Kim Richards

Interview

Fri, 16 May 2008 13:42:53 GMT

Saturday, May 17th, 2008--I'm the author being interviewed. Woohoo! Check it out at :
http://www.eternalpressauthors.blogspot.com/

St. Peter's Church

Wed, 14 May 2008 06:47:43 GMT

St. Peter’s Basilica Salzburg First visit.

I nearly lumped these pictures into those for tomorrow because they are all of the same St. Peter’s Basilica in Salzburg. We took these and then, upon realizing this is the church I wanted to visit the catacombs and cemetery of also, and it was late in the day, decided to come back. We took so many photos the following day, I decided to go on and show these today. They are all from the back of the church, which I believe is Benedictine and the monastery still functioning.

There are a number of pictures of graves in the walls. Forgive my fascination for these things but I’m intrigued by the persons important or rich enough to be buried in the actual church walls or beneath the marble flooring. I’m also very interested in the beauty of the grave stones and markers. It’s not a morbid thing; I have little fear of death anymore and do not find these things creepy at all but rather, peaceful and honorary. I’ve discovered a wealth of heraldic devices in the cemeteries and tombs, which I also have a great interest in.

Today’s pics are here: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%2018%202008/

Tomorrow, I promise there will be a lot more.

Dom St. Rupert

Tue, 13 May 2008 03:47:28 GMT

Dom St. Rupert: Salzburg Cathedral

This church was originally built in 774 a.d by St. Virgil overtop foundations used by St. Rupert. St. Rupert’s relics were moved here at that time. The building structure was damaged by fire and replaced in the 1200’s but burned down from a lightning strike in 1598. The remains were demolished and the current baroque style built by Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich. It took him seven years to complete and he was overthrown near the end. I had to laugh—they sent him to the ‘dungeon’ which are luxury apartments within the cathedral.

Only the dome was damaged during World War II but was restored in 1959 (when the bronze doors were also added). I hear you can see excavations of the old Romanesque style structure foundation stones in the crypt but we did not get to see that.

Inside, this is marble and gold everywhere you look. It has a 4,000 pipe organ; a statue of the Virgin Mary dated from 1771.

The Romanesque font at the back is supposed to have witnessed Mozart’s baptism. His composition, Coronation Mass, was written for this cathedral and performed here for the first time. We did visit Mozart’s family home but were not allowed photos.

The pictures of this cathedral do no justice to the beauty of the paintings and delicacy in the altar lace detail. I love how they paint and gild the ceilings. You can stand underneath and turn in a circle, seeing new things with each movement.

The pictures are here: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%2017%202008/

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Mon, 12 May 2008 02:00:00 GMT

Hohensalzburg Fortress

There are a lot of pictures for this fortress; every single one of them is from the fortress itself. Some are views of the side walls leading up to it, some views across Salzburg from various walls or views down. The scenery up there is breathtaking. It started out a bit chilly in the morning but the hotel staff say we really have had great luck with the weather.

Included are the chapel, a restaurant where we had a cup of coffee, a marionette museum, an organ, telegraph machine, a display of fighting positions, lots of antiques and architecture, some of which is being excavated from existing walls. Weapons and heraldry are from throughout the years. The piles of stones were there to throw over at invaders. There are displays of the fortress layout as it progressed through the years. Where they used to use horses and ropes (you’ll see some of the iron rings imbedded in the stone walls used for this) to bring supplies up, now days is a tram to bring visitors up and down to the fortress. We walked the whole way up and rode it down.

Many of the portraits are of the Archbishops who resided here. The church, among others made money from mining the salt and amber of Salzburg.

Hohensalzburg Fortress was built in 1077 by Archbishop Gebhard. However, the first record of a fortification dates back to Roman times. Prince Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach (1495 to 1519) actually paid for it’s renovation. His heraldry contains a tunip...our guide said because his uncle threw one at him when he was young and hit him in the head.

The only time the Fortess has ever been under attack is in 1525 by rioting miners and farmers. It was fortified and reinforced during the Thirty Years War. During the Napoleonic wars, it was used as a barracks and held Italian prisoners during WWI. Since then it’s become a historical site and tourist attraction.

