AMAWaterways Christmas Time Cruise - Passau, Day 5 and Regensburg, Day 6

Tuesday December 20th - Day 5
Cruising Day Linz/Passau
There was no big need to get up and going and although Dave did, I stayed in the room and watched the movie The Help. I've been wanting to see it ever since reading the book and it was just as good! 

Views along the Danube on cruising day.

We enjoyed a very picturesque cruise on the river with the mountains and castles popping up around the bend. It was very peaceful.  This cruise has been wonderful, it is really more than we expected. The ship only has about 60 passengers which is less than half full so it makes it easy to talk with everyone and really get to know people. It's really fun to talk with everyone about their travels and get advice and new ideas on own travels. I'm pretty sure this won't be our last river cruise, it is such an awesome way to see so many places. It was a nice relaxing afternoon, I visited the on board salon and the stylist was so sweet. She was just so certain that I was Reece Witherspoon and called me Mrs. Witherspoon the whole time. She was going to tell all of the crew that she did Reece Witherspoon's hair, lol! 

I told her that I get that alot, there is a little resemblance :)

    

We docked in Passau around 4:00 and met our guide, Eva, who was originally from Chicago but has lived in Passau for nearly 40 years. The town is 2,000 years old and is known as "The Town of the Three Rivers." those would be the Danube, Inn, Ilz. There are about 50,000 residents in the beautiful old town that is noted for its Gothic and Baroque architecture. We walked the narrow and crowded cobblestone streets on our tour as Eva told us history and about the floods that have affected the town for hundreds of years.    The levels are marked on the walls.

We stopped into the Rathaus to see some photos of all of the notable people that have visited Passau, including Neil Armstrong. There are many artists that have settled in town and it is also known for is amazing glass museum that has over 30,000 pieces which we didn't go into but Eva told us about. They work very closely with Corning Glass from Corning NY and have company representatives in Passau nearly every week. At was an interesting fact and hit pretty close to home for us! We visited the beautiful St. Stephens Cathedral which is home to the largest cathedral organ in the world. Unfortunately it was dark so I could not capture a good picture. We learned about the "hole" in the ceiling of the cathedral that in much former times, was for the Holy Ghost to enter the church. We ended our quick trip to Passau with a stroll through the Christkindlmarkt where I found a lovely wooden pyramid. Being in Bavaria, we were able to see many more handcrafted wooden items.

Back at the ship we met up with everyone in the lounge who had done the Salzburg tour. Jerry and Elissa were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary so we joined them and Paul and Tracy for champagne toasts before dinner.  Earlier in the day I mentioned to Christian that it was their anniversary to see if a cake could be arranged as it was for our anniversary. Tracy had asked me to talk to him about ordering flowers or champagne but he said he could not without her consent.  I figured they couldn't to anything and would talk to Tracy when she got back.

So after dinner the crew didn't bring one, but two cakes to the table with the anniversary music blaring in the restaurant! One for Jerry and Elissa and one for Tracy and Paul...um apparently there was some miscommunication there about who's 25th it was! If Paul and Tracy were married for 25 years it would have been a childhood marriage! To make the mixup even more interesting, when Jerry and Elissa were walking to dinner that evening they walked by Paul and Tracy's room where a few girls from the staff were giggling as they were decorating the room with rose petals! Oh my goodness, major confusion! Well I think everyone laughed about it and hopefully wasn't too mad at me for mixing things up!   Apparently I still need to work on my German communication :)  We had a fun night with them in the lounge talking and laughing. 

Santa came on board and of course I had to sit on his lap to get my present, cute little wooden Christmas ornaments! We talked with others going to Prague and made plans for our time there. Another great day on this spectacular vacation!

LINK TO PASSAU PICTURES

Wednesday December 21st - Day 6
Cruising to Regensburg

We docked early afternoon after relaxing while cruising all morning. Regensburg is another magnificent medieval city on the banks of the Danube River. There are bout 150,000 residents in Regensburg and it is known for its high Gothic cathedral and famous stone arch bridge and right next to that is the oldest sausage kitchen in all of Germany (dating back to 1135) that of course we stopped into and had a bite.

