us and were off to our next destination without a place to stay - homeless.
We caught a highway bus to Marburg. In Canada and the US you go to a bus depot and sit around waiting for your bus to arrive. Not in Germany. You catch your bus in a specified area on the street just like a city bus. Your plumbing is port-a-potties. We bought tickets on-line for our approximately three hour trip to Marburg. The bus driver has a tablet and confirms your booking before you enter the bus. Our particular bus driver was a smoker and every time we stopped, he had a smoke. I know, none of my business, and truly I agree, but this fellow coughed for a considerable amount of time, every time after he smoked. His coughing affected his driving.
Once in Marburg we walked with our four heavy bags from the drop off point to where we would be staying for the next few days.
We walked through a park, passed a University, over a bridge where produce was being sold and into a regular family neighborhoods. The houses were tall, rather Tudor looking with lots of windows that appeared to open. The roofs had a steep pitch on them. The houses were mostly rather old looking, well kept, just of an older vintage.
Our little apartment was well set up for cooking as well as sleeping - fully stocked kitchen (with dishes, pots and even some condiments). It had a sink, huge toaster oven, small fridge with freezer and a counter top gas range. There were two bedrooms but there were tables, with couches, set up like sitting rooms, as well. Linen was supplied.
After a hardy supper we went on a walk to the downtown. It was fairly amazing and we were so glad to have come to this city of about 77,000 inhabitatnts. Thank you Andrew for your most welcome suggestion of the city of Marburg.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Marburg, Germany has many well preserved medieval homes (Gothic/Romantic). Most of the actual houses are timber framed reminiscent of Tudor style homes. They have unique little flourishes like turrets out the side, unique plaster work or some hand painted trim, etc. On top of a hill sits a Gothic castle called Marburger Schloss. There are big and small medieval churches scattered throughout the city. The River Lahn runs through the city with parks and shade walking paths along the River's side.
The windy, cobbled streets feature many pubs and open air cafes for your enjoyment. The first Protestant university in Europe was founded in Marburg and it remains a university town (Philipps University of Marburg). Marburg is well preserved because it was not bombed during the World Wars. Its buildings served as hospitals for the sick and wounded during that time.
It is a climb up to the main square so a public elevator is provided. Even pedestrians and their bikes go up in the two elevators. The market squares main building is the town hall from the 16th century which is graced by a clock. Every hour on the hour a amusing sight is there for all to see, a cockerel flaps its somewhat lame wings to the sound of somewhat tinny trumpet. The rest of the well preserved, medieval buildings are also worth the climb up the hill, plus a fountain graces the middle of the square.
On up higher on the hill we climbed to the Lutheran Parish church of St. Mary. Here we took a self guided tour of St. Mary's in all its Gothic glory including the characteristic leaning steeple. It was filled with gloriously, haunting organ music when we were lucky enough to visit.
Then we were on our way further up the hill, our final destination being Castle of the Landgrave Landgrafenschloss (Marburger Schloss). By this time is was really warming up. We noticed it likely because we were climbing a hill in late morning. Ken cooled himself off at a well placed fountain, a brass wild boor head. We had a great view of the city and surrounding countryside from the well placed castle on the hill. We could see the Kaiser-Wilheim-Turm/"Spiegelslustturm" off in the distance, placed on another mountain. I mention it because it was the tower that inspired the pictures for the tale of Rapunzel. Keep in mind that the Brothers Grimm wrote some of their tales here and lived in Marburg in the early 1800's.
Inside the castle is an art gallery/medieval museum. In the gallery part of the castle was a fine display of the art of Reinhard Schmidhagen 1914 - 1945. He appeared to specialize in portraits both done in paint or in wood cut prints.
The crafts people of Marburg specialized in ceramics and there was a huge display of the variety of styles done over the many years. As you can imagine walking around in a castle would be very interesting, even one that had been restored. There were spiral stair cases taking you from one floor to the next. The rest of the building was a city museum taking you through the years displaying a wide variety of wares depending on the time in history. The pictures will give you a good idea what is displayed. To name a few thing things, and this is displayed over several floor - clothing and tapestries, furniture, portraits from other ereas, religious artifacts, especially those taken when medieval churches were restored, etc. One floor was dedicated to armaments such as suits of armour and swords, old guns, etc. It was one of those places when your tour is over you think, "oh, I am hungry, how did I not realize it was 3:00 in the afternoon and I forgot to eat lunch". We went home and ate.
Later on we walked by the river and ended up at the campground. We wanted to get some idea of a campground in Germany. Nice rigs, not as big as in North America, in fact some people had tents. Lots of families were camping with kids and dogs and having fun. Great thing to do on a hot day in July!
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
We started off the morning with another hardy breakfast. One does get sick of the usual granola, which normally is a great breakfast in a hotel without a kitchen. We cooked up potato wedges, veggie bratwurst sausage and a hard boiled egg, along with the mandatory coffee - yum! It was realized that we are leaving Marburg tomorrow and we must either take our dirty laundry in our luggage or wash it today. Hans, the B&B owner was happy to show us how to program the Bosch washing machine and then the Miele dryer, both good quality German made machines.
While the wash was in progress we decide to walk passed downtown Marburg to St. Elizabeth Church. According to Wikipedia St Elizabeth's was on of the earlist, purely Gothic churches in German speaking areas. Its sandstone blocks are set out in a cruciform layout. It was started in 1235, although it was consecrated in 1263 the towers were not finished until 1340. We took photo of the outside but looked through glass doors on the inside. We did not enter through the glass doors. The glorious stained glass windows tell the story of the good works of St. Elizabeth. It is now and has been for many years a Protestant church.
