Munster Germany - Where a Miracle Happened

Click on player below to see Pat's video about the parade of chefs.

“I don’t believe it!” cried Pat, looking over my shoulder. “It’s a Ku Klux Klan rally”. I turned and followed her horrified gaze. We were in northern Germany, standing in the downtown area of the ancient city of Munster in the middle of August 2010. What I saw in the far distance was not the Ku Klux Klan. Instead, it was a large number of chefs wearing white jackets and aprons together with the tall white hats for which chefs are famous.“Are they on strike or something?” I inquired, since time spent in 20th century England has conditioned me to expect labor disputes. “Is this a demonstration?” It was then explained to me that chefs from all over Germany had gathered in Munster to celebrate the feast of St Lawrence, the patron saint of chefs. We then kept seeing chefs. Chefs were parading. Chefs were in pavement cafés, enjoying the cooking of some other chef. Chefs were at a service for chefs in St Paulus, which is Munster’s magnificent 13th century cathedral. Chefs were everywhere. Some wore medals. Some carried banners. It was evidently their big day of the year.

St. Lawrence being grilled alive

St Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome. He was martyred in the year 258 AD at a time of Christian persecution. A Pope was martyred at the same time.  St Lawrence was literally roasted to death on a gridiron.  During his suffering, he is said to have shouted out “This side’s done. Turn me over and have a bite”. Perhaps it is this remark that endears him to the chefs of the world nearly 2000 years later. His name meant little to me, until I realized that the French had named the widest river in the world in his honor. Jacques Cartier arrived in what is today the Gulf of St Lawrence on the feast day of St Lawrence in 1535.

St. Lawrence Seaway

The St Lawrence Seaway today connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes of North America.  At various points, the great river forms the international boundary between Canada and the USA.  As I have already written on this website, it was up this river that the British general, James Wolfe, travelled in 1759 on his way to the Battle of Quebec at which the French lost Canada. Mention is also made on this website of a visit by Pat and me in 1987 to the Niagara Falls. Now the Niagara River flows into Lake Ontario, which in turn flows into the St Lawrence River.  Therefore the water tumbling over the Niagara Falls is quite likely to finish up in the St Lawrence River.  Finally, there is St Lawrence University, the campus of which is at Canton in upstate New York. Towards the end of his life, Pat’s brother taught at this university, which is only 20 miles from the southern bank of the St Lawrence River.  So there are many reasons why I should not have needed a gathering of chefs on the plains of northern Germany to remind me of exactly who St Lawrence was.

Returning now to Munster, the city itself stands on the strangely named River Aa.  I guess that this short little river is competing for a position at the top of an alphabetical list of the rivers of the world. It springs out of the ground 10 miles to the west of Munster and, after passing through the city, soon joins up with the River Ems which eventually empties itself into the North Sea many miles away.  Munster is the cultural center of the Westphalia region of Germany, but the region no longer exists as a political or administrative unit.

Peace of Westphalia: The Swearing of the Oath of Ratification of the Treaty of Münster (1648)

The city of Munster was founded 1300 years ago and is famous as the place of signing in 1648 of The Peace of Westphalia, by which the Thirty Years War was ended.   Two thirds of Munster was destroyed during World War Two but, as with so many cities throughout Germany, it has been magnificently restored.

St. Paulus Cathedral, Munster, Germany

That restoration includes the cathedral of St Paulus, which I mention above.  It was in that cathedral that I had the privilege of visiting the tomb of Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen (1878 -1946), known as the Lion of Munster for his incredibly brave opposition to the Nazis.

Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen

He was the bishop of Munster, a German Count, and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.  He was made a saint in 2005.

Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen

His tomb stands in the Chapel of St Ludger in the eastern part of the cathedral, where one can also see his bust and a quotation by Pope Jean Paul II inscribed on the floor in brass.  Cardinal von Galen’s wartime criticisms of the Nazis were so dynamic that the Royal Air Force dropped copies of his sermons by air onto cities all over Germany.   As a boy during World War Two, I could never understand why the German people tolerated the Nazis, but now I know that there was nothing they could do.

Opposition by Germans to the Nazis during the war was simply a certain route to suicide.  Courageous German Christians, such as Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans Wolfel of Bamberg, spoke out for years but they were eventually murdered.  Cardinal von Galen spoke out even more forcefully and his survival until after the end of the war was surely a miracle.

