Christmastime in Deutschland

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After a two week trip to Egypt with friends, I spent a week in Germany doing a little solo travel. This was my first trip to Deutschland and Christmastime seemed to be the perfect time...though a bit chilly. I look forward to returning one day...preferably when it is a bit warmer. Hope you enjoy the photos.

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Photos

Sachsenhausen
This part of Frankfurt has lots of terrific Apfelwein taverns. The perfect drink in the cold Germany winter.

Heidelberg Schloss
The castle was built in several steps from the 14th to the 17th century. The princes of the Palatinate (Pfalz) lived here for 500 years. In 1689 the town and the castle were destroyed by the French under Louis XIV.

Grosses Fass (Great Cask)
The Grosses Fass (Great Cask) at Heidleberg Schloss is an enormous wine barrel in the cellar made from 130 oak trees and can hold 58,500 gallons. Long ago, it was used to hold wines paid as taxes by local wine growers.

Perkeo
Perkeo was a court jester for Carl Philip and also served as guard of the grosses fass. Legend has it that he could consume frighteningly large quantities of wine and that he died when he drank a glass of water by mistake.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
The ruined tower of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stands as a silent reminder of the destruction from World War II. The original church was built between 1891 and 1895 under the order of Emperor Wilhelm II in honor of his grandfather Wilhelm I. During the bombing of World War II, the church was destroyed in 1943. The only remainder of the old building is the ruin of the belfry, which the locals call "der Hohle Zahn" ("the Hollow Tooth"). When it wast ime to build a new church after the war, Berliners did not want the old church to destroyed. So Egon Eiermann designed a new church to be built right next to the site of the old one. The old church was kept as a ruin in memory of the horrors of war. An iconic cross of the Russian Orthodox Church and a cross made of nails from Coventry Cathedral, which was destroyed by Nazi bomb attacks in Britain are signs for reconciliation of the three countries that were once enemies.

Berlin Wall
It is amazing how something so thin could separate a country and a world for so many years.

Berlin Wall Marker
All throughout Berlin there is a thin brick path indicating where the wall once stood. It amazed me how easily I could go from side to side today and yet 15 years ago, people were risking their lives to leave East Berlin.

Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz
I stayed at the Ritz Carlton at Potsdamer Platz. While the Wall was up, this area was "no man's land".