The pictures are here:

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/Aprl%2016%202008/

Googling Death Masks

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:56:21 GMT

Writers often get told to google their name or their work online. I did this afternoon and here's what I found on Death Masks:

HotFlix.net (showing trailer)
http://www.hotflick.net/videos/Kim_Richards/

For sale at Books on Board

http://www.booksonboard.com/index.php?BODY=browse&BROWSE=horror&m=1

Article at Pretty Scary posted on 4-24-08
http://www.pretty-scary.net/article1657.html

Tomorrow the Germany posts resume.

Sorry for the delay

Fri, 02 May 2008 19:24:15 GMT

I apologize for the lapse in visiting Germany posts. The laptop I was using died and then we had to fly home. It'll take me a couple of days to get the pictures off the other machine and onto this one and recover from the jet lag. Then I'll start posting them again. Thanks!!

Salzburg part One

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:13:16 GMT

Salzburg Day 1

We saw a hot air balloon shaped like an urn at breakfast. We also watched horse drawn carriages pass by and took one on the way back to the hotel after a long day of touring. In part to rest our feet and in part to enjoy the view as he drove us through all of the old area of town. There’s a number of pictures from the carriage as we passed by them.

Dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I had a Chinese Chardonnay/Reisling by ChangU which was very good but the topper was the warm rice wine (a rose) they served us after dessert. I don’t recall if I’ve mentioned this before but most restaurants we’ve been to in Germany and Austria serve you a shot of some kind of alcohol after the meal. At the Greek places, it’s Uzzo. Sometimes Schnapps, others it’s a fruit liquor or amaretto. You have to tell them ahead of time if you don’t want any.

The clown in the picture was very cute. We wondered at first if he were mechanical or a life-sized marionette. When I took his picture, he threw me a box of candy—gummie pizza.

We visited Hohensalzburg and a couple of churches on the same day. I’m going to post those separately over the next few days so the pictures don’t get overwhelming. Especially Hohensalzburg, which contained several museums and a marionette museum besides the normal arms and castle antiquities or architecture.

Salzburg means “salt town”. Throughout Salzburg’s history, the Church and others made money by selling the salt mined here. It’s a beautiful amber or rose colored. It surprised me to find lamps and statues carved of the salt.

We also looked at a lot of items made from the stone, Amber, so I suppose it also is found here in abundance. Useless trivia fact I learned while researching my Amazon women story: amber is the only stone which burns...because it’s made of petrified tree sap. It’s also common to find insects or leaves encased in the stone. I’m glad I knew that before we came here. It made the displays more interesting. We’re beginning to run into places which don’t allow you to take pictures; just so you know what’s up when I talk about something that there aren’t any photos of.

Here’s the pics for today: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%2015%202008/

The last of Innsbruck and the Swarovski Crystal museum

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:21:03 GMT

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These are the last pictures we took in Innsbruck, Austria. The first thirteen are from a visit to the Swarovski Crystal museum. It was interactive in some ways, as you can see by the floor beneath William. The images appeared beneath you as you walked as though clicking on a computer with each step. The giant accordian moved and made sounds, though not music. All the items contained a significant portion of the famous Swarovski Crystals on them. The dance outfit is one Madonna used on stage.

The other pictures are of things we saw around town while walking: statues, architecture, interesting buildings and lots of trying to capture the beauty of the mountains in snow. The pictures don’t do it justice. We had planned to take a ski tram up to the top and back, just to see the scenery but they closed it the day we got there for repairs. Shrug. Oh, well.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Salzburg.

Visiting St. James Cathedral in Innsbruck

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:33:10 GMT

St. James Cathedral in Innsbruck, Austria

Pics are here: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%2013%202008/

St. James Cathedral is a more baroque style church than some of the others. The original was built prior to 1180; it’s first mentioned in a land transfer document of that date which uses the church as a point of reference. This church has survived despite having been burned down, destroyed by earthquake and sustained bomb damage from the second world war. Of the original church there are a few gothic crosses and a painting of the Virgin by Lukas Cranach (1530 a.d.).

Much of what we see today is late 16th and early 17th century work. Silver and gold gilding, marble and colored moulded stuccoing come from then, as does many of the statues, alters (having been donations of orders of brothers or church benefactors), and the pipe organ.

The tomb is of Archduke Maximilian, Grandmaster of the Teutonic Knight Order. I believe it’s bronze, carved wood and marble.

The gorgeous ceiling frescoe artwork is also 17th century by the Asam brothers, who have done numerous frescoes throughout Germany and Bohemia. This is the only one of theirs placed in Austria. The pics I took of a frescoe is St. James battling the Moors.