This piece, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website on August 23, 2010.

Neuschwanstein Castle Germany - What Would King Ludwig Have Thought?

Assassination of Lincoln

Assassination of Garfield

Assassination of McKinley

John F Kennedy motorcade in Dallas

For over a century, every US President elected in a year with a zero at its end has died in office. Whether as a result of ill health or of assassination, this statistic applies to Lincoln (1860), Garfield (1880), McKinley (1900), Harding (1920), FDR (1940) and JFK (1960).

Although it was Reagan (1980) who finally reversed this grim trend, even he was lucky to survive a 1981 assassination attempt. So let me contrast that with something much more agreeable that always occurs in a year with a zero at its end.

Oberammergau is a picturesque little village located in the Bavarian Alps in southern Germany, just to the north of the Austrian border. In 1632, the area was hit by an outbreak of bubonic plague, so the village promised that, every ten years, it would perform a play about Jesus if only God would protect them from the plague. It is recorded that the death rate then dropped dramatically. Oberammergau has since kept its promise. Its Passion Play was first performed in 1634 and it continues to be performed in every year with a zero at its end. In September 2010, it will be performed for the 41st time.

Map showing location of Oberammergau, Germany

Pat and I were in Oberammergau for performance in September 1980. The play runs for seven hours and it takes over 2000 people to put it on.  In order to participate, one must be a resident of Oberammergau by birth.  What is remarkable is that the entire population of the village is only 5,000, which means that every family is involved in the production while continuing its normal life. Yet, when I saw the young man playing the part of Jesus riding his bicycle down the main street of the village, it seemed almost blasphemous. The village is also famous for its woodcarving and its painted houses.

Painted buildings in Oberammergau

We also visited two magnificent buildings nearby, namely Neuschwanstein Castle and Linderhof Palace. They were both built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the latter part of the 19th century. In 1886, Ludwig was declared to be insane and was arrested. His death the following day was declared to be suicide. It now seems likely that he was not insane and that he was murdered, but this is not the place to consider that.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle stands on a mountain top and is today said to be the most photographed building in Germany. "Schwan" is German for swan. Ludwig loved swans and the swan motif appears repeatedly throughout the castle.  By English standards, this is no castle.  English castles are protected from attack by moats, drawbridges, high battlements and slits in the walls through which the defenders can shoot arrows. It would be so easy for attackers to capture Neuschwanstein Castle, which is simply a fairy-tale residence on top of a mountain. Nevertheless, it is lovely and Ludwig included features ahead of their time by 19th century standards. Venting, plumbing, steam engines, central heating, electricity were all introduced and contradict the medieval appearance of the building.

Linderhof Palace in Bavaria

Linderhof Grotto

Linderhof Palace is even closer to Oberammergau. Ludwig modeled it after the Palace of Versailles, even though it is much smaller. Under the building is a grotto illuminated by changing colors through which Ludwig liked to be rowed, while listening to the music of his favorite composer - Wagner.

Disneyworld Castle

Some years later, Pat and I settled in Orlando, Florida and naturally took our children to Disney World. Neuschwanstein was Walt Disney's inspiration for the castle he built in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. In fact "Neuschwanstein" is the word that comes to mind as soon as one glimpses what Disney has built in the swamps of Central Florida.

Disney World is full of crowds and of long lines of vacationers patiently awaiting admission to the various attractions.  As I stood in the hot Florida sunshine with excited crowds swarming past me, I asked myself what King Ludwig would have thought of all this?

This piece, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website on November 2, 2008.

Regensburg Germany - A Frustrated Retirement

Map of Regensberg, Germany

What did April 2005 have in store for the old German? That month he was to celebrate his 78th birthday and, considering his unfortunate early days, his life had turned out rather well.  At the age of 14, like all his contemporaries, he had been conscripted into the Hitler Youth.  After two years, he was conscripted into the German armed forces and, after another two years, World War Two had ended and he found himself in a prisoner of war camp from which he was released after a few months.  He then entered a seminary and this eventually led him to a distinguished career as a catholic theologian and university professor.  A part of that career which particularly satisfied him was his 12 years as professor of theology at the University of Regensburg.  Pat, our youngest daughter Anna and I visited the Bavarian city of Regensburg for the first time in November 2010 and we had no difficulty in understanding why the old German liked it so much. Regensburg stands on the River Danube at the point where its tributary, the River Regan, flows into it.  Two thousand years ago, the Romans used the Danube to mark the northern frontier of their empire.  Consequently, Regensburg was an armed Roman encampment at that time, then known as Castra Regina. It had existed as a Celtic settlement several hundred years before that.

