Rudesheim at Siegfried's Music Cabinet Museum

Our first stop in Rudesheim was the Siegfried's Music Cabinet Museum.  This museum has over 350 self playing musical instruments...music boxes and player pianos of all sizes, styles and playing many different types of music!  It's an amazing private collection owed by a family that began their collection in the 1960s.  The museum is housed in a beautiful half timbered home.

Heidelberg Castle

A tour of Heidelberg would not be complete without a visit to the castle.  In fact we not only visited but we had a great tour guide share the history of the castle and the fall of the domination of the Catholic Church in the region.  Now I simply can not remember everything he pointed out but I do believe you can see that the castle has been built, rebuilt, added on and changed to reflect the time periods of the additions and refurbishing.  

From the town square looking up to the castle.

From the castle looking down to the the town!  The castle is in a perfect location for defense.

We had to cross a stone bridge to get into the castle grounds.  The ditch (a moat maybe) has been partially filled in.

The first part of the castle was built before 1214.  Throughout the next 500 years, parts have been destroyed and rebuilt.  New Kings added to the castle and each addition reflects the philosophy and the political feelings of that time period.  The addition of the small balcony or room shows an obvious difference in the architecture of the different time periods.

Important family members are displayed prominently on one section of the castle.

 The timepiece...a sun dial with Roman numerals and astrological signs to tell the seasons!

 As the Catholic Church lost its dominance after the Reformation, the architecture shows the shift with astrological signs on the wall shown below.

 To learn more of this beautiful castle go here, here or here.

Cellar Tour and Vinegar Tasting at Doktorenhof

One of the optional tours was a visit to a vinegar cellar.  The Rhine and Mosel Rivers are known for their wine.  I'm not much of a wine drinker so I was pleasantly surprised to find out about this tour.  We learned about the vinegar making process and had a fun tasting. Who knew that vinegar was so yummy and could be paired with cheese, bread and chocolate and served in a beautiful glass!

Shopping was a bit difficult.  There were so many different kinds of vinegar but I finally settled on one that I could drink for good health and add to recipes.  Pretty diverse and really my favorite!

The Black Forest Open Air Museum

The Black Forest Open Air Museum shows the life of 16th or 17th century farmers in the region, featuring a number of reconstructed Black Forest farms. We had a quick tour and then spent a bit of time walking around. The houses were amazing and were huge. Of course they had to be large to house people, animals and farming equipment. The houses including living quarters for the family and under the same roof, the animals were housed in the barn area. Since most of these homes were built on the side of a hill, the 3rd floor was on the ground level in the back allowing the farmer to move the heavy equipment from outside to inside with no problem.

We found it interesting that the kitchen and dining areas had open air fireplaces without outside flues. The house was so smokey that the meat could be smoked right in the kitchen. Of course breathing and lung problems were chronic during this time!  

 

Haus der Schwarzwalduhren

Our excursion in the Black Forest took us to Haus der Schwarzwalduhren or the House of Black Forest Clocks.  Our first duty here was to sample the Black Forest Cherry Cake!  Oh my, what a yummy dessert!  We didn't have a lot of time here so we quickly walked around the shop to look at all the beautiful handmade clocks and then headed outside for the striking of the hour on the world's largest cuckoo clock.  This huge clock is as big as a house and has 21 moving parts!  

Europe is a Small Place

What a day! We spent the morning in France and had lunch in The Black Forest of Germany! After our tour of Strasbourg, we jumped on a bus and within an hour, we were in the Schwarzwald having a traditional lunch! We stopped at a lovely restaurant and ate smoked ham, cheese and bread with all the trimmings!

The Black Forest is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. The area is mainly rural with small villages and a few larger towns. It is known for the farmhouses, the Black Forest hams, the cuckoo clocks and the Black Forest Cake. Presently tourism is important to the region.

Oh to Live in France

I love these photos...

Caps for Sale

Do you all remember the book Caps for Sale?  While in Strasbourg, I saw a real live peddler selling caps.  

In case you can't remember this book, click here and watch it on YouTube.  

The World is So Small

Do these things look familiar?? Our world is so small these days. 

And of course this UPS truck is a Mercedes!

Strasbourg Cathedral

The cathedral in Strasbourg, France is just beautiful. It's known as one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in Europe. There are so many beautiful cathedrals in Europe it is really hard to say one is more beautiful than another but this one is quite lovely.

The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg is a Roman Catholic Cathedral built in the Middle Ages. The Gothic architect, Erwin von Steinbach, worked on building this church from 1277 to his death in 1318. Of course, many other people were part of the construction since it took years to complete. Dates given for the construction are 1176 to 1439.

This cathedral was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874 and is now the 6th tallest church in the World.

This next photo is from the Internet that does a better job of showing the entire front of the cathedral.