Peasants Turn Out with Pitchforks and Torches

Crowds with pitchforks and torches still turn out to chase out unwanted visitors in small towns near us. 

Photo for Nordbayern.de © Verena Masopust

For a couple of years now, the nationally owned German Rail company (Deutsche Bahn, DB) has been searching for a suitable site to build a maintenance facility for its high-speed trains (ICE). It has been looking at various sites around the city of Nuremberg. Everywhere they go, the local people protest against the imposition on the local resources and destruction of natural beauty.

Most recently, two representatives of the DB traveled to the town of Harrlach to pitch their ideas for locating the new facility in a chunk of the Bann forest adjacent to the town. Needless to say, the local residents were not crazy about having so much of their forest destroyed. After the DB representatives made their pitch, the residents sent them off, voicing their disagreement by reviving an 18th century farmers' tradition. Much noise was made and, typical for Germany, a rhyming song accompanied the occasion.

A sample of the text (chosen from among the 18 verses) with which the DB representatives were sent off follows. You won't find some of these words in the dictionary, because they are in thick Franconian dialect:

„Wir san die Harrlacher Haberfeldtreiber, wir stelln uns quer, wir machen immer weiter. Wir san do bei der Nacht, wir san do am Dooch, des merktster, Deutsche Bahn, wir loun net noch!“

„Vom ICE waschns jede Muckn; Bei uns do falln die Brunna truckn.“ 

 „Zehntausend Kloschüsseln, sauber wäi gmolt; Frag amal wer des Abwasser zohlt?“

„Hundert Fragen stellst der Bahn; als Antwort kommt bloß: Raumordnungsverfahrn. (...) Da fällt der Bannwald, Hieb für Hieb; so grün ist der Staatsbetrieb.“  

 "The Harrlach Haberfeldtreiber are we, we dig in our heels, resist perpetually.

We're here by night, we're here by day. You see, Deutsche Bahn, we will not cave!

"From the ICE, they wash each fly; all the while our wells run dry.

"Ten-thousand toilet bowls, clean as if new painted. Guess who pays the costs of water tainted?

"The Bahn's only answer to a hundred requests is the "regional planning process" ... So falls the Bann forest, tree by tree. How green can the state's operation be?"

Most German trains run on electricity from lines above the tracks, like street cars do. Even though the Deutsche Bahn prides itself on using "green" sources of electricity to run the trains, this search for a new site is going off the rails.  

The event is called a "Haberfeldtreiben" meaning "to drive someone out through the oat field," Haber is local dialect for Hafer=oats. The custom dates to the 1700s, came from upper Bavaria, and provided a way for the peasants to voice their opinions to the nobles. They would gather after dark, chanting while dressed in black with blackened faces or wearing wooden masks representing devils (see our blog about the Perchtentreiben), carrying torches, cow bells and pitchforks. 

So this is a great demonstration of several themes that we have observed in our time here, including the Franks' (pron. "Frahnks" = Franconians') love of trees and the revival of old traditions, some of which draw on ancient pagan rites. The rhyming chant is also typical of how certain occasions are marked. Fans shout chants and sing songs at soccer games, and groups at beer gardens have traditional ditties. Trick-or-treating children sing a song when they come to the door at Halloween asking politely for candy. To express their gratitude, kids are even expected to recite a poem or sing a verse before they open their Christmas presents! And on the feast of Epiphany, the kids dressed as the three "kings" go door-to-door singing a song at each house as they ask for donations to that year's charity. (on the 2014 Christmas/2015 New Year's blog, scroll to the end to see the section about the Epiphany in Germany)

Unlike the French, who are notorious for going on strike at the drop of a hat, the Franks are notorious for being laconic and it takes a lot to get them angry. On the jubilant end of the spectrum, they are so restrained, they only get publicly crazy and silly on certain occasions such as Fasching (Mardi Gras), which they make into a week-long party season prior to Lent, the yearly Kirchweih (beer festivals), soccer games, New Year's Eve, ... and I can't think of any other occasions!

Here's the link to the original article: Harrlach residents up in arms, protest against the Bahn: our wells will run dry

Riemenschneider's Last Supper and Rothenburg

 It was a beautiful fall day on Halloween, so we made a day trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Galgentor (Gallows Gate)

We took the train and walked from the station to one of the city gates. The medieval town is surrounded by a city wall that you can climb and walk around the city on.