Interesting enough, there are mention of the bells in writings of 1394, however the current ones installed were cast in 1961, with one remaining from 1846. I love hearing the church bells everywhere we go. Back in Santa Rosa, I hear the recorded ones from the College nearby but these babies put those to shame. They ring with a rich tone which carries over crowd noises and traffic. If you’re close enough, you can feel them reverberate in your bones (it’s a pleasant feeling!). Every hour; it’s so beautiful. In the larger towns we’ve been to with multiple cathedrals, they almost seem to call out to one another and answer. I always want to pause whatever I’m doing and just listen.

Neither of us is minding the snow. It seems fitting here in the Alp mountains.

Schloss Ambras Innsbruck

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:08:10 GMT

Last night we had the opportunity to see a bard in action. Two of them actually. They showed up dressed in black suits and round brimmed hats, carrying carved, polished wood walking sticks. They walked into the restaurant we were eating at and generally took over everyone’s attention. Afterwards, we asked the waitress why they were allowed to do this and she told us these men travel all over Germany. They stop and tell stories for money to pay for their meals and lodging. I couldn’t help people watching during the performance. Some were listening politely, others staring out the window, some enraptured with the tale and some burying their attentions in their menu—especially when the men came around for the coins. A very interesting experience. I wish I could’ve understood his story.

Today’s pics are here: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%2012%202008/

There is so much to see at Schloss Ambras. Armor and paintings; weapons and treasures; architecture and antique books; inlaid wood furniture, chess sets, heraldry and peacocks.
Yeah, I love peacocks...they’re my muse but William is responsible for all the photos of them. It’d been cloudy and cold so when the sun finally came out, they were sunning themselves and let him take their picture.

One of the more curious objects is a pair of boots in which the toes were sewn individually, like a pair of gloves or those socks which were popular in the mid-1970’s. The black and white chessboard is Italian 16th century. The “death as an archer” statue by Hans Leinberger dates to 1520. I wish now I’d bought the little one from the gift shop to put on my desk at home.

On the portraits, there’s one of Vlad IV Tepes (Vlad the Impaler—from Dracula legendry). There’s another of a guy with a wooden pole sticking out of his forehead. It’s a painting of Gregor Baci after an encounter with a lance. There are conflicting stories of whether this happened in tournament or in battle but all report he recovered from his injury. There are also a few portraits of hairy people. It’s a genetic thing which is rare but does happen today.

The armor here is amazing. I tried to get some close up of the engraving detail on some of them. The two samurai armor sets are dated 1580 and once the personal property of Shogun Ieyasau (a man considered to be one of the forefathers of modern Japan). Ambras has a number of oriental art pieces and weaponry pieces. The reason so much weapons and armor survive is due to one of the early Archdukes, Sigmund, collected them.

Not much of the original castle remains due to it’s destruction in 1133. The debris was used to rebuild it so it’s there—sort of. The origin date is unknown but there are manuscripts which mention Ambras in the 10th century ad. As with many of the other castles here, it’s survived war after war, owner after owner with periods of thriving popularity and others of disrepair...which has lost a number of manuscripts, paintings and tapestries to insects and water.

The long hall is called the Spanish Hallway. No one knows why it’s called that but I do see a few names in the castle history which could be Spanish. My guess is perhaps it was created in a Spanish style of the day.

Farewell Tony

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:48:12 GMT

Sam gave this song to me after my attempted suicide in 2001. I use it as my cell phone ringer nowdays. I share it with you now as Tony Richard's memorial service in my hometown is happening now.

Good Charlotte Hold On

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Music Video Codes By Music Jesus.com

HofKirche Innsbruck, Austria

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:02:15 GMT

HofKirche means “Court Church”. We stumbled into this one by deciding to see what the inside of this church looking building looked like. Grin. The statues are very interesting and I learned there were originally to be forty eight but only twenty eight were completed. Some of them are former rulers, others figures of legend (King Arthur). All are part of the great center memorial to Emperor Maxmillian I. Though he is not buried here as he originally planned, the memorial remains because the whole of it is too heavy for the church he actually is buried in. Construction began in 1553. The reliefs on its sides are depicting his life accomplishments (deeds).

