We have some great friends here with whom we have worked out a child swap. They have two, we have two…it just works out well. It also doesn’t hurt that Naomi and their daughter Claire seem to be princess twins separated at birth. We have each taken a weekend with all four now, and it has been a dream come true. Let’s face it – some things (many things, in fact) in Europe are just NO FUN to do with kids. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have enjoyed being dragged through art museums when I was 5.
Anyway, thanks to Brandon’s crummy work schedule (so glad Ben chose dentistry!) we got to celebrate New Year’s Eve on our own this year. CHILD FREE! Emily picked the kids up that morning (Thursday) and we reclaimed them Saturday afternoon. Emily, Brandon – we love you. A weekend long date – what better way to start out the new year?!
We started out by watching Avatar in 3D at a German theater in Mannheim. (The movie was in English.) Hooray for a stadium style theater with reserved seating! BOO on $21 tickets. Really. Have you ever paid that much for a movie ticket?
I didn’t think so.
I suppose it was worth it. We have been seeing movies at the theater here on post for the last year and a half. Tickets here are only $4.50, which is fine if you like movies that are out of focus and that stop periodically.
When we were at the Mannheim theater, I was thrilled to notice that they show the “Live From the Met” opera broadcasts. How fun!!! Then I looked at the ticket prices. 28 Euro per ticket. That’s $42!!! We only paid $35 to see Carmen live at the Met in New York! Crazy! Maybe the glass of wine that is included in the ticket price is very high end. I think that I’ll keep my money and go see a live performance in Heidelberg…
After the movie we went to a party at our friends’ house. They live in a small German town about 15 minutes from post. (Lucky dogs.) Can you say fireworks?! Last year Naomi was sick so we spent New Year’s Eve in our apartment and went to bed early. Around midnight we heard what sounded like the beginning of Armageddon. Because fireworks are not allowed on post, we couldn’t see anything – we could just hear it. This year we saw it. Some of the fireworks people were doing were on par with the kind of thing you’d see at a small town 4th of July fireworks show. We were standing on our friends’ balcony (on the 5th floor of their house) and could see across the whole valley. It was fantastic. The fireworks exploded pretty much at eye level and surrounded us on all sides. Next year we plan on letting our kids stay up and experience a German New Year celebration first hand. It was unforgettable.
Now, onto the next two days. Ben and I had originally planned to drive down and explore the Black Forest region. Upon reflection, and a realization that everything would most likely be closed on New Year’s day, we amended our plans and took the two days to explore a couple of towns nearby us.
Worms -
Worms has a pretty sweet Romanesque Cathedral. It, the Speyer Cathedral and the Mainz Cathedral are all kind of alike.
The Baroque altarpiece (added several hundred years after the construction began) really looks out of place to me. (In other words, I didn’t like it – I think something stark and modern would look better. Or something wood and heavy, and, well, medieval.) We really enjoyed the Christmas decorations in all of the churches we visited during the Christmas season. Each church had a nativity scene set up, some of which were quite elaborate.
The lighting that day really was this bad. It was grey, drizzly and cold.
Worms is where Martin Luther went on trial and defended his 95 theses. This monument commemorates Martin Luther’s contribution to the reformation. He is front and center. The men at the four corners are others who contributed to the Protestant movement – Savonarola, Hus etc.
There are a lot of other neat things to see in Worms, but unfortunately (it was New Year’s Day, after all) they were all closed. The town was dead. It was also filthy. You wouldn’t believe the firework debris and liquor bottles that were in the streets. And Germany is usually so clean!
Mainz -
We spent Saturday in Mainz. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of our trips to Worms and Mainz, because Mainz is where Johannes Gutenberg printed his first Bible. Without easy access to scripture, I doubt if the as many people would have joined the Protestant movement. We visited the Gutenberg printing museum and saw two copies of the New Testament and one of the Old Testament printed by Gutenberg himself (dated mid 15th century). We also saw a copy of Virgil’s Aeneid that was 507 years old. It was so wonderful to meander through the museum and look at the exhibits without having a child tugging at my hand the entire time whining that he/she is hungry/tired/bored/needs to go to the bathroom/wants to go home. Overall we’ve had good experiences in museums with the kids, but they always reach their saturation point before we do, so it was nice to spend the time we wanted to and to leave on our own terms.
Here is the cathedral in Mainz…
As you can tell, the weather was much nicer that day than it was during our visit to Worms. Unfortunately the cathedral is completely surrounded by buildings – there’s no large square or piazza adjacent to it from which I could get a good picture of the entire building. This cathedral was begun in the year 975(!) and celebrated its 1000th anniversary the year Ben was born.
Another favorite stop in Mainz was the church of St. Stephan. It was almost completely destroyed in WWII, and has completely rebuilt. Unlike many of the churches in Germany which have replaced the stained glass windows that were destroyed with clear glass, this church was able to commission (I think with the help of local banks and sponsors) beautiful stained glass windows designed by Marc Chagall (who was in his nineties at the time). Chagall designed the windows in the front of the chapel and put the detailing on them himself after they had been installed. The final picture is of one of the side windows, which was designed by the window maker with whom Chagall had collaborated.
I really loved this church. It was beautiful and peaceful.
So there you have it – two obscure (to Americans anyway) German towns that I will happily visit again, especially with friends or family. Any takers?
