Wednesday May 30th 2018; Thursday May 31st 2018 - Hann Munden

On Wednesday I tried to get Jim to concentrate on making a plan of places to go. But planning is not Jim's forte! I also made a final attempt to get connected to the wifi – time consuming but not successful. Then we decided to go for coffee at a place near the Leine river. Lovely bakery with nice kuchen. After coffee we did a long walk in search of Kiessee – not successful but a nice walk. Back home and lunch. Then into town to book walking tour for Saturday. We were entertained as we walked around Gottingen by this man playing the piano in the street.

On Thursday we took the scenic road through Darnsfeld to Hann Munden. Hann Munden is possibly the most beautiful town I have seen. The half-timbered houses are amazingly gorgeous. Alexander von Humboldt is said to have described Hann Munden as “one of the seven most beautifully situated towns in the world”. It is positioned on 3 rivers, Werra, Fulda and Weser, and is surrounded by abundant forests. Thanks to intensive efforts at restoration Hann Munden ranks as one of the finest half-timbered towns in Europe today.

 Having marvelled at some of the houses after getting an ideal parking spot near the centre of town we then saw the magnificent town hall (Rathaus). It has many features – old inscriptions, coat of arms. The town hall has a balcony which forms the base of a splendid Portal. It is a delight in decorative detail and colour. Flanked by two Ionian double pillars and below a heavy beam crowned by the town’s coat of arms, the portal is closed by the oldest preseved door of the town.

 We had coffee at the Townhall brewery and were there to experience the Doctor Eisenbart chimes at 12 midday. It consists of rotating figures one of which is Dr. Eisenbart. Dr. Eisenbart was a travelling doctor both famous and controversial in his lifetime. He died in 1727. In his time he was considered a crazy charlatan and a quack but today it is thought that he was not as bad as his reputation made him out to be. Today he still has a place in the life and culture of the town. On Sundays during the summer, the Doctor Eisenbart play is performed outside the town hall.

St. Blasius Kirche - St. Blaise's Church.

 Hann Munden has brought water into the town in an artistic form to recognise the significant role of water in the town. There is water art in 3 squares. They call this art Traces of Water. We didn’t see all of them. We saw the fan fountain and the carpet of water.

The Tillyschanze - one of a number of towers in Hann Munden. The upper tower room hosts the Eberlein Museum but we did not go in.

Tower of the Agidien Church.

Aegidius Cafe. This used to be a church. We just peeped in.

Rotunde - another tower.

More towers.

We were looking for a very old bridge and saw this nice covered bridge. It is a pedestrian bridge and we had a look at the Werra from it.

This sculpture, Sea View, used to be in front of the former school camp Pelzerhaken in Neustadt in Holstein. It is called Die Schauende and was created by the Hann Munden sculptor Heinz Detlef Wupper. So it is now home again positioned at the "small Weser" where each side arm of Werra and Fulda flow into each other.

And she provided me with a little rest!

This is one of a few statues of Doctor Eisenbach.

This is the old Werrabrucke, the bridge over the Werra rive, one of the oldest stone bridges in Germany, built around 1250

We took a walk in Dokterwerder (Doctor Islet) which is a little island surrounded by the Werra with sculptures by the Munden sculptor Wupper (1911-1995).

Memorial to the foundation of the Central German Choral Society (1893) .

In Lange Strasse there is a shop (Eisenbart’s Chemist) which uses as windows a double entrance frame from the 16^th century. It was rediscovered in 1970 reconstructed to serve as the shop’s windows. Rosettes of scallops dominate the streamlined form of the round arches.

On our way home we noticed a wine shop and delicatessen not far from our house so we walked back to have a look. The man there was very helpful with quite good English and the wines were very reasonably priced.

Later we walked into town for a beer. Then I made a pork and mushroom and creme fraiche dish. However, I had planned to cook Kohl Rabi in the oven and obviously turned it onto the wrong setting. When I discovered the oven wasn’t heating I somehow inadvertently turned the lock on in the oven so I could not get it to work at all. I emailed Dan and Anne. Dan rang and said all he knew was that 2 buttons had to be pressed at the same time but he did not know which ones. He also seemed irritated by the lack of cycling routes in Donegal. So I asked Evy and Geoffrey to go up and have a chat with them. I think that was appreciated. Anyway I got the oven sorted eventually.