Walking the city wall

 

 

The city's history goes back to the Hohenstaufen dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire, which included Konrad III, who ruled from 1138 until his death in Bamberg in 1152. Holy Roman Emperors did not collectively have a permanent residence; instead each had a home base. Konrad did not have a home base large enough for someone of his position, so he decided to build one on a hill overlooking the Tauber river.

Pilgrimage route

Konrad built his castle in 1142, and of course a village grew up around it. Konrad built his castle at the crossing of two important pan-European routes. Of the three most important pilgrimage destinations in Christendom (Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela) Rothenburg was along a north-south route to Rome, and also along one of the east-west routes called St. James' Way to Santiago de Compostela, where the tomb of St. James is located. The most important church in Rothenburg is St. Jakobskirche (St. James Church), built next to the north-south route. When the church was enlarged with an addition to its west end, the addition had to bridge over the pilgrimage route, because you know you don't change pilgrimage routes! 

Coat of Arms

Rothenburg obtained official market rights in 1172, which was a big deal because of the money that could be made. (Have you read Ken Follett's novel Pillars of the Earth?) Rothenburg gained in importance, and in 1274 the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf I, made Rothenburg a Free Imperial City, meaning that it did not belong to one of the Princes, Dukes, Counts or other rulers that made up the empire. Rather, it belonged to the emperor himself. As such, the city also obtained a Reichskammergericht, (Imperial Chamber of Justice), which is represented by the small building between the two towers in the city's coat of arms. By 1400, Rothenburg was second only to Cologne in size. The first fortress walls surrounding the city enclosed a relatively small area. Part of the original wall was made of a Spital, which was a combination hospital, old-folks home, and hotel for pilgrims. These people were associated with disease, and that is the reason for not letting them stay long inside the city. Monastic orders also put up pilgrims in the monasteries overnight, even though they were inside the city walls, but religious buildings were officially part of the Roman Church and did not fall under the jurisdiction of the city.  

Röderbogen (Markusturm in background)

One of the remaining towers from the old inner wall is the Markusturm (Markus tower), shown with its city gate (Röderbogen) in the photo. Another is the Weißer Turm (White tower). You can see some of the many business signs extending from the buildings and hanging over the street. They are very decorative, and original to the medieval situation when people were illiterate. So the signs had to show what business was located in the shops. A tour guide told us that the city fathers knew very well how important the signs were, and so imposed an "air tax" on the signs hanging over the street. The business people were clever, and they put the signs on hinges in order to bring them up against the buildings.

Weißer Turm

High Altar in the chancel of the church

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the first town wall is the Jakobskirche, mentioned earlier. The current church was started by the Teutonic Order of Knights in 1298. Only the chancel (the part occupied by the priest and monks) was built in the first of three stages. It was butted up against an older Romanesque church, and when the chancel was complete in 1322, the Romanesque church was torn down. 

The chancel contains a stone altar piece with an early depiction of the trinity as the Father, the Son, and a dove as the Holy Spirit all together. The beautiful colors must be older than 1544, because after the Reformation came to Rothenburg at the end of the Peasants' War, the church became protestant, and colored statues did not adhere to Martin Luther's ideas. One reference I read said that Friederich Herlin, the same person who made the altar, also painted the older stone altar. 

Early depiction of the trinity

Behind the high altar are scenes painted on the wood. There are several scenes of St. James, and in particular of the transport of his dead body to the church in Santiago de Compostela.  The painter of the scenes had never been there, so he used Rothenburg instead. The result is the first depiction of Rothenburg's market square and city hall and the first aerial view of a city to be achieved in southern Germany.

Rothenburg's market square above

 

Nave of St.Jakobskirche

 

 

The second part of the church was then constructed from 1372 until 1436: the part of the nave extending almost to the organ. Construction had to stop there, because the pilgrimage route was just outside. The third part of the church was constructed from 1453 until 1471, and it is the part that contains the organ and that bridges the pilgrimage route. It is also the part that contains Tilman Riemenschneider's Holy Blood Altar.

Riemenschneider carved the scenes in the altar from 1501 until 1504, and the main scene depicts the last supper. This is in keeping with the reliquary, which contains a piece of cloth with three drops of consecrated wine (hence, the blood of Christ). The reliquary is a piece of rock crystal mounted at the center of the crucifix.

The depiction of the last supper is unusual, because it depicts Judas in the center rather than Jesus, who is slightly to the left and higher. Judas is depicted with a back of money in his left hand. Notice that next to the bag is the face of the apostle John, who has collapsed onto Jesus's lap in distress.

