From Romans to Romanesque

Richard's department was moved to a new building on Friday. Everything was boxed up, and nothing was available to work with. So the department took the day off!

So we went to Speyer on Friday, and went straight to the cathedral. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Sight for its architecture and many (eight) tombs of German kings.

Afterward, we went to the bank of the Rhine river and had dessert at a beer garden. The Bavarian Cream was fantastic. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and one large group suddenly started singing. Really nice singing. I've often thought that Germans do a lot of singing, but not often so well.


There is a great museum across the street from the Cathedral. We saw exhibits on the prehistoric Kelts, the ancient Romans, the opening of the graves of the emperors, and a special exhibit on witches.

The last thing we did was stop at the Jewish Synagogue and the Jewish Bath. The bath was for the women's ritual bathing. It was amazingly deep underground, as deep as a well. And it still had water in it. It must have been an interesting and important ritual.