Regensberg medieval bridge

Later, in medieval times, Regensburg became a wealthy city as its merchants benefited from the trade moving up and down the Danube.  What they built at that time provides us today with an unspoiled example of a medieval city center.  Remarkably enough, the city escaped damage during World War Two.  Indeed, it suffered more damage during its capture by Napoleon in 1809 during the Franco-Austrian War.

Bob and daughter, Anna, in front of Napoleon's house

We saw the house where Napoleon stayed at the time. In the city center, we saw the statue of King Ludwig I of Bavaria on horseback.  He had fought alongside the Napoleonic armies and was king of Bavaria from 1825 until 1848, when he was forced to abdicate. This was partly because of his relationship with a courtesan called Lola Montez, who was very unpopular with the locals.

Life-size statue of King Ludwig I

Ludwig was a great admirer of all things Greek, so he built on the banks of the Danube just outside Regensburg a replica of the Parthenon in Greece complete with 52 Doric columns. Called Walhalla, it memorializes the Bavarian war heroes of that time. The Greeks appear to have reciprocated Ludwig’s admiration because Ludwig’s son, Otto, was chosen to ascend the newly created throne of Greece as its first king in 1832.  Yet, just as Ludwig finally lost the throne of Bavaria, so Otto finally lost the throne of Greece.

Scottish church romanesque portal

We came across in Regensburg something called the Scottish Church (Schottenkirche), the construction of which was completed in about the year 1200. In fact, this church was founded by Benedictine monks from Ireland, whom the locals mistakenly thought came from Scotland.  One Celt must look very much like another in Bavaria.

The splendid atmosphere of Regensberg is further enhanced by its striking Gothic cathedral, which took some 250 years to build during the Middle Ages.

Stained glass windows and altar

St. Peter's Cathedral Regensberg

The stained glass windows dating back to that time are an important feature of the cathedral. I admired in particular the silver high altar, which was donated to the cathedral in 18th century.  The price of silver increased by about 50% during the latter part of 2010, an increase which I predicted.  As I gazed at the silver high altar, I thought enviously about its increased value before I dismissed such thoughts as unworthy.

Silver altar in St. Peter's cathedral

Pope Benedict XVI

Certainly the old German would never have allowed his mind to entertain such vulgar commercial thoughts, even though he had always loved the cathedral.  His elder brother had been the choirmaster there for thirty years and the cathedral had been an important part of his life during the years when he was teaching at the University of Regensburg.  During those years, the old German had lived in a small house in the Regensburg suburb of Pentling, close to where his parents were buried.  He had kept that house for his retirement, which had been much delayed by his work in Rome.  By April 2005, he had already made several unsuccessful attempts to retire.  He described his years in Regensburg as some of the happiest in his life and he must have been anticipating his retirement there with pleasure.  However the plans of the old German were frustrated in April 2005, when he was elected Pope.  At the age of 83, Joseph Ratzinger today continues to serve in that capacity as Pope Benedict XVI.


This piece, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website on November 14, 2010.

Baden Baden and Stuttgart Germany - A Tale of Two More Cities

Like Metz and Trier, about which I have recently written on this website, Baden Baden and Stuttgart are about 50 miles apart, as the crow flies.  While Metz and Trier are joined together by the River Moselle, Baden Baden and Stuttgart are joined together by the Black Forest. Both Baden Baden and Stuttgart lie in the German state of Baden Wurttemberg.  In fact, Stuttgart is the state capital.  It’s an area where German is spoken with a Swabian dialect, which German speakers from elsewhere sometimes have trouble in understanding.

Hotel Haus Reichert

Pat and I first visited Baden Baden during our honeymoon thirty years ago. We returned last month, April 2010, and stayed in the center of town at Hotel Haus Reichert. Built in 1843, this really neat hotel is a short walk from the casino, theater and spas.  Just as we did on our first stay in Baden Baden all those years ago, we headed for a spa. The word Baden is the German verb meaning “to bathe”.

