Trains, Planes, Autos, Taxis and Buses--No Ships This Time

We recently returned from a five and one half week trip to Saarbrucken, Germany. Our daughter Carolyn and her family currently live there. She had a new baby and asked us to come and help with the new baby and the five year old and to stay as long as we did. After carefully thinking about it, checking our busy social calendars, etc., which took all of about 5 seconds, we agreed to come.

We first took an auto driven by our son to Phoenix' Sky Harbor airport.

At Sky Harbor we took a Delta Airlines flight to Detroit. We changed planes in Detroit and caught another Delta flight, this time to Frankfurt, Germany,

We caught a regional train at the Frankfurt airport.

Two and one half hours later we found ourselves at the Hauptbahnhof in Saarbrucken, where we caught a taxi to Carolyn's apartment.

While in Saarbrucken we experienced a lot of different weather. We had rain, sleet, snow, hail and the occasional nice day. The photo below was taken from her apartment in late April showing falling snow.

Directly across the street from her apartment is a bus stop. We took a bus from there to go downtown or to Gwen's( our 5 year old grand daughter) kindergarten. There is a bus stop on her side of the street which we took to the Saar Bazaar to do grocery, etc shopping. They do not have a car and this time we did not rent one. Below is a photo of a bus stopping at the across the street stop.

Their apartment is on the third floor. The photo below is taken from their apartment and shows a wisteria vine going to the top of this big tree. Very pretty.

We found this strange creature inhabiting their apartment, shown below. It didn't seem to hurt anybody but did have a good time.

 
The baby, Lucy, was born a few days before we arrived. A good healthy happy baby.
Shown below with The Old Cowboy.

They finally threw us out in the street and we came home--train to Frankfurt, Delta Airlines to Atlanta, change planes and then home per Dean's car from Sky Harbor.

A good time was had by one and all.

Thomas and Maundy Thursday

On Maundy Thursday our three year old grandson, Thomas, spent the morning with us. Some of his activities follow.

The first thing he did was use play dough to make some figures symbolic of Easter.

We had recently finished our taxes and so another year of old records( eight years previous) could be shredded. Tommy loves to use the shredders and turns into "Shred Man" when given the opportunity. Below he is shown using the small shredder.

In another corner of the office is a taller shredder guarded by "Bones" who hangs there when it isn't Halloween. Thomas declared he wasn't scared of the skeleton and played with Bones' feet and then proceeded to to use this shredder.

Grandma hid plastic Easter eggs in the back yard, some of which had treats in them. Then he went for an Easter egg hunt.

After finding the eggs you have to sit down and count them and check and see which are "good" and which are "bad", that is to say which ones have a treat in them.

A good time was had by one and all, particularly Grandma and Grandpa.

The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen

During World War I the Germans built a bridge over the Rhine river near the town of Remagen, which is just a few miles south of Bonn. The purpose of the bridge was to transport troops and supplies to the Western Front. The WWI German General Erich Ludendorff was an advocate of the bridge and the bridge was named for him. The bridge would allow rail traffic from three rail lines to cross the Rhine. At this point the Rhine is about 300 meters wide. On the east side is a village called Erpel and a steep hill rises behind the village called Erpeler Ley, which the Germans cut through with a railway tunnel. On the west side was the town of Remagen, primarily a resort town. The bridge was of steel construction, three spans, 1306 feet long with concrete/brick supporting towers on each end and two piers in the river. Two rail lines and two pedestrian catwalks ran across the bridge. Planks could be laid to cover the rails for vehicular traffic. Three photos are of the bridge at the time of its capture are shown below.

The photo below is of the bridge from the top of Erpeler Ley.

On March 7, 1945 elements of the American 9th Armored Division approached Remagen and were surprised to find that the bridge was still intact. There were 22 vehicular bridges and 28 railroad bridges across the Rhine at the start of WWII; at this time this was the only one still intact. The Germans had rigged it with explosives but most of them failed to detonate. The American combat engineers, under heavy German fire, cut the wires and removed the explosives. Then the Americans began pushing troops, tanks, supplies, artillery and anti-aircaraft artillery across the bridge. The sign on the bridge tower shown below says "Crossing the Rhine with Dry Feet Courtesy of the 9th Armored Division".

The Germans were a bit upset about this, to say the least. The Rhine river was the natural barrier to the invasion of the German heartland. Hitler had several officers executed for their failure to destroy
the bridge.