 

Holy blood reliquary

 

 

Last supper by Riemenschneider

 

We had a wonderful day in Rothenburg, and we sat outdoors for a meal of venison cubes in a dark wine gravy with spaetzle and batter-fried carp, two traditional Frankonian dishes. The restaurant's outdoor seating was on the site of the former cemetery of St. Jakobskirche, and the former chapel building is still next door.

former cemetery chapel

The reason Rothenburg is so well preserved is that its significance waned after the destruction suffered from the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648) that left 2/3 of its inhabitants dead. The city never recovered from this era. The medieval architecture remained frozen in time. That anything at all survived  the war is, according to folklore, due to the mayor Georg Nusch (Nu-sh). In 1631, the troops of Catholic General Tilly with his army of 40,000 troops laid siege to the protestant town. The town was therefore threatened with starvation, and so the town sent out women and children to plead for the town, but the General was not deterred. Finally, the mayor made a wager with the general. The mayor claimed to be able to drink over 3 liters of Franconian wine in one gulp, known as the Meistertrunk (Master Draught). A recreation can be seen every day in the glockenspiel next to the city hall at noon, and also every year the Meistertrunk is reenacted during the town festival.

What survived until the 1940s was seen even by the Germans as the ideal German town and for the Nazis it came to represent the ideal German home town. So it was occupied by German forces when the Allies bombed it on March 31, 1945. Because the U.S. Assistant secretary of war, John McCloy, was told of the town's beauty by his mother, he ordered that no artillery be used when the Americans took the town. Luckily, the American forces were able to convince the Germans to surrender without a fight (contrary to Hitler's orders), and the town was spared further damage. 

However, 40% of the town's buildings had already been damaged, mostly on the city's east side. To retain its charm, the damaged buildings were rebuilt in a style as close to the original medieval style as possible. McCloy was later made an honorary citizen.

Besides the charming lanes and streets and towers and houses in the old town, one of the most famous attractions is the Christmas museum associated with the Wohlfahrt family. Their famous store is called Käthe Wohlfahrt; open year round, it offers Christmas ornaments made in Germany and it is so crowded with tourists that in the store itself, visitors are guided through the store on one-way only paths. But you don't have to go to Rothenburg to see a Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas store. There's one in Nuremberg, a 20 minute train ride away from us. 

Another attraction is the "Criminal Museum", which includes shudder-inducing authentic examples of common medieval torture devices, all instruments of what passed for justice in those years. Kathy remembers how disturbing her first visit to this museum was, and does not want to go back there. However, the museum has since added exhibits about how justice was perceived in the middle ages up through today, and there is information about the witch persecutions of the 1600s and 1700s. 

Today, Rothenburg is indeed charming. It is well worth visiting in the off-season, when busloads of tourists from all over the world no longer throng the streets.

A good summer for beer gardens

With the pandemic starting to ease up a little bit, we were able to visit some beer gardens this summer. They were ideal for being outside (indoor restaurants were still closed) and being in a social setting again.

Beer garden in Abensberg

At the end of July we were in Abensberg, just 20 miles upstream of Regensburg on a tributary of the Danube, where the Kuchlbauer brewery is. The brewery has a biergarten with a special attraction: a tower designed by the artist and environmentalist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000, he changed his name from Friedrich Stowasser to "peaceful kingdom hundred waters"). Those of you who have been with us in Vienna will remember the Hundertwasser House and museum in Vienna, where we saw Hundertwasser's art and saw an example of a apartment building where people could live the way he thought people should (closer to nature). He was obsessed with nature and organic forms. He thought a straight line was the devil's work, and he thought trees should have the right to live in the apartments too. 

 

Hundertwasser's tower

You see this sentiment in his tower in the biergarten in Abensberg. There are trees growing out of the windows, and there is a large variety of materials in the construction: some painted surfaces, some tiles, some mirrored pieces, and so on.

 

 

visitor's center

Next door to the brewery is a visitor's center, which is also designed like a Hundertwasser building. The exhibit has some of Hundertwasser's art and sketches, but I was impressed by the amount of information on his environmental viewpoints. 

humus toilet

 

 

 

 

He was a proponent of  humus toilets, which require no water. An example of one was staged inside the left-hand door in the photo. 

visitor's center

 

 

 

 

We watched a contemplative movie of Hundertwasser's life and travels, including his appearance on an Austrian TV show that showcased models of his buildings for living in harmony with the environment.

 

Did I mention the beer is great too?

