A slower day, although we did manage to drive 175 km, over about 10 hours! And, to get the weather out of the way, we couldn’t have asked for a better day, warm in the low 20’s, very little wind, and only a few fluffy clouds in the sky. It’s not supposed to last, this warm air came from Spain, and in mixing with the cold air is producing unstable weather; tomorrow the temperature is supposed to stay high, but thundershowers are expected.
We began the day with a visit to the Murk outlet store in Wachenroth, not far from Pommersfelden. Murk is a clothing manufacturer which makes wares marketed under many brands, most of which they sell in this outlet. We cased the joint, bought a few minor things, but decided to come back when we had a little more time (and cash money, as they only take that or EC Card).
Then we started off along the Aisch valley, but on the Steigerwald Hoehenstrasse (Steiger Forest Heights Road). The Steigerwald is another protected area, basically south of the A3 autobahn and north of the river Aisch, roughly 40 by 20 km. It is a series of hills and valleys, with the hills mostly forested, and still quite wild; for example, wild boar are still hunted her. The road we used travels along high ridges, and descents steeply into valleys. To make it more fun, when we deviated from the posted road, we used the GPS set on “shortest distance” rather than “fastest time” which lead to some interesting roads, barely one car wide, and going through deep forest.
One of the interesting features of driving in Germany are the speed limits. Basically any road in a “community”, that is anything between the yellow sign announcing the name of the city/town/village, and the back of the sign on the left as you leave the village (which is the entering sign for those coming in the opposite direction) is limited to 50 km/hour unless otherwise posted (higher or lower). The autobahns either have posted limits over some stretches, or have no speed limit. Anything else, Bundestrassen, Landstrassen, just plain Strassen, including very narrow roads through fields and through the forests that are simply thin lines on a map have a 100 km/hour limit, unless posted otherwise.
That would be fine if common sense applied. However, at least some drivers operate on the “what isn’t forbidden is compulsory” principle, and apply that to the roads that are not otherwise limited; on the autobahn they simply go as fast as their car is capable; on other roads they reason that if it is forbidden to go faster than the posted limit, or the assumed 100 km/hour, then you must drive at the limit! For those of us used to kinder, gentler roads, such as Ontario, the consequence is that when driving at a sensible speed an impatient local will be riding about a metre off the rear bumper, flashing lights until a (often inadequate) passing opportunity comes along,, or, as one goes gingerly along a narrow, winding road, a car coming the other direction at the speed limit goes by about 6 inches from one’s driver’s door, which can be disconcerting. You get used to it, and by day 8 I’m driving far more on the edge than I would in Canada.
Anyways, we worked our way to Castell, one of the wine villages that produce the well-reputed Frankenweine in the characteristically shaped Bocksbeutel bottles, sort of a flattened oval. This village’s vineyards are mostly part of the estates of the Herzog (Duke) of Castell (also part of the Faber-Castell writing instrument firm). Other than wine, it has a lovely parish church (Lutheran) that has an interior plan that I have only seen here; the pulpit is directly above the altar, leading to an interesting symbolic arrangement of word and sacrament (seemingly with word above sacrament, although that may not have been the intention). The altar and the reredos containing the pulpit are a pale grey-pink marble, and the remainder of the church is in lovely pale pastels – very impressive for a small village. While we were in the church, a sound team came in and set up a sound system for what we thought might be a wedding, and then tested it by playing a CD of Liszt solo piano compositions, which added to the experience.
From there further along to Iphoven, another wine village, with very pretty streets and houses, a beautiful central square, and another church that is far beyond what one would expect to find in such a small place. Another hour of walking around in the beautiful sunshine.
Then to Sulzfeld, for, first of all, lunch. This town is the home of the 1 metre bratwurst, although the Gaststaette that actually invented these was closed for staff holidays. (Scott and I were there a bit earlier last year, by about two weeks, so we had the original product.) We sat outside the the place just across the road, which served the same sausage (they are all made by one butcher) but with the innovation of having them served on a very hot cast iron platter (sort of a fajitas dish) that keeps the sausage hot even through a leisurely meal. Fortunately there is some sanity in this gastronomy, and one can order a half metre sausage, which is plenty, as it is accompanied by a leaf salad, potato salad, and sauerkraut, and rye bread. After this, and a glass of wine or beer, the walk around the town is very welcome.
