Chateau Haut Koenigsbourg--a castle

So the Thirty Years War was fought between Catholics and Protestants so it had to be after Martin Luther. Emperor Wilhelm II restored it after 1900. He's the one responsible (partly) for WWI. He abdicated and moved to Holland in 1918. 

This is the German eagle in the ceiling. Apparently it's still on the German flag. 

It is a most visited tourist attraction but it's so huge it can accommodate all the people. It was well done. 

Huge wine or beer cask. 

South of Strasbourg: the Wine Road

Just south of Strasbourg these cute little "flower towns" appear. Obviously, people have committed to taking care of these flowers. 

Every one of the towns has a well. 

There are tasting caves in every town. More wine is produced here than in Burgundy or Bordeaux. 

This is lunch where the local wines were €2.60 a glass. 

This was dinner at the Winstub Du Sommerlier in Bergheim. 

Ed with a cold cauliflower amuse bouche

Strasbourg

 Strasbourg is a big city. It is host to the European Parliament.  We stayed strictly in the tourist part of town.  Below is a picture of a canal that runs through.   Those are steps going down to the water. 

Below is General Kleber who was from Strasbourg and one of Napoleon's top generals. He is buried under the statue. This is a huge square with fountains. 

Another square is named Gutenberg because it was here he perfected the printing press. On Sunday morning there was a performance of dancing to polka music which looked just like square dancing. 

Very picturesque little canals. 

There are locks on the canals. 

This is the first shot one gets of the cathedral. 

It's very huge. 

Inside is an astronomical clock which performs. Many, many people paid €2 to squeeze into a small space and stand and wait for an hour to see the figures on the clock perform. Underwhelming. 

This is the organ. 

Cold cucumber soup.  Two more weeks and hopefully we are home!

As we were walking he from dinner we ce upon this marionette guy. He was good. 

His little Pierot removed his mask. It was brilliant. 

Heidelberg

So we were driving from Nurnberg to Strasbourg (in France) and I looked at the map and said to Ed:  Heidelburg is just up the road do you want to go there for lunch?

What a fiasco. Parking took an hour and by the time we got to the restaurant it was closed. The only saving grace was that the weather has cooled here. 

I must say:  don't come to these tourist spots in August. 

It's beautiful but the crowds are off putting. 

Nuremberg

Why are we here?  Ask the history major. 

This is the building where they held the trials. Two things. Nuremberg had enacted the first laws against the Jews true but Nuremberg was also chosen because they had the buildings and capacity to hold the trials. 

This is the actual courtroom. They have a lot of exhibits here. Everyone gets a headset and listens to what they choose. It was well done. 

It's a beautiful city. 

Here is Ed drinking beer.  It rained and we had to borrow umbrellas from the lobby. Believe me, they took our room numbers!

This is a source of water. Do they call it a well?  I don't know. 

Potsdam

So why did we come to Potsdam you may ask until you remember that Janet was a history major. And we're talking about the Potsdam Conference people. At the end of WWII before we dropped the bombs on Japan, Churchill, Truman and Stalin met here to decide the boundaries of postwar Europe. 

The reason they chose Potsdam was there was enough of the city left in tact to house all of the delegations. There were over 5,000 people who came. 

This is the actual room and table. By this time Roosevelt had died and Churchill's party lost the election so he went home to be replaced by Clement Atlee. Only Stalin had attended all of the conferences.  There had been three. Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam. 

This is their Arch of Triumph. Because Potsdam was in East Germany, nothing was done to rebuild anything until after

The Wall fell. All this stuff is brand new construction. 

The regional parliament meets here. They have all new buildings now. 

The entire thing looks like a stage set.