Weissbier at the Kuchlbauer brewery

On July 18th we went to Ebermannstadt, which is on the edge of the Fraenkische Schweiz near Forchheim and only 45 minutes away by train. We had been to Ebermannstadt before, but we had never

Ebermannstadt biergarten

visited the beer garden. It is very relaxing, on the bank of the  small Wiesent river. The beer garden has great beer, too. 

The Wiesent runs through town, and at one point there is a charming water wheel. The wheel has buckets on it that bring water up out of the river and tip into a trough. The trough then leads away into the town.

water wheel with buckets and trough

Richard's birthday trip to Merseburg

I had a great birthday again this year. Kathy organized a long weekend in Halle, Merseburg, and Querfurt. We had an excellent dinner in Halle at the Alchimistenklause  on Friday, visited the cathedral in Merseburg and the castle in Querfurt on Saturday, saw the Sky Disk of Nebra in Halle on Sunday, and toured the chocolate factory there on Monday.

The Merseburger Zaubersprüche (magical incantations of Merseburg) were written down by a monk in old high German more than a thousand years ago (in the tenth century). In 1842 a theologian found them in the cathedral library in Merseburg and made them known to the Brothers Grimm, who then made the incantations famous.  There are two incantations. One serves to free a captive, and the second heals a horse's leg.  The first one follows.

Once sat women,
They sat here, then there.
Some fastened bonds,
Some impeded an army,
Some unraveled fetters::

Escape the bonds,
flee the enemy!

Book with Zaubersprüche

The second incantation follows.

Phol and Wodan were riding to the woods,
and the foot of Balder's foal was sprained
So Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister, conjured it;
and Frija, Volla's sister, conjured it;
and Wodan conjured it, as well he could:

Like bone-sprain, so blood-sprain,
so joint-sprain:
Bone to bone, blood to blood,
joints to joints, so may they be glued

The document is the only text in old high German where the pagan Germanic gods appear (Wodan, Balder, Friia, Volla, Sunna, Phol, Sinhtgunt). The names have there equivalents in the North Germanic paganism that we are familiar with from Norse mythology. But the Eddas of Snorri Sturluson are several centuries newer. The advantage of the Norse version is that Snorri documented it so well, so we are much more familiar with Odin, Baldr, Frigg, Fulla, Sunna, and so on.

If I understood the tour guide correctly, the reason for the rarity of such text is that the alphabet wasn't established until Charles the Great (Charlemagne) had a writing system made for his native language, either old Frankish or old high German or old low Frankonian. (Charles started a Grammar, but it has unfortunately been lost.) Around the same time he was also leading a campaign to convert the pagans to Christianity. So fewer of the nobility in Germany were pagans shortly after the book was written.

The book was written by a cleric from the abbey in Fulda, so it is primarily a religious text written in Latin. The bottom third of the page with the incantations (the top two-thirds have the incantations) has a short prayer in Latin. Elsewhere in the book is the baptismal oath (in Latin), which includes the pledge to reject the devil and also "Thunaer ende Woden" (Thor and Wodan). So why include the Zaubersprüche at all? Maybe by writing them in the language of the pagans and not Latin, the Zaubersprüche are being denigrated. Maybe their inclusion is a recognition that healers should use whatever works.  

After the tour of the Library we went into the cathedral itself. There was a festival for the 1000-year anniversary of the consecration of the church. Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich II and his empress Kunigunde were present for the consecration. This has some interest for us because the same Heinrich established the diocese in Bamberg, just 45 minutes north of us.  They were responsible for putting Bamberg on the map, and both were canonized, in 1147 and 1200, respectively.  Their tomb in the cathedral in Bamberg was created in 1513 by Tilman Riemenschneider, is a gothic masterpiece.

Kunigunde and Heinrich II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a special exhibit in Halle on the Sky Disk of Nebra, and it was another highlight of the trip. We wrote about the Sky Disk a couple of years ago when we traveled to see the wood henge and ark of the sky disk at Goseck and Nebra, respectively. The museum near Nebra dedicated only to the the Sky Disk is called the "ark". It has a planetarium, and there is a fantastic presentation on how the Sky Disk was used for predicting leap year and the seasons. Nebra is about 10 miles south of Querfurt.

