The front of the brochure said: "Whoever is interested in seeing and experiencing how a community has grown up organically over the centuries ... This in the right place"
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Actually, hold on a bit ... when we left off yesterday Fiona was still on her way here to Germany from Senegal. I made my way to the other side of this incredibly vast Airport in Frankfurt and collected her off the flight from Dakar via Amsterdam. We were happy to see each other, it had been very busy ten days for her in Africa on behalf of our Andando Foundation. The first thing she wanted to do was have a good shower.
After she got cleaned up and caught up, we made our way into the city center by train. Frankfurt is a rather modern city compared to many others in Europe, and it’s a financial center with high-rise office buildings. But despite that, there is a lot to see and do, and the walking was great, with a lot of historic sites and nice parks to wander through.
And of course the River Main - pop quiz, who remembers how to pronounce the name? - Hint: "Mine" - There were some local sportsmen (with a female coxswain) engaging in ... crew?
We had dinner at a sidewalk cafe, Fiona got the schnitzel. There was a choir (a group of students) singing in the middle of the plaza. They were very pleasant to listen to.
There was also a guy playing fiddle and flute. Oh, and a guy playing accordion with a sax player. Lots of music, everywhere, gotta love that.
We walked and walked, we had a lot of things to catch up on.
There were some awesome parks, and we found ourselves by the big, dramatic, Opera House. Get it? Dramatic ... Opera?
And we came across this rather bizarre piece of artwork. I was gonna try a caption contest on this ... but, you would never guess the title ... David and Goliath. Sure, if you say so! The thing was huge, about 20 feet tall. Weird.
After all the travel and time zones, and walking, we had a good night's sleep.
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We wanted to get out of the city
We had received some advice that a really nice out-of-the-way historic town/village was worth a visit. The advice mentioned that “it was not bombed during WWII so all the medieval historic buildings are still intact”. I guess that’s a major qualifier for German towns. It was called Budingen. (pronounced Booed-in-Gin)
The transport in Germany is excellent and we traveled by efficient modern train for probably sixty miles, with a couple of transfers on the way. It was a beautiful way to see the countryside on a very nice summer day. We didn’t know a whole lot about where we were going, but y'know, we often just kinda like to roll with it.
We were not disappointed.
The info said: (once you get there) just leave the train station, turn right, and start walking. As we passed through the small town, the buildings kept getting older ... and older. It was a really interesting town, and eventually we came to the old city wall. It was well preserved - from the 1300’s.
In the old days, - I beg your pardon in advance if I use that phrase too much - people built castles and surrounded themselves with a wall and a moat, and cannons (once somebody invented them), among other methods of protection. This place was a living example.
Into the old city, we passed ... (hey I borrowed some Olde Englishe from Chaucer) ... through a gate ... known as the Jerusalem gate. In the old days, there were some Jewish people living here, but well, eventually ... everyone knows the story in Germany.
Actually the “gate” was a giant archway hole-in-the-wall where locals could pass through but it kept out the thundering herds of Huns, Goths, and Vandals, the nasty heathen Germanic tribes of old.
At one point, Europe was comprised of walled city fortresses - what most would call “fiefdoms”. You did your best to keep the locals friendly and indentured, and keep the “enemy” out. The town of Budingen was no different. What is really great about this place is that it’s in such great condition. History has spared this place.
You can learn a lot by visiting a place that is over 700 years old.
It’s not ancient like Athens or Rome, but it's been around since long before Columbus sailed to the New World. As the great Yogi Berra once said “much can be observed by just watching”. We saw churches that dated from the 1500’s and houses, castles, and fortifications from medieval times. It was amazing.
And it wasn’t crowded or touristy. In fact, very few people know about Budingen - it’s off the radar of most travelers, the kind of place we like best. But it’s not a museum (although there are several around the village). Indeed, people still live there and occupy these homes. Must be a maintenance headache!
And right on cue, we saw the workplace of an old "maintenance man", known as the village blacksmith. Just like old times, lots of tools and bellows - seemed like the guy could just show up tomorrow and start forging iron and pounding metal and making parts for ... I dunno, iPhones?
Some of the views were just stunning. But of course, I offer the lame claim that photos just don't do it justice.
Hey, you wanna attack our castle, Mr Attila the Hun? Just try climbing this fortification! And we have stone cannon balls, or other primitive weapons to inflict pain on you!
This place has done a good job of preservation; combined with the accommodation for present day visitors. It's a very pleasant place to walk around. In the picture below, you can see the old city wall.
And guess what? All this history and walking around makes a person hungry! ... so we went to the modern equivalent of an ancient eating establishment - the ice cream parlor! Ha! Ha! It was an awesome lunch, crowned with Oregon Hazelnuts ?!?! Dude! What could be a better lunch than that!
Stay tuned for our next stop - to a mystery destination ...
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