Aachen

From Eupen we were only a short distance to Aachen, a town I had always wanted to see but never quite got around to seeing. We got to Aachen by 9 Sunday morning and easily found a parking place on the street just 3 blocks from the main square and cathedral. But the cathedral was in service, so to speak, and not open to visitors until 12:30. So we strolled about (shops were open), bought some of the decadent local gingerbread cookies, and bided our time.

Why Aachen? you ask. Several reasons. Aachen (aka Aix-la-Chappelle) was Charlemagne's capital; the "father of Europe," he who battled the Moors in Spain and who conquered and unified much of Europe late in the 8th century. The Aachen cathedral is also the oldest around in this part of the world, dating from 800, and it is widely regarded as the beginning of truly European art and architecture; the Carolingian Renaissance. Its central structure was Charlemagne's royal chapel, copied very closely on what he and his artistic advisors had seen at San Vitale in Ravenna. So we had to see it.

But first, Aachen's Rathaus...

The right tower of which is thought to have included (up to

13m), part of Charlemagne's great hall and throne room

The cathedral itself, although relatively small, is difficult to
see and photograph

The brass model helps; it's the central dome that is of chief

interest, being the oldest (although the rest is pretty old too);
the tower and choir are later add-ons; truly a hodge-podge, but
an understandable one

In a 2009 excavation, two large wooden pegs were found in

the cathedral's foundations; dendrochronology showed them

to be from c. 781

Inside the dome; very similar in lay-out to San Vitale; mosaic

and gold everywhere; but little of the mosaic is more than

geometric design...almost more Islamic than Christian; see our
posts from June 27, 2011, or search vitale

Later Medieval windows near the altar

Altar; lots of gold; Pantokrator and 4 evangelists

Mosaic over the altar area; no Pantokrator!

More mosaic designs; no Bible stories going on here; could
just as well be Islamic...

This mosaic by the entrance was of great interest...Roman-

looking figures, all of them Roman river gods...Tigris,

Eurphrates, etc.

Pulpit of Emperor Henry II; (looks gold but is
actually copper); 13th

12th century chandelier, a gift of Frederick Barbarossa, whose

coronation occurred in Aachen, as did those of most of the

Holy Roman Emperors

In the narthex, a She-wolf, 2nd century

Eupen (Belgium)

So from Bernkastel we headed further north toward our last two goals for Germany on this trip: Aachen and Cologne. But Belgium got in the way, at least long enough for us to find another interesting camperstop. It was in the Parc Naturelle National Hautes Fagnes-Eifel Raerenwald; or somesuch. I construed it to be the Belgian Grand Canyon, with Hoover Dam and Lake Mead to boot.

The usual mixture...Belgian, Dutch, German, French, GB, Montana

The dam (from the main resort hotel, which was catering one tour bus group from 
the UK of GB; otherwise closed (in mid-July))

Grand Canyon

Lake Mead

Of interest to me was the climbing tower at the resort, also 
closed, which must surely be one of the tallest such in the 
world; seriously

The kiddie side at the bottom

Bernkastel, Germany, 2011

We drove the Moselle several miles before coming to our goal of Bernkastel. The camper parking was across the river in Kues, but that afforded us a pleasant walk along the river and then the bridge to one of Germany's better known wine villages. We had visited Bernkastel before, in 1989 with Rachel and Rebecca, and other times too. In 1989, we made a special trip to Zell for Rachel to see the Zeller Black Cat. I think she may still have a Zeller Schwartze Katz bottle (empty). At Bernkastel, I bought a bottle of Bernkasteler Doktor, an auslese, as I recall. It did not travel well, but the suitcase had a very pleasant odor for the rest of its days. I bought another bottle this time, and, hopefully, it will not have to travel all that far.

