More History and Culture, with a tip of the hat to the Marx Brothers.

We left Wittenberg and headed south to our next stop in Bayreuth.  The Stellplatz had a great location, only about 10 minutes away from the old town by bicycle.  

The town was quite small and had a pleasant pedestrian walking street lined with shops and cafes. 

The highlight of the old town, from our point of view, was the Margräfliches Opernhaus. It was built from 1744 to 1748, by Margravine Wilhelmine, wife of the Margrave Friedrich III.  She was a great music lover and a musician herself.  The exterior building was built of stone, but the actual opera house was built of wood and painted canvas, and set inside the outer structure. (And you thought it would be nice to have your own band room!)

It was intended as a temporary structure, built just like a stage set inside the outer building. It looks like an ornate Italian palace, but it is really just painted wood with trompe d’oeil paintings on broad canvases everywhere. The whole effect is stunning.

The stage area consisted of four zones of different sizes which gave the impression of distance from the front of the stage. By placing actors at different distances on the stage, you could create giants and monsters. Again, none of this is real, even the curtains are simply paintings.

We asked an attendant if there was any music planned for the evening and were told that there was a Wagner Opera Gala that very night.  We had to buy tickets before 1:00 PM when the ticket office closed, so at 12:50 PM we went rushing off to the ticket office! Success! We would be back.

Famous prior inhabitants of Bayreuth were Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt.  We also went to the Wagner Museum, which we found interesting.  (https://www.wagnermuseum.de/en/) Wagner was married to Liszt’s daughter!

The concert, a series of overtures and arias, sung by soloists from all over the world and by a local men’s choir, was excellent.  The orchestra was from Prague.  We suspected the soloists (eight or so) were there to rehearse for the Wagner Festival which was due to take place a couple of weeks hence.

The performance was excellent, with the singers even better than the orchestra. The acoustics were interesting. The wooden hall did not ring like a stone cathedral, and this made for a rather articulate sound – easy to identify individual instruments. Voices projected very well so somebody knew what they were doing.

Note for Foto Phools: Haven’t got a good way to carry the full frame Nikon on the bike, so all of these pictures are from a one inch sensor in the little Sony, mostly at ISO 64k. A LOT of magic software involved here! Amazing how well some of these cleaned up.

Wagner actually hated this hall and built his own theater to better portray his works, a distance away. One of his innovations was to hide the orchestra under the stage so that the audience could not see the musicians and be distracted from the singers on stage.

While the actual festival is held in Wagner’s theatre, we thoroughly enjoyed our concert in the Opera House. 

And the projected thunderstorm held off until we made it back to the camper just after 10 pm, abandoning the crowds watching Germany play in the EU Soccer Tournament on the big screen down town!

We continued our route south and stopped for the night at the Maxlmuhle Wald Restaurant.  (https://maxlmuehle.de) It was a lovely spot beside a river and we enjoyed dinner there. 

We admired the beautiful flowering window boxes, which we then saw all over Bavaria.  In fact, many of the towns, in which we have stopped, have had the most beautiful flower displays along the roads, in roundabouts, in gardens and in the window boxes of the houses.  It is a pleasure to view them.

Boring title, great trip.

We had originally planned to visit Berlin from Potsdam, but the camping/bike routes did not work out. Looking at the train schedules, we discovered that Wittenberg was, in fact, only two stops from Berlin on the fast train. Hmmmm. A new plan was hatched. With the camper in a great, safe, spot, we put together an overnight bag and made reservations for a night at the Marriott in Berlin.

Our actual trip to Berlin began smoothly – the taxi showed up.  The ICE (high speed, intercity) train we had booked only took around 40 minutes to get to the Hauptbahnof in Berlin.  (Just as well; the air conditioning was struggling!) The Hauptbanhof (main train station) was heaving, but we found our way to the underground train, or U-Bahn, and took one to the Brandenberger Gate. Popping back out into glorious sunshine, we could admire the iconic symbol of Berlin.

We never served in Berlin, but, the location of the old US Embassy Chancery right next to the Branderberger Gate has always been a topic of conversation and, happily, it was not given up, even though it lacks a large setback. It was fun to actually see the fabled building, from both sides.

We then walked to our hotel at the Potsdamer Platz.  Our hotel was wonderful and gave us a room at 11:00 AM, so we were able to freshen up before heading out for a light lunch.

