An evening in Limburg

So, driving UP to Dusseldorf the day before, I had noticed (from the highway) the church in Limburg looking down on the town from up on a hill.

So, on the way back, even though it was already fairly late, I thought it would be nice to make a quick stop to just drive through town and look at the church for 10 minutes or so.  That really was the plan!

One of the great things about Navi systems is the ability to put in a location on the fly and have directions right there.  We programmed in Dom Parking--and took the southern most exit (of two) for the town and followed the roads curing down into the town in the valley.  Being a Sunday, it was realtivly easy to find free parking right down town--and before long we were climbing more steps up through the narrow winding streets and sidewalks to the church (it turns out there was free parking right there--but our Navi tried to guide us there by having my drive on the pedestrian zone--a big NO NO, so we just parked and walked up).

They were in the midst of Sunday evening mass when we arrived (at about 6:30) so we did not see the interior , but I liked the exterior, with its brighter colors and sweet small town feel.

There was a classic little rectory off to the side:

And through the scrollwork iron gate was a park like old cemetery.  Many of the stones were so overgrown that it almost felt like a line for the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney rather than the real thing--or as David said, it provided you with the overwhelming feeling that you should break into the Thriller Dance!

We had already overstayed our planned 10-15 minutes, but we knew at that point we would be a while.  The walk up had shown us just how cute the little town was:

(the picture does not do all the funky, gargoyle like statues justice)

and HELLO!, we were just in time to catch the tail end of the town's annual wine festival!  How could we possibly leave without tasting some of the local wares???

The food vendors had already packed up as the fest was technically over--but plenty of wine vendors and locals were still milling about.  Rio and I managed to hunt down sodas (someone had to drive home!) while Dave sampled a couple of wines.  We learned that showing up at the end of the weekend has its advantages.  The vitners did not want to carry more wine back home than they had to--they filled the glasses all the way to the brim (not stopping at the 1 ounce line) and offered the bottles for half [rice if we wanted to take some home (which we did at those prices!).  

So, yeah, we ended up spending 2 hours in Limburg instead of 15 minutes.  It was great!  I'm already planning on hauling Marika up there for the day this fall so we can explore more and she can see it--and I imagine I will be taking visitors there as well.  

On the way home, we were hungry for a little dinner (it was 9:00 after all, and you'll recall the food vendors were no longer set up at the fest).  We stopped at a roadside Burger King (cheap fast and open) and ate outside, where we were greeted with the perfect end to a pretty perfect day:

Here's hoping everyone finds delightful surprises sometime soon!

--Hadley

This One Time in Dusseldorf . . .

So, the title might be a bit misleading--though our adventure of the weekend began in Dusseldorf (well, I guess technically it began in Heidelberg, didn't it?), it included Koln and Limburg as well.  However, since there is a lot of interesting architecture in this post, it only seems fitting to use the title suggested by an architect friend, so there it is.

I'll start off with a bit of whining.  The last week and a half were pretty hot here in Heidelberg.  Temperatures were mostly in 90s (F) and it has been pretty humid.  Additionally, the home behind us has been in the process of being demolished to make way for constructing student housing next summer (don't be surprised if you hear about us moving after that!).  So, we have heat and humidity, lots of noise and concrete dust.  Oh, and mosquitoes that come in when it cools down a little and the windows come open at night (as is typical in Germany, there is no a/c--we have one small unit on loan--which is lovely on the hottest of days, but really could not be used with all the concrete dust flying).

So Saturday was predicted to be (and was!) the hottest day of the year with temps reaching 107.  And we were awakened by power tools trying to get going before the worst of the heat, at the ungodly weekend hour of 6:30.

 So, there were were Saturday morning, lying there trying not to melt and whining and asking each other what to do for the day.  We could go to a movie (A/C!)--but there is nothing showing we are even remotely interested in.  We could go to a public pool, along with pretty much every other German.  Or, we could find a hotel with air conditioning and a pool and go off an an adventure.  Guess what won?  If you said, "adventure" give yourself a gold star!