Castle above the Moselle and Bernkastel

The tower towering over the little village
church

Main square Bernkastel

Panning around

Ditto

Enlarge and look for four acres cordoned off, just left of
upper center; that's where Bernkasteler Doktor grows (as I
recall; there used to be little red flags)

Kues was Nicholas of Cusa's home town; here's a reminder
of him on the bridge

A Renaissance philosopher and humanist of note, he founded
this hospice in Kues in the 15th century or so; we last saw
Nicholas at his tomb/shrine, you will recall, at the St. Peter
in Vincula church in Rome; you do remember?!

Neumagen-Dhron, Germany

Up over a hill and there before you, a bit east of Trier, 

is a graceful bend of the Moselle; and vineyards everywhere

They do the rose thing here, as in Bordeaux, but only every

30 rows or so, and with a religious shrine, of course

And in three glasses is three times as much

truth, as the t-shirt in Beaune said

We stopped for lunch in Neumagen-Dhron, but mainly to walk

the town and see this wonderful sculpture of a Roman wine

boat on the Moselle

Lots of Roman bits and pieces, generally 2nd

or 3rd centuries (we're a good bit west of the

Rhine); here a road mile-marker

And many beautiful old buildings; many of

them re-built, one assumes, after the war

Hornbach Stellplatz

We left the vineyards around Colmar and drove on north and east. Our goal in all this, as Alert Readers already know, is to get to Amsterdam and to put the Grey Wanderer in storage there while we are back in the States for Rachel's wedding and then helping out with our new granddaughter Penelope. But I digress. After a horrific traffic jam near Strasbourg and the crossing of some small mountains, we found ourselves alternating between "La Marseillaise" and "Deutchland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," somehow entertaining visions of Paul Henreid in Casablanca and Kenneth Mars in The Producers. Two of the defining movies of my life.

We thought about over-nighting in one of the Maginot Line

visitor parking lots, but they didn't really seem all that

inviting, however deserted; so we drove on, surmounting a

crest, and finding ourselves back in Germany, which we last

saw way back in maybe July of 2010, and May of 2009
before that; we visited one of the many Maginot Line sites
in 1989; or so

In the village of Hornbach, just over the border, via some good

signage, we found what turned out to be a brand new

municipal Stellplatz (German for camperstop); room for

perhaps 8 or 9 vehicles, very attractively appointed,

landscaped, and with all the amenities; 5 euros; this in a

village of 1200

It was so restful we were tempted to stay for more than the
night; plus there were close-enough-to-ripe blackberries nearby

Electricity, water, sanitary facilities, a euro

each; also direct phone to information, police

and fire

Dining facility

Cooking shelter

And the adjoining community playground was also

impressive

OK, I admit I am impressionable

Even a zip-line

Colmar's Musee Unterlinden

Alsace has been a contested place for centuries. The place names say it all: Musee Unterlinden. There is hardly a more German word than unterlinden. Unter den Linden...the great boulevard of Berlin.

Boulevard.... Language is contested ground too, and Europe is a most interesting place to observe it. So much diversity, so much proximity of historically different languages and cultures, so much communication and intermingling as never before. English is the new lingua franca, I like to say.

The Musee Unterlinden in Colmar is a wonderful little museum, part local history, decorative and fine art, weapons and military matters, music and musical instruments, wine-making, and more. It is one of the more enjoyable "local" museums we have visited.

Giant wine barrels

There are many fine paintings, including this,

said to be France's only Cranach, his Lutheran

allegory Melancholie

But this museum's surpassing masterpiece is Matthias Grunewald's Isenheim 
altarpiece, seen here from above; it takes an entire hall to display its many parts; 
Schongauer's pupils, would-be pupils, and admirers included Durer and

Michaelangelo, among others

One side panel depicting events in the life of Jesus

Crucifixion

A model of the massive polyptych

Annunciation

Sculpture centerpiece

Alas, the Hell/nasty creatures panel was getting a cleaning

Cute and cuddly 15th century nightmare

But there were other things to see; here a glass harmonica, one of only a few 
thousand known, invented by one Benjamin Franklin, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Jesus float from the Easter Parade