Caracalla Spa

On this occasion, the thermal bath that we selected was the Caracalla Spa, named after a Roman emperor. Even the Romans used to bathe here 2000 years ago.  We soaked ourselves in pools of hot spring water surrounded by marble pillars.  This experience is highly invigorating, and was particularly kind to my stiff old septuagenarian limbs.  Unlike the famous Russian novelist and compulsive gambler Dostoyevsky, we did not visit the casino.  After his losses at the Baden Baden casino in 1867, he wrote his masterpiece “The Gambler”.   Had we followed his example, we may have had a bestseller on our hands!   However, we found that Baden Baden had changed little in the last thirty years.  In fact, it has probably changed little since the 19th century, when it attracted regular visits from European royalty including Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm, Napoleon III and the Queen of Prussia.  Baden Baden still oozes style in its formal gardens and its architecture.

Stuttgart is much different.  It’s a far bigger city than Baden Baden.  The center of the city was built on flat land alongside the River Neckar, but Stuttgart is surrounded by mountains. As the city has grown, it has climbed up the surrounding mountainsides. The ring road, which encircles the city, must of necessity spend much of its time passing through tunnels under mountains.  The state parliament buildings and government offices of Baden Wurttemberg are located here in the New Palace, the construction of which was not completed until 1807.  On our first visit to Stuttgart in May 2010, Pat and I decided instead to visit the Old Palace which was originally a castle with a moat, built in the 13th century and once home to the Dukes of Wurttemberg.

Stuttgart State Museum

It presently houses the Wurttemberg State Museum, whose exhibits include treasures and burial objects from the grave of the Celtic prince, Hochdorf.  Hochdorf is also the name of a little town on the outskirts of Stuttgart, where the prince was laid to rest in the 5th century AD under a large burial mound.  Archeologists excavating the grave in 1977 obtained these exhibits for the State Museum.  It was a surprise to me to learn that, all those centuries ago, there were Celts in what is today south western Germany.  I thought that Celts and the Celtic language originated in the British Isles in parts of Wales, Ireland and Scotland.  Even today, one of Scotland’s most famous soccer clubs is Glasgow Celtic.  The Irish language is actually a Celtic language.  So is the Welsh language.  Yet it seems that the Celts were well established in the vicinity of Stuttgart long before they moved on to settle the northern and western fringes of the British Isles.  In fact, they were a thorn on the side of the Roman Empire long before they moved on.

Friedrich Schiller Denkmal

Having been made aware of my ignorance of Celtic origins by Hochdorf, my education in Stuttgart continued.  Wandering in the city center, I came across a fine statue.  The plinth on which it stood simply bore the inscription “Schiller Denkmal”, without further explanation.  I wondered who this Mr Denkmal was and what he had achieved to merit such a fine statue?  I had no idea.  Perhaps Denkmal was another Celt?  It took me some time to figure out that Denkmal is the German word for monument, and that this monument was a tribute to the great German poet and playwright, Friedrich Schiller (1759 -1805) who was born nearby.  My intellectual humiliation increased when I discovered that Schiller denkmals are everywhere. A dozen major German cities have a denkmal to Schiller.  There are denkmals to Schiller in Austria, Poland, Russia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.  There are even denkmals to Schiller in the United States in Cleveland and San Francisco.  Stuttgart is a fine city, but I left it deeply conscious of the gaps in my knowledge.


This piece, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website on June 1, 2010.

Strasbourg France - Home To A Tower of Babel

Kunisthistorisches Museum Vienna Austria

The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna displays a famous work of art. It is the painting in 1563 by the Flemish artist, Pieter Brueghel the elder, of the Tower of Babel. Although the Bible does not specifically refer to the Tower of Babel as such, Brueghel clearly draws his inspiration from the reference in the Book of Genesis to the enormous tower built in Babylon. God was displeased with its builders, because they had built for the glory of man rather than in worship and praise of God. Accordingly, He came down and confused their languages and scattered the people throughout the earth, which is said to explain the origin of nations and their many languages. Brueghel’s painting depicts the tower as unfinished. There is a present day version of the Tower of Babel. It is also unfinished and is filled with nations using many languages and certainly not on the same wavelength. It is the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France, which bears a marked resemblance to Brueghel’s painting.