Sulzfeld is one of the many completely walled towns in this area, which seems to point to very unfriendly neighbour relations. I don’t know what else might have happened within and without these walls, but they were strong enough, or high enough, in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1525 to keep out the peasants long enough for the town folk to muster up troops and beat them in battle.
Inside the walls are some very pretty and impressive houses in the half-timbered style, but also some that look like they belong in a much larger town, a testimony to the wealth that must have existed in times past. There are also a number of towers that were part of the fortifications, which are now quaint residences. On leaving through the main town gate, it becomes clear that the walls might also have served another purpose, and still do, as there are the high water marks that the Main river (which runs only perhaps 200 m away from the gate) has reached, the last flood in 1982 was not the highest, but was still a couple of feet up on the gate, and others were much higher, some above my head.
After the walk about here, we drove, still using the “shortest distance” algorithm, to Ebrach. We had visited here in August 2002, when we were over working on settling my father’s estate, but then the abbey church, which is the main feature, was completely under renovation and preservation work, with almost everything covered by scaffolding and screens. All of the work is finished (and was last year) and so this 13th c early baroque church can once again be seen in full splendour. Ebrach was the 3rd Cistercian monastery to be opened in Germany, and was active until the mid-18th c, when it was secularized. The abbey is now the parish church, and the monastic complex is now a youth prison.
What is still not finished in the restoration is the nearly unique feature of this church, its three organs. There is a main organ high on the west wall, and two organs on the nave walls just west of the crossing that were capable of being played by three organists. Music was written for this church in its time as a monastic church, for processions of high church officials, with the two nave organs being used in harmony and counterpoint, with the main organ assisting both. I had a vinyl recording from the 60’s of all three organs playing music written specifically for them, but sadly that went the way of all vinyl, and the recordings that are now available are more conventional music, and don’t show of the capabilities of three organs played by three organists at once.
If such recordings are going to be made again, it will have to wait. The two nave organs are still away being restored, and once they are returned the main organ is scheduled to be taken out for restoration and re-building. It will be at least another 5 to six years before this building is once again musically complete. And, all of this costs money, although the state and the church assist, but usually only in returning the building to its historical character and not for the use of a parish community, so the organ restorations particularly are the responsibility of the worshipping community that actually uses the building.
That community has been very clever in taking a large church, which cannot be altered because of its historical value, and creating within it a smaller and more suitable worship space for a couple of hundred people. In the 3/4 round, it feels intimate, even though dwarfed by the enormous space around it. Too bad we are not able to be there on a Sunday; I’d love to experience how this space actually works. (I realize I am trying to describe compactly in words what can only really be seen. In time I will put pictures onto our picture web site, with links from this blog, to provide illustrations.)
From Ebrach we went to Hoechstadt an der Aisch, where my father lived and is buried. We stopped at his grave for a bit, and were pleased to note that it was very well taken care of (which is very important in Germany!) by a local lady who was a friend of my father’s, and who my step-brother Karlheinz pays for her time and expenses (because of the distance, we made a deal that I would take care of all the burial and grave “lease” expenses at the time of my father’s death, and he would look after the upkeep for the 30 years that a German grave can remain in use.
And then we did what my father would have wanted us to do; go to his favourite Gaststaette for dinner, the Weberskeller. Following his wish, this was the place where we had an all afternoon reception (drinks, food off the menu, coffee and cake!) and then a late dinner after his burial. He’d specified that all who attended the funeral would be welcome, and so we started there with perhaps 100 people, and by the time we got to dinner perhaps 25 were left, and the whole thing was a lot of fun, and surprisingly reasonable!
Given the weather, rather than go inside, which was full of some kind of official dinner anyways, we sat on their patio. And, because the effects of 1/2 m of bratwurst at lunch were still being felt, we restricted ourselves to wine/beer, and a Spargel (white asparagus) salad, which is one of my all time favourite foods as it is prepared here (I’ve never managed to duplicate it, we just don’t get asparagus as they do in the Spring, in Germany), and June had never experienced it quite like it is done in Franken (Franconia , the local area, home of the Franks).
And then back to the hotel, to sit out on our balcony, enjoy the antics of a kitten on the roof opposite, who desperately wanted to join us, but couldn’t figure out how to do it.
Tomorrow we head into Nuernberg for a long day – other than the city attractions, we are planning on going to the Staatstheater to the opera, Aida, tomorrow night. It will be quite late when we get back, so I’m going to get behind the blogging a bit.
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