Purity and Mammon

Day 3, 28 November 2011

There is the usual breakfast, and our destination is only a couple of blocks away.  A little explanation must be made.  We are going to see the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (KPM) in Berlin.  We first became aware of this institution when we saw some remarkable dishes in a now defunkt shop in San Francisco.  The design of the dishes was very simple with the exception of a bisque medallion of a classical theme.  The pieces were both stunning and excrutiatingly expensive.  That's the only reason we didn't buy any - then.  When I was in Berlin in 2004(?), I purchased a chocolate set for Arthur.

Now we wanted to see where this stuff had been made, and who had designed it.  We wandered through their galleries, which educated the visitor about how porcelain had come to Europe and the difficulty of its manufacture; along with the history of design.  Our pieces had been affixed to a pattern by Trudi Petri with medallions by Siegmund Schütz.  Several things came to mind as we looked at past and present work by KPM.  Many of the artists of the last century came to work for the concern around 1937, when their teaching posts were "terminated".  My mind quickly leapt to the Bauhaus dissolution, first in Dessau and then, finally in a converted warehouse in Berlin, where both students and teachers were arrested.

The other aspect of being here was to be close to all the artists who had worked here.  Some 150,000 moulds and pieces are archived, representing the work of the firm for over 200 years.  All those people, and the delicacy of their work, not only produced everyday wear, but to some extent a history of the national time.  We would bump into some of them later.  Until then, however, we browsed the shops, still found everything too costly, and retreated to the Café where I had a wonderful hot chocolate that was not unlike the Spanish chocolate that those people dip their churros in.  

Our next goal was the Bauhaus Archiv, a museum, educational institution, and center for all things Bauhaus.  The building is based on plans by Walter Gropius, and the long walkway, which you see above, takes you from the far end of the site on Klingelhöferstaße, through the gardens, into the midst of the buildings, and then curves around into the court that allows you to enter a very simple entrance into the complex.  A sign explains that the journey is a "glimpse of eternity", the eternity that is known in an augenblick - a moment.  That sentiment has summed up the day, so far, as we journeyed from the luxurious and the historical, to the simple and influential.

There were two installations to be seen: 1) the collection of Bauhaus materials (of all sorts) and 2) a proposal by Gropius for a Stadtkrone an acropolis at the city of Halle.  The materials are stunning.  After a group of chairs and furniture that show the influence of the group (Tom Wolfe once said that any aspiring architect, designer, painter, printer, or sculptor longed to own at least one Wassily Chair.

I know, I bought one.  There was stuff their that I knew from living in an Eero Saarinen environment during my college days.  Most moving was a couple of samples from László Moholy-Nagy's "first course" that every student had to take.  Using basic materials: cardboard, wood, tin or brass, wire, string, and other basic materials, students were required to make something "elemental". I wondered, who starts at the very beginning any more?  Preachers can't read Greek or Hebrew, accountants know nothing of Babylonian records, and painters can't draw.  I wonder what it would be like if we all somehow got back to the basics?  Perhaps that is the Lutheran remaining in my soul.  Perhaps this longing is too naïve.

Konstruction - László Moholy-Nagy

This painting, Konstruction, seems to say it all.  The assemblage that bisects the field in both directions, seems balanced and satisfying.  However, floating near by, in a reflected manner, the whole composition drifts, mirrors the balance, but is something different.  It's almost Platonic in its meaning, and it seemed to symbolize for me the remainder of the collection.  A balance was being sought in the textiles, photography (which Nagy introduced into the curriculum), the metal and wood work, and above all the architectural work - from the Barcelona Pavilion to the Red House.  It seems to be a balance that today's architecture has difficulty in approaching, let alone achieving.  A good book, if you're interested, is Nicholas Fox Weber's The Bauhaus Group - Six Master's of Modernism.