So, after a bit of internet sleuthing, we found a good rate at the Marriot Renaissance hotel in Dusseldorf (about 2 1/2 hours North-where it was also supposed to be about 10 degrees cooler).  It was exciting to find a room available at a hotel with a/c (that cuts the number by about 90%) and with a pool on the first weekend of what I understand to be the only two weeks of the summer that ALL public school children in the country are off from school.  Many factories are in shut down this week and next as well.  It is HIGH season here, so a bargain was a thrill.

So, we packed up a bag, threw together a cooler of snacks and drinks, and headed north.

It was too hot for sight seeing, but we knew that Rio's favourite brand was having a 50% off sale and were hoping to find a store that had his coveted jacket, so we stopped at a mall outside of Koln.  Most of the malls have air conditioning--it should be noted that it is "comfortable to tolerable" in temperature--not the ice cold, bring a jacket, type of a/c that is common place in the US.  Near Koln we did not find the jacket (actually we never did) but we DID find a good deal on a shirt each for Rio and I.  We tried again near Dusseldorf (it was like mall alley out there!  We do notice more and more huge shopping malls going in--I am a bit ambivalent about them).  In Dusseldorf we hit the jackpot!  While they did not have the jacket, they WERE just marking things down to 75% off (a rarity in Germany) and Rio made out like a bandit.  Here is heading into the hotel with all of his bags:

After all that shopping, and taking our time, we were checking into the hotel at about 7:45, planning to take a swim and then head out for a late dinner (in hopes that it would cool down before we were eating).  We were disappointed to find out that the pool closes at 8:00.  That seemed awfully early for a hotel pool!  Upon asking (politely) we were given late check out for the next day so that we could at least use the pool in the morning.  We sat in our blessedly cool room for a bit and finally headed out to eat around 9:00ish.  It was still pretty hot out, but we were tired of being so sedentary so we decided to walk to an Italian restaurant that was about 2 km away and had good reviews.  It got pretty warm walking, but the place WAS good and reasonably priced, so that made up for it somewhat.

It was after 11:00 by the time we made it back to the hotel, and it was still over 90 degrees!  There was a cool front forecast to roll in and we kept hoping it would arrive.  Not yet.  Oh well, we DID have a/c for the night.

With no mosquitoes, cool air and no concrete dust we all slept better than we had in over a week--and we didn't even wake until 10:00 on Sunday morning.  We headed right up to the rooftop indoor pool, and when we went out on the terrace, we found that the clouds we could see really did bring cooler weather and it was only about 80!!!

The cooler weather meant we could spend the day sigh seeing as we headed back south.  

After picking up a McDonald's Menu for Rio (14 year old boys need more than a croissant to make it to a late lunch), we went downtown Dusseldorf to check out the cool, modern architecture that it is known for.  

Dusseldorf was hit very heavy during World War II.  At one point 700 bombers attacked the city in just one night.  As a result, this is not a place to see classic, old German architecture.  Instead, it is a place to see, new, modern and sleek buildings.  The place to see is the MedianHafen (media harbor) where the river is lined with buildings that are works of modern art.  

(the 3 "twisted" buildings above were designed by Frank Gehry--for those Disney fans among you, this is the same architect who designed The Walt Disney Concert hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra).

(It's amazing how much adding some plastic people add interest to the one "ho-hum" building in the area!).

It was a very cool area.  It was also packed pretty densely into one small spot--and nothing much else in Dusseldorf held interest for us.  So, after about an hour we headed to the car to drive down for a very different architectural experience: the cathedral in Koln (Cologne).  

Somehow we have managed to live here nearly  5 years without visiting the most visited tourist attraction in the entire country, even though it is only 2 hours up the road.  We rectified that over-site with our stop at the Koln Cathedral yesterday  (funny how "Cologne" sounds "wrong" to my ears after hearing the German name for so long) .  

The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe, and has the second highest spires in the world (Ulm's being the tallest).  The building was one of the sole survivors of an otherwise flattened city during WWII, which means the mammoth structure feels a bit out of place surrounded by plenty of newness.  It was hit over 70 times during the war (though never knocked down, possibly because its usefulness as a landmark for allied airmen) and you could see areas where repairs had been made, and some small spires that are completely missing, etc.  