As we’re discovering, so many of the castles, city buildings and churches have mixtures of gothic, baroque or renaissance architecture. That just shows the amount of time these places existed in. The baroque influence here came from repairs after an earthquake. HofKirche has a renaissance era organ which they boast is one of five of the most famous in the world. It is the largest renaissance organ to remain undamaged in Austria.

All the marble and gold is mind-boggling; it’s gorgeous, as is the detail in the scroll work, statues and ironwork. Thankfully, people have taken care of these things throughout the ages. 500 years is a long time to gather such precious beauty, protect it and care for it. I, for one, do appreciate their efforts.

Pics are here:

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%2011%202008/

The Zeppelin Museum and heading into Austria

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:48:23 GMT

We stopped at the Zeppelin Museum for a quick tour. We only had an hour before they closed and so didn’t take very many pictures. It surprised me to find out the Zeppelin corporation still exists, though they mainly do construction equipment these days. I also found out we mispronounce the name Zeppelin in America. It’s Zeah-peal-lean (with the accent on the Zeah). Yeah. I got corrected. Blush. We saw a lot of memorabilia and information on the construction of the great air ships...and a swan on the way in.

The rest of the pictures are of the Alps as we passed from Germany into Austria. I believe this section is referred to as the Swabian Alps. The snow covering everything looked beautiful. We stopped in Innsbruck and woke to more snow. Both of us found it fitting to the scenery. Maybe we can take the ski lift tram just to check out the view.

Check them out here: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%2010%202008/

Thanks and continuing the trip

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:48:38 GMT

Thank you to everyone who sent their kind words about Tony. I sat down and wrote him a poem. Guess that's the writer in me. It's sad that the inspiration came from such an awful thing but it's something from my heart to him and the best way I know to tell him I love him.

More about Germany:

Wine Museum and around Meersburg

The last of Meersburg includes a few pictures from around town: hotel family heraldry. It was unclear how long they actually owned this hotel but I got the impression it was for several hundred years. The street gargoyles are great and surprised me to run across them.

They’re situated in the bushes atop a wall with just the sidewalk between them and the road. We were walking along and looked up to see them watching us. LOL!

The other pictures are of a wine museum. The casks don’t look all that big in the pictures but they were enormous. There’s one picture with me standing next to one and the center room cask dwarfs it. The whole place had a sweet, dank scent to it. I wonder if it would be stronger in the summer months. I’ve discovered most of Germany’s wines are white wines so I’ve been trying different ones with dinner. Most are crisp with just a slight dry aftertaste. I’d like to say like a Cabernet Savignon but I don’t know my wines well enough to be certain.

Pictures are here: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%209%202008/l

Forgive my slow steps forward

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:13:59 GMT

Monday morning brought the news of my twenty-one year old nephew's death. I tried to post about him but just couldn't. He's a pretty special guy and we miss him terribly. Please lift my family up in your prayers.

All this vacation and touring around seems frivolous all of the sudden. But I know from experience, the best way to grieve is to find ways to continue living...and so I blog more about Germany.

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%208%202008/

Still in Meersburg on the banks of Lake of Konstance, we also visited the Neues Schloss (New Castle) which has a more baroque design. Construction began in 1710. Inside you see a variety of treasures, antiques and artwork. There’s a few pictures of the inlaid wood design, which continued to be popular for centuries. The chapel is breath-taking and still in use by the Evangelicals. It’s funny how in these chapels and cathedrals, you can be alone in there and yet, you still walk softly and whisper—unwilling to break the peaceful atmosphere.

For over fifty years, Neues Schloss was the seat of power for the Prince-Bishops of Konstance. Since then it’s seen a number of uses from a girl’s school to a local prison, a sailor’s school, a high school for troubled boys, institution for deaf-mutes, barracks for French troops in World War II and now several museums. It’s a very beautiful place.

We did not photograph any of the paintings on the upper levels but did enjoy seeing them. We showed up during the lunch hours and “had” to enjoy a cup of coffee inside the castle before we could peruse the museums. Many of the shops in Germany close for lunch and you just come back. You know what? I actually don’t mind.

Altes Schloss Meersburg Germamy

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:14:23 GMT

Altes Schloss (Meersburg Castle)

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Altes Schloss is in Meersburg. We did quite a bit of sightseeing before taking off for Austria. Altes Schloss means ‘old castle’. And it is indeed very old being Germany’s oldest castle.It dates back to 628 a.d. founded by Merovingian King, Dagobert, who laid the first corner stone. Throughout the years it’s been owned by a famous poet, a philosopher and more.