Germany's oldest sausage kitchen

We joined our city tour where we walked along the charming cobblestone streets and admired the beautifully decorated buildings and streets. Unlike most German towns that we've toured so far, Regensburg was spared destruction by the bombs of WWII. We walked into the historical center by city hall where we passed so many quaint little alley ways and squares that were so festive!

There seemed to be Christmas Markets around every corner but one of the most interesting ones was that at the princely House of Thurn and Taxis. Since I didn't get any pictures of the Palace here is the website, in English, with a lot of information!

They are a well known German family that was a key player in the postal services of Europe in the 16th century. They are also known as owners of breweries and builders of many castles. It was the only Market that had an admittance fee because it is held in the grounds of the private palace. It was really beautiful, stalls aglow in light from a myriad Christmas lights, candles, lanterns and flaming torches as well as fire pits that helped me thaw out my frozen toes and fingers. It was another cold day, drizzling a bit so I was not feeling the need to take time browsing through all of the stalls. Regensburg is filled with great shops but unfortunately we were not in the mood to browse them all! We were cold and wanted to make sure we got back over to the ship. That evening we attended the Farewell Captains Dinner and sat at a big table with our new friends we made on the cruise, and then after...of course, retreating to the lounge where live entertainment was brought on board.  Valerie May was a beautiful singer, and even serenaded Dave a bit :) so we bought her souvenir CD.

It was another fun night chatting and laughing in the lounge, listening to the same 10 songs over and over by Krassi, the piano player with zero personality!  Last day on the cruise tomorrow, as we have departed for Nuremberg!

LINK TO REGENSBURG PICTURES

AMA Waterways Christmas Time Cruise - Melk/Maria Taferl/Linz, Austria Day 4

December 19th - Day 4
After a pretty good night's sleep we docked in the small town of Melk, Austria. Melk has been an important spiritual and cultural centre in Austria for over 1000 years.  It was first the residence of the Babenburg family and since 1089 it has been a Benedictine monastery founded by Leopold II.  For over 900 years the monks have lived and worked in the Abbey following the rules laid down by St. Benedict.  The busses took us up to the famous Benedictine Abbey which is one of Europe's largest Baroque Monasteries.  

At the Melk Abbey, Austria

We had a nice hour long guided tour through the Abbey seeing many of the Imperial rooms as well as the unbelievable world famous library that inspired Umberto Eco writing his book "The Name of the Rose."  There is a school at the Monastery for children ages 6-18 and we saw many of them as they tapped on the windows waving hello to us! It was a beautiful place and so very large.  

We had some free time to wander the town and stopped into Toms Cafe for some super tasty cappuccino and Apfel Strudel where we chatted with fellow passengers Waleska and Dr. Denis from Puerto Rico.   

Tom's Cafe in Melk for Apfel Strudel and Cappuccino's!

We made a pit stop in a beautiful little town called Maria Taferl where we went in another magnificent church.

Inside the baroque church in Maria Taferl

Maria Taferl is the most important pilgrimage destination in all of Austria. It was just a quick stop, long enough for pictures and a few snow balls to be thrown. It was quite icy in the little tourist town so all of the local people were wondering why two large busses made their way up there! The coaches took us back to the ship where we had lunch and the rest of the afternoon to relax. 

Enjoying the Danube as we cruise to Linz

We spent time in the lounge, reading, emailing, and chatting over cocktails before dinner.  After dinner a group of us headed into the city of Linz to get some fresh air and explore. 

Shopping street in Linz, Austria

Dave, myself, Jerry & Elissa from FL, Paul & Tracy from NY and Weleska & Denis from Puerto Rico walked up and down a main pedestrian/shopping area before finding our way into a local pub that served Stiegl Beer which we recognized from the brewery we went to in Salzburg.   We had such a fun time, enjoying the conversations, beer, and kind of enjoying the apricot schnapps that we drank too much of. 

Denis, Tracy, Waleska, Shawna & Elissa cozy around a table of beers and schnaaps!

We headed back to the ship lounge for a night cap that turned into a few more plus more laughs! The cruise director, Christian always seems to manage to sit with us and chat it up with his German sarcasm and funny sense of humor. 
Before we went to bed we had to put one of our shoes outside the door because the "Christkindt" was coming to visit us on board!  He is the European version of Santa that comes to the children on the 6th of December. 

