Summer 2007 - Day 31

Day 31

Our last day of our holiday - we had a quick look at Koblenz and then drove to Marksburg Castle. Koblenz is a 2,000 year old town situated on the banks of the Rhine river where it merges with the Moselle.

Marksburg Castle is the only hill castle on the Rhine that has never been destroyed. It has been lived in for over 700 years. We did a tour of Marksburg which was only offered in German. The tour took 50 minutes and we were given information in English which took 5 minutes to read. It was a nice enough castle though. I got this information on Marksburg from their website when we came home.

Beginning with the construction of the keep in the 12th century, the castle grew into its present shape throughout succeeding centuries. In the Middle Ages, the strengthening of the castle's defences became essential and urgent due to improvements made to firearms. Huge outworks date from this time, as does the conversion of a gateway in the outer wall to a strong bastion. It is mainly due to these extra defence works that the castle was never seriously attacked. In more peaceful times, it was used mainly as a state prison.

The big cannons in this "Great Battery" are aimed at the Rhine river. Their reach amounted to approx. 1,000 meters, the crew was able to cover the width of the Rhine valley. This battery house was erected no more than 400 years ago.

The Kemenate (bed-chamber) furnished with a canopied matrimonial bed, a cradle, a spinning wheel etc. It was one of the few rooms of the castle to be heated with a stove.

The Rüstkammer (armoury) contains a collection of personal armour illustrating the historical development of armour from c.a. 600 BC to 1500 AC.

The former stables underneath the Romanesque Palas (Great Hall) houses the numerous instruments of torture and punishment such as would be used in a typical Folterkammer (torturing chamber).

After Marksburg castle we drove to Bonn to visit the birth house of Beethoven. Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December 1770. Since 1889 his birth house has housed a commemorative museum.

After Bonn we drove home. During our holiday we drove almost 5,300 km. We used a pedometer to help John to learn how to read numbers in thousands. The kids took regular checks of our step count. The accuracy of the pedometer was variable but we walked at least 366,308 steps.

We had a great holiday and saw a lot in that time. The kids got bored occasionally but generally enjoyed the holiday.

Summer 2007 - Day 30

Day 30

Today we stayed in Trier until lunchtime and saw a couple more sights. The Roman Bridge in Trier is the oldest bridge in Germany. The stone pilings of the Roman Bridge date from A.D. 144-152.

On March 2, 1945, General Patton's tanks captured the bridge so quickly that it was not blown up - the (empty) charge chambers are still visible from the up-river side of the bridge.

Archbishop Henry I laid out the market in his cathedral city in 958. He erected the market cross as a visible sign of his rule, customs and tax sovereignty and also a safe market.

Having seen the sights of Trier we set off to see another castle - Burg Eltz.

The development of castles in the Middle Ages began in the 9th and 10th centuries. Up to that time manor houses were protected with earth walls and wooden palisades. However, from that time on reinforced stone walls were used for the greater security of what were now basic castles. The heyday of castle building stretched from the 11th to the 13th centuries, the main period of the imperial family of Hohenstaufen. It was also the time in which many towns were founded.

Burg Eltz is a castle set in the forest and has never been attached in over 700 years. The Eltz family were very diplomatic, had a few "clever" marriages and were always on the "right" side. When France was trashing German castles, one of the Eltz family members was a Marshall in the French Army.

This drinking vessel from Augsburg shows Diana, the goddess of the hunt, riding a stag. By means of a clockwork mechanism it moves round the table. The drinkers would remain in their place and the vessel would stop in front of them. It was used in the following way: whoever it stopped in front of would have to drink, the men would have to drink from the stag and the women from the dog, the two animals being joined by a very short chain.

"Gluttony conveyed by Drunkenness"

This drinking vessel was made in 1550 and shows a fat drunk in a wheelbarrow being pushed by Bacchus. The work was cast in silver and parcel gilt.

This dragon was designed to drain water from the roof tops.

We loved our tour of Burg Eltz and it was probably our favourite castle on the trip. Back in the car and off to Koblenz.

Summer 2007 - Day 29

Day 29


We found the cathedral at Basel rather difficult to find. It was probably relatively easy but our GPS disgraced itself again. However, amid the threats concerning the GPS future we did, finally, find the cathedral. David must have still been in a fury when taking this photo of the exterior - note the lean. The Tom Tom navigator we used in previous years was excellent.