(I so wish it were possible to keep it all clean at once--do you see how that recently cleaned lower left corner gleams?)

The main level is free to enter, and was pretty crowded (only St Peter's Basicalla has been more so in my experience--but then again, it WAS a Sunday in late July).  I was not able to get very good photos without the flash.  There are very lovely arches and stained glass windows.  The mosaic floors in the rear of the sanctuary were the highlights for me, though.

It took us a bit to find the ticket office and entrance to be able to climb the spire.  You have to go back outside the church and around to the right, and then DOWN the stairs (so that you can pay to climb up and up--why add more stairs?).  The cost to climb up is 3 Euro per person, with a family price of 6 Euro.  

There are 533 steps to the top viewing platform.  Of those, over 350 are original, uneven stone steps going up  in a spiral, in an enclosed (and very stuffy) tower.  You need to be in a good shape, and steady on your feet to make it all the way up, and back down (there is not a separate stairwell, passing each other can be tricky, the inside of the steps is very narrow and has no banister).  I am enough out of shape that I had to stop to rest, squeezing against the wall in every doorway we passed.  

About 1/2 of the way up there is a one way walk through, with a wider area with some benches (woo-hoo) that allows you to get an up close view of the bells.  None of my photos from the area came out, but it was fascinating (though loud when they rang one for the quarter hour; we made sure to continue before 3:00 o 'clock came!).  

At about 2/3 of the way, the spiral staircase lets out into a large square room above the bells.  There is a stone bench all the way around to rest on, and finally some good, fresh air.  After catching your breath, the last 146 steps are modern, metal stairs (this set IS one way, with more tightly enclosed stone steps to spiral down on) that go up in this enclosed space, and let out very high up!  The entire walkway around the top is enclosed in fencing, and all areas that people can touch are, disappointingly covered in graffiti.  I have no comprehension of how someone can want to deface a work of beauty by writing there names--that level of arrogance is beyond me. 

 My favourite part of the vantage point, were the views of the cathedral itself.  

But the views of the city were pretty cool too!

Here is the view from the ground, looking straight up the spire that we climbed to get those photos:

It took everything I had to deal with that height for so long!  

It was about 3:30 and we had not had lunch yet, so we headed off to an Italian place (yes, more Italian!) that had good reviews and was nearby, but not right on the pedestrian zone--which meant it felt about a million miles away from the throngs of tourists.  

After a lovely lunch out in a gorgeous courtyard full of flowers, we stopped to pick up some dessert, simply because we have never seen a Dunkin Donuts in Germany and the novelty factor having something we have not had in so long was high!

Our adventure was not finished yet!  We still had one more stop on our way home-but I think I will write about Limburg tomorrow; it is getting late and this post is getting long.

--Hadley

To be blind in Germany

A recent thread on a cruise message board had me thinking about being disabled here in Germany.  The thread had a theme that I see often, namely that it is near impossible to get around in Europe if you are disabled.

I hear or read that, or something similar, pretty often.  What people seem to really mean is that Europe is, on the whole, not very wheelchair friendly--somehow in the US we have started to think of wheelchairs and motorized scooters as being almost THE definition of "disabled" and so that is the catch all.

People are right, Europe, Germany included, seems like it would be MUCH harder to navigate in a wheel chair (and quite a bit more so in one of the big motorized scooters) than the US or Canada would be.  (DISCLAIMER: I make this, and all statements in this post being fortunate enough to have full use of all my limbs and senses, etc--so I do not pretend to speak for anyone--just saying what I observe and would guess might be the case).

I suspect that much of the issue stems from the simple fact that Germany has been around a LONG time.  Many streets were lined with stone houses, that still stand, long before the motorized vehicles would be running down them, much less before anyone would think to create sidewalks large enough to allow for wheel chair use.  Heck, many of the streets hardly fit the cars even with minuscule sidewalks that are virtually unusable.  Likewise, many, many building were built long before elevators were invented or ramps were a consideration.  The historic nature of these buildings makes adding such very difficult.