Everyone puts shoes outside the door for the "Christkindt"

And when we woke up we found two very large chocolate figurines wrapped in foil, must be we've been good this year!

LINK TO MELK, MARIA TAFERL & LINZ PICTURES



AMA Waterways Christmas Time Cruise - Wien, Austria Day 3

December 18th - Day 3
What a beautiful day, no rain!  We hadn't quite sailed into Vienna by the morning which was ok because it's fun to be in the restaurant in daylight watching everything go by.  We went through another lock which was again cool to see, this time in the day.  We boarded the busses for a city tour of Vienna and oh what an elegant and grand city it is.  The monumental buildings literally look like they've all been plucked out of a museum. The architecture is just beyond awesome, even for all those that were built post WWII, they still have that the same grandeur as any that were constructed 100's of years ago.  The city center is known as "1st District" and is in the shape of a circle.  The middle of the circle holds the city's focal point, St. Stephens Cathedral and the main pedestrian street, Kärntnerstraße.



St. Stephen's Cathedral - Vienna

The other pedestrian/ shopping streets were decorated so beautifully for Christmas which was unlike anything we've seen in Germany so far!

Surrounding the 1st District is the Ringstraße that encircles the city on 3 sides, like a horseshoe and the fourth side is the Danube Canal.  Our city tour walked us through the old part of town and the beautiful pedestrian streets, including the Rodeo Drive of Vienna.  Since it was Sunday all stores were closed.  We were even able to catch a glimpse of The famous Lipizzan horses.  We were so impressed by all of the buildings and architecture, especially the Parliament Building (like in Budapest!)  with an enormous statue of the Greek Goddess Wisdom out front.  

Vienna's Parliament

There is a famous Pastry shop called Demel (who was the pastry chef for the Hapsburgs-more on them later) that we had a very expensive cup of coffee and soup in.  But it was worth it because it was good!  I bought some of their delicious chocolate too.  Here is info on Demel's awesome window display's.

Inside Demel

Our last visit in the city was the largest Christkindlmarkt at Rathausplatz. 

Christmas Markt at the Rathaus

It was so festive and fun with tons and tons of neat stands.  We got our Glühwein to keep warm as well as some candied almonds and pistachios.  There are so many delicious looking pastries and wonderful smells at the Markt but we are eating like pigs on the cruise with so much good food that I just can't seem to bring myself to buy it at the markets too.  I think it's because we live close to the markets and it won't be the last time we'll be going to them!

Our next stop was the Palace of Schönbrunn. 

Palace of Schönbrunn

This is the 1000+ room Palace that was originally built as the summer residence of the Habsburg Emperors, the family who ruled Austria for many years.  We had a guided tour through the Imperial apartments with original finishings, the living quarters of the Emporers but we were unable to take pictures inside.  It reminded us much of Hellbrunn Palace that we saw in Salzburg.  It was beautiful and grand, all in Baroque style.  Outside on the grounds was another Christkindlmarkt with about 60 stalls of wonderful smells and handcrafted gifts.  We purchased our souvenier Glühwein mugs, still to keep warm of course, and headed back to the ship to prepare for dinner which was another wonderful feast.  We were finishing up, chatting with our table mates and suddenly the music changes and the staff started singing and they carried a cake with a sparkler lit to our table. We thought for sure they had the wrong table but they brought a celebration cake for our anniversary! 

It was so nice and thoughtful!  We shared cake with everyone and then watched as the staff did the same thing for a passenger who's birthday was that day.  This is such a great cruise!

After dinner we went back into Vienna for a Mozart and Strauss Concert that was held in one of the formal concert houses in Imperial Vienna.  It was a beautiful venue and the concert was so small and intimate and much more than I had anticipated.  There were 2 opera singers as well as 2 dancers that acted during the Waltz and Polka songs. It was a must do in the "Music Capital of the World!"

LINK TO VIENNA'S PICTURES

AMA Waterways Christmas Time Cruise - Budapest, Hungary Day 1 & 2

December 16th - Day 1
Did we really think that our trip would start out without a seamless journey to the airport?   After the 2 hour ride through stau's on the autobahn we ran to the check in counter because we missed our bag drop....but luckily they took them on.  Then we flew through security to where I got felt up and down and wanded and all that good stuff then finally made it to the gate with time to spare, yippee! We got into Budapest a little late but all went fine.  We took the minibus shuttle to the Wiking Dock where our boat was supposed to be docked only to see the boat drifting away! 