The castle, overlooking Lake of Konstance was meant for heavy use. It’s survived many attacks. In 1334 when the castle was under siege by Emperor Louis the Bavarian, Bishop Nicholas I of Kenzingen had a secret underground passage dug from the castle to the lake. The 400 miners assigned to the task finished the tunnel in the 14th week of the siege, allowing supplies to be brought in to the castle without Louis’s notice. With the castle able to hold out for such a long time, Louis finally gave up.

Near the tunnel entrance is a dungeon. Known as the “Hole of Fear,” prisoners were lowered into it and left to starve. There are rubbings of carvings found down there.

We took the guided tour and then wandered about on our own for a few hours so there are a lot of pictures. The guard out front told us the entryway used to be a drawbridge. You can see the enormous wheels on the inside, used to raise and lower the bridge.

William pointed out to me the gorgeous inlaid wood designs on the tables and other furniture. The detail is incredible.

Meersburg

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:26:26 GMT

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Here's a few pictures from Meersburg, the last stop we made around Lake of Konstance. I've been giving William a hard time for picking the 'Wild Man' Hotel. LOL. We did eat dinner with a view of the lake at twilight--my favorite time of day. Tomorrow, we're off to Austria. The one castle is the new castle. We visited it as well.

Reichenau Island--Germany

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:54:04 GMT

Today’s pictures are from the second stop at Lake of Konstance: Reichenau Island. Primarily owned by Benedictine Monks, it also served for a time as a Bishop’s retirement. We visited the Reichenau Museum which had a lot of interesting every day items for farming and displays of stuffed animals.

The Benedictines are famous for their illuminated manuscripts and for their wine. For lunch I tried a white wine from the island and a fish from Lake of Konstance. Very enjoyable. The two pictures of the dolls are from the restaurant but we’re seeing them everywhere for sale. I think a doll collector would be in heaven visiting this area.

The picture of the walkway stones I took by accident but decided to include it because everywhere we go the sidewalks and streets are paved this way.

Here’s the pic link: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%205%202008/

Mainau Island

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:18:33 GMT

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Mainau Island is the first stop we made along the Lake of Konstance. It is an island turned into an enormous garden by a nobleman. The church is the main one on the island. Very beautiful. It sprinkled light rain on us but we didn’t mind much.

Had we been there just a month or so later, everything would be in full bloom. There were enough early blossoms to still be enjoyable. I’ve found some flowers I’d like to plant back home but have to find out if I am allowed to bring the seeds back through customs.

Both of us loved the tropical greenhouse with every known type of orchid known to man. Had to laugh at some of the giant trees planted on the island. One of them is an enormous redwood from “the country of California” –so says the English portion of the sign.

Rhinefalls

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:14:28 GMT

My apologies for the few days lapse. We started our actual week of vacation on Saturday but this is the first internet access I've had. Today's pictures are from Saturday, where we visited the Rhinefalls. Germany's largest waterfall. Not so much large as in tall but wide. Gorgeous. I had to try and video parts of it but won't download that just yet. The castle is on the far side of the Rhine River. We walked the entire way around and then ferried back. The sun came out just for our trip at the falls. Yep...someone's looking out for us. Here's the pic link: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%203%202008/

Visiting the Irish Pub and dinner at Lago

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:52:56 GMT

I only have a few pictures for today. We went out to an Irish pub for dinner on Tuesday night and really over did it with a few folks William works with and some guys who said they work for IBM. We ordered pizza from an Italian place across the street, which they delivered to the pub. Hint: don’t order pepperoni pizza in Germany. What you want is salami...otherwise you get pizza covered in various peppers. Mine had several kinds of onion and mushrooms on it, paprika and tomatoes. Really tasty.

We had fun with half time on the futbol (soccer) games on tv. The pub runs a trivia quiz and our team came in second. I think I showed off my age when I knew all the music questions. Geez...one of them was Captain an Tenille! And The Clash. Pphhtt!

I picked up a really good book off the pub shelves. It’s called Crusader by Michael Eisner and I can’t put it down. It’s the story of a Spanish crusader as confessed to his friend/priest. I just have to return it before we leave Germany. Highly recommended.