We signed up for a Hop On/Hop Off bus tour, including a Canal and Harbor Cruise.  We were actually somewhat disappointed in this; the commentary was rather uninspiring and there were two scheduled ten minute driver breaks during the tour.  As it was over 90F, this made sitting in full sun most unpleasant.  Especially as after the second break, when the driver announced that there was a problem  with the bus and we would have to join the next bus.  When this arrived, it then proceeded to take a second 10 minute break.  At this point, we gave up and took a U-Bahn back to Potsdamer Platz, though we managed to find an ice-cream stop to cool us down!

We had a great dinner back at the hotel. The meal was great and we had fun chatting with an Indonesian waitress and a Romanian waiter.

The second day was a little cloudier and while it was cooler we set off to walk to Checkpoint Charlie.  The original is in a Museum, which we did not visit, but the copy still sitting in the middle of the street, gave us enough vibe. Happily today, it is merely a tourist trap on a through street.

We then took the U-Bahn to visit the DDR Museum, which explains life in Berlin before the Wall came down.  (https://www.ddr-museum.de/en) It was quite sobering. They had recreations of living rooms and listening posts(!!). We passed on the opportunity to drive a video Trabant. Actually, lots of people still have, and cherish Trabants. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant) The parallels between the DDR and Cuba are obvious – we felt right at home!

We came out of the Museum to a rainstorm, which was not even mentioned on the weather forecast!  We were near the boat dock so we headed there swiftly (having left our rain garb at the hotel.)  A boat was setting out for the cruise and had adequate rain protection so we happily got on board.  It was almost a private cruise with only about eight people on board. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

The commentary was much better than the bus. We never think of Berlin as a river city, but, like every major European city, rivers were essential to its founding and development. After the boat tour, we set out in search of lunch.

We ate lunch beside the Marien Kirche, a church dating from the mid 1200’s, sitting outside in the shade as the sun was back out and it was cooler than the inside of the small restaurant.

We then decided to visit the Berlin Wall Memorial.  We had hoped to walk the length of the Memorial but our plans were thwarted by a localized thunderstorm!  We managed to see a section, seeking cover from the rain for a short while.  The exhibits about the effects of the Wall’s construction on families on the east side of Bernauer Street, who found themselves unable to visit their relatives on the other side of the street, were sad. The whole section is several blocks long and there are lots of exhibits. You can really understand the size and complexity of the wall, with anti climb barriers, barbed wire, a free fire kill zone, and towers.

We made a quick stop at the Documentation Center but did not make it any further as we did not want to miss our train.  

After a quick S-Bahn trip back to Potsdamer Platz (Denise for the win), we returned to the hotel, picked up our bag and headed to the Hauptbahnhof only to discover that the ICE train we booked had been cancelled.  And it was hot in the Hauptbahnhof as it turned into another day in the 90’s. Worse, everyone’s ice cream machines were broken! A hour’s wait was NOT appealing!

So we decided to take the Regional train which left at the same time as the ICE would have but took three times as long. (We figured that if we were controlled, no one would care as we actually had the more expensive ICE ticket.) Turned out to be a most pleasant trip. We sat on the upper level and the train was nicely air conditioned so we were happy. The train stopped at the Potsdamer Platz Station. We then realized that had we simply booked on the slower, Regional train, we could have gotten off at the Potsdamer Platz station on arrival, avoided the chaos of the Hauptbahnhof, and gone directly to and from our hotel at the Potsdamer Platz.  While the train would have been slower, the trip would have been faster and much cheaper and easier. Such is life! 

Arriving back in Wittenberg, we even found a taxi at the station, which saved us a long, hot, 45 minute walk back to our campsite outside town. All in all, a great trip.

We decided that our next main stop was to be Lutherstadt Wittenberg, part of the Martin Luther Trail.  En route we made an interim stop at a delightful little town called Malchow, which sits on an island in a series of lakes.  It is a tourist destination and has a very pleasant Stellplatz on a marina. Once settled in, we rode into the town to explore. 

Arriving at the town, we, and everybody else, had to wait for a swing bridge to close.

Since the Middle Ages, Malchow has been connected to the mainland with a causeway, a lift bridge, and, in 1868, a wooden swing bridge. This became steel in 1912 and was destroyed during the war. (Malchow was a Nobel ammunition plant and employed hundreds of slave laborers from nearby camps.) After the war, the bridge was rebuilt and deteriorated several times. The latest bridge was completed in 2013.

We found the bridge in full “swing.” As it was Sunday, there was a line of pleasure and tourist boats needing to pass beneath or through it.  There was live music and lots happening.  Such fun.  We enjoyed a coffee  beside the bridge watching the action!