Pat and I visited Strasbourg in October 2009, because I particularly wanted to see the European Parliament building. The decision to locate it in Strasbourg was taken in 1952, right at the start of the move towards a European Union. Now that the Union includes 27 countries, with hundreds of millions of people not to mention its own currency, I anticipated that its Parliament building would be impressive and so it should be. A capital city is defined by its parliament building.

United States Capitol Building

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben London

One cannot look across Washington DC and see the mighty dome of the Capitol without being impressed.

In London, one has a similar sensation when the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben come into view.

Hungarian Parliament in Budapest

One of my favorites is Budapest, where the beautiful Hungarian parliament building sits on the bank of the River Danube in the center of the city.

Click this link Hungarian Parliament   to see a fantastic slide show on the Parliament. You will need to click on each slide to move forward. I don't know who to credit this to, but I didn't make the slide show.

Yet, in this respect, Strasbourg disappoints. The parliament building there is undistinguished. They claim that the building has deliberately been left unfinished to signify that the European Union is a work in progress, but that’s a poor excuse.

Strasbourg Cathedral

Notwithstanding this disappointment, Strasbourg is an interesting city with a fine cathedral. It stands on the French bank of the River Rhine at a point where that river presently forms the border between France and Germany. Its rich history began over 2000 years ago. The Romans chose the city as the site for their military camp on the Rhine, although they referred to it by the Latin name of Argentoratum. In those days, it was on the very frontier of the Roman Empire and played an important part in resisting the Germanic tribes to the north.

Johannes Gutenberg’s movable type printing press

Between 1434 and 1444, Johannes Gutenberg was based in Strasbourg, while perfecting his printing press with moveable metal type. That event changed the world in the same way that the development of the internet has changed it in our own time. Then, in 1681, King Louis XIV of France marched his troops into Strasbourg and made it part of France, which it is today. However, in the interim, there have been two periods of occupation by Germany. It was a German city from 1870, as a consequence of the German victory in the Franco Prussian War, until 1918 when Germany was defeated in World War One. It was also occupied by Germany, during World War Two, from 1940 until 1944. Remarkably, the city was completely empty for nine months prior to that last occupation. When the British and French declared war on Germany on September 3rd 1939, the French immediately evacuated all civilians from the border city of Strasbourg and left just a few troops. However, the Germans did not march into Strasbourg until June 1940 when they invaded the whole of France.  This history has given Strasbourg a combination of French and German architecture and it is interesting to see the two contrasting styles as one moves around the city.

This piece, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website on January 26, 2010.

Munich Germany - Protect the Munchner from Borofsky

FC Bayern Munich soccer fans

It was May 22, 2010. Pat and I were spending the weekend in Munich, which is Germany’s third city after Berlin and Hamburg. Germans call the city “Munchen”, since it was founded by Benedictine monks and the word for monk in Old German was “monche”. Hence, the inhabitants of Munich are known as Munchner. On the day of our visit, the Munchner were in a state of high excitement. Many of them, dressed in red and white, were noisily roaming the city and consuming many of the splendid beers which are brewed here. After all, Munich is the home of Oktoberfest. The Munchner were so excited because, in the season just ending, the local soccer team (FC Bayern Munich) had not only established itself as easily the best team in Germany. It had also won its way to the final of the European Champions Cup and was, that very evening in the neutral venue of Madrid, facing Italian opposition in order to determine which city has the best soccer team in the whole world. Literally tens of thousands of the Munchner had traveled to Spain to watch the game.

Allianz Arena lights up in multiple colors

Meanwhile another 70,000 Munchner had gathered in The Allianz Arena to watch the match on giant TV screens. This beautiful Arena, designed to resemble by day a shiny white air cushion, changes color when illuminated at night and is where FC Bayern Munich plays its home fixtures. Meanwhile, many more Munchner still needed somewhere to see the game. Pat and I visited a large beer garden, which was showing the game live on TV. That seemed a good idea when we planned it, but hundreds of the Munchner had the same idea. The place was so packed that we could not even see the screen. That situation was replicated at beer gardens all over Munich. Defeated, we headed for the little sports bar opposite our hotel, only to find it overflowing with Munchner. Those who could not squeeze into the bar were standing six deep on the sidewalk, watching the game through the windows. We finally saw the game on the TV alone in our hotel bedroom. Yet Pat and I were not alone in defeat. FC Bayern Munich lost to the Italians by two goals to nil.