The pics today are from when we went to dinner last night. You might remember some pictures of a fountain in the center of a pond and some urns on high stands as sculptures that I posted last week. The restaurant is called Lago and overlooks the pond, which I now know is called Unterer See. After the sun set, they turned on blue lights in the fountain and the street lights glittered across the water. Very beautiful. We watched the ducks and plotted our plans for this weekend, when we start the actual week of vacation.

All in all, an extremely pleasant evening. Today’s pics are here:

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%202%202008/

Visiting Burg Hohenzollern

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:09:47 GMT

So, more of our adventures here in Deutschland. Sunday we got up and after breakfast, made our way to a town called Ritter. William heard of a chocolate factory. We indeed found them—Ritter Sport. They’re known for producing their chocolate in little bite sized squares. I thought it interesting that the idea came from Mrs. Ritter but because she didn’t copyright it, after their divorce, Mr. Ritter made his fortune with her idea. Unfortunately the store portion was closed but we did find some at a gas station nearby. Very yummy stuff. The museum portion was very interesting.

While waiting for Ritter Sport to open, we walked through Neue Freunde, a modern art museum sharing the same complex. There were some pieces which toyed with your vision, depending upon where you stood, some steel sculptures and one made entirely of cable ties. I think there’s a picture of that one.

Had to laugh at ourselves though, one particular name plaque was on a blank wall. We both stared at it discussing whether it was supposed to be the white wall itself or if the artwork hadn’t been hung yet. Turns out it belonged to a floor to ceiling panel out in the center of the room. LOL!

The big stop, and the bulk of today’s pictures came from where we spent the entire afternoon. Burg Hohenzollern (Castle). We took a tour just to see the interior parts but once the guide learned we couldn’t understand her, hung around after just to tell us a bit about it. We thanked her profusely.

This version of the castle is the third time it’s been rebuilt. They don’t know when the actual first one was built but there is reference to two knights from there killed in 1061. Around 1423, family disputes over lineage sparked a war which ended in a ten month seige and the complete destruction of the castle. The only thing remaining is St. Michael’s chapel.

The second version came around 1623 and became a retreat during wartime. During the Thirty-Years War it became a military stronghold for the Austrians, after Swedish and Wurttemberg troups lay seige to it for nine months. They starved out the occupants. After that, it cost too much to keep it up an the castle fell into ruin.

The current version is due to Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia who visited his ancestral homeland and fell in love with it. He ordered its reconstruction in 1846. The neat thing is he managed to gather the funds to rebuild it from all the family portions who fought over and destroyed it centuries earlier.

The rest of the pictures speak for themselves. Very beautiful place with a view you want to sit and stare at forever. Someone brought a dog and I loved hearing his barking echo off the inner courtyard walls—imagining that happened so often in this castle’s past. All of the inside photos are courtesy of our guide, who used our inability to speak German to allow us to take them with a wink.

The gown is embroidered with real silver spun into thread. We both loved the stained glass and armor on display. I was very excited to see actual death masks of two of the rulers. What timing with my book titled, Death Masks, due out in less than a week!

William took every opportunity to admire the defenses of the structure. As is typical, there are burials in the chapels (one Catholic and one Protestant) and a small grave yard on the upper levels. With all that said, here’s the picture link. I know you’ll love them.

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/March%2030%202008/

Freiburg and Straussbourg

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:03:31 GMT

Today I want to cover the other pictures posted yesterday which are part of our trip into the Black Forest last Saturday. We stopped in Frieburg because we saw the cathedral spires and both were thirsty. I’m so glad we did.

Frieburg is close to France and Switzerland. The internet tells me it was laid waste in World War II, apparently bombed by accident. We saw a lot of nice architecture but the greatest find was the cathedral.

Munster Urnserer LiebenFrau zu Freiburg means Cathedral of our Beloved Lady. Construction began in 1200 and finished in 1515. It is still in use. There’s a chapel area off limits to tourists where people can go to pray. I was allowed to pray there.

Most of our pictures are very dark because flash on the camera is not allowed. Let me tell you, the majesty and beauty of this cathedral overwhelmed me and I cried at the awe of standing among it. I felt so small in comparison. How could my faith not be stroked when similar faith inspired the creation of this in others? My God, these people worked for 315 years to build this place. I truly felt honored to be one of those lives it has touched.

