Newsletter #35 - February 12-19, 1960

                                    Newsletter #35
                                    February 12-19, I960
                                    Mailed London, England 2/25/60
                                    Recd. Philadelphia 2/29/60

                                    Germany

Good Evening:

             Here we are back again to tell you the happenings of another week. Tonight [February 13] we are still in the city of Wiesbaden, after spending a leisurely day of seeing this city and shopping. (Mostly window shopping.)

             Wiesbaden has some very lovely parks, beautiful large homes in luxurious surroundings and is internationally known for its spa of the Rhine Valley, but has not too much otherwise to attract us as tourists.

             Today [February 14] we had a slippery, snowy drive to Frankfort and then on to Hanau and Wurzburg, an old university town, and the center of the Franconia wine producing region. Wurzburg is beautifully situated on the right bank of the Main River and has a sumptuous baroque castle and a very unusual and imposing 13th century fortress called Fort Marlenborg, plus a very unique bridge over the Main River.

             I believe I neglected to tell you in my letter of last week about Mainz, where Johann (John) Gutenberg invented movable type, and thereby he became the father of modern printing. This city is now the center of the German wine trade. (Mainz is also the city where most Rhine River boat trips start or end and we are certainly sorry they are not running these trips during this month. (Nothing seems to begin until May first.)

             Tonight [February 15] we are in picturesque and charming Nürnberg, an old imperial center dating back to 1040. It is architecturally imposing and unusual, with its streets of high-roofed, half-timbered medieval dwellings, its many fine churches and dignified public structures.

             Nürnberg is famous as the birthplace of Albrecht Durer, a painter, also for its gingerbread, toys and Der Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

             Today we saw Grimm's Hansel and Gretl Witch House and the impressive Nürnberg Castle, which was damaged greatly during the war, but it has been remarkably well restored. Our guide told us many unusual stories and we saw the grand old town walls which are 400 to 500 years old, with eight gates and four giant round towers. We also saw the Albrecht Durer House, the Frauenkirche, a 14th Century Gothic Church, with its fine clock tower which performs only at twelve o'clock noon. We stayed over an extra day to see it perform and it was very interesting. This artistic clock was built in 1509 and at the stroke of twelve you see Emperor Charles IV, seated on his throne, receive the homage of the Seven Electors, who file past him and bow, they do this three times. Higher up in the clock tower two men strike the hours while musicians play instruments as the Electors walk past the king. (It was similar to the one clock tower in Bern, Switzerland.)


                                       Newsletter #35

             On the same square with the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) you see the vegetable, fruit and flower stands which are also most interesting and colorful and on this same central market square you see the famous Schonerbrunnen (Beautiful Fountain), a sixty-foot stone filigree pyramid with 40 statues which was erected in the 14th Century and is very beautiful and ornate.

             We certainly enjoyed our extra day here as the crooked lanes between several proud patrician palaces and narrow gabled houses with unusual dormer windows were very unique and unusual.

             Today we had a few inches of snow once more and the roads were rather slippery, especially on the curves and through the mountain areas. We drove from Nürnberg to the quaint walled city of Rothenburg, which has towers and ramparts which are in a wonderful condition. This is another fairy tale city of Germany, of rare beauty, and it is situated on the Tauber River. From Rothenburg we drove on Germany's famous Romantic Road to Bad Mergentheim and on to Tauberbischofsheim, a very panoramic area of picturebook Germany, as these old Medieval cities are so attractive and delightful to drive through.

             Tonight [February 16] we are in the city of Heidelberg, situated on the song-celebrated Neckar River, which we followed for several hours this afternoon. It is a very beautiful river with many large river boats traveling upon it. The river traffic was quite heavy today and there is quite a jam as they wait their turn to go through the many locks along the way. We think this river is every bit as scenic as the Rhine, at least the area which we traversed today.

             Heidelberg is a symbol of Germany's glorious cultural past and the University here is Germany's oldest, founded in 1836 and world famous.

             As you enter the city you see Heidelberg castle on the hill which is a magnificent sight of Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance architecture and you also see the Old Bridge across the Neckar with its strong and graceful arches. This is just another of Germany's many wonderful cities.

             Today [February 17] we drove through the large city of Mannheim, which is situated where the lovely Neckar River enters the famous Rhine. It is an important industrial city and we saw many of the areas where bombing must have been done extensively. We saw the Mannheim Castle, which is quite large and of baroque style, but not nearly so magnificent as most of the castles we have seen in Germany.