The events of that evening demonstrate the great pride which the Munchner take in their city. They have achieved so much since my last visit here in 1961, when damage from World War Two was still evident. Munich had been a prime target for allied bombing raids. Today, there is no sign of that damage. Restoration of the city is complete. With typical Munchner enthusiasm and ingenuity, they made a huge heap of all the rubble in what is now Olympic Park, site of the 1972 Olympic Games. Then they covered the debris with earth. Now it lies buries beneath a pleasant green hill, rising to a height of nearly two hundred feet. That makes the following story hard to believe.

When touring the sights in Munich, we noticed in Leopoldstrasse a gigantic sculpture known as The Walking Man. It was grotesque and, what is worse, it visually conflicted with gracious buildings nearby. Over fifty feet high, the sculpture has a steel inner structure and a fiberglass outer shell. It was made in California in 1995 and shipped over to Munich in sections. It was the work of the American sculptor, Jonathan Borofsky.

Walking Man sculpture by Borofsky in Munich

Male/Female sculpture by Borofsky in Baltimore

How could the proud Munchner have let their fine city be desecrated thus? But Pat and I have been through this before. What a sense of déjà vu we felt that day in Munich! From 2001 to 2005, our home was in Baltimore, Maryland about two hundred yards from its main railway station. Penn Station, Baltimore, was built in 1911 in a neo-classical architectural style. Its elegant façade has an abundance of columns recalling ancient Greece. In 2004, a small group of Baltimore “art enthusiasts” paid Borofsky $750,000 for his sculpture called “Male/Female” and persuaded the city to erect it in front of Penn Station. Male/Female has much in common with The Walking Man. It is over fifty feet in height. It is exceedingly ugly. It conflicts horribly with the architecture of the nearby building. Pat and I could not leave our Baltimore home without passing Male/Female every day and we hated it. Pity the poor Munchner, who are now suffering similarly. In a free society, wealthy patrons of the arts are entitled to spend their money on whatever they choose. One can only be grateful that Borofsky’s $750,000 did not come out of the Baltimore taxpayers’ pockets. Am I a philistine to believe that a traditional statue of a personality from Baltimore’s long and rich history would have been more appropriate for that prime location? Am I a philistine to believe that Baltimore, with its record levels of drugs and murder and with its many acres of boarded up housing, could have used that $750,000 so much more usefully - if only it had been donated to them? If so, I am thankful to be a philistine with the opportunity to condemn artistic garbage, when I see it. Three cheers for the internet!

Jonathon Borofsky

Criticism of Borofsky’s work in Baltimore, Munich and several other cities is widespread. He responds by telling us, in an interview reported in The Carnegie Mellon Magazine, that “if you can’t write something nice, don’t write anything at all.” Let us instead hope that critics throughout the world continue to publish their increasingly hostile reviews of this environmental vandalism posing as art. Perhaps the next step could be a citizen’s referendum on whether such “sculptures” should be removed from their present locations? Borofsky’s freedom to practice his art must be balanced against my freedom, and the freedom of millions like me, to avoid the forced viewing of gigantic ugly statues in public places.

This piece, written by Bob, was originally published on our website on June 4, 2010.

Bonn vs Frankfurt Germany - A Capital Choice

View Larger Map

While driving all over Germany, Pat and I are always impressed by the excellence of the network of major roads.  Today, there is no speed limit on autobahns unless otherwise indicated.  Recommended maximum speed on an autobahn is 81 mph but, when we drive at that speed, other cars zip by us in the fast lane at speeds that make us feel we are crawling along.  I had always assumed that autobahns were created by the Nazis in order to move their armies around quickly.  However, the first autobahn was completed before that in 1932. It linked the cities of Cologne and Bonn. The then mayor of Cologne, Dr. Konrad Adenauer, was responsible for its creation.  Dr. Adenauer always liked to keep the little city of Bonn in the picture. He was removed from office by the Nazis in 1933 and was in a concentration camp by the time the war ended.  However, he became the first Chancellor of post war Germany, which found itself with a problem in 1949. It needed a new capital city, because it no longer had access to Berlin which was then cut off from the West by communism.  Which West German city should be chosen as the new capital?