We drank coffee in a square outside the Munster while I got myself together. Thankfully William isn’t one to make fun of my faith. I appreciate that in him immensely. We watched fat pigeons walk among the people and laughed as little boys chased them. We saw street musicians play solo performances. The first played the accordion and the second, the bassoon.

Then it was off to Strassbourg, where we ate dinner at the Hippopotamus restaurant. Straussbourg (as it is called by the French or Strausborg by the Germans) is on the Rhine River where the Ill river joins it. It borders France and Germany so we actually ate dinner in France. Woohoo!

The waterways and long streets bordered by houses or shops in our pictures are Strassbourg. One of them is of an alligator statue placed in the water. LOL! There are a few cathedral pictures which were taken at night. Don’t confuse those with the Freiburg Munster, those are the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Maybe we can go back at some point and go inside.

The Black Forest and a couple of sights.

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:14:11 GMT

Over the weekend I didn’t have a chance to blog because we both are battling colds and got back to the hotel dead tired. We’re not about to let a few sniffles keep us from seeing as much as we can. The weather both days was gorgeous so I’m certain the fresh air and sunshine HAD to be good for us.

Saturday we drove down to Titisee in the Black Forest. I wanted to check out the area, having both heard of it online and from people here. It was a day in heaven. Snow remained everywhere but the sun shined brightly. We walked around, enjoying all the sights and shops.

This is the place famous for their Cookoo clocks. Yep. We had to get one for our house. You know the cookoo and music will drive Shemay nuts. Poor kitty. The clocks are all hand carved. Other items we saw but didn’t get were lots of dolls, smoking pipes and Christmas ornaments.

William bought for himself a very nice diorama of Camelot’s round table (it has each of the knights and their names on the backs of their respective chairs. Once we’re back in the states I can photograph it.

So, what did I get? A garber’s dream...lots and lots of German trims and laces. Plus some very unique hooks for doublets and bodices. I also picked up some nice buttons to use for our wedding clothes.

We decided to follow the Rhine river back and stopped a few places along the way. At one point, when we went to turn around on some private property road, we saw a little bridge over a stream. There’s a picture of the statue at the entrance. The candles at his base were lit.

We also found ruins of a small keep but when we went to check it out, discovered it surrounded by grape fields and on private property. So the few pictures we have are from the road. I’m dying to know the history of it though. LOL

I think that’s it for today. I’ll talk tomorrow about the cathederal we found and of eating dinner in France. The pics for today and tomorrow are at:

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/March%2029%202008/

I apologize for the lack of titles and descriptions. I'm having problems getting photobucket to accept some of them and gave up.

Museum visit and walking around town

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:29:36 GMT

Thursday 3-27-08

Today there are a number of photos. I didn’t get out until late afternoon, waiting on the rain to stop.

First I went to see that second church. It’s definitely older than the first. There is a stone walkway along on side so I took that hoping to find a way to the interior of the church. No luck but it did bring me across a museum so I followed the wanderings like any kender and checked it out.

The museum is the Bauern Kriegs. The photos I took are all from one floor only. I wasn’t allowed to photograph the paintings, which didn’t surprise me. Most of them were modern art; the earliest about 1914 up to 2008.

So, of the pictures I did take...lots of plate mail armor and pole arm weapons. Farming equipment and little groupings of mannequins showing clothing. I got the impression there must be some kind of farmer or peasant uprising in their history. Will definitely have to do some internet research into it. The museum has a really nice book I’d like to get but it’s 35 euros, which is a little expensive when I can’t read the history inside. Still, I may go back for it.

There are a lot of books. All of them were behind glass so the pictures have some reflection in places. Most of them were late medieval. I think the earliest is 1537. Then some are older from when they began using a printing press. Yep, one of those is on display as well.

Then from a stairwell window, I noticed a huge fountain. Took up the wanderlust again and left the museum in search of it. There’s pictures of it and some sculptures of enormous urns on stilts, plus some trees. Everything looks wintery here with the cloudy day but all the trees and bushes have little buds beginning to unfold.

The sun dipped low and the air became nippy so I wound my way back to the hotel. I did stop in a nice shop to look at the steins and ended up getting a shot glass for a friend. Definitely have to go back for some of their fancy beer glasses.

For dinner we tried a Greek restaurant. Awesome food. Today’s pictures are posted here:

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/March%2027%202008/