Melissa's Amusings: May 2014

    We had planned on one more sightseeing excursion for the day before our flight back home. As we were pulling out of the driveway, the dreaded light on the dashboard lit up indicating some kind of radiator leak.We were able to get the car to his town's gas station/mechanic. They were able to figure out the problem, but parts needed to be ordered.
    We had planned on Justin driving us to the airport the next morning and he would need a car for getting to work, so the next issue was to find a car. The car service people were very friendly and helpful; they knew our speaking German was very limited, so they called around for us at the various car rental agencies until they found one that had a car available immediately.
   There was one problem, the only car available was a manual transmission. Justin now had one afternoon to learn how to drive a stick shift on hilly, narrow German roads...nothing like pressure to make you learn fast!! Geoffrey prefers manual/shift cars, so he and Justin went out and practiced. By early evening, they decided that Justin had gotten proficient enough; he was able to start up the car and drive while being parked on a steep hill.
   To relax and get our minds off tomorrow's adventure, we played some games.

This is Geoffrey's favorite game....build your own spaceship and see how it holds up against random attacks.

My spaceships never did very well :-(

May is the the season for weiss spargel (white asparagus) and are so popular that restaurants have special menus just for them!!! I had bought some at the market to try out. They were pretty good sauteed :-)

Fresh weiss spargel- not sauteed yet.

No one slept very well, and we got up extra early to leave for Frankfurt. We wanted to have plenty of time to get there and have less traffic on the autobahn.

discussing shifting strategies ?

There were no problems getting to the airport, and now we have to say our 'good byes' :-(

airport waiting area

We flew in to Chicago with a connecting flight to Springfield. The weather was a bit stormy and our landing in Chicago was quite rough. As we waited for our connecting flight, the storms were coming and going, and our departure for Springfield kept getting pushed back. Many hours passed and they finally cancelled our flight. Our airline was the last to do this and by this time all rental cars were taken, but Jim was able to line one up for the morning. The airline had discounts for us at some hotel and it felt very good to finally relax after a kind of ' trying' ending to our vacation. The next morning....

everyone was happy again...

how could you not be with such cheery decorations.

The ending was not 'picture perfect', but we had such an absolutely wonderful vacation it didn't matter!!!

While in Germany, I wanted to see some of the Black Forest. It is located a bit of a distance from Justin's and we did not want to spend most of the day in the car, so we chose Baden-Baden which is near the northern edge of the Black Forest. In hindsight, this is kind of an odd choice for us. Baden-Baden (baden means"bathe") has some sights to see, but is more well known for it's curative waters and thermal baths. Somehow, I can't quite picture our group as the spa experiencing type, plus we did not have time to see the sights and enjoy the luxurious spas. So, I will have to wait another day for that experience.
We knew that there were a few sites to see, but the only plan we had was that our first stop was going to be the Trinkhalle. Besides having tourist info there, it also has 14 frescoes to view. The tour book said that Baden-Baden's 'grace' comes partly from its grand colonnaded buildings. I do believe this one is a good example.

The Trinkhalle has 16 Corinthian columns.

built in 1839 with a neoclassical design

The portico's length is almost 100 yards.

I don't think frescoes interest Geoffrey.

Some fancy archway and column details...

up close.

Frescoes

These frescoes are from the 19th century and are of local legends.

Are they discussing the fresco...

Burkart Keller Von Yburg

or trying to translate the German legend synopsis of the fresco?

Der Mummelsee

I checked out the tourist info inside the building. They were all out of English pamphlets of Baden-Baden. So I took a German one, it had a pretty good map of the area. Between the map and our guide book, we came up with a plan to see the Stiftskirche, then walk the 2 mile length of Lichthenthal Allee (a walkway along a river with sculptures and gardens) and make stops at the Theater and Russian church and have lunch along the way.At the end of Licthenthall Allee was the Cistercian abbey, which I was very interested in seeing. We would then walk the 2 miles back and probably head on home.

Everybody's happy when there is a plan :-)

view of front garden from portico

Quite a bit of walking to do, so off we go!

On the map, the route always appear to be quite easy. All the roads on the map seem to be the same width and mostly straight with a slight curve.

We find the street we want, quite a bit narrower and curvier...

that seems like it comes to a dead end!! As we ponder amongst ourselves, I look up at the pretty buildings around me. There with a window open, a gentleman is enjoying watching us; he indicates to me that we should continue on an even narrower path! I smile back at him with a" Danke schon" and...

We didn't know at the time that the pink tower in the background was what we were heading towards!

So onward and upward we go!

This is the cobbled street we came from ....

before we enter a small marktplatz....

I believe Geoffrey first checked out all those parked cars before he went for that picture :-)

with another building still looming over us and ....

the Stiftkirche in the middle of the marktplatz. This church is Baden-Baden's first parish church, and is the city's oldest building. Originally a Roman basilica, it was remodeled in the 15th century into a Gothic style church. After quite a few more remodels it now is a mixture of Romanesque, Gothic, and some Baroque.

Portal carvings

Right away inside an 18ft tall crucifix can be seen.

The crucifix was carved by Nikolaus Gerhart von Leydon out of Voges sandstone in 1467.

Some views of the organ.

The organ was built by John Rohlf in 1990.

Some of the art/sculptures.

The church has the illustrated tombs of the 14 margraves (military commanders) of Baden-Baden, including Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden (1677-1707).

Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden's epitaph has Ludwig surrounded by 3 allegorical figures representing; wisdom, valor, and justice.

St. Mary's Chapel

Madonna statue carved from sandstone in the 1500's. The remodel in 1987 added the scepter.

Leaving the church, we head back down the same path, some pics along the way.

Back at the main street, Nathaniel finds the shop for his souvenirs....Tea :-)

Since the Theater is near where Lichtenthaler Allee begins, we head over there. They were setting up for some kind of outdoor presentation/seating right in the front of the building. So, it was kind of hard to get a good picture of this neo-baroque building.

The theater was built between 1860-62.

Jim didn't even try....

so, I did for him :-)

We enter Lichtenthaler Allee for a pleasant walk along the Oosbach river. Along this promenade will be picturesque scenes of fountains , gardens/flowers,bridges, and beautiful architecture of the villas, hotels, churches etc.

We make our way to the.....

Russian church, with its golden onion dome to guide us. When we caught a glimpse of it, we knew we had taken the correct side street off the Allee.

This church was built in 1882 by Vladimir Potemkin and Bernhard Belzer.....

in the Byzantine style.

Inside it is pretty small and there are a lot of religious frescoes.

I think...

every square inch...

is decorated....

in some way!!!

One last shot and we....

are on our way again along the Oosbach river.....

enjoying the nice cool and....

shady promenade.

These flower gardens were very pretty, so I was kind of surprised to see similar beds right next to these.....

being turned over for new plantings!

We came to the end of Lichtentaler Allee and in order to enter the grounds of the Cistercian abbey, we had to make our way across a major construction zone, dodging some large machinery!! I was looking forward to seeing this abbey, but could not find anyway of entering. Another couple was also trying the doors, but even though it was supposed to be open daily....today it was not :-(

We walked around the outside and took some pics.

By this time, our thoughts were now on lunch. We had not seen any restaurants on our way here, and there were none in the vicinity.So, time to turn around and walk back to where we started.Even though this daytrip was not jam-packed full of sites to see, I enjoyed Baden-Baden's scenes of wooded hills...