Day 12 in Walldorf

Rain! Tried to go to Weinheim. Well, went to Weinheim but the place was packed and while it was not actually raining when we arrived there, the sky looked ominous so we turned and went home during which journey the skies opened! Then the car began to emit a horrendous sound of outrage and we were relieved to make it safely home. Werner and Kirsten's car obviously objects to rain!

A day in Speyer

Day 11 of our holiday was spent in Speyer, this time with camera. We had no difficulty parking and immediately made our way through the park to the roadway to the Rhine. In the park there are a few sculptures.

There were a lot of people coming up the roadway from the Rhine. I thought they were early morning walkers but it turned out to be people from a Viking River Cruise. We had a lovely walk along the banks of the Rhine pausing here and there to admire sculptures or boats and stopping frequently to remove gravel from our sandals.

Following our walk we went back through the park and made our way to the Dom zu Speyer (The Cathedral of Speyer).

The Cathedral of Speyer is one of the largest and most impressive romanesque buildings in Germany. It was built in 1030 and consecrated in 1061.







The Rathaus (city hall) is representative of late baroque architecture.

                                                                                                                       

The main city gate is one of the tallest and most important city gates in Germany.

Jim wanted to visit the Technik Museum Speyer (the Technical Museum) but I was not interested so I got a seat in the park near the children's playground and read my book so both of us were happy! For company I had a giant arachnid.

Here are a sample of the things Jim saw. He got into a submarine and decided he did not want to repeat the experience. There was a chute on a 737 - he wouldn't go down that either!

The Trinity Church has a richly painted wooden vaulted ceiling and wood carvings on the pulpit, altar and galleries.

Sculpture of a pilgrim, I think. My German is not so good.

Finally back to Walldorf and a well-deserved pint for the driver!

Weinstrasse in the Pfalz

The Weinstrasse or Wine route in the Palatinate region (the Pfalz) had been recommended to us as a nice drive with nice wine villages. Of course the ideal way to enjoy it is by bike but we stuck to our 4 wheels. We started in Landau, a busy university town arriving there in time for morning coffee.

Landau is known for its art deco architecture. These were the views we had while having coffee.

This is Katharinenkapelle or Catherine's Chapel which has had many uses since it was built in 1344 for the "Community of the Beginning" (Women who were devoted to benevolent nursing). During the Reformation it was secular and used varyingly as a prison, a guardhouse, a gunpowder store and a wine cellar. In the late 19th century it was used by the Old Catholics and since 1959 the Evangelical Lutherans. During its restoration some frescos were discovered that dated from the original building.

This is the Altes Kaufhaus or Former Town Market Hall. It has been revovated as a Cultural Centre.

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Running away with the grapes!

Anne Frank's great-grandfather, Frank Loebsches, lived in Landau in a guesthouse called "Zur Blum". We spent ages looking for it not realising that the balconies that we were looking for were actually wooden galleries that encompassed a courtyard inside the outer doors of the guesthouse. It is still a Gasthaus today but also houses a permanent exhibition of the history of Jews in Landau. It closed at 12 so we were 5 minutes too late! We saw the house though.

The outer door.

Landau has 2 parks, Goethepark and Schillerpark, which are described as impressive. We were within walking distance of Schillerpark and wanted to see what had earned Landau the name "garden City". We weren't terribly impressed but we had a nice walk.  At its entrance is an Irish pub.

At this stage it was time to continue on our way along the Weinstrasse and our next stop was Neustadt which we hope to visit again. It has some nice old houses.

Not sure what church this is but the altar was unusual.  

We continued along the route and noted how many Weinguts (wine producers) there were in the region. We did not, however, add to our own wine guts!