Germany Road Trip Day 2

After a good nights rest we headed northwest to visit Kalkriese Museum and Park.

Craig made this great map to show the battlefield area of Kalkriese.

After seeing many battlefields of the American Civil War this was quite different. However since the battle was 2000 years ago it is understandablethat there is still disagreement among experts about what happened when and where.

These are lead sling shot stones for a Roman sling shot. This find, along with a stash of Roman coins, was the first indicator of the the battle.

This is a bell worn around the neck of a donkey. Grass stuffed in the bell allowed archaeologists to date the battle to autumn. It also indicated that the Romans were so apprehensive of making noise that they stufff grass into the bell to muffle its sound

This is a Roman cavalry mask found at Kalkriese.

After spending time at the battlefield we drove back and stopped for lunch at this lovely German restaurant.

We then continues our road trip down the scenic road and arrived at Hermannsdenkmall.

Upon arrival here, suprisingly we were greeted by a heard of plastic blue sheep! Apparently, there are a couple of artists here in Germany who run around placing herds of plastic blue sheep (I guess it was plastic. It looked like plastic) at various notable locations. It's an art project.

Hermannsdenkmahl - Here's a picture of Craig in front of the Hermann Memorial near Detmold, Germany. My American friends may ask "Who the heck was Herman?" Well, his Roman name was Arminius. In 9 AD, Arminius was able to deceive the Roman general Varus into leading three Roman legions into an ambush in the Teutoburg Forest. Most of all three legions were lost. That one battle effectively halted Roman expanision at the Rhein River. So Hermann aka Arminius is a big deal in Germany. So much so that this massive statue was constructed in the late 19th century in an area believed to be the site of the battle. Subsequently , archaeology discovered that the battle actually took place at Kalkriese about 40-50 miles northwest of the memorial.

Externsteine - Large rock formations near Detmold Germany. The Lord has made so meany beautiful and unusual things for us to enjoy!

First we had this photo op for Craig...

and then on to the beautiful and unusual rock formations there.

We concluded the road trip by returning to Berlin after another good nights rest in Bielenfeld. We are enjoyed this road trip through parts of Germany this weekend.

German Road Trip, Part 1

There are so many places in Germany that we have not yet seen, so this weekend we decided to ue our time on a road trip. We left Friday afternoon and drove south to Halle. Our reason to choose this location was that there is a current exhibition of Pompeii at the Halle State Museum of Prehistory. After we arrived and checked into our hotel we found a marvelous pedestrian walk through downtown Halle. We discovered a beautiful town and also learned that this was the birthplace of the composer George Frideric Handel. Of course he is best known for his work The Messiah. This to me is one of the amazing things about living in Germany. Visiting a town and learning this was the home of some famous person. I am easily awestruck by the historical events that surround me.

Here are the photos from Halle


The actual visit to the museum was wonderful. It was disappointing, however, that photography was not allowed inside the museum. We enjoyed the Pompeii exhibits and I actually felt it was better than what we saw in the museum in Naples. Here is the link to the exhibition:

After leaving Halle we drove across Germany and definitely enjoyed the scenery. It was so nice to take a drive not on the autobahns and just feel the beauty of the smaller towns and countryside. We drove through the Harz Mountains I kept my camera ready and took photos as we drove.

Many motorcyclists were also out touring this weekend.

I just love the way so much of the highway was lined with trees!

We didn't go to the town of Blomberg, but we were only 9 KM away and growing up a Bloomberg I took a photo of the sign. It is just too close.

We settled in our hotel in Bielefeld and enjoyed dinner there.

I enjoyed a German dinner of Spargel and Lachsfilet.

Rhodendrons

Craig and I hadn't made it back to the Tiergarten this month so on Wednesday he met me at lunch time and we took a walk though the garden to view and photograph this annual beauty. Here are some of my favorite photos from this years magnificence of beauty here in Berlin!

Wörlitz Gardens

Today, Ascension Day is celebrated as a National holiday in Germany. Even though this is an unfamiliar holiday to me, I cannot deny recognizing the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven is a significant miraculous event in my Christian heritage. I look forward to one day joining Him in heaven and being reunited with loved ones who have gone before me. Since this is a National holiday I enjoyed having the day off work.

Craig and I took the opportunity to drive south of Berlin to Wörlitz Gardens. We drove about an hour south of Berlin to visit this beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was laid out between 1769 and 1773 as one of the first English gardens on the continent. According to the ideals of Duke Leopold III the park would also serve as an educational institution in architecture, gardening and agriculture, therefore large parts were open to the public from the beginning. We had a beautiful day together. We arrived there late morning and decided to have lunch a little early. It was a good choice as we enjoyed lunch in the Grüner Baum Restaurant. We were the first customer and by the time we had our food the room was full.