There was another couple waiting outside (Dawn and Ken from Utah) so at least we weren't stuck there alone and clueless.  A bus of 4 others arrived shortly after and finally someone from AMA came to get us in a shuttle to take us to the Sofitol Hotel to wait for the ship because it was being cleaned.  They had a complimentary room set up with tea, coffee and snacks so we went there for a bit then hit the beautiful Christmas market in Budapest on the Pest side of the river.  The market was so pretty with tons of great little stands but it started to rain so we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for some beers.  It was a brand new HRC opened 2 days before and was really nice inside.  The bar tender was super nice and took our picture!  We had a few beers and a snack then back to the hotel to be bussed to the ship. 
The AMALegro is a fantastic ship!  We really didn't know what to expect but were very impressed upon arrival.  Everything was decorated so nice for Christmas and all of the staff were so welcoming and friendly.  We were showed our room which is larger than I imagined it would be and with the French balcony I was instantly in heaven! 

The bathroom is bigger than I thought too.  The view from our balcony was of the Buda Castle area and was just beautiful! We unpacked, and went to the lounge for a briefing of the ship, safety, itinerary, etc and then went downstairs to the restaurant for a fabulous dinner where we had beef from Nebraska! It was good!  We stuffed ourselves full and never had to ask for a refill on wine. 
After dinner we wanted to take a walk up the castle hill but just as we were about to leave the boat they said that we were going for a small cruise.  We went to the top deck, in the rain, but we're just in awe at the beauty of the city at night. 

The Chain Bridge - first bridge connecting Buda and Pest

We came back downstairs and talked with our fellow travelers for quite a while before tucking into our comfy bed. 


December 17th - Day 2
We started the day with quite a nice breakfast then boarded busses for the city tour.  All of the passengers don't quite fill up 2 coaches so it's a pretty small group and we're getting to know a lot of the people.  We first drove up the castle hill to the Buda Castle.  It was very windy and cold but the views were spectacular from the Fisherman Bastion and the Royal Palace.  We had a little free time to wander around the Castle Distric but gladly climbed back on the bus because it was so chilly!  We went to the Pest side of the river for a bit more of a city tour.  We were unable to stop at the Heroes' Square due to the lack of space for the bus, but at least got some pictures. 


The bus dropped us at the same Market we were at yesterday on Vörösmarty Square.  We tried to stay warm by grabbing a cappuccino at a nearby McD's then went into the market to seek out a "Budapest" souvenir.  We found a beautiful hand painted porcelain ball ornament as well as roasted chestnuts and mulled hot wine.  Dave has been talking about getting the chestnuts forever and was not impressed with them after all the rave!  They tasted like mushy walnuts but the glühwein was pretty good!


The bus ride to Esztergom, where our ship was now docked, was through the Hungarian countryside and the tour guide told us tons of tid bits about the country and area.  We waited at a port in the country of Slovakia, which used to be a part of Hungary, for the ship but it was running late.  We finally got on board around 2:30 and immediately headed to lunch, we were tired and hungry! The rest of the afternoon we cruised, rested, read, Dave ran on the treadmill and got ready for our dinner at the captains table!

Christian, Adriene, Linda, Artur, Tom, Pat, Captain, Shawna, Dave

Dinner was so fun at the captains table.  We sat between the captain Andras, and the cruise director, Christian who both are German speakers!  There was Adriene from LA who has no luggage, Linda from TX who's on board with her extended family for Christmas, Pat and Ken from LA who are retired seasoned travelers and have been on the same boat in June and finally Artur the Hotel Manager a.k.a. Speedy Gonzales.  It was fun conversation, great food and too much wine.  They truly treat you like gold, it's so not normal life! After dinner we went to the lounge where Krassi is always playing the piano, and had some drinks and chat with Paul and Tracy from NYC and their travel friends, Jerry and Elissa who live very near my Dad in FL!  We had a lot of laughs and great conversation with them all while we are just sailing away!  We got to experience our first lock too with was pretty neat to see, and a little weird with the walls of it being right at the window! After extremely too much wine we headed to bed because we had a full day on Sunday in Vienna!

