Les Allemands

After a delightful stay in Belgium, on Wednesday morning we hit the road early for Germany. Unfortunately the road hit us back. Just outside Liège we got ensnarled in a three-hour traffic jam caused by an unexplained closure of a small section of the autoroute. Thus we spent our morning and some of our afternoon. We had planned to see Aachen and Cologne today and Trier tomorrow, but Aachen was all the time we had today. But it was a lovely city and worth a day. It was all decked out for Christmas (the Europeans rush the season just like we do), and we sampled their Printen (gingerbread) and Bratwurst (not necessarily a Christmas food, but it put me in a festive mood).

Our main target in Aachen was Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel. Charlemagne was the inventor of Europe. He was a Frankish king who conquered most of Western Europe and was designated by the Pope to be the Holy Roman Emperor. Both France and Germany claim him as the father of their respective countries. Besides being a political giant, his influence sparked a renaissance of learning and culture that amounted to the birth of northwestern European civilization. The octagonal chapel is the only part of his cathedral that remains, but it has been integrated into the current Aachen cathedral. Designed by Odo of Metz, who oversaw its building between 792 and 805, it remains a stunning remnant of Charlemagne's glory. The Emperor's remains are still there.

After Aachen we drove to the charming village of Bad Münstereifel. I don't know why they call it that. I don't think it's a Bad Münstereifel; actually it's quite a Good Münstereifel. I told that joke to Evelyn and Vaughn at least thirteen times while we were there, but they never seemed to think it was as funny as I did. Maybe you will. It works best if you imagine me saying it with a German accent.

Anyway, we rented a house in Bad Münstereifel for two nights. The area is more mountainous than you would expect in this part of Germany, and our house is out in the country (our landlord raises sheep and chickens). By the time we got there on Wednesday it was dark, but the next morning, in spite of a hard frost, we got up and went for a walk up into and around the mountains and forest. It was about what you'd expect from a mountain village in Germany. Here are a few photos.

Our day trip into Cologne focused on the great cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, with the second tallest spires and the largest façade of any church in the world. Begun in 1248, it was left unfinished when building halted in 1473. In the 19th century the Germans recommenced work on it as part of their reborn nationalism, and it was finally finished according to the original plan in 1880, nine years after German reunification. In World War II the Allies almost wrecked it, and it has been under renovation ever since. If Germany can have a few more years of peace, they might even get to polish it up the way the French have theirs.

 Cologne Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, who in olden days was one of the Electors of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany. We found out that in the Middle Ages the cathedral received a number of relics of the Magi, or Wise Men. Since the Magi were the very models of the medieval major monarchs, it gave the cathedral immense prestige, and was one reason why the Archbishop of Cologne was considered the equal of other rulers and potentates in Germany.

We visited the Cathedral Treasure and saw, among other things, two links from the chains of St. Peter. But the French Revolutionary Army pillaged or destroyed the relics of the Magi when they occupied Cologne in the 1790s. Those French. Tsk.














While there I made sure to track down and photograph the Dichterliebe sites. All you Schumann/Heine fans (both of you) should be delighted:

Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome

Da spiegelt sich in dem Well'n

Mit seinem grossen Dome

Das grosse heilige Köln.

(In the Rhine, in the holy river

Reflected in the waves,

With its great cathedral

The great holy Cologne)

Es schweben Blumen und Eng'lein
Um unsre liebe Frau
Die Augen, die Lippen, die Wänglein
Die gleichen der Liebsten genau.

(Flowers and cherubs
Float around Our Dear Lady
The eyes, the lips, the little cheeks
Are exactly like those of my love)

Und holt mir auch zwölf Riesen
Die müssen noch stärker sein
Als wie der starke Christoph
Im Dom zu Köln am Rhein.

(And get me also twelve giants
They must each be stronger
Than the strong St. Christopher
In the Cathedral at Cologne on the Rhine)

We managed to get back to Bad Münstereifel in time to visit the old walled city before dusk. It was a thoroughly girlie German city, with gingerbread, half-timbered houses, a bricked-in stream running through it, and great prices on women's clothing and accessories. It really isn't bad.