margaretandjeff

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour through the northern border of France towards Belguim. The cities of Nancy and Metz make up a very interesting and diverse ensemble for the tourist. Nancy is home to Art Nouveau, and in the 60 km drive to Metz we found a 12th century church with WW 1 bombs suspended on its walls as a reminder of a close encounter, and drove under a Roman aqueduct. We also picnicked beside the Moselle River in true 'Miniscule' country. Nancy, the home of Art Nouveau, is a city designed by the Polish king in exile, Stanislaw, who was father-in-law of King Louis XV. He was apparently a popular ruler and the city benefitted from his planning. Place Stanislas is impressive, with its ensemble of 18th century public buildings designed for royal parades and ... read more

You can't go far in France without reminders of wars. What struck me was how similar the memorials to both WW1 & WW2 are to the ones we are familiar with in Australia. The monuments and memorials are in prominent positions in a town square, or in a park, near the main public buildings, at a crossroad etc and may be a column or a statue of a soldier in a heroic pose, and with a list of names from WW1 and WW2. Then you look more closely and notice the dates, places and manner of death and that in many cases there is also a list of civilians. Chilling. Besançon has a comprehensive and moving museum to the Resistance movement situated in its wonderful citadel. We found the history of the Deportation and Resistance, told ... read more

We have seen some lovely libraries: Ephesus: facade and shell, but still a beautiful space The sultan's library in Topkapi Palace, Istanbul: light-filled and beautifully decorated. Goethe's library in Weimar. He only had a few thousand books, as he also used the city library. (He was among other things the city administrator, and was therefore responsible for the library!) In Sélestat, in Alsace, the wonderful Bibliotheque de l'Humanisme, which has a collection of incunabula (books printed before 1500). The earliest one in the library was from the 7th. Century. They were collected by a wealthy scholar, Beatus Rhenanus and others added to its collection. It even has some of his school workbooks, with his translations from Latin, and annotations of the texts he studied. There are examples of many of the Classical & European writers, historians, ... read more

A rather hectic drive on the freeways to Berlin: trucks and high speed cars made it a bit of an adventure. Found the hotel relatively easily, (Berlin is not Paris, but that is another story!) though parking was an issue as we had to move the car because of a market on Sat. Hotel close to the U-Bahn station and a few stops from the main attractions. Good to stop & have time to sort & repack. May 11 We found our way to the Brandenburg gate which is impressive, a busy precinct with tourists, buskers, gypsies, and fun ways to get around: horse & carriage, rickshaws, strange multi seated bikes and Trabi safaris. Walked around, into the Tiergarten, to the Holocaust memorial, past the Riechstag, had an icecream then down Unter den Linden to the ... read more

We headed north and into the former DDR (Soviet East Germany), and the weather turned wintery. Followed the paths of Luther, Goethe and Schiller. In Eisenach we really appreciated the comforts of the Kaiserhoff hotel. Check the view from our window! The tour of the Wartburg is mostly indoors which was a relief in 12 degrees and mist. It is the castle whereLuther was incarcerated (for his own safety) after being kidnapped. He began his translation of the Bible while there. Weimar is a stylish city with much to see. Goethe's influence is everywhere. Enjoyed the Goethe Haus museum, and the Schiller museum. A quick introduction to two German greats for me, and absorbing for Jeff. The museum in the Stadtschloss has a wing devoted to paintings by the Cranachs, as well as being a lovely ... read more