The answer to that question seems obvious from a quick glance at the map. The great city of Frankfurt would have been the natural choice. It is much more centrally located than Hamburg, Munich and Cologne – the only German cities, other than Berlin, with a larger population than Frankfurt. It was and is the largest financial center in continental Europe. It has one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. What more could a suitable capital offer? It seems natural to me, as a Londoner, to locate a country’s political, administrative and financial centers in the same city. That’s how Britain is organized and that’s just one more argument in favor of Frankfurt. The need to travel frequently on business between Washington DC and New York City must surely irritate many Americans.

Yet Frankfurt did not become the capital. The little city of Bonn, located on the River Rhine just a few miles to the south of Cologne, was selected and remained the capital, until Berlin resumed that role in 1990 at the time of German reunification. This illogical selection was the decision of Dr. Adenauer who, in those days, was a colossus towering over the German political scene.  It looked as if he would be chancellor for ever and he did not resign until the age of 87. He always loved Bonn.  A story, no doubt apocryphal but then in circulation, was that his infant grandson expressed a wish to be chancellor one day but that Dr. Adenauer replied that Germany could only have one chancellor at a time.  Pat and I passed through Bonn in August 2010 and it is unremarkable.  It was once the location of the largest US Embassy in the world.  It was the Baghdad of its day.  Bonn retains many of the administrative offices and jobs that it acquired during its years as capital. Many of the buildings, formerly used for parliamentary purposes, are now occupied by agencies of the United Nations.  Once Government has a foothold somewhere, it does not readily return an area to the private sector.

Staedel Museum

Botticelli – Self portrait hidden in the Adoration of the Magi

We know Frankfurt, better than we know Bonn, and we sometimes use its airport. We visited Frankfurt in February 2010 for the express purpose of seeing an exhibition of the paintings of Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), which was being held at The Staedel Museum. For over two hours, we waited in a line outside the museum in the snow and ice in order to gain admission. It was well worth it.

Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi

Botticelli’s work embodies the beauty and grace of the Florentine school of the early Italian Renaissance. His most famous works include The Adoration of the Magi, Madonna and Child with an Angel, Primavera and The Birth of Venus. It is said that Botticelli’s model in the last named painting was a married noblewoman, for whom he carried an unrequited love. Botticelli never married and often said how much he hated the whole idea of marriage. He said it gave him nightmares, but he was no homosexual. At his request, he was on his death buried in The Church of Ognissanti in Florence, at the feet of the woman who was the object of his unrequited love.

Botticelli’s Madonna and child with angel

Botticelli’s Primavera

Botticelli’s Birth of Venus

Frankfurt skyline

The full name of the city is Frankfurt am Main. It stands on River Main and its name distinguishes it from a city of the same name in Eastern Germany, which stands on the River Oder.  If any American living in Germany becomes homesick for the skyscrapers of Manhattan or some similar US city, he needs to visit Frankfurt because it’s the only place in Germany with an abundance of skyscrapers.  Indeed, seeing Frankfurt on the horizon from a distance of thirty or forty miles, it looks just like a US city.  That is unique in Germany. Let it not be said however that Frankfurt has taken an American concept and given nothing in return. Frankfurt is the home of the highly spiced sausage known as the “frankfurter”, which is sold in beer gardens throughout the city. In about 1900, the frankfurter crossed the Atlantic and has since become very popular in America, where it is known as the “hot dog”.  Frankfurt may have missed out on becoming a temporary capital, but hot dogs will be eaten all over the world long after Bonn has been forgotten.


This piece, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website on August 23, 2010.

Beyreuth Germany - Wagner's Festspielhaus

A young man, asking for advice on how to succeed in life, was told to “be born the eldest son of the Duke of Westminster”. The Duke is reputed to be Britain’s richest man. While this advice was obviously of no help to the young man, it must be rather pleasant to have the certainty of success by the time one arrives in this world.  And as with people, so it is with buildings.

