Germany: May 2000

Ten days with my family: see Berlin - Köln - St. Goar/Burg Rheinfels - Schwarzwald Freilicht Museum - Neuschwanstein Castle - Munich - Regensburg - Rothenburg - back in Hamburg

	Berlin We started our trip by taking the early-morning ICE express train from Hamburg to Berlin.
The Reichstag The Reichstag building was built in 1894 to be home to the German parliament. In 1933, it was nearly burned out in a mysterious fire, which Hitler and the Nazis blamed on the Communists as an excuse to consolidate power and stifle liberal opposition. Wartime bombing and the Soviet Army almost finished the destruction; restoration from wartime damage wasn't complete until 1972. In 1999, after further renovation, it once again became home to the German parliament, the Bundestag.
		A rooftop view of downtown's forest of cranes gives a sense of just how much change is going on across the city.
When the Reichstag was renovated, it was topped with a wacky glass dome that functions as an observation deck/lighthouse. A spiral ramp along the inside of the dome leads to the top and great views of Berlin; when the Bundestag is in session, a lighthouse-like lens takes light from the legislative chamber below and reflects it out over the city.
	Pergamon Museum The Pergamon Museum is the centerpiece of Berlin's Museuminsel (museum island). It's home to a lot of really big stuff (like the Pergamon Altar, at left), a collection assembled back when it was okay to go to foreign lands and bring back whole buildings in the name of archaeology.
	Equally impressive is the Ishtar gate and processional, from the ancient city of Babylon.
The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, built in the 1890s as a memorial to Kaiser Wilhelm I, badly damaged in World War II bombing, and left standing as a memorial to victims of war. The tower at left is a modern church, built in the 1960s with glass given by the French as a reconcilation gift.

Our fine Mercedes A140. Note size of family versus size of car.

Köln

The day after Berlin, we started driving south. Our first stop was Köln (Cologne), home to Germany's largest cathedral and the original source of Eau de Cologne.

Inside the cathedral.

The "Romantic Rhine"

The Rhine may be 1300 km long, but there's one 80-km-or-so stretch recommended by the tourist-office types, the Romantic Rhine, with the river edged by steep-sided cliffs, forests, and castles.

Burg Rheinfels

Burg Rheinfels was the largest and most powerful fortress on the Rhine until the French destroyed it in 1797, whereupon it became a large picturesque ruin.

Dad never paid for me to look through one of those telescopes. Now I know who's the favorite son.

Schwarzwald Freilicht Museum

On the way south from the Rhine valley, we stopped in Gutach at the Schwarzwald Freilicht Museum (Black Forest Open-Air Museum), a collection of traditional buildings and farmhouses from the local area (some over 300 years old) saved from demolition and collected together into a 'living history'-type museum

The traditional German farmouse seems to be an all-in-one affair: hayloft and farm implements in the top story, family (living quarters and kitchen) in the middle, and your cows, pigs, and horses, in the bottom.

Neuschwanstein Castle

In southernmost Germany is Schloß Neuschwanstein, the last castle built by Barvaria's "Mad" King Ludwig. It was never completed: the last straw, the castle almost bankrupted Barvaria and Ludwig was dethroned by the government. He died three days later under mysterious circumstances, after only having lived in the castle for a total of 170 days.

While unfinished, the results are spectacular enough. (I'm no expert in Royal Palaces Of The World, but I'd rather stay at Neuschwanstein than Versailles.) Neuschwanstein was Walt Disney's model for the Cinderella castle at Disneyland.

Looking from the castle to the Marienbrucke, the bridge from where the first castle picture was taken. Some nights, Ludwig would have the lights in the castle lit and then stand on the bridge in the dark, looking out at his creation.

Munich

I wish we'd spent more time in Munich; we swept through, taking the better part of a day to see a handful of the most famous sights.

The Neues Rathaus
(New City Hall).

The Viktualienmarkt, a permanent open-air food market and (during summer) Biergarten.

The Deutsches Museum is the world's largest science and technology museum (eight stories); it's as close as you can get to geek heaven here on earth. There's a complete U-Boat in the basement and an observatory on the roof; there are exhibits ranging from rocketry to beer brewing.

Everything from old technology ('Take Your Daughter To Work Day' meant something different back then) . . .		. . . to relatively new technology.

	Anyplace that has a Lintotype collection is fine with me. (This was part of one of the better exhibits on printing that I've seen.)

Regensburg

A scenic town on the Danube north of Munich.

The Alte Kapelle (old chapel) was one of the biggest surprises of the trip; from a totally plain and unprepossessing exterior, you walk in to find this Rococo interior, all gilt and filligree.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Our last night on the road was spent in Rothenburg, probably one of the quaintest and most picturesque towns in southern Germany, with a well-preserved walled central city from the 1500s. Rothenburg is also the go-to place for German kitsch; if you want to get your cuckoo clock, Hummel figurine, Steiff teddy bear, or handmade Christmas ornament before heading home, chances are you can find it here.

Everyone has to do that authenticity thing.

Hamburg

Back in Hamburg, we completed our survey of the usual touristy things by taking a harbor tour.

The next day, Dad was sick (and Mom stayed back at the apartment), so it was just Zach and I: we went to Hagenbeck's Tierpark, Hamburg's zoo. Not only did they have elephants and flamingoes (it must be miserable to be a flamingo in Germany), but they also had some kid-sized construction equipment.

Germany, May 2000

Berlin