LINK TO BUDAPEST PICTURES

Learning German...or rather...trying to learn German.

Hands down, this might be the hardest thing I have ever done. The timing was great for this intensive course that I'm taking and I'm not expecting a miracle at the end of my 4 weeks. I'm expecting a better understand of the language and the opportunity to introduce myself and converse a bit with others who speak Deutsch and no English.
The Grammatik is killing me. I was never a big fan of English classes in school so therefore how am I supposed to remember verb conjugation or 1st/2nd verb position? All of that I was taught was just...just what it was! To figure out now (in Deutsch) if a verb is conjugated with "he/she/it/they/you (Informal or Formal)/I/your" type is so very confusing. I've learned the infinitive and the tense, but not sure how to tell the difference of present, past and future tenses! I was so confused yesterday I had to ask my Romanian classmate (who is an English teacher) what the heck a verb was; I was totally drawing a blank! I can understand when reading, but when I'm asked to form the sentence I pause. I can understand all of the words in the sentence but when putting them together it confuses me because it's backwards from English!

I have 2 different teachers, Sandra the 1st part of the week and Lydia the 2nd part of the week. I definitely LEARN from teacher #1 but not so much with teacher #2. I'm not alone; half the people in class feel the same. I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing - I should be exposed to different learning styles so that I don't become comfortable with one person's style. BUT I just feel so much better the first part of the week when I can figure out what I'm being asked in class!

I just needed to vent this out. As soon as I woke up this am the Deutsch started flowing into my brain. Wo bist du? Ich komme aus... Mein name ist... die, der, das...mein, kein, meine, keine. Is it masculine or feminine or neutral...oh geez. And from what I've read in "learning a foreign language is frustrating" articles, it is good for me to practice these things and it's totally normal for me to be feeling this way. The class is great, fun actually. The best part is that it is a total melting pot. My classmates are from Romania, Russia, Iran, Brazil, Spain, Venezuela, Uruguay, and 1 more from the USA. Some don't speak English so it's really fun to try to converse with each of them when someone else across the room can translate, it's actually quite comical. If anything we are working on our team work skills, trying to work together to figure out what the heck is going on half the time!

Over the past almost 5 months I think I've done pretty good getting by and self-teaching myself the important things that I need to understand while out and about. I think the main thing that I've learned living in Deutschland is that I just have to go with the flow and not worry too much when I can't understand anything or everything that a native speaker tells me. Living here is a unique and extremely worthwhile experience on so many levels and of course there are going to be daily frustrations when I can't even understand the simple question of what my name is! At the same time, it is a great feeling to chat with someone at the bus stop or in the store and have a complete understanding of the conversation with a German. 

Only 14 days of class to go, 6 down.  It's not much but it has been intensive and I'm sure will continue to be!  Hopefully I understand and do well enough in this course so that I can move to the next level!

And the past few months went where?

I've been keeping a list of things I WANT to blog about but I just haven't been taking the time to do the blogging since I actually feel like I've been having a life here in Deutschland!  It's hard to believe that November is 1/2 over...where does the time go?  The fall season is beautiful here, it is so similar to Upstate NY but I actually think it might be a little prettier :)


This is looking over the town of Alsenbon from a trail near our house.

Our Shadows!

This is a lake/pond on the property of a house near us - we are on the trail behind it.

The weather had been quite warm, allowing for nice pleasant walks in the woods but once daylight savings came (a week before the US) it just turned dark, cold and foggy!  It was time to turn to inside chores...I thought...such as putting away the summer clothes and getting all of the winter clothes out which would include a complete ROYGBIV makeover of all of my drawers and hung clothing.  Yes I do that, it's easier to find things when it is all color coordinated! 


I thought we were done with the yard for the season but the landlords have been watering away like crazy.  Apparently they think it's dry.  Um, it's freezing at night so one would think it's time to unhook the hoses but not yet.  I feel so guilty when they are here just working away in the cold.  I don't mind doing it, but not when it's cold! I think they like to do it.