Sky Disk and other objects in the hoard

 The home of the Sky Disk is the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle. It has resources far beyond what the small but excellent museum in Nebra has. They were successful in getting the Nebra Sky Disk  added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2013. The museum in Halle was also able to put together a special exhibit together with the British Museum on the Aunjetitz culture that produced the Sky Disk 3700 year ago.  We learned about the expansive trade routes that brought tin and gold from England and copper from Austria. We also learned about the advanced farming techniques that enabled the people to produce enough flour to feed thousands of people every day, including a large army. The grinding stones were huge, and required two people to work the upper stone.

 

 

There was also information on the burial rites of the leaders. Just a few kilometers southeast of Halle in Bornhöck was the largest funerary monument of the central European Early Bronze Age (1800 b.c.), a large mound white-washed with limestone. Grave robbers plundered it and the soil was removed between 1844 and 1890 a.d., but a lot of information can be obtained from the remains. It was similar to burial mounds in Leubingen and Helmsdorf, where huge treasures have been discovered. Rather than bury corpses on their sides as for average people, the corpses of rulers were buried face-up (to look into the sky?) The social rank of the person was indicated by the amount of gold jewelry and the number of bronze weapons (such as those found with the Sky Disk) buried in the mound.

Not far from Merseburg is Querfurt, a small city with a beautiful castle. The castle was under siege by renovators while we were there, but the museum was open. The age of the castle is unknown, but it was mentioned in the tithe records of the Hersfeld monastery in 866. The chapel was added in 1004, and the Romanesque version we see today was built in 1162. The tomb of ruler of Querfurt during the 1300s, Gebhard XIV von Querfurt, is inside the church. Gebhard was a knight in the second Italian campaign of Holy Roman Emperor Karl IV (Charles the Fourth of Prague fame), and so Gebhard's son was made Archbishop of Magdeburg.  

We ate well in Halle too. We stopped at a place called the Alchimistenklause, which means the Alchemists' hermitage. It has been in business since 1873 in an old building with lots of charm. We started with drinks. Kathy had Lavendelsekt with Limettenkaviar (Riesling champagne with lavender oil and candied lime) You can see the small pieces of lime in the photo of the champagne glass (most are on the bottom, but some keep floating to the top). I had apple beer. Both were great. For the main course Kathy had baked cheese and wine biscuits and sliced beef carpaccio with herbs and flowers, and I had pork loin with air-dried ham.

Riesling champagne

Alchemistenklause

 

Main courses

Halle also has a castle ruin, where a light show was performed for Reunification Day (October 3). The castle Giebichenstein was a residence for Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great (936-973), who later gave it to the Archbishop of Magdeburg. The archbishops made Giebichenstein Castle their principal residence from 1382 until the archbishops moved into the newly built Moritzburg castle in Halle in 1503 (Moritzburg is today a modern art museum, which we will have to visit on our next visit to Halle.) The castle ruin overlooks the Saale river, and we walked along the banks of the river back to the Moritzburg. There are moored boats and little huts along the banks that sell food and drink. Because it was my birthday, we stopped for ice cream.

There are more treats in Halle. The oldest chocolate factory in Germany was just a block from our hotel. The name is Halloren, and it is comparatively small. It was founded in 1804 in Halle, and after its initial glory days, it fell on hard times during the communist period (Halle was in the GDR). The factory was practically worthless by the time of the fall of the wall, but the name Halloren still had marketing appeal. So some German investors from Hanover invested in the factory and gradually brought it back to western standards. 

There is a museum that presents the history of chocolate in Central America through the Spanish acquisition to the popularization in England. The history of the Halloren company is given last, and there is a life-size sculpture of the founder in his office, all made out of chocolate! The furniture, food, fireplace, rug, even the walls! And the smell was amazing! We had to buy way too much chocolate at the factory store before leaving.

Kathy's birthday in Seebruck on Chiemsee

 We finally had good weather for Kathy's birthday this year on the lake in Bavaria called Chiemsee.

We stayed in a small town called Seebruck on the northern point of the lake. It was the site of an ancient Roman fortress called Bedaium on the road from Augsburg (named after Emperor Augustus) to Salzburg.  The name Bedaium comes from locally worshiped Celtic god Bedaius, and the addition of Celtic culture to the local history was interesting. The Celtic people, the Alauni, along with Bedaium are even mentioned in Roman texts.

