Cruising on the Rhine: Other Interesting Sights
Aline writes: You might think that Germany is all food and churches, and you would be right! No, just kidding. There were many other fascinating things, as you can see below. For our final installment on our Germany cruise, here is a miscellany of various sights.
Roman Ruins
Since we have seen so much evidence of the Romans in Britain, it was fun to look for them in Germany too. We found them in Cologne, in these remains of the original city wall,
and also in the small town of Boppard, where monastery walls were built on top of the roman city walls.
Eberbach Monastery
This monastery was home to the Cistercian monks in the 12th century, where they built an enormous church, made wine, etc. This first picture is the monk's dormitory - windows with no glass. Brrrr.
This is where the movie The Name of the Rose was filmed for you movie buffs.
Heidelberg Castle
Built between the 13th and 17th centuries, Heidelberg castle is now mostly in ruins due to the 30 Years’ War. We had fun tromping around on the ice - it was quite treacherous for us Californians.
The view of Heidelberg from the castle was very nice.
Statue of Wilhelm I
In Koblenz, this statue of Wilhelm I is at the junction of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. Thanks to Allied bombs, it was destroyed during WWII; in fact, there are pictures of it hanging upside down where it was left for almost a year (according to our guide, to make a point to the Germans). The statue mysteriously disappeared, and was replaced with a copy in 1993. The rumor was that the original statue was stolen by an enterprising German salvage yard.
In fact, the original head was found in a local salvage yard and put in the town museum.
Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Museum
This was a fabulous collection of mechanical instruments, including this instrument that actually plays violins as well as the other instruments needed for an orchestra. According to our guide, these were developed so that music hall owners wouldn’t have to pay an orchestra.
This was beautiful, especially when the figures move to the music.
This one was just creepy.
Roman Ruins
Since we have seen so much evidence of the Romans in Britain, it was fun to look for them in Germany too. We found them in Cologne, in these remains of the original city wall,
and also in the small town of Boppard, where monastery walls were built on top of the roman city walls.
Eberbach Monastery
This monastery was home to the Cistercian monks in the 12th century, where they built an enormous church, made wine, etc. This first picture is the monk's dormitory - windows with no glass. Brrrr.
This is where the movie The Name of the Rose was filmed for you movie buffs.
Heidelberg Castle
Built between the 13th and 17th centuries, Heidelberg castle is now mostly in ruins due to the 30 Years’ War. We had fun tromping around on the ice - it was quite treacherous for us Californians.
The view of Heidelberg from the castle was very nice.
Statue of Wilhelm I
In Koblenz, this statue of Wilhelm I is at the junction of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. Thanks to Allied bombs, it was destroyed during WWII; in fact, there are pictures of it hanging upside down where it was left for almost a year (according to our guide, to make a point to the Germans). The statue mysteriously disappeared, and was replaced with a copy in 1993. The rumor was that the original statue was stolen by an enterprising German salvage yard.
In fact, the original head was found in a local salvage yard and put in the town museum.
Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Museum
This was a fabulous collection of mechanical instruments, including this instrument that actually plays violins as well as the other instruments needed for an orchestra. According to our guide, these were developed so that music hall owners wouldn’t have to pay an orchestra.
This was beautiful, especially when the figures move to the music.
This one was just creepy.
posted by Bill | 10:15 PM
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