After our short but eventful visit to Basel we then left Switzerland and headed back to Germany to see the city of Trier.

Trier is built on the banks of the Moselle River and is Germany's oldest city. Trier was founded as a city in 16BC by Emperor Augustus.

Facing the threat of a Germanic invasion, the Romans finally built a city wall around A.D. 180, 6.4 kilometers long, which ultimately had five gates. The remains of the gates at the Amphitheater and the Roman Bridge can still be seen and the Porta Nigra is almost perfectly preserved.

Built from sandstone the Porta Nigra stands more than 30 metres high and contains blocks weighing up to 6 tons.


















The present Cathedral of Trier stands on top of a former Constantinian Palace.

The Holy Relics Chamber in the cathedral is the final resting place of the holy tunic, the undivided and seamless tunic that, according to legend, Jesus wore during his crucifixion and for which the soldiers drew lots.

St Mary's Altar.

The Market Fountain from 1595 shows St. Peter, the patron saint of the Cathedral as well as the city, standing on top, surrounded by the four cardinal virtues of good city government, Justice, Strength, Temperance, and Wisdom, but also by monsters and frolicking monkeys.




The house where Karl Marx was born on 5th May 1818. The house has been converted to a museum on his life and work.

The so-called Basilika, Constantine's throne room, is the largest surviving single-room structure from Roman times. The Romans wanted the architecture to express the magnificence and might of the emperor.

The Roman building was embellished by colorful marble inlay, mosaics, and statues and was made comfortable by a hollow-floor heating system, but all this splendor and technology were destroyed (in the 5th century) by the Germanic Franks, who built a settlement inside the roofless ruin.

The Electoral Palace is directly next to the Basilika.

Going to the baths was an important part of Roman life and construction on the Imperial Baths began at the end of the 3rd century but the works were never completed.







Enough walking around for the day.

Summer 2007 - Day 28

Day 28

Lausanne is a city in the French speaking part of Switzerland. There are four official languages in Switzerland: German, French, Italian and Romansh.

We did our usual wander around the city and had a look inside the Cathedral.

In 1915, Baron Pierre de Coubertin established the IOC's (International Olympic Committee) headquarters in Lausanne and created the Olympic Museum. The museum details the history of the Olympic Games and has all of the medals from all of the games and the torch from each games. Lots of other memorabilia as well.

We then left for Montreux as we had a fairly busy day ahead. In Montreux we visited Chateau de Chillon, a castle built on a rock on the shores of Lake Geneva. The oldest part dates back to 1160. In the 13th century under Count Peter II of Savoy, Chillon was completely transformed and considerably enlarged.

The ancient road to Italy was widened at the start of the 18th century. Chillon was built to guard the narrow pass between the lake and mountains and to serve the military and commercial interest of the House of Savoy.

Castle Keep.

Courtyard.

Castle Interior.

Chillon also houses a collection of armour and weapons.

Evidence of Swiss hospitality even in medieval times - where you might expect to see an archer or to have to duck out of the way from a cauldron of boiling oil, they have flower boxes.

Guards walk above the 12th century walls.




These toilets are for display purposes only.......

.....but someone forgot to tell Mark and John.

Chillon was most famous for Bonivard's Prison. The room was previously used as a storehouse in the 13th century and as a prison in the 14th. Bonivard, Prior of St Victor's, Geneva was chained for 4 years to a pillar because he was in favour of the Independence of Geneva. He was freed by the Swiss on 29/3/1536. He was immortalised by the poet, Byron, who signed his name on one of the pillars.

View from Chillon.

Mark and John letting us know that perhaps they would like to leave.

As we walked away from Chateau de Chillon we could see the A9 motorway - a marvel of Swiss engineering. Unfortunately, that was as close as we got to the A9 thanks to our GPS. (David decided that he wanted a new navigation system) This new system took us all over the countryside, which was very scenic, but a tad slower than the motorway.

After winding our way through the vineyards (with David colourfully lamenting his purchasing decision) we finally made it to Bern. We visited Bern to see the house where Einstein lived for 2 years and where he developed his Theory of Relativity.