Lunch and the Gropius, which was both forward looking, especially in comparison with the other submissions, and then a look at the shop.  I'm tired, so we go back for a bit of a nap, and then off to the Universität de Kunst for a trumpet concert by students.  Uneven, but pleasant.  Dinner at Faustus near Wittenberger Platz, and then home.

Searching for Advent

Day 2 - Berlin, 27 November 2011

We get up later than we thought.  I had hoped we could somehow get out to Saint George's Church, somewhere in Charottenburg, but that was not to be.  There is breakfast in the breakfast room with all the usual characters.  I think that this is the first First Sunday in Advent that I will have missed either attending or celebrating the Liturgy in a long, long time.  God is merciful, however.  After the quiet breakfast we make our way down to Kurfurstendamm, and run into the Weinachtsmarkt at Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche.  It is completely surrounded, and after spending a few moments in the church itself, found ourselves best by either Curry Wurst, or Trockene Früchte.  Mammon, we are here.

KaDaWe is righteously closed, so our visions of their food hall are quickly cooled.  Some orientation is needed.  We get on the S Bahn, and take the clock-wise circular route around the northern half of the city.  So much can be seen from this vantage point from the port facilities at Westhafen, to the abandoned buildings still in shell-shock after the war.  It shows another side of things, reminding us that things are still in transition.  We end up at Frankfurter Tor, and then train in to Alexander Platz.  Our goal is to be somewhere near Nikolaikirche for an Advent concert that late afternoon.  It is very cold, and all of the attention seems to be given to the Glühwein booths at the markets.  They are crowded, and the crowds are being regaled with Christmas music in English.  It's difficult to bear, so we make our way over to the Nikolaiviertel.  In search of lunch.  It is found in a small place, where tables are shared, and a good goulaschsuppe was to be had.

It's still not anywhere near 16:00, so we do some more walking, noting to historic plaques documenting anti-Jewish pograms in the 16th Century.  They are very difficult to read or to understand.  We find a little tea shop and have a Johannisbeerkuchen, and then go stand in line at Nikolaikirche.

Destroyed in the second world war, and now a part of the Berlin Museum, this old church has a remarkable acoustic, and a wonderful altar area in which the baroque elements are hung about where the altar was and is no more.  This is where I hope to find Advent.  We purchase tickets and sit under the pulpit in the nave.  The singers file in and begin with Conditor alme siderum.  I think of my dad, and tear up a bit - he would have loved this.

Twenty-five percent of the program is Advent hymns, with the remaining parts organ works (Reger and Bach) and Christmas fare.  At the end, however, the conductor invites us all to sing with the chorus in the Advent hymn Macht hoch die Tor.  It is here that Advent happened, at least for me, as I heard the entire audience with out the benefit of a hymnbook, belt out this wonderful hymn - three verses from memory.  When Jesus comes again in glory, the faithful may have some difficulty in remembering him.  They will however remember the hymns that served as the core (bad pun: chor) of their faith.

Dinner at Giraffe in the Hansaviertel near our Hotel (Rote grütze mit Vanilliensause).  Now I can rest.

Germany in Winter - 2011

Day 1 – 25 November 2011

We’re in Austin, finishing up a delightful visit with Arthur’s family.  There have been dinners with Patty and Dan, with Big Art and Marji, along with Arthur’s brother, Tim.  The children have all grown up and are either in their last years of high school, or are almost completing college.  Relating to them is new and different, and quite satisfying. 

Our time here has been in awe of what has happened because of the drought in the area, with vast areas of the lake dry, and cliffs suddenly rearing their stone walls over a smaller lake.  Yet, the night sky is still lovely, with a desert quiet, and the almost iridescent blues and purples of a late evening sky.

On Friday morning, at 6:00, Patty drives us to the airport, where we worry about making it back to SFO for a 2:30 flight to Frankfurt, Germany.  She gets us there swiftly and safely.  The actual flight is a fog of sleep and breakfast, and soon, we are home to change luggage and refresh ourselves a bit.