             Our next small city of Importance was Worms, one of Germany's oldest cities. Worms is located in a fine wine growing district of the Rhine and it was here in 1521 that the Diet of Worms issued its edict against Martin Luther. This city has a very old 11th Century Romanesque Cathedral and a very unique and outstanding Restoration Monument, which was erected in honor of Martin Luther.

             Tonight we are in the cosmopolitan city of Frankfort on the Main and the city which possesses the largest airport in Europe. The great
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                                       NewsLetter #35

             German writer Goethe was born here in 1749. Present day Frankfort is very modern and quite Americanized. We enjoyed our stay here but traffic was always in such a jam that we were glad when we were out in the open country again.

             Today [February 18] we had a beautiful drive from Bingen on the Rhine, where we saw Klipp Castle, on to Coblenz, This entire drive of 40 miles was along a very breathtaking section of the Rhine and the road twists and turns between high hills covered with terraced vineyards, which slope to the river and every few miles you see a majestic fortress castle, or a picturesque little wine town nestled at the feet of these miles of vine-clad hills or across the river you'll see a romantic medieval castle set off by more terraced vineyards and steep craggy hills. I'm sure I'm not exaggerating when I say we saw at least two dozen lovely castles on this drive on the Rhine and one was even on an island on the river. To add to the beauty of this drive you see a continual stream of colorful boats and barges going to and fro with their wash blowing in the breeze. (Our only regret today was the weather, as we had another cloudy, dark day. The past two weeks we've had only about six hours of actual sunshine, which means no photographs for without light and sunshine colored film is of no use.)

             After we left Coblenz we drove; to an old cathedral town called Limburg, which is on the Lahn River. This small city had some very beautifully and richly decorated timbered houses of the 18th Century and a handsome seven towered cathedral in Romanesque style. From Limburg we drove through small unique towns called Weilburg, Wetzlar, Giessen, Marburg and then Kassel, where we are tonight. We had our first flat tire about 15 miles outside of Kassel and worked in mighty cold weather to change tires. A very kind German stopped and helped us and would accept nothing, but thanks, for his kindness. Since we arrived in Kassel rather late, we will tell you what this town has to offer after we see it tomorrow.

             I must remember to tell you about a fairy tale castle I saw in a small town called Braunfels today. It was the nearest thing to a fabled castle I have seen so far and looked straight from the pages of a fairy tale picture book, set high on the hill of this quiet little village about 15 miles east of Coblenz. I'm sure I'll always remember this unique picture in my heap of memories.

             Tonight [February 19] we are in Berlin, West Germany, after driving thru about 75 to 100 miles of Russian Controlled East Germany. We had to pay $7.50 to those darn Communists for visas and permission to drive through to Berlin, which really irritates us, but we did want to see Berlin, so we paid it after practically telling them our family histories. Tomorrow we will be taking tours, so I will have more details about this part of Europe in the next newsletter, since this is Friday night and the end of another NewsLetter week.

             We drove on some slippery roads again part of the day, but by noon they cleared up pretty well. The trip from Kassel, where we saw the Wilhelmshöhe, a former palace and the Fulda River which makes this garden city most attractive, was an interesting route on many winding

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             roads and through more of Germany's charming small rural towns and villages. Near Brunswick we had to take the Autobahn as it is the only way you are permitted to drive through the Russian Sector, as they do not want you to see their East Germany towns. The German autobahns are comparable to our super highways and are all free. We seldom use them as we like to drive in the rural areas to see the many quaint villages and the people at their work. German highways are quite good and their network of autobahns is really tremendous; they are wonderful timesavers, but we have lots of time and want to see as much of each country's way of life as possible, and in order to see this we must go to the villages and towns, not only the large cities. (In fact, we both enjoy the small towns and the rural countryside much more than the hustle-bustle and hurrying of the large cities.)

             We surely feel relieved now that we are in Berlin, as the entire trip from control point to control point we felt uneasy and as if we were being continually under watchful Russian eyes, as armed soldiers were at various points along this entire sector.

             Our hotel room for our stay here in Berlin is immense and we have a large balcony where we can see all the neon signs and colored lights on Kurfurstendamm, which is the heart of West Germany's Berlin and its great shopping street. We feel pleased to have found such a well-located hotel, as it is like being on Times Square in New York City. (We also found an excellent restaurant, where we had a very delicious meal this evening.)

             Thus we end another week of our leisurely jaunt through Europe, feeling fine and energetic enough to go on for four more months.

             So until next week, it's again
                                             Auf Wiedersehen,
 
                                             Meredith & Charlotte




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