Burg Eltz to Wiesbaden (June 22nd)

Today is the day that we all have been looking forward to, and in particular my mother. Today I got to meet my german family. My mom has not seen this part of her family for around 30 years. Her cousins were only kids and teenagers when she last saw them. Now they have greying hair. To make sure that we would look our best, we arrived in Wiesbaden early to get ready. But we were not staying in Wiesbaden but rather in Ruddesheim.

But before that we went to the beautiful castle Burg Eltz. Burg Eltz is a lovely castle that is nestled in a valley. The castle itself is actually a conglomerate of 4 to 5 castles. It started as a family home, and as each son grew up, they added to the castle. This castle is not by any means a fortress. For one thing it is in the center of a valley instead of on a high peak. Secondly the castle has no defensive features and lots of windows. I could tell simply by looking at it that this was a wealthy mans home and not a fortress.

Martina and I walked down to the castle. It was a decent hike down. Going up would be a slight challenge because of the steep incline at times. When we got to the castle, we went on a tour. Our tour guide was a lovely high school student. She did quite well for an English tour. She had a hard time understanding some questions. I assume she knew the tour in English and that was about it. Regardless she was informative and very careful to speak. We went through an armory, chapel, and other various rooms. The main bed chamber has images hidden in the wall paper otherwise known as phallic symbols. So that room was where all of the babies were made. After the tour I went into the treasury. There were various treasures. Some of the things in there appealed to my nature more than my mothers.

Burg Eltz

Nestled in the Valley

Burg Eltz through some foliage

After Burg Eltz we made our way to our hotel in Ruddesheim. Our hotel was in the country on the large hill. We were renting an entire house with two bed rooms, a full kitchen, two living rooms, a huge bathroom, and a large deck. We were all impressed with our accommodations. They were quite nice. This would be our home for the next few days, and our last home before returning to our true home back in the states. My parents were so in love with the house that they thought about buying it and living there for longer.  I could see them really enjoying being in the country.

Then off we went to Wiesbaden and Sonnenburg. When we arrived, there were smiles and tears from my mother and Onkle Gerhardt and family. Right away I met for the first time Onkle Gerhardt and Tante Crystal. Gerhardt is my Oma's brother. Gerhardt and Crystal had 3 sons named Matthias, Andreas, and Thomas. These were my mother's cousins and my second cousins. I have met Matthias and his family a few years back in Wisconsin when they came to visit. Every new person that showed up, my mother started crying again. She spoke to the family in full German. I was impressed. She was able to pick up on all of the jokes. Gerhardt is a funny guy, I just didn't understand the jokes. Gerhardt has a big low bass voice, and he likes to laugh "hoh hoh hohhhh!" I loved it.


Gerhardt lives in the same house that he and my Oma grew up in. He lives on the bottom two floors and his son Andreas lives on the floor above with his family. Matthias lives only a short walk away.  Matthias and Thomas speak probably the best English besides for their children. So I could talk to them, but there were still some things that I said that they did not understand. Gerhardt I think can understand some of what I said, but I relied on my mother to translate for him and to translate what he said to me. I could tell when the family was talking about me and I had a good idea about what, but what exactly was said I did not know.

The family home

Gerhardt grilled up some tasty sausages and these bacon wrapped things. I think they were bacon wrapped dates but I could be wrong. We all ate pretty heartily and talked until it got dark. Everyone was really nice. If I end up studying in Germany, it is good to know that there is family that I could go to when my family will be so far away. I showed pictures to Gerhardt and family of my voice recital. Gerhardt and Matthias have sung in their local choir for a long time and they love music. I think they were impressed with all that I have done with choir and voice. Besides my immediate family, no one on my dad's side of the family, and most on my mom's side of the family have a real appreciation for classical and choral music. In fact, my recital was the first time that my Oma and Opa had heard me sing ever, except for one concert years before. I found that connection with Gerhardt. I guess I know where my love of music comes from. 

Left to Right: Martina, Mom, Dad, Onkle Alfred, ____, and Me

Alfred was married to my Oma's first daughter, and her name was Marion. My mom grew up with Marion and they were like sisters. Alfred therefore has a special place in our hearts. He also started the store Sir Oliver (S. Oliver) in Europe. It is now a major chain in Germany. It is similar to an H&M but better in my opinion. 

Tante Honey, Me and my Mom. Tante Honey was really excited to see my mom. She was not sure if she would ever see Diana (mom) again. This was somebody that my mom really wanted to see on this trip to Germany. 

The family with Tante Honey

My dad with Matthias. He is the one that I met years ago in Wisconsin. 

My mom, Tante Honey, and Thomas

All through the night the beer flowed and conversations became easier. It was late by the time we realized what the time actually was. We said our goodbyes to some of the family as they would not be able to make it any other time of the week. We would return tomorrow to be shown around Wiesbaden by Matthias, Thomas, Andreas, and crew.

The Roman City Trier (June 21th)

The Roman Empire was a vast empire consisting of enormous amounts of land and people. Julius Caesar was one of the first people to conquer the Gallic (Germanic Tribes) of this area.  It is not uncommon to be traveling throughout Europe and find Roman ruins or towns. Trier is a town close to the border of France and is a well known northern Roman city. 

To switch things up today we took the train to Trier instead of driving there. We waited for the train for several minutes. This train ride was my dad's first experience in Europe, so he was pretty excited to try out the train. When we arrived in Trier the first thing that we saw was the Porta Negra (the Black Gate). This gate is the last of the remaining Roman gates into the city. It is the called the Black Gate because of how dark and dirty the stones are.