I use “Taxi Magic” (taximagic.com) to summon a new cab, and soon we’re off to SFO for our flight to Frankfurt.  We check in quickly, and go through security, and have lunch in the Terminal, spend some time in the lounge (which we find disappointing), and soon we’re on the flight, playing with our chairs, the visual system, and the other oddities of the plane.  There is dinner and then sleep. (The chair moves to lie flat so that there can indeed be genuine sleep.) Oblivion.

Day 2 – 26 November 2011

I wake up over the Hebrides, but there is heavy cloud cover, so there is nothing to be seen other than white as we passover Amsterdam and Köln.  There are bits of green down there, but you can tell it will be cold.  There is a nice breakfast, efficiently served, and then we are quick to land at Frankfurt, one of the most improved airports I’ve ever experienced.  No, really!

We have three hours to kill, so we go to the lounge, and catch up electronically with the world left behind.  The fellow travelers are as diverse as ever, and capture our imaginations as they pass through and go on.  We attempt shopping, but there’s not much happening around us, so we go to our gate and wait.  The trip is short, and the cloud cover is still with us.  Landing at Tegel, one has no idea of the size of the city that lies to the southeast of the airport.  The baggage comes later than I thought it would, however at least it is there.  We taxi to Hotel Hansablik, and immediately enjoy our small room overlooking the Spree River.

We take an S Bahn over to Hackesche Höfe, and are immediately surrounded by one of the Weinachtsmarkt, that we have come to see.  We wander through the booths, guided only by our hunger and the cold.  Soon we have dinner (I thought the waitress said Gänse (Goose), but it was actually ganze (whole, entire, as in fish).  It was very good, but not what I was expecting.  S Bahn back, and then to sleep.

A Circuit of Time - 29 August 2011

A Visit with Anna

I am, for the first time in my life, alone in Alma, Kansas.  It is a small village some 40 miles west of Topeka the State Capitol, and is itself the county seat of Wabaunsee County, Kansas.  It is where my mother was born, and it is a place that we visited faithfully as children, journeying either from another part of Kansas, or Monte Vista, or Denver, Colorado, or from either Sante Fé, or Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We would come to see my grandmother, Augusta Ringel Terrass (Gusti), or my grandfather, William Terrass, staying in the home he built and eating the produce that my grandmother faithfully grew in the large lot next to and behind their home.  Visits there were always replete with aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts and uncles, and other assorted relatives.  Alma was about people, family, and food.  Now I was here alone.  The sidewalk pictured above seem to represent my feeling about being here - a path, guided and certain that ends in freedom and something new.

  

Column at Alma City Hall

I came over to Alma in the morning to have breakfast at "Deb's Cafe" (you don't want to know) which was filled with sun and wind-burned farmers have their "regular" and families entertaining a visiting family members from other parts - catching up on who had died and who was sick.  I thought back on our own gatherings at this cafe at my Aunt Lola's funeral, and somewhat later at my Uncle Edgar's funeral as well.  We would have been doing the same thing.  Catching up, hearing intimate news.  

I wanted to wander around the business area, looking at the wonderful stonework, largely fashioned from the native limestone that lurks just below the rocky soil that covers the hills here.  

Western Window at St. Johns

St. John's Lutheran Church would be an important visit as well, filled with memories of earlier visits and of my own mother's history here.  There were the windows that fascinated me as a child, when I looked at the semicircle of orange in the arch of each window and imagined that it was an orange.  Or there was the organ chamber that my father would open up and lift us into - playing "Ein feste Burg" as loudly as possible.  We loved it.  I remember especially the fans that were given out in the summer time - which would open up into a full representation of the Last Supper or the Good Shepherd.  None were in evidence this morning.  The mechanical carillon rang out the quarter hour as I left Saint John's and walked over to the adjoining Holy Family Catholic Church, smaller, but older, and built with the same stone.  It was locked.  