Cold it is.  We do not have a central thermostat so controlling the heat is a bit of a challenge.  I'm constantly freezing.  Contstantly wearing a hoodie, a blanket or my snuggie.  Maybe I just need to turn the radiators up?!  Sounds logical.  I can't see having them on in rooms that we aren't in.  I don't know, our landlady said that she was going to have the heating/cooling guy over to explain it all to me.  I  do know that I am supposed to air out my house everyday for 10 minutes a day to help bring fresh air into the house.  It's economical for the heating system because there is no return air coming into the house.  I've been pretty good at doing that daily but I don't hang my bedding out the window like the rest of the Germans do!


The Nordic walks are still going on 2-3 days a week, even as it gets colder but it surely gets harder to get out of bed to go! Luckily I have had the car a lot since Dave has been traveling and that makes it a little easier to get up and get going. The classes at Fitness First are great though; I absolutely love going to Zumba, and Step and a few other strength training and toning classes. I have yet to do a spinning class but soon! It's a little intimidating because everyone in there has on "biking apparel" and those spiky little shoes! I've been settling for the stationary "regular" bike for now. It's been great to go though, especially when I have the car but when I don't I can take the bus, I'm a big girl and now.


Over the past few weeks I've been obsessively making jewelry that I took to a local craft shop to sell on consignment. I'm pretty excited about this and hope that it sells!  I priced everything and took inventory of about 50 pieces.  

This is a picture of everything I took to the shop:

I've been to a few craft fairs and have stocked up on supplies and beads galore.  Bonnie even bought a bunch of stones to have me make necklaces and bracelets for her.  We found a great deal on natural stone beads and semi-precious gems at an enormous craft fair in Wiesbaden.  I was in jewelry making heaven.  Although it was a bit overwhelming, there were so many crafters and suppliers there. 

That is what I've been up to.  Next project = learn German.  Next week I start an intensive 5 hour/day for 4 weeks class that hopefully will teach me more than just the basics.  I can get by now but I'd really like to have a conversation with my German friends!  I don't like the idea of being class for 5 days a week for 4 weeks straight but the timing was actually really good and I really do want to learn the language.  I think I've done pretty well over the last 4 months trying to at least communicate a little...grasping for my rescue sentance each time someone talks to me..."Bitte, Ich spreche wenig Deutsch."  I speak little German, of course.  I'll get there, I'm not putting super high expectations on myself even though my brother is a language learing genious.  I don't think I inherited those genes, although, I think I've mentioned it before - the French I learned practically 15 years ago has been surfacing to the forefront of my brain ever since we got here!

The class is what I need, no doubt.  I have totally reached the level of feeling "at home" here or "normal" so to speak.  We always have the attitude of making home where ever we are and even though it's a different country, it's still home.  I remember our relocation specialist telling us that the first 3 months are hard, really hard.  The next 3 are definitely easier and after 6 months, we are expat experts!  I wouldn't say that the 1st 3 months were really hard, but yes, difficult for sure.  Interesting, sure.  Challenging, f'sho.  I could write on forever about some of the funny/interesting/challenging things we've encountered but I'll end this post here for now.   

The Völklingen Ironworks

On Saturday we decided to take a drive to Völklingen and visit the Ironworks, a World Cultural Heritage Site located there about an hour away near Saarbrücken. I had no idea what this place was - Dave picked this one out! It was a beautiful day so we packed a nice little picnic lunch and ended up eating it on the autobahn because guess what...we were stuck in a STAU!

We just enjoyed the beauty of the day as we made our way there.  The Völklingen Ironworks became the 1st plant from the heyday of industrialization to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.  For more than 100 years, the Völklingen Ironworks had shaped the lives of many 1000's of people.  Today, it is the only fully preserved ironworks from the 19th and 20th centuries and an extraordinary monument and sightseeing location.

In 1965 more than 17,000 people worked at the Völklinger Hütte .  It was the highest number of employees in the history of the works.  Now it's just a huge iron ghost town.  In 1975 the Völklingen Ironworks was affected by the worldwide steel crisis.  In 1982 the iron and steelworks in Völklingen and Burbach were amalgamated to become ARBED-Saarstahl and in 1986 the Völklinger Hütte blast furnaces were shut down.  It takes about 2-3 hours to tour through the massive 6000 meter plant and it was a great experience to be able to walk around and appreciate the vastness of the plant and the working conditions in the old days. It's hard to even image how HOT it must have been in some of the areas and what kind of conditions the workers had to endure.  The viewing platforms offer great views of the place as well as the town. 