 I suspect there is also somewhat more at play here.  Perhaps partially due to how much harder they are to maneuver in in Germany, though also possibly simply a different way of looking at things, fewer people rely on wheelchairs (and almost none on scooters, that I have seen).  In the US, it is pretty common to see someone who can, and does, walk with a cane or a walker at home use a rented wheelchair or scooter at a theme park, or a grocery store (where many stores provide free motorized scooters for shopper use), etc.  In Germany, I don't really see that.  If someone is in a wheelchair it is always clearly THEIRS and used as their primary source of conveyance pretty much all the time.  I see lots and lots of people using walkers and just taking it more slowly as they shop, bring purchases home on trams, etc.  Even at Disney Paris, we were struck by the lack of wheelchairs (only a handful, none that looked like rentals) and scooters (I don;t think we saw any).

 I do think there is a cultural attitude at play in this, among other factors.  In the US we are so caught up in being efficient, and productive and getting the most out of everything--we think we need to be able to zip around the store quickly and to ride 25 rides before the theme park closes.  There is a it of a different feel here.  Most people seem to prefer to take it slower, rest of needed, etc but not rely on more equipment than they truly need to get the job done.  Neither is wrong or right, they are just different attitudes that I have noticed.

However, I have totally strayed from my intended point, and do apologize!  What I wanted to blog about it this: yes, it seems Germany is not nearly as wheel chair friendly as the US, however other disabilities are probably much better catered to here than across the Atlantic.  Today I wanted to blog about a few of the things that I am always noticing here that I think would make it much more pleasant to be blind in Germany than in the US.

Let's start with the medicine cabinet.  I have never bought ANY medication in Germany that was not labeled in braille.

(I'm sorry the photo is so blurry-I struggled to get anything at all where the raised dots were visible).  

In fact, I find braille all over the place.  On the buttons at the ATM machine, an the stamp machine at the post office, and on the debit card readers at the store, etc.

And speaking of stores, if one does not take debit cards, which country's cash would YOU think would be easier for a blind person to be confident they were being given the correct change in:

Notice how each Euro bill is a different size?  The 5s are the smallest and they get bigger as you go up in value.  You can see it more clearly in the photos below, in which I lined up the lower right hand corner of all the US bills and also of all the Euros:

Something else I notice is that a good percentage of the crosswalks and street corners are designed to make it easier for a blind person working with a cane to know where to stop and when to cross.

Approaching the corer, there will be a set of pavers that have a totally different texture than those surrounding them.  They are usually either long strips, or small circles.  

There will be one of two different crossing signals at most of these areas.  One is an audible signal in which a clicking sound (not overly loud or annoying at all) indicates when it is and is not permissible to cross.  The other, as shown, is that the button one pushes to activate the signal will vibrate when it is time to cross:

(Notice that there is another series of textured paving stones at the island midway--and another vibrating signal too).

Probably the most helpful thing for blind residents here is the ubiquitous and well run public transportation.  If I stop to think about it, probably only 20% of the US (if that) is set up with a good enough system to allow a blind person to easily travel independently.  By contrast, virtually everywhere in Germany is, and those train and tram platforms have their own paving stone systems to make it easier and safer as well.

Here is the floor in the Heidelberg main station.  The striped path runs down the middle and veers off to each stairway towards a train platform.  At each junction, there is a larger area with a circular texture to alert the traveler to the possible turns, or help them keep count of which platform they are near:

At the base of the stairs, the path picks right back up, and goes to the "safe edge" for standing at the platform.  Those white lines are great visuals for all of us, and my standard rule that I gave the kids when we first move here is to always wait behind the white line.  In some areas outside of Germany those lines are merely painted on (maybe in some areas here as well, but not the ones we frequent).  Here, the lines serve as a physical warning to the blind as well as a visual one to the rest of us:

In conclusion, I guess it seems to me that a blanket statement saying that one or the other country is more accommodating to those with disabilities is probably not really accurate.  I think each has evolved to accommodate DIFFERENT physical limitations in better ways than the other has.  And I jsut happen to find it interesting, so I thought I' share :)

Happy Thursday everyone.  The weekend is almost here!

--Hadley