Worms

Once in awhile I run into somebody who is just my kind of people.  Because of my lifestyle, those people can appear at random times and occasionally more than once.  Such is the case here. I have other folks around me who are doing things in tandem & having a good time with them, but I am so glad to find that Sue is here with me again.  We were together for Snowmageddon in Washington DC a few years ago.  So the week after I arrive in Germany, SUE arrives & we have a new snowmageddon, shutting down the bases. Now, after 4 weeks of barely getting above freezing:  Easter...& more snow (top left outside my window). 

Two weeks ago we went to the city of Worms, Germany.  It is pronounced Verms, but some people cannot get it right; think they are being set up when they are told to pronounce it “Verms” so they just go ahead & say “Worms”, then chuckle a little as if to say, “these Germans are so cute.”  Americans! Worms is a very old city founded in 14 BC. It’s Cathedral (top right) was begun in the 10^th century & is possibly most famous for being the place where Martin Luther refused to recant his beliefs in front of the Pope/Holy Roman Emperor & was then thoroughly excommunicated. Worms is the site of the oldest Jewish Cemetery in Europe (right) & the Jewish quarter is home to the yeshiva where the venerated Rabbi Rashi studied, to a Synagogue reconstructed after Kristallnacht &to an ancient, functional mikveh (ritual bath).  The crusades & the nazis pretty much decimated the Jewish population & today only a few Jews live there in a city whose name was first Celtic, Borbetomagus, & then Hebrew, Vermayza. Interestingly, the Jewish quarter & the main street, Judenstrasse (Jew Street) are mainly occupied by the Muslim Arab population.  Vandalism & desecration is a problem but the polizei do what they can to protect the ancient artifacts.

I don’t need or have a desire to drive or ride a bus for 6-8 hours for a day in all the big cities in Europe like some folks.  That reminds me of “European Vacation”. To me it is only worth the trip if it takes a couple of hours & I have plenty of time to stay…at least 2 days.  Partly that is because there is so much great stuff within a short distance that I never heard of before!  Places like Idar-Oberstein with it’s two castles on top of the mountain overlooking the valley village & the cathedral built into the side of the mountain (left). Went there for lunch last Sunday after Palmsonntag services at the local church, St. Martin’s, which was built in the 14^th century by Franciscan monks (like Pope Francis, who I call Pope Fransisco, because it is so fun to say). This morning (Easter 2013) I woke up & it was snowing. The church bells were ringing, smoke & steam were billowing out of the chimneys on every rooftop in the valley. I again went to church with my 2 compadres Sue & Sandy at St. Martin’s & then home for a day of rest before embarking on another full work week.  I am going to my first live Bundesliga game with 50 thousand other foosball fans at Fritz-Walter-Stadion to see the 4^th ranked FCK Rotes Teufeln (Kaiserslautern Red Devils Football Club) take on the #3 ranked Koln “Billy Goats”.  I hate to think that is their team name, but it is their mascot – go figure.  Even though I do fly the colors of Bayern Munchen (#1 in Bundesliga) I have been instructed that I cannot wear them here, although the colors are the same, somehow people will know.  If you hear of riots at a German foosball game, then you know it was probably because I wore the wrong team on game day. Then, assuming I survive the game & the after-party, on Saturday I am going to meet my friend Kathy in Strasbourg, France & likely will spend the night.  Looks like a full weekend, but I can handle it. I am getting tired of day after day of freezing temps though. Other photos here are Barbarossa's Castle remains in downtown Kaiserslautern; Easter eggs at the market and an Easter tree festooned with plastic eggs; My house; and My village.

 

Hohenecken, Attendorn, NAHncy

Everytime I go on one of these assignments I am confronted with very different situations.  This time I have not been disappointed with the differentness but I won’t bore anyone with that.  Regardless, I again find myself in Europe, coming out of the fog that is borne of travel and seeing the great opportunity that presents itself. Sorry for the flowery text but I just watched the 1953 movie about Martin Luther in prep for my trip next weekend to the city of Worms (say “Verms”), Germany.  Huge amount of history there but I will tell you about that later.  I am wrapping up my second weekend here in the Kaiserslautern community and have thus far spent the night in a German castle in Attendorn, Germany and wandered around the French town of Nancy.  It’s a lot of fun to say Nancy France with American pronunciation, but I have been schooled that the town is “Nahncy, Frahnce”, which truthfully is almost as much fun to say. I arrived without my snow boots, because I figured it can’t be much longer til spring.  Oh how wrong I can be.  There was about 3-4 inches of fresh snow on the ground when I got here and it all pretty much melted and evaporated within the first week.  Snowing in Attendorn at the castle on my next weekend was kind of a custom request I had fulfilled: a) because I believe in God, and b) because He likes to see me happy.  Then after I got home it was sunny and slightly cool but tolerable, which was convenient because the zipper on my awesome Korean winter jacket busted and I had to have it committed to a shop to be repaired. Then it started snowing again all day and all night dropping several inches of snow making everything look fresh and beautiful.  The roads and highways finally cleared up today and now the temps are dropping, it’s snowing heavily again and supposed to drop to minus 20 tonight.  That’s Celsius which sounds pretty bad…in Fahrenheit it will only be about 6 below zero.  But it’s so freakin beautiful.  I will take a picture from inside my room with the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the valley, the church and the hills beyond and post it on this blog-spot.  ZO, I got my jacket back, I have a couple of friends, and a very quaint restaurant downstairs with a fireplace and an endless tap.  Life is so unfair.
These pictures are (top to bottom to right): The 800 year old castle ruin above my house-Schlossberg Hohenecken; Schnellenberg Castle in Attendorn; my little village of Hohenecken with the hotel, castle and church all visible; the church outside my bedroom window this morning, covered in snow; the menu of the bistro in Nancy France (which nobody could interpret, so we had to point and guess - at least I knew how to avoid escargots); and lastly, the downtown of Nancy France.