The tour took us through 7 stations.  Various pics of all are in the pics.  The sintering plant, which is the world's largest, with enormous ventilators and sintering machines.  In the sintering process, residues from iron production were recycled back into the blast furnace system. 

Next is the ore shed where large quantities of ore were stored. Today exhibits and cultural events are held there.



Inside the ore shed

Station 3 is the burden shed, the "belly" of the ironworks where 12,000 tons of raw material (iron ore, sinter, scrap, lime, coke) were once stored.  The upper level is where railway wagons brought in the raw materials and the monorail cars were loaded up to go up to the blast furnaces.  Eight men filled each car-an extremely dusty and dirty job! 


The monorail cars



Next we learned the blast heating process and walked through the blast furnaces.  Every 2 hours the blast furnace was tapped (done by hand until later controlled by remote) 130 tons of molten pig iron flowed through the tapping launder into the car which in turn carried it to the steelworks.  The pig iron emerged from the tapping hole at a whopping 1400° C!  Yowsers!  "Foundry Fleas" or glowing splashes of iron jumped out of the tapping hole and burned holes in the foundrymen's clothing or their skin...can you imagine???



Part of the large blast furnace system

Station 5 is the Coking Plant where fire of 1300° C processed mineral coal into blast furnace coke.  The heat, smoke and gas created one of the most arduous work places in Ironworks but today it was turned into what is called "Paradise".



The coking chambers



Station 6 is the coal track - the inclined ore lift.  This track is how all 6 of the blast furnaces were supplied the raw materials.  The track is about 3.5 miles with about 265 monorail cars in motion during working times.


The track

The last station is the Blower Hall.  Huge blowers generated an enormous mass of compressed air for the blast furnaces.  The machines themselves were driven by blast furnace gas, an ingenious cycle of energy.


Inside the blower hall

Below is a view of the plant from "Paradise" an area that has been left to itself for 25 years between the former coking plant and the Saar river.  Plants and animals were able to develop freely, as in paradse.  



Overall it was a pretty neat excursion - aside from the normal castles, ruins, fests, etc. that we usually find ourselves at! 

  

LINK TO THE PICTURES

Betcha feel a whole lot smarter about iron production now don't you?!

You cannot be a Gymnophob in Europe

I finally bit the bullet and joined Fitness First tonight. I've been using a guest pass and really enjoy the classes so I thought what the heck, plus I got the hubby's corporate rate! I've had the luxury of the hubby's luxury vehicle but I will soon be back to reality and don't want my lack of wheels to cause my good routine to come to an end simply because I'm afraid to get on a bus and stare at the bus driver blankly because we don't understand each other. I've talked with my German friends about the bus system's fares and I think I now feel confident to take it to the gym by myself. Plus it's right next to Dave's office and if I get too frustrated I can pick up the car.

Anyhow, I got the "official" tour tonight after signing on and was very pleased with all of the amenities that they have. We walked back through the locker room to a female sauna and steam room where a 1/2 naked older woman sat there and stared at me dressed head to toe with my backpack on. Then we went through another door that led to the Spa. There are tanning beds, a "relaxing" room where you can relax after your workout or sauna where in fact a 1/2 naked man was doing just so. Thankfully he was adequately covered with the teeny tiny red towel on his lap. There is also an "open" coed spa area at the end of that same hall where we peeked in just in time for me to see the naked tail end of a few gentlemen leaving. We then walked back through the locker room where there were just all sorts of nakedness. We are not from a culture where being naked is considered socially acceptable. I completely accept it, it just leaves me feeling awkward more than anything every time I'm there. There is nothing kinky or sexual in nature with this type of behavior, it's considered completely normal. I'm comfortable with my own nakedness in the privacy of my own home, but not really in public with people that I spend every Tuesday night exercising with for 2 hours. 

Gymnophobia ironically has nothing to do with the gym. It is a fear or anxiety about being seen naked, and/or about seeing others naked, even in situations where it is socially acceptable. I wouldn't say that I have a fear or anxiety, like I said it's just more of awkwardness because this is something that as an American is just not typical. I'm actually finding myself more at ease in the locker rooms, but still haven't gotten the courage to shower in the mass open stalls. I'd like to think I can get over it, and actually try out the sauna. I don't think I HAVE to be naked, why not just wrap a towel around myself?

