More Enchantment

After visiting with Klaus, Petra, and Lute, I moved about twenty kilometers to my friends Gene and Nancy's apartment. Fran and I used to teach with Gene in Syracuse, and he now works overseeing a contract to repair army helicopters in Europe.

They took me on a tour of castles along the Rhine river, including the one to the right, which is supposed to be the castle that inspired the story of Frankenstein. At one of our meals, we had a beer that came with a coaster that said the beer was made by someone named Franken. If only it had come with its own beer stein, then it would have been a Franken Stein. Oh well.

We also stopped at a number of other castles along the way, in Aurback and Arlerbacher. It is amazing how many castles there are up in the hills along the Rhine Valley. We saw some near Heidelberg as well, however this time we did not stop to see the huge and famous Heidelberg Castle, which is usually full of tourists, in a town that knows how to do tourism well.

Klaus had told me that not all of the castles are as ancient as they look, and that some of them were built new in the 1800's, as retreats for the wealthy. The places that they were built continued to be chosen not only for the views, but also for the strategic value in terms of defense. I guess one can not be too careful if the peasants are approaching with firebrands.

In the (too dark) picture at the left, Nancy is standing in the doorway to one of the turrets from which people could send down arrows, bullets, or pails full of boiling oil at the folks who are trying to attack. As we visited the castles, I remembered more and more my rereading of the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, a favorite of my mother, and I could sense how she could remember her good times in Germany as she read them to us as children.

We also visited the Cathedral city of Mainz, and saw yet again another wonderful old Cathedral. Unfortunately, I did not take my camera on that excursion, as after we left the Cathedral, we walked around and finally found St. Stephan's Church, where we expected to see a Chagall stained glass window. Boy were we wrong. Front and back, side to side, all of the many windows had been done by Chagall, and they were incredible. I ended up sitting in a pew and crying, thinking how much Fran would have loved to see this church. As I do not have pictures of it to share with you, I will instead have to suggest that you visit Mainz yourself for the breathtaking beauty of his work there.

We also visited the Guttenburg Museum in Mainz, and I got to see several actual Guttenberg Bibles, as well as other early printed matter, and early printing presses. It was imPRESSive, to say the least.

I had to go to Frankfurt to get some papers notarized at the American Consulate there. I have never seen such security. Apparently, they have an arrangement with a man who runs a news and snack stand about a half a kilometer from the Consulate to keep people's cell phones and cameras, as they are not allowed inside. There were very sensitive metal detectors, and the private guards made no bones about telling people what to do as they were buzzed in the four doors leading to where business could be taken care of. I felt strangely free as I left the compound belonging to America, and I heard another person whistling 'God Bless America, Land of the Free.' Such an interesting world we live in.

After twelve days on the road, or in the sky, I was indeed glad to get back home to Sciacca, and my nice comfortable bed. I end with a picture from the Cathedral at Speyer.