Heading on to Lutherstadt Wittenberg, we found a very pleasant campground on the other side of the Elbe River, with incredible views of the town. 

We went into town and set out on our quest to learn more about Martin Luther.  Wittenberg is where he lived for a great deal of his life, once he married and had children. 

The downtown is delightful, with water channels running along the main streets! 

We did see the famous door into the church  (a replacement door, but similar) where Luther nailed his 95 theses. This sounds dramatic, but, in fact, it was common practice. This door was the Instagram of its day. It was not the act of nailing the theses to the door that was revolutionary, but rather their content, which split the Western church and led to hundreds of years of bloodshed.

Unfortunately, two of the places we wanted to visit were closed.  The Luther House, where he actually lived, is closed for renovations until next year and the DDR (life in communist east Germany) museum was closed until Wednesday. We were there on a Monday – of course.

The lady who runs the campground insisted that we should visit the Wittenberg 360 display. This turned out to be a huge diorama, in the 19th century style. However, instead of being a painting, it is circular photo composition, three stories tall. You climb a tower in the middle and absorb Wittenberg in the time of Luther. (https://www.wittenberg360.de/en/)

A series of commentaries, available in English, explained what we were looking at. We learned not only about life in the time of Luther, but also major events in his life. Sounds hokey, but it is actually quite impressive.

We headed to Copenhagen for a couple of days, staying at a monster campground; what appears to be the mother temple of the Danish camping association. As big as it is, it was quite pleasant with the sites grouped into little clusters surrounded by hedges which gave a lot of privacy. And, it had a washing machine! We are finding laundry a much greater challenge on this trip, so any time we find a campsite with a laundry, we jump on it.

One of the reasons for choosing this site is that is is only about 15 minutes walk from a suburban train station.  We fumbled a bit the first time, it was hard to find the actual station, and then the ticket machine did not work, but we managed to get to the main station downtown in about 20 minutes.  

Our main purpose was to visit the National Museum and this took most of the day – it is a large museum.  (https://en.natmus.dk) It also has a lovely restaurant and, of course, we started our day with coffee before tacking the various floors.  It quickly became clear that it is more a museums for Danes to discover the world and less a museum to teach foreigners about Denmark. So we got a world tour and an overview of Danish history.

We enjoyed our visit and also our rather late lunch there, the traditional Danish open face sandwich again.

The following day was a Monday, which means most things are closed in Europe.  (Grrr!) We took the train again, helping some German tourists who were as bewildered as we were the first day, and started our day with a Hop On Hop Off Bus, which is a really good way of getting an orientation to a new place.  We included a canal/harbour boat cruise, which was most interesting, as it showed different aspects of the harbour. 

We ate lunch beside one of the canals and then headed to the Museum of Danish Resistance.

The Resistance museum is a high tech, underground museum which was most interesting as it portrayed the three reactions to the Nazi occupation – Resistance, Acceptance and Avoidance.  Like many museums we visited, it does not shy away from hard questions. (https://en.natmus.dk/museums-and-palaces/the-museum-of-danish-resistance/)

We then headed to the Little Mermaid to take her picture from the front.  The boat cruise had shown us her rear! 

Each time we considered Tivoli, the rain started!  So we took the hint, concluded our Copenhagen visit, and took the mega bridge to Malmo, Sweden.

We headed north to Roskilde and camped in a parking lot. Not the height of luxury, but it was quiet and there were no knocks on the door in the night. Next morning we set off on our bicycles for the Viking Ship Museum, despite the nasty black cloud on the horizon. (https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/) Sure enough, a 15 minute bike ride later, the heavens opened, just as we were locking up the bikes. We headed for coffee and dried off a bit before joining a 45 minute tour in English. 

In the museum building, where the original ships are displayed, our guide was a young historian who knew a great deal about the period and gave us lots of information on the five different Viking ships which had been raised from the bay nearby. He was also well versed in Viking history in general and their expansion across the world. As a geo-history nut, Fred loved discussing this part with him.

Known as the Skuldelev ships, the museum ships were all older ships that had been deliberately sunk around 1070 to block the channel and to protect Roskilde from attack. They were found in the bay, about 20 kilometers north of Roskilde.

Obviously none of the ships was complete, and they had deteriorated during the hundreds of years that they had been under water, but the museum has pieced them together as accurately as possible. At 30 metres, Skuldelev 2, rebuilt as the Sea Stallion, was one of the largest Viking warships ever found. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havhingsten_fra_Glendalough)

Back outside, we visited the Sea Stallion, a full scale reconstruction (not a replica) of a Viking ship built in Dublin around 1042. (Who knew the Vikings actually settled, as opposed to raiding, in Ireland?) The reconstructed ship was even sailed to Dublin, but it is speculated that the modern crew took longer than the Vikings would have taken back in the day.