It makes me think about how we chickened out at the fancy spa in Baden-Baden. I want to go back when I know my potential gymnophobia has dissipated. Once we learn all of the rules of the sauna, I feel confident that we can go back with our heads held high...or rather low...well I'm not sure where we should be looking but I think after we learn the rules a few more months in the Fitness Center's rooms we'll be prepped and ready to embark on our spa journey.

Idar-Oberstein - Germany's Gem Mecca

Only a short hour's drive is the area of Idar-Oberstein, Germany's Gem Center on the Nahe River. Idar-Oberstein has a long history of working with gemstones where the first activities were recorded over 500 years ago. The first major activities started when miners found Amethyst and Agate in the area of the small towns of Idar and Oberstein, in the late 14th century.  

Amethyst in particular was considered extremely precious (of course, because it's my birthstone :) as it was one of the 5 "cardinal stones". Many historians however believe that mining started much earlier, with the first mining activities dating back to Roman times.

Bonnie and I thought it was a great day to go check out the gems and jewelry! Our first stop was the German Gemstone Museum.   With over 10.000 displays of different types of gemstones from all over the world, this place was definitely a sight!  The exhibition began with minerals and rocks from the region, showing the importance of the agate as well as jasper that also has a long history here.  There was a display of the mineralogical collection of nearly every known cut variety of gemstone.  There were explanations of how the gemological identification is made but they were in German so I didn't learn as much as I would have liked.  Not only were there sparkling cut gemstones and diamonds but also finely crafted sculptures and engravings.



Cat Sculpture

Beautiful Gemstones!

Victoria Imperial 184 carats, Red Cross 205 carats....yowza!

Harry Winston bought this diamond in 1933 from the
Diamond Producers Association

Louis Cartier 107 carat - named after the Jewellers in Paris-NY-London

NYC Skyline from 2000 in different quartz stones

Diamonds galore!

Other than the fabulous gems Idar-Oberstein is known for the Felsenkirche oder Chuch in the Rock.



Felsenkirche - Church in the Rock

It is about 200 ft up in the rock face and was built between 1482 and 1484.  According to legend, (from the trusty Wikipedia) there were two noble brothers, Wyrich and Emich, who both fell in love with a beautiful girl named Bertha. The brothers lived at Castle Bosselstein, which stood atop a 135 m-high hill. Bertha was from a noble line that occupied the nearby Lichtenburg Castle. 

Neither brother was aware of the other’s feelings for Bertha. When Wyrich, the elder brother, was away on some unknown business, Emich succeeded in securing Bertha’s affections and, subsequently, married her. When Emich announced the news to his brother, Wyrich’s temper got the better of him. In the heat of the moment, he hurled his brother out of a window of the castle and sent him to his death on the rocks below. 

Wyrich was almost immediately filled with remorse. With the counsel of a local abbot, he began a long period of penance. At this time, Bertha disappears from the historical record. Many romantics feel that she died of a broken heart.

As Wyrich waited for a heavenly sign showing that he was forgiven, the abbot suggested that he build a church on the exact place where his brother died. Wyrich worked and prayed himself into exhaustion. However, the moment the church was completed, he received his sign: a miraculous spring opened up in the church.

Wyrich died soon after this. When the local bishop came to consecrate the new church, he found the noble lord dead on its steps. Wyrich was later placed in the same tomb with his brother.



Falsenkirche above Hauptstraß

We didn't make it up to the church because we spent most of the day on the jewelry lined Hauptstraße.   Shop after shop all of the jewelry started to look the same!  Since many of them sell the same general stones, I wonder how they compete really and stay in business?   I was on the hunt for jasper beads to make a necklace with a jasper pendant that I have and I finally found a strand of loose beads at one of the last shops we went into.  We enjoyed some good food and beautiful weather, and a few sparkly and/or shiny purchases.  Next time it would be great to explore the Gemstone Mines - the only mines in the Steinkaulen Mountains open visitors, as well as hike up to the church and Oberstein & Bosselstein Castle's that sit enthroned high above the town.