We began our tour of the city with the dome church. It was a large church complex consisting of the an older romanesque church with a newer gothic church right next door. It was quite a large church I have to admit. Outside the church there was an couple performing opera songs. They did many songs that I knew so I sat and listened. The platz outside of the church was a natural acoustical spot. Sound travelled very easily and could be heard from across the square with clarity.

Romanesque Church

Older Romanesque + New Gothic (right)

Gothic Church

The inside equaled the opulence on the outside.  The altar was definitely something to take notice of. One of the striking features was the organ. The organ did not look like any other organ I have seen before. It looked as if suspended in the air. It was pretty cool. The notable thing about the church was the pilgrims walk. Pilgrims and tourists alike take this walk to see the treasures of the church and the prized possession of the church, the robe of Jesus (the one that we wore, but not the shroud he died in). I am skeptical of most religious relics. I know that back in the day, one could sell relics on the street. There are hundreds of pieces of the cross and the nails of Jesus Christ. As a historian, I desire documentation or factual evidence to prove the authenticity of something. I would like to beleive that the church has the robe that Jesus wore, but I believe that this artifact would not have survived this long, nor is it the one that he wore. How do we really know? Faith.

Organ

View facing the altar

View from above the altar

Inside here is a tomb holding the robes of Jesus Christ

If one were to go into the treasury room, one would come into contact with ornate jeweled bibles, golden staves, and other important Catholic treasures. The one that stood out among the others was St. Andrew's sandal bottom. Yep, its a relic too. 

Cloister

The newer Gothic style church right next door was very modern indeed. The stained glass windows were pretty much new, and the altar looked pretty modern. I thought it was interesting to have the old so close to the new. It is an interesting dynamic going from one space into the other. 

We proceeded onwards to Roman Emperor Constantine's Church. The church is in the Romanesque style and is essentially one massive rectangle. It was enormous inside and out. The two previous churches could fit inside. It was that tall and that open inside. The inside was pretty much austere without decoration. It was rather plain.  Before it became a church, it was the throne room. Nothing like a big throne room to impress. 

Constantine's Church/Throne Room

This picture does not do the size justice. It was larger than it appears. 

As a family we took a brief walk to the Roman Baths. We were running out of time and I wanted to see the museum before we left Trier. So I got a single picture of the baths. Plus one had to pay to get into the complex and we did not feel like doing that at the time.

One of the sites that I was sure to visit was the Archeology Museum so that I can see all of the various Roman artifacts collected over the years. The museum immediately reminded me of the British Museum but on a smaller scale. It focused primarily on the pre-historical Trier through Roman times. When I compare it to the British Museum, I am speaking about the types of things in the museum such as temples and larger architectural structures. Before walking through the museum, which was empty of all people I might add, I was given a audio guide. Sadly the audio guide was pretty much useless. I could only use the audio guide when I entered a room which gave a few sentence summary of what was there. Any other item that I found interesting I could not get any information about. Everything was in German. I should really learn German.  I walked through the museum rather quickly because I could not read about items, and I would only stop and look at things that I thought were interesting. A lot of the stuff was similar in some way.

I have to say that the museum was well laid out and planned. One moved through each room in a specific order. It had a nice flow. Plus I had the museum to myself. As a historian, I am happy to see that these objects were well presented and preserved. It makes me sad when I see historical objects or documents in environments that are not climate or humidity controlled environments. These artifacts will be here for many years to come.

When I was done, we walked back to the train station and hopped on back to the our place on the Mosel. I spent the rest of the night reading and journaling.

Getting in Touch With My Roots (June 20th)

It is about time on this trip that I really get deeper into my roots. Throughout this entire trip I could feel my inner German coming out. My German-American heritage began with two people, my Oma and Opa. They came to America after WWII about 6 weeks before my mother was born. As of January, my mother, my sister, and myself have dual American and German citizenship.  And to understand where I come from, I have to go back to where my grandparents grew up. 

Left to Right: Opa (Gottfried Gold), me, Oma (Irma Baum)

Today I went to Bad Hersfeld. This town was where my Opa grew up. As I walked the streets, I tried to imagine a younger Opa running around and playing in the streets. Opa has told me on several occasions of his memories of Bad Hersfeld. It is very emotional for him to talk about his old home. It has been many many years since he saw his old home town. He was very happy to hear that my mother was bringing my sister and I to where he grew up. 

Bad Hersfeld is a small, quaint little town. The first thing we saw where the castle ruins. At the time when we were there, there was a musical going on within the ruins. The people of Bad Hersfeld have preserved the ruins quite well. I was impressed with what lengths they went to to achieve this goal. Above the ruins they throw up a large tent, but the anchors and ropes for the tent rest just above the ruins and just outside the grounds. 

My mom wanted to show me where my Opa had lived while he lived in the town.

Opa's grade school

Before we left Bad Hersfeld, we went to the grave of my Opa's mother, Anna Rennolet-Gold. I have heard stories about my great Oma. She was quite the lady. She definitely loved to have fun and loved my Opa. It was an emotional experience for my mother. This is the first time she has seen her grave.

We drove from Bad Hersfeld, through a storm, to reach Beilstein. It is a small town on the Mosel River. This town is very touristy, but still less touristy than the other towns around it. My sister and I were in a comfortable room with a small balcony. After we got settled we walked around the very small town, and went to dinner. Being as we are in Riesling Wine county, it seemed only proper to drink the wine. Let me add that this wine was great. 

Our Hotel

Riesling Wine

We are getting ready to be home. We are nearing the end of our trip. But today was a nice relaxing day which was nice to get at this point in the trip. I think we all just needed some time to sit down, read, journal, and relax. Cheers to another great day in Europe in beautiful wine country.