We crossed the street to find shade and found the cover of trees. Two wonderful pieces of public art were right there in front of us. Bronze horse heads coming out of what looked like rounded topped home heating oil tanks. The oil tank looking pieces where there to represent the bodies of the horse heads. The heads were very natural looking in size and stature.
Up the hill was another little, very old looking church called Michelchen Chapel. One grave stone I read was from 1674. Such history in this city. We have nothing to compare it to in Canada. We walked up near the castle from yesterday and to the huge garden, mostly roses - Freilichtbuhne Schloss Park. The rose garden was memorable with a big, brass, modern fountain in the middle of it.
We walked by the river, across several bridges and through parks. I saw the largest Gingko tree I had ever seen, being that it was very tall with a thick trunk.
We walked home for lunch and for changing over the wash. I had a nap then we went out and walked some more. It is rather odd coming to a city and having such a short time to enjoy all that it has to offer. I had wanted to walk less today because from all the walking I did yesterday, even in my new sandals I had sore feet again. We walked about fifteen kilometres today. More than yesterday, ugh! I have to take it easy. Plus it was hot today and again we are not used to the heat.
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| The inspiration for the Grimms' fairy tale 'Rapunzel' |
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
We started off the morning with another hardy breakfast. One does get sick of the usual granola, which normally is a great breakfast in a hotel without a kitchen. We cooked up potato wedges, veggie bratwurst sausage and a hard boiled egg, along with the mandatory coffee - yum! It was realized that we are leaving Marburg tomorrow and we must either take our dirty laundry in our luggage or wash it today. Hans, the B&B owner was happy to show us how to program the Bosch washing machine and then the Miele dryer, both good quality German made machines.
While the wash was in progress we decide to walk passed downtown Marburg to St. Elizabeth Church. According to Wikipedia St Elizabeth's was on of the earlist, purely Gothic churches in German speaking areas. Its sandstone blocks are set out in a cruciform layout. It was started in 1235, although it was consecrated in 1263 the towers were not finished until 1340. We took photo of the outside but looked through glass doors on the inside. We did not enter through the glass doors. The glorious stained glass windows tell the story of the good works of St. Elizabeth. It is now and has been for many years a Protestant church.
We crossed the street to find shade and found the cover of trees. Two wonderful pieces of public art were right there in front of us. Bronze horse heads coming out of what looked like rounded topped home heating oil tanks. The oil tank looking pieces where there to represent the bodies of the horse heads. The heads were very natural looking in size and stature.
Up the hill was another little, very old looking church called Michelchen Chapel. One grave stone I read was from 1674. Such history in this city. We have nothing to compare it to in Canada. We walked up near the castle from yesterday and to the huge garden, mostly roses - Freilichtbuhne Schloss Park. The rose garden was memorable with a big, brass, modern fountain in the middle of it.
We walked by the river, across several bridges and through parks. I saw the largest Gingko tree I had ever seen, being that it was very tall with a thick trunk. We walked home for lunch and for changing over the wash. I had a nap then we went out and walked some more. It is rather odd coming to a city and having such a short time to enjoy all that it has to offer. I had wanted to walk less today because from all the walking I did yesterday, even in my new sandals I had sore feet again. We walked about fifteen kilometres today. More than yesterday, ugh! I have to take it easy. Plus it was hot today and again we are not used to the heat.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
We are moving from our well set up apartment in Marburg, Germany to Strasbourg, France. Strasbourg is in northern France, right across the river from Germany. We were smarter than when we arrived in Marburg, this time we took the city bus to the train station instead of walking. Today I still found it a bit taxing because my right foot is again bothering me. Limping itself is tiring and makes you feel old.
At the train station we sat around for at least an hour waiting for our train to arrive. We sat near two bakeries or sandwich bars. Not a bad seating experience. Finally we could not resist any longer and purchased our lunch items. Eating on the train helps the time pass more quickly so we reserved a few goodies for later.
Ken went wondering around after eating to try and find which platform our train would be parked at. He found it, in fact, we were able to go board the train to Frankfurt immediately and choose our second class seats in a great spot with four facing seats. It certainly takes muscles to boost the luggage up above to the overhead shelves. We stayed on this train until we reached Frankfurt, then off the train, down some steps then back up others. The station we were at and the tunnel of stairs smelled, so not a great impression of that place. I already had an image in my mind of what it might be like. As a little girl I had read the book Heidi and this is the city where she was sent to go live with a well off family. Frankfurt will forever remind of Heidi, loved that story.
We were on board our next train, had our luggage secured, in our reserved seats and off to France in a very short time. The train started up and we were facing what I would say is the wrong direction. We just hopped across the aisle to the next seats to face the "correct" way. We went through towns and cities, one of which was Badenbaden. I had a friend from North Bay, Ontario, Sue M, who had just moved from there to North Bay when I had just moved from Moose Jaw to North Bay. I always wondered what it was like. All I saw today was the train station. The whole area was fields of grain, smaller fields than Saskatchewan but similar and there were lush, green rolling hills especially to the east.
We crossed the Rhine River and were in France then in Strasbourg which is almost at the border between the two countries. It was a very important crossing point at one time.
We shlepped our luggage to the Adagio Aparhotel. It is a modern, eight story hotel, not too fancy but clean and efficient with the amenities we like. Amenities like an elevator, air conditoning, kitchenette with microwave, stovetop, fridge/freezer, pots and dishes and our own bathroom/shower.
Tomorrows post will tell a bit about what we saw today in Strasbourg. I will likely have to stay in tomorrow and rest my sore foot. I took off my sandals and noticed that my right foot was swollen. I need to rest my foot and ice it lots tomorrow.
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