Europe 2006
This summer, I took a three week trip to Europe with Martin. We stayed in Düsseldorf for a week, then wound our way down to France, (stopping briefly in Switzerland), and then stayed in Port Grimaud (on the coast, near St. Tropez) for the final week.
Deutschland (Germany)
We arrived in Düsseldorf on August 13th. Düsseldorf, besides being Martin’s hometown, is the Landeshauptstadt (capital city) of North Rhine-Westphalia (the largest land in Germany, population wise). He comes from the northern part of the city, an area called Wittlaer, and went to school in Kaiserswerth (Barbarossa’s 12th century castle was right next to his school). In any case, after showering and having breakfast, we went to downtown Düsseldorf and up the TV tower to get an overview of the town (incidentally, the tower has the world’s largest digital clock, in lights going up the side). The funky buildings next to the harbor (seen here) were finished in 1999, and while I’m not sure I like them, they are not the only modern buildings in town. This is fairly common for German towns, many of which were devastated during World War II, and had to almost completely rebuild. For the same reason, none of the bridges in Düsseldorf predate the war, and most of them look like this and this. You can also see the Rhine which goes through the center of town, and the harbor which was built there.
I was pretty tired after the travelling and such, and Martin had some business to take care of, so I didn’t go to far on the 14th. The next day though, we went to Bonn, the capital of Germany from 1949 to 1990, when the capital was moved to Berlin. First though, we went to Petersburg, the mountain top hotel that was used for “official” visitors. Then, we met up with Martin’s Mom’s cousin and his family for a visit to Bonn. Beethoven was actually born in this house (”Beethovens Geburtshaus“). I found it kinda funny that the rathaus (townhall) had so much pink in it, but it was otherwise very nice looking. (I guess I don’t think of Germans as the type of people to want to paint their buildings pink.) You’ll probably notice that it was raining in some of the pictures; it rained much of my week in Germany. Maybe fall weather showed up a little early? You can see the University of Bonn in this picture. The large yellow building you see in the pictures is a former castle, and is definitely one of the larger academic buildings I’ve ever seen (not counting the Cathedral of Learning of course).
On the 16th, we were again briefly in downtown Düsseldorf (those are Martin’s pictures, but you can see my pics linked from there). Cartwheeling is said to have started there, hence this fountain. There is a “twisted tower” downtown on the harbor, kinda cool looking.
In the afternoon, we went to Cologne, just south of Düsseldorf, which is where Martin’s Dad is from, and where his grandma (omi) still lives. Cologne is called Köln in German while English uses the French name, but both reflect the city’s Roman roots dating back to 50 AD as a city called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. We took a gondola (?) over the river, giving us some nice views of the city and of the cathedral (the largest gothic cathedral in Europe, and houses the relics of the Three Magi.) The bridge leading across the Rhine from the cathedral carries trains (both local and the high speed ICE - Inter City Express, Germans like to use English words, they sound “cool” or something) to the train station, which is right next to the cathedral. There is a dedicated team of masons working on the cathedral, so there is often (well, always) scaffolding on the towers. But they’ve recently starting using longer lasting stone in their work, and so were able to remove the scaffolding just in time for me to see the place.
A couple of days later, we walked the dog (Arpad) in the fields near Martin’s house, and saw these sheep. Sometime that afternoon, we saw this restaurant called Mongo’s, and thought of Sanjeev (”mongoose” is a very popular word with him).
On the 19th, we biked over to Kaiserswerth along the Rhine. There are a few pictures of the castle (of Barbarossa), although I think it was as much fortress as castle. In addition, he would have used the place to collect “tolls” on the river, and probably wasn’t really there too much. The last picture is of a poster for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, who will play a concert in Duesseldorf on September 5th.
Travelling
We left on Monday the 21st for Heidelberg. Heidelberg (My and Martin’s Pics) is what you might call “cute” by German standards, and is probably the most “typically German” place I’ve been. At least, a lot of Americans know it that way. There are actually quite a few Americans around there, as one of the many US Army bases in Germany is in Heidelberg. There is a castle/fort (or what’s left of it) in the mountains above the city. You can see some of the view from here and here. I particularly liked this view that contained a church. You can see in these pictures that much of the Schloß was destroyed at one time or another: a wall, a view of several different sections of the castle, and this 3 floor bit that’s half gone. Some of it’s still intact though, including this walkway with corner tower, and nice view to go along with it. The castle is home to two additional tourist attractions: the Big Keg (holding 58,124 gallons) and a Apotheke (Pharmacy) musem. From the castle, you can also see this bridge (crossing the Neckar, which meets up with the Rhein in Mannheim, about 20km away) that we later walked over to. As a side note, on a visit to one of the churches there (no idea which), there was a little memorial of Brother Roger, who died just over a year ago.
The next day, we left Heidelberg, and stopped for a little bit in Karlsruhe (My pics and Martin’s). Martin will be doing an exchange at the University there in the Spring, so we decided to stop over there for a bit. I didn’t take too many pictures, but you can see the castle. We also walked through a botanical garden that was near there, and you can see those in Martin’s pictures.