So what is the difference between a replica and a reconstruction? The movie company, Universal built a Viking ship for the movie The Vikings and MGM built a replica of HMS Bounty for Mutiny on the Bounty. The ships looked right, but were built with modern techniques and the Bounty even had a diesel engine. A reconstruction, on the other hand, is built with period correct techniques and tools – a lot harder, but a fantastic opportunity to see how ancient techniques actually worked. Note: some were a lot better than you would expect.

We finished our visit with lunch, a “Viking Platter.” A selection of interesting dishes – one being more than enough for the two of us. We then headed up the hill to the church. Sadly, a funeral prevented a visit inside.

We moved on to a lovely campground in Hillerod and, in a burst of sunshine, set out to find the Frederiksborg castle.  (https://dnm.dk/en/frederiksborg-castle/) From the website: Frederiksborg Castle was built by King Christian IV in the early decades of the 17th century and is the largest Renaissance complex in the Nordic region. The aim of the building was to show off and enhance Christian IV’s status as a powerful European monarch. Accordingly the castle is richly adorned with symbolic and decorative elements: for example, the impressive Neptune Fountain and the Marble Gallery of the King’s Wing. Another study in obscene income inequality. And keeping up with the neighbor nation Joneses!

A short ride and we were at the main entrance.  It was closed as it was later than 5 PM and so we set off back to the campground as it began to rain!!  Again! 

The next morning we headed to the Castle. No sun, but no rain. 

It was was “royally” decorated with spectacular ceilings in reception rooms. 

The highlight from our point of view was the chapel, which was simply glorious. We were walking along a corridor when one of the docents told us to hurry – the chapel would be opened for only a few minutes before the wedding. Wonderful opportunity to see everything lit up and decorated.

Preparations were underway for a wedding but we were permitted to enter the gallery running the length of the chapel and to marvel at the ornate ceiling and at the number of royal boxes each with its individual crest. 

We returned to collect the camper and set out for Copenhagen.

Beginning to fear that there are no Danish pastries in Denmark.

After leaving the ferry in Rodby, an easy drive took us to Nakskov, in the Lolland Falster region of Denmark. Nakskov is a resort destination with a large campground and lots of summer homes. It even has a beach and claims the warmest water in Denmark. Still too chilly to tempt us!

We had planned a day of visits to a sugar museum and then on the second day, a ride on the Post Boat in the Nakskov Fjord.  However, the first day, Sunday, proved sunny so Fred decided it was time to paint the roof rack over the cab. Like everything else, it had really suffered in the soggy English winter. So he borrowed a ladder from someone in the campground and spent the day painting the roof rack (and himself) a lovely glossy black.  Weeks later, he still sports Goth fingernails – Rust Oeleum is tenacious stuff! Denise meanwhile assisted where she could and then took a walk out to the point to admire the fjord.

To celebrate completion of the project, we took ourselves out to dinner at a lovely restaurant nearby.

The next day proved much cloudier and windier but we cycled into the town and had a look around. 

Being Monday tourist attractions were mostly closed but such is life! It seems that one must close on Monday to recover from the effort of closing on Sunday. Banks were open, but would not change money. In fact, they have no tellers and a sign that no cash is handled in the bank. Interesting. So it was off to the ATM and that did work.

We admired the small section of town with older buildings, many of which were painted a dark yellow. 

We also visited the church, St. Nickolai.  It was interesting and in keeping with the importance of the fishing industry to Nakskov, a model of a boat was hanging in the church above some pews.  

The Post Boat did sail on Tuesday morning and we enjoyed the trip, although the sun barely poked through.  The water was calm and the wind quite decent.  Sailing out of the harbor, we admired that factory that makes massive windmill blades.

We visited two islands in the bay, both with wildlife preserves. The first, Enehøje, had been owned by the Danish explorer, Peter Freuchen. We had never heard of him, but he is actually a most interesting gentleman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Freuchen.

We ate our pack lunch on the second of the two. Fred climbed the lookout tower and admired ships through the 15 centimeter (!!) binoculars. Huge!

