So...to bring you up to speed,....when I first got into Germany, I landed in Frankfort at 11:45 AM German time...but, of course, that is 4:45 AM Kansas City time. I know some people struggle with jet lag but that has never been the case for me. As a regular member of Club Insomnia, being awake at 4:45 wouldn't be out of the norm anyway.
The Guest House where Hubby was residing is 79 miles down the autobahn (or 127 Km if you prefer the metric system) away so we first had to get back to his place. I might point out to those of you that haven't been to Germany before, you might want to brace yourself for a really fast commute. While there are speed limits, no one ever uses them. Hubby was going over 110 and people were passing us like we were sitting still. I am fairly confident that some of them were calling us "pussies" but as I don't speak German..so I am not entirely certain of that.
After dropping off my bags in his room, I was anxious to go see some Germany. Weissenthurm is a small little town with a couple of notable historical sights but on that first day, we went 6 miles to Andernach where hubby has been working the last three months.
I have been to quite a few German towns but Andernach is one of the most interesting, quaint and charming towns along the Rhein in my opinion. It is, also, one of the oldest towns in Germany having celebrated a "Bimillenary feast" in 1988.
A few other little facts.... First of all, the pronunciation isn't "Ander-nak". It's something akin to "On-der-nuukk"...with the nuk part sounding like you are trying to clear your throat.
Andernach is a town of about 30,000 people. It sits on the left bank of the Rhein River and the people there have there own German dialect. The dialect is considered Low German. One of the local residents that had a working knowledge of English told me that they can't understand the German (High German) spoken in other parts of Germany. I was tempted to say "Welcome to my world...I can't understand any of you" but I thought that might not make the best impression. Their dialect, by the way is called Annenach.
Andernach was settled in 12 BC by the Romans. The town is surrounded by the medieval remnants of the fortifications that surrounded the town. There are also, the remains of a castle, a toll bastion, and a geyser. Yes, you read that correctly...there is the world's highest cold water geyser is in Andernach, Germany.
But back to our tour...One of our first stops was the Round Tower.
The Round Tower is one of the original 5 towers, two gates and wall that acted as a fortress for the city. Construction of the tower began in 1440 and completed in 1443. The French troops of Ludwig XIV tried to blow it up in 1689 but all he managed to do was knock a bit of a dent into it. Currently it is a museum open on weekends allowing visitors to walk up to the top.
Ludwig XIV dented it but didn't destroy it |
climbing, climbing, climbing |
view from the tippy-top of the tower |
Going through one of the old fortress gates toward the town square |
Getting closer |
Nearly There |
Let's Eat, Drink and Be Merry |
This was a tiny little market compared to the ones we went to later in the week. At this point it's time to head back to Weissenthurm but we return to Andernach to see the castle, bastion and geyser. Crabby Pant's Tour bus will pick up where we left off on the next post...
To Be Continued...