Wagner's Festspielhaus in Bayreuth

Pat and I saw last weekend a building, the success of which was assured before its first brick had ever been laid.  It opened in 1876 but, even today, it very difficult to obtain tickets to watch a performance there.  Demand for tickets outstrips supply by a factor of ten to one.  Applicants must apply for tickets every year and eventually, after about ten years if one is fortunate, one reaches the top of the list.  Miss an application one year and one has to start all over again.  Traffic in tickets is forbidden and may result in the eventual buyer being refused admission.

Interior of the Festspielhaus

The building that we saw was the Festspielhaus in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth. This is the opera house that was specially built for the performance of the operas of Richard Wagner, then and now seen as one of Germany’s greatest composers.  Every summer, tens of thousands of Wagner fans are attracted to the Festspielhaus and its annual music festival at which only operas by Wagner are performed.  Wagner did not have a well ordered existence because of his political activities, his poverty and his hectic love life.  He was always occupied in running away from his creditors. He was fortunate that Ludwig II of Bavaria became king in 1864.

King Ludwig and Wagner

We have already written elsewhere on this website about Ludwig and about our visits thirty years ago to his “fairy tale” castles at Neuschwanstein and Linderhof.  In any event, Ludwig loved Wagner’s operas and became his patron.  Wagner lived for a time in Ludwig’s capital city of Munich, but in 1870 was forced to move on for the usual reason and decided to settle in the relatively small city of Bayreuth, which lies 150 miles to the north of Munich.

Today the population of Bayreuth is only about 75,000. Wagner chose Bayreuth because its existing 18th century opera house, the Margrave which we also saw, had the very large stage essential for the performance of his works.  However he must have been frustrated to discover, after relocating to Bayreuth, that the Margrave’s orchestra pit was too small to accommodate his large number of musicians.  His solution was to build in Bayreuth a new opera house, the Festspielhaus, exactly to his specifications.  The foundation stone was laid on May 22 1872, which was Wagner’s 59th birthday.  He managed to have the project funded by Ludwig, who by this time was almost as short of money as Wagner.

Festspielhaus orchestra pit

Many of the ideas which Wagner incorporated into the design of the Festspielhaus were highly innovative.  For example, the darkening of the auditorium during performances and the locating of the orchestra in a pit out of the view of the audience were unknown elsewhere at the time.  The acoustics are generally considered to be superb.  The premiere performance at the Festspielhaus took place on August 13 1876.

Just as a person with great advantages at the start of his life, such as the Duke of Westminster’s heir, has very superior godparents present at his baptism, so it was with this building destined for success.  The opening of the Festspielhaus was attended by numerous royals and members of the nobility including the Kaiser, the King of Brazil and of course Ludwig of Bavaria.  Many famous composers also attended, including Tchaikovsky from Russia who correctly predicted that “our children and grandchildren” would be around to see the Bayreuth festival.  The 1876 festival was an artistic triumph, but a financial disaster. Yet, over the years, the Festspielhaus has survived this and other adversities.   In particular, it survived the Second World War undamaged, even though a large part of the city of Bayreuth was destroyed by allied air raids.

Click on player below to see a video of the inside the Festspielehaus in Bayreuth.

One particular adversity that the Bayreuth festival could well have done without was the enthusiastic support of the Nazi regime during the 1930s. Wagner died in 1883 and is buried in Bayreuth but, during his lifetime, he publicized his anti-semitic views.  Adolf Hitler, who was born after Wagner’s death, found these views very much to his taste. Hitler became a great lover of Wagner’s music and made frequent visits to Bayreuth, where he became friendly with members of the Wagner family. The family, then and now, is responsible for producing the festival each year and has inevitably been tarnished by this connection.

Katharina Wagner

To this day, there is an unofficial ban on the playing of Wagner’s work in Israel. It’s not illegal to play it. It’s just not done to play it. There is no suggestion that Wagner’s work is not of the highest quality or that he was personally responsible for activities of Nazis over 50 years after his death.  It is simply that Wagner and his music are seen by many to be symbols of a regime under which they or their ancestors suffered.  Wagner’s great-granddaughter Katherina, who presently manages the festival, has recently invited Israeli orchestras to play at the Festspielhaus, but this is probably a situation that only time can cure.

This piece, written by Bob, was originally posted on our website on November 2, 2010.