That afternoon, we travelled to Freiburg, in the southwest corner of Germany, and right across the border from France (my pics and Martin’s). One of the quirks of Freiburg is that there are little “canals” of water running through all the streets, careful not to step in them! Most of the other pictures were taken on or near the Münsterplatz, home of the Freiburg cathedral (also here).
Schweiz (Switzerland)
Our stop in Switzerland consisted primarily of a lunch stop in Le Landeron (pics) (in the Francophone part of Switzerland, I was happy to be somewhere I knew what was going on), and an afternoon tour of Geneva (pics) with Martin’s Mom’s cousin, who worked there, but lives across the border in France. Geneva (Genf in German, and Genève in French) is right on the border between France and Switzerland, and at the mouth of Lake Geneva where the river Rhône begins. We had a nice little tour of downtown Geneva, including this former stable, and St. Pierre’s Cathedral, a church now belonging to the Reformed (Calvinist) Church of Switzerland:the towers (very eclectic architecture!) and the inside. You can also see the Alps from Geneva and the Rhône is seemingly everywhere.
Frankreich (France)
From Geneva, we travelled south to Port Grimaud, stopping for lunch in a small town, but I’ve forgotte the name. The town had a pretty combination of river and mountains. And in case you’re interested, our mode of transportation. Martin and I were in the car that his Dad is not leaning against.
Port Grimaud is sort of like a residential development, except that it doubles as a harbor for its inhabitants (many seasonal), and sits at the end of the Golfe de St. Tropez. The first day we were there, I took some pictures of the boats you could see from Martin’s parents house. Their sailboat is more or less centered in this picture.
Martin took me on a boat tour around Port Grimaud (using the smaller motorboat) on the 26th, and on the 27th, we went up to the top of the chapel there, where there is a nice view of the area. This picture should give you an idea of the number of sail boats around there. You can also see the mountains that border the coast line in that area, and the marketplace in town. That vantage point also gives you a good view of the golfe, and St. Tropez on the other side.
Martin and I drove up to Gassin that afternoon (my pics and Martin’s). It has a great view of the area, including the golfe and the many mountains around there. You can also see some of the many vineyards here. There were at one point many windmills in the area, and we saw a rebuilt one near the side of the road around there somewhere.
Ste Maxime is another one of the towns on the golfe, and we went to see it on the 28th. It’s actually not that far from Port Grimaud, but driving on the coastal roads is often horrendous in the summer (2 hours for only a handful of miles). It’s often faster to go up the nearest mountain and come back than to drive along the coast. The other option is a boat-taxi, which takes 15 minutes, as advertised by this sign. It’s kind of funny, but that’s the reality around there, at least in peak season. In any case, Ste Maxime is another of the resort towns around there, but not as much as St Tropez, and therefore I like it better. 
Some pictures: boules (I think every town has a square for playing boules!, notice the “broccoli trees” in the background), the beach and the “pier.”
The next day, we went up to Grimaud, not to be confused with Port Grimaud (my pics and Martin’s). In reality, they are more like one town in two different locations. Much of the administration for Port Grimaud actually occurs in Grimaud, it’s mountain counterpart. (Although I think that Port Grimaud is newer.) There are ruins of a castle (and another view, and one close-up) at the top of the mountain, and that’s fairly common around there, being good protection from possible invasions via the sea. There were also functioning windmills here at one point, and there is one rebuilt for show, next to this big bush. I happen to like this view from town because you can see all the way to the golfe and across, and this view because it gives you a good idea of the landscape around there. The town’s pretty steep too! And here’s a look at the windmill from above. Finally, a picture for my brother.
We also visited St Tropez that afternoon. (Having some technical difficulties finding my pictures from St Tropez, those are Martin’s.) When I was there in 2002, I thought it was nice, but that was mostly because it wasn’t raining the afternoon I was there. Much nicer weather, but MUCH more crowded this time. St Tropez is where some of the larger boats harbor, you know, the ones with hired full time crew and 3 floors above the water. (The largest boats can’t dock in the harbor and sit out in the middle of the golfe.) Here’s a shot of me and part of town. I have picture of a similar view across to Ste Maxime from 2002. Some more pics: out into the sea, part of the citadel, a pretty tower, and a nice view from the citadel.
One of the days we visited Fayence, a town further inland than the others we went to, or maybe I’m just confused. I honestly don’t remember at this point. What I do remember is that Fayence was very steep, with roads going every which way, making Pittsburgh look reasonably well laid out.
On Martin’s Birthday, we went out sailing for a bit. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home that day. Not so many pictures. I did go in the water, my first time in the Mediterranean (I can never spell that, das Mittelmeer looks much easier to spell somehow).
On September 1st, we took a ride up (over?) to Collobrières (World Capital of Chestnuts, so says Wikipedia), where they make Marrons Glacés (candied chestnuts, they essentially soak them in some sort of sugar syrup over a period of a number of days, they’re quite good). Check these two fountains, this canal, and this chapel with some neat windows. On the way back, Martin and I stopped over at Chartreuse de la Verne, a monastery in the area. Lots of nice shots from there, you can check out all the pictures in that directory.
We left on the 3rd, and saw these “funny” packages in the duty free store while we were waiting. I wonder what the US Surgeon General would have to say about that?
Thanks to Martin and his parents for making the trip so wonderful!