 

ancient Roman smokehouse foundation

The site was excavated from 1972 until 1974, and some of the treasures are on display in the small museum next to the excavation site. Adjacent to our hotel is the foundation of roman smokehouse. They would light fires and channel the smoke between stone walls under the floor, which is indicated by some wooden planks in the photo. The smoke would come up into the room where fish and meats were hung. Next to the building was a well, where four well-preserved wooden baskets (see photo) were found. The purpose of the baskets is not known. Everyone loves a mystery.

baskets found in a Roman well

 

 

 

 

 

 

grave stone of Amanda

Many of the treasures found during excavation can be seen in a small museum next to the old fortress foundations. The museum contains the same types of durables that you see in many museums: vases, jewelry, metal weapons, and mile stones. Two grave stones were on exhibit. One marked the grave of a 50-year-old former slave named Amanda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Celtic artifacts  were also found during excavation. I especially liked the colorful vases from the 7th to 6th centuries b.c., which predates the Roman times.

 

Of course, we had to go for a boat ride on Kathy's birthday trip, so we went to one of the islands in Chiemsee called Fraueninsel (Ladies' Island). It is a small island with 300 inhabitants, some of whom still smoke fish and eels from the lake. Many of them are artists who run shops out of their houses. The icon of the island is the bell tower of the convent of Benedictine nuns. The nuns still live there, in spite of the secularization that occurred during the Napoleonic wars. They have a small shop where you can buy some of the products they make, like honey, candles, gingerbread, liqueurs and bitters. 

The convent goes back to 782, when the Duke of Bavaria, Tassilo III, founded the first German-speaking convent beyond the alps. In 850, the convent became very important when the daughter of Ludwig the German (who was Charlemagne's grandson) was made abbess. Irmingard was considered a saint, as indicated by location of her marble coffin, which was originally in the foundation of the south-western pillar of the church. (The idea was to show that holy people were the supports of the Church.)   

fresco in the Michael's Chapel

About 50 years after Irmingard's death, the convent was destroyed by the Huns, and the only remains from that period are the gatehouse and the foundations of the Minster. But the upper floor of the gatehouse contains the chapel of St. Michael, which contains original frescoes, one depicting archangels watching over Christ. 

On exhibit are also treasures such as Tassilo's chalice, which was made around 770 from copper with gold and silver overlay.

Tassilo's chalice

There is also a bishop's cross, made in the late Merovingian period around the year 700 in a workshop on the British Isles and brought to Chiemsee perhaps in the 8th century by Irish missionaries. The cross is made out of maple wood with gold cladding.

bishop's cross

 

detail of the top of the cross

The lake itself and how we got there

Chiemsee (the name means Chiem Lake) is just north of the foothills of the alps. We took the train to the main train station at the southern end of the lake (Prien am Chiemsee), whence we planned to take the bus to the northern end. However, after missing the bus, we were lucky enough to take a little tourist train to the harbor on the lake.

A small steam locomotive (cute!) pulled the train for the 8 minute trip through town to the harbor. Along the way, kids on the streets waved at the train. The picture at right shows the steam locomotive at the harbor preparing to take the train back into town.

From the harbor, we took a boat to the town of Seebruck (lake bridge) at the northern end. This one happens to be a paddle boat. The whole trip took about an hour, with the boat making stops at the islands and towns along the way.

From our slick hotel, which had its own expansive lawn with roses in full bloom, we walked to a point of land designated as a nature preserve. There was a two-story tower offering a telescope for watching the local bird life. Many coastal areas on the lake, including large parts of the islands' shores, are designated nature sanctuaries to protect nesting and migrating bird species and fish spawning grounds. 

In the picture above, the metal structure in the background near the birdwatching pavilion is part of a sculpture commissioned for the town. Throughout the town, commissioned metal sculptures speak of the town's history. I call this one "Three Celts in a Boat"; it was on the lake front near the town beach.

 

On our second day there, we walked out away from town into a nature preserve. The path wound along the lake, going by reed beds where signs were posted encouraging people to protect the nesting grounds of the various birds in the area.

About 2 miles out, we found a campground packed with campers. It had its own café/beer garden, so we stopped for refreshments. Richard had an "Eisschokolade" - a scoop of ice cream dunked into a glass of hot chocolate. Just perfect for that hot day. 

Because Seebruck is a small town, not many options for dining existed besides the tourist places beside the town beach. Richard found the best place in town and made reservations for all 3 nights. It turned out to be the "taverna" outside the Roman museum. The food was wonderful, with some Austrian specialties, because the owner comes from Kärnten in Austria. 

The house aperitif was a mix of limoncello and prosecco with mint leaves. We also enjoyed a wonderful rosé wine 2 out of the 3 nights. 

Another great birthday trip, planned by Richard!