While chatting with the other passengers on the boat, we discovered that there was a cherry winery, the Frederiksdahl Kirsebaervin, nearby.  Cherry wine? As in, made with cherries, not grapes? Such an interesting idea that we had to visit.  Needless to say, it had just closed when we arrived, but a charming gentleman opened it up for us and we enjoyed a tasting.  (https://frederiksdal.com/int) We bought a selection of wines, including sparkling and cordials. Cherry wine is a serious wine, but much stronger and less sweet than grape wine. Much more of a cordial than a drinking wine, at least to our tastes. One recommended drink is to mix with strawberry/rhubarb tonic water. Not bad at all.

We could not stay overnight at the winery, but were directed to a small port nearby, where we could camp for the night.  This proved to have a great view of the Tars to Spodsbjerg ferry. We enjoyed watching its hourly comings and goings.

Our next stop, at the Mitteladldercentret, or Medieval Center was interesting and well worth it.  (https://www.middelaldercentret.dk/?lang=en) We are suckers for “living history” exhibits. We wandered in, looking for lunch, only to learn that they had not one, but two trebuchets and they were going to fire them at noon! Too cool! OK, you have to be a real medieval history freaque to even know what a trebuchet is, but let us just say that for hundreds of years it was the biggest dog in the artillery game. Lobbing stones in a ballistic arc, it could be used as a kind of long range battering ram. (You could also lob all manner of other things as well.) Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet

Fred was thrilled to actually see one in action. Needless to say, the rocks landed in the river so as to avoid damage to the houses across the river!  The small trebuchet was armed by audience participation – they dragooned a dozen or so folks to pull the ropes that pulled down the throwing arm. The big one used the squirrel wheel winch.

There was also a competition or “joust” between two knights which Denise enjoyed.  The horses seemed to be having a good time also!  All the staff were in medieval costume which added to the atmosphere. 

Even with stunt lances and real armor, these guys had to be good not to hurt themselves. The displays of lance vs, various targets, to say nothing of each other, was most impressive. It felt like being an extra in the movie “A Knight’s Tale.”

We stayed the night in the parking lot and moved on the next day to Roskilde, known for its Viking Museum.

Continuing north, our next stop was Lübeck, another of the great Hanseatic towns.  We had made a reservation at a campground on a bus route into the old town.  We then heard from  Ron and Ton Corbin, who mentioned that they could meet us there and they would make reservations at the same campsite.  We had last met in Aigues Mortes in France as they finished a tour last November. (https://travelintiger.com)

So we set off on the bus, bearing rain wear as the weather forecast was not great. To our surprise the sun came out and we had a great time discovering Lübeck.  The bus, every 15 minutes, dropped us right at the old city gate.

We started our visit at the market, as always!

Lübeck is known for its marzipan so our first stop was to taste and buy some. Our first effort fizzled as, for the first time, ever, we encountered a waitress who refused to wait on us because we asked if she had a menu in English. She simply walked off and didn’t even wait for Denise to dust off her German. We did better on our second try.

Coffee and marzipan accomplished, we set off to discover the town, wandering the streets, admiring the architecture, and enjoying a walk along the canal. 

Denise had made a day trip to Lubeck, about fifty years ago.

She was thrilled to revisit old sites.

On a second visit we visited the Marien Kirche or St. Mary’s Church.  The church was severely damaged during World War II but has been rebuilt. 

We admired the astronomical clock and also stood wondering before the bell shards lying in one corner.  These pieces are all that was left of the bells after they fell during the bombing.  They have been most poingnantly displayed.

On a lighter note, we met with the devil. He as, of course, outside of the church.

We had a lovely lunch at one of the oldest buildings in the city, one that fortunately missed being damaged during the WW II bombing.  It was formerly the assembly hall of the traditional Schiffergesellschaft, the mariners’ association. Over the centuries it offered a crash pad for destitute sailors as well as seating, by language, for the various captains who navigated the Baltic.

The guild bought the house, built in red brick renaissance style in 1535, and made it their assembly hall. 

Today, the Schiffergesellschaft is a landmark and also an excellent restaurant.  We admired the large number of hanging ships  which decorate the ceiling.  Bible verses and wall paintings, darkened with age, decorate the walls.  Our lunch was excellent, especially the white asparagus soup. It is the season after all!!

As the rain started, we caught our bus back to the campsite.

Heading north the next day, we tried a short detour to Kellenhusen, where Denise had worked as a student.  Unfortunately, due to a Saturday festival, we could not even get to, let alone drive into, the car park, so we gave up and continued north to the ferry from Puttgarten to Rødby in Denmark. 

Boarding was easy and we enjoyed the 40 minute trip in sunny weather and very calm seas! 

Next up, Denmark!