After lunch we walked over to the Schloss or Palace of Leopold III. The tour was totally in German and since our language skills are still lagging, we didn't get too much out of the tour. the home is beautiful though.

We then spent the next several hours walking through and enjoying the grounds. This park could envelope you for a longer visit. As the afternoon wore on, and our feet became tired, we realized we would love to come again. The water and canals winding through the park set the scene of beauty. We enjoyed the swans on the water, the other outlying buildings, the flowers, especially the rhododendrons, and then the peacocks wandering around. Here is a sampling of this beauty.

Nimes France

On Friday, April 27 we flew from Berlin to Marseille, France. There weren't any non-stop flights so we had to change planes in Munich. We were late getting into Munich and our hope of catching our flight really waned when we realized we were not at a gate, but deplaning onto a bus to transport to the terminal. As we were on the bus waiting to leave, Craig noticed a lady with a sign "Marseille and Naples." We quickly jumped off the bus and learned that Lufthansa had sent a special van to transfer us directly to our connecting flight. Wow! What an unexpected bonus. We were then driven directly to our plane which we boarded ahead of the rest of the passengers. Thank you Lufthansa! We were thrilled with the excellent service. The rest of the flight went smoothly. We picked up our rental car in Marseille and after getting our bearings, drove uneventfully to Nimes and rather easily located out hotel. We were a little disappointed in our hotel as you will see the photo of the condition of the bathroom, but it met our basic needs so it was really OK.

After a night's sleep and a less than thrilling hotel breakfast, we headed out to see Nimes and participate in the Roman Events of the weekend. We drove downtown and found a convenient parking garage. We then walked and toured the Jardin De la Fontaine and learned some early history of this city. It was all beautiful. Then about 10:30 we went back to the Arena and picked up our arm bands with the tickets we had purchased ahead of time and were able to watch all the participants arriving in costume and practicing their formations. We sat and had coffee at a cafe next to the arena and enjoyed the beautiful morning. We then walked back down to the Maison Carree for the Imperial Cult Ceremony in honour of Emperor Hadrian passing through Nîmes. The ceremony is all in Latin with historical explanations given by the "praeco". The majority of traditional rites were observed during the "Imperial ceremonies": invocation, prayer, libation and sacrifice. After the ceremony the Emperor rode in triumphal procession through the city with his legionaries, auxiliaries and Celtic mercenaries, prisoners of war and gladiators. the gladiators were those who will fight in the amphitheatre.

Next we found a nice restaurant and enjoyed lunch. After lunch we went to the Nimes Museum. It was a busy place with additional activities for all the guests in town, but we still were able to see the exhibits.



Next after some more walking around town we went to our car and donned our Roman costumes so we were ready for the 4:30 re-enactment and show at the Arena. We had known that those who wore costumes were to get preferred seating. As we settled into our middle of the area, ringside seating we were then told we had to remove our eyeglasses. They were aparently doing some filming and felt eyeglasses were not authentic to the Roman Period so they had to be removed. We complied and were able to put them back on after the initial entrance so it wasn't too bad. I found it hard to understand why we were allowed to take photographs, because that wasn't exactly authentic to the Roman Period either. The entire show was well done and alot of fun. Oh yes, and it was delightful to sit next to a lovely French family who were totally fluent in English and the man fed me commentary in English throughout the show! All in all it was alot of fun!



Sunday morning, before leaving town we visited the Castellum. This is the location where the water from the aquaduct entered the city. We then drove northeast of Nimes to Point du Gard, a UNESCO Heritage Site, for the Roman Aquaduct that was built 50 KM away to provide water for Nimes. The site and the museum were very well done. We enjoyed this too. We then had lunch and returned to Marseille for our return flight to Berlin. We flew back through Frankfurt and had no more issues. We even had beautiful views from the airplane of the French Alps.

I just love spring in Berlin!!

Back in Berlin we took a walk on Saturday 21 April to check out the signs of spring. First just outside the Brandenburg Gate we came upon a festival as it was honoring unity of Turkey and Germany. The families were out in mass and I had never seen such a crane ride before.

We didn't take the ride, but we did enjoy the American Ice Cream.

And then a walk through the tiergarten revealed the beautiful world this time of year.

And I know my grandson, Reid, would love these big trucks and sandbox area!

I hope everyone is enjoying spring as much as I am. The longer days and the beautiful weather and the flowers blooming are all such examples of the world the Lord has given us!!