The Americans put heavy concentrations of antiaircraft weapons on both sides of the bridge. The Luftwaffe threw everything they had left at the bridge with no success; about 30% were shot down. They also tried artillery and even frogmen, all of which were to no avail. The bridge held up for ten days during which time five or six divisions got across and established a bridgehead. On 17 March about 3 PM the bridge collapsed, killing 28 American soldiers. By that time one or two pontoon bridges had been put in place by the engineers, as shown in the photo below.

The bridge was not rebuilt after the war. The photo below shows the remaining towers on the east bank. The Erpeler Ley is behind it.

The towers remaining on the Remagen side  have been turned into a museum. They are on the right edge of the photos below; there is a flag flying on the top of them.

Below is a photo of Remagen on a pleasant spring evening. A far cry from the evening of 71 years ago, 7 March 1945.

There is a lot of information about this bridge and the battle on the internet. There is also a movie called The Bridge at Remagen, made in 1969.

Schloss Rheinfels

Schloss Rheinfels is a castle built on the mid-Rhine river in 1245 AD at the town of St. Goar. The photo shows the castle in the upper right from the town.

This castle was an important fortification and administrative center until 1794 when it was handed over to French Revolutionary soldiers without a fight. The castle and St. Goar are located on the west bank of the Rhine between Bonn and Mainz.

The photo below is taking from the castle looking northeast across the Rhine.

The next photo is taken from the castle looking southeast across the Rhine. The castle that is across the river is known as Castle Katz. It was built by the count in the 14th century. With these two castles the counts could block all river traffic, collect tariffs, etc.

Just south of St. Goar the Rhine narrows and apparently has some shallow spots. This area has a big rocky headland called die Lorelei, which was a dangerous spot for ships and sailors. It has been written and sung about in German folklore and songs for centuries. When ships got past die Lorelei heading north they would often stop at St. Goar and give thanks. Oh, and pay their tariffs, of course.

Schloss Rheinfels is now a massive ruin, open to the public. There is also a hotel there. Below is a photo of their rather handsome conveyance.

The photos below are of the ruins.

Below are some graves in the castle yard.

I'm not sure what this hole was for, it may not be intentional but it gives you an idea of the massiveness of the structure.

 I really like this stairway.

 I see the queen and two princesses on the tower battlement.

A photo from tower/battlement looking northeast.

A princess trying to get into her suit of armor.

If you are in the area I highly recommend Schloss Rheinfels.

Strasbourg Cathedral and la Petite France

Strasbourg is a city in northeast France, located on the Rhine river. At this point the river serves as the boundary between Germany and France. Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsace Lorraine region of France. Strasbourg has been fought over many times and is a center of Franco-German culture.

The central part of the city is called the Grand Ile and is a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Site. Within this area is the Cathedral and la Petite France.

The Cathedral was begun in 1176 AD on the site of a church that burned down. It was completed in 1439. It is a Gothic structure but there are some Romanesque elements. The building and design of the Cathedral were influenced by some master builders from Chartres. Below is a photo of the tower and front of the cathedral seen from a street off the square west of the cathedral. The tower is the 2nd highest of French churches at 442 feet.

 The photo below is of the west facade. As you can see it is very detailed.

The two photos below are of the south side of the cathedral. The flying buttresses really stand out on this building.

The first photo below is of a side aisle and the second is of the nave looking towards the apse.

The stained glass is mostly from the 14th century, but there is some earlier and some as late as the 20th century. During WWII 74 cases of stained glass from this cathedral were sent to a salt mine near Heilbronn, Germany. At the end of the war the glass was returned to Strasbourg by the monuments men. The Cathedral is venerated by both the Germans and the French. Below is a photo of the great west rose window.

There is a square in front of the Cathedral. Many of the buildings are late medieval or renaissance. The photos shown below are of this square.

A short walk west of the cathedral square is an area called la Petite France. This is the section of the old city where the tanners and millers lived. The river Ill splits into four channels that run through la Petite France. Three of them have weirs to allow for water power to be used for milling or other industrial purposes. Most of the buildings in this area are from the 16th or 17th centuries.

In the 13th century at the place where the 4 channels split four towers were built as well as bridges across each of the channels. These were built for defensive purposes; a roof of wood was placed over the bridges and this became known as pons couvert. The roof was removed in 1784 but the name remains. Below is a photo of two of the towers and bridges.

The photos below are of buildings along the channels. Many of them are of half timber construction.

I love the colors of the building in the photo below.

The two photos below show a weir and the buildings along the canal.

Below is a typical street in la Petite France. There are plenty of shops and restaurants in la Petite France. We had a very nice lunch there.

There are many other things to see in Strasbourg. Unfortunately we didn't have time to see more of them.