Wabaunsee County Courthouse

I walked across the street to look at the courthouse, having never done so in the past.  It's a handsome building, actually, appearing to have been created sometime in the thirties, judging from the architecture. I came upon a balcony, window and deco panel - the balcony at least worthy of an Albert Speer.

At this point I became acutely aware of being alone, and crowded in by so many memories.  I needed to visit the cemetery - a short ride west of town, and up the hill.  There are four parts: The Alma Cemetery, the Holy Family Cemetery, the Saint John Lutheran Cemetery (in two parts), and the Peace UCC Cemetary.  The names, however, are all mostly German: Diepenbrok, Zeckser, Steuwe, and so on.  There they all were, all of those uncles and aunts.  

I tried to find my Uncle Edgar and Uncle Milford's (Jiggs') graves, however they eluded me.  I did leave some memorial rocks on the tombstone of my grandmother and grandfather which presides over the burial place of two lost children.  The birds were singing, the breeze was strong, and the grass was swaying.  I looked for some cedar arches (a series of pairs of trees that had been bound together to produces arches) but they had broken loose and were now free.  Sitting just to the left of them was my Aunt Lola's tombstone.

The freed cedars

I must make one quick visit before I leave.  I go to the Alma Creamery and buy the cheese that my mother will be expecting to receive when I return home.  She likes the cured curds and that is what I buy as the desk clerk wonders who I am and then discovers that she knows most of my family.  There is a quick drive by the house that my Great Uncle Jake and Great Aunt Pauline lived in, directly across the street from the house that my Grandfather built, now so altered that the only recognizable aspect is the leaded glass window that rides above the living room window.

The Great Prairie

On the way back I stop off at an overlook that allows one to see the great prairie stretching toward west, the old limestone hills giving way to flat grasslands to extend into Colorado.  It is quite awesome, this display, dappled with thistle, sunflowers, and Queen Anne's lace.  Once these lands covered all of the Midwest, beginning in Michigan.  It was only that limestone in Kansas, the remains of a "great inland sea" as every national park will tell you, that broke the plow and saved the grasslands.  

Anna meets me, and we go have lunch - lots of talk about her new position, the classes, the students, the colleagues.  Then we're off to see her new home, still being slowly settled and organized, but it is a home, a cozy one at that.

There are, of course, books everywhere, a nice room downstairs for crafts, a dining room, and a kitchen where things are actually happening.  It was very satisfying to me.  

It was time, however, to see the campus and the buildings there - offices and classrooms that were now a part of her life.  And there was more limestone, and more carving.  I had wanted to drive over to Wamego to see their limestone buildings again, but it was more important to talk and be together, and soon I would discover beautiful carvings on Anna's campus.

Carving at K State

KSAC - Kansas State Agricultural College - caught in the 19th Century craftsmanship

1878

The campus is restful and quiet, full of trees and lots of green grass.  A nice spaziergang was just the order of the day, before heading off to dinner.  I was amazed, that this land, which gave birth to my forbears and to my mother, would now be a part of my daughter's future.  A circle of time coming back in on itself.  I was reminded of the passage in Hebrews (12:1):

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden that clings to us, and persevere in running the race that lies before us."

Sunflower detail at Tad's

The photo above is a stone sunflower that graces the building that used to house Tad's Barber Shop.  My father would take me there as a kid, and now I come back to it to behold its beauty.  The sunflower, which finds its way on the side of the roads here, lends beauty and a story to this land.  Its circle of yellow, and its perfection of that orbit reminds me that my past and my daughter's future are somehow tied to the same land - a land that will give nourishment and perspective, and that will release her to be nourishment and a future to others.  It is the perfect closing symbol.

What a wonderful day this has been!

Köln - Thursday, 28 July 2011

Es tut mir leid!

It is my last half day - I shall have to get back to London to catch my flight to SFO tomorrow morning.  I have a couple of things to do before I go, however.  I grab breakfast at Hotel Domstern, and then go out to take a couple of exterior shots at the Dom.  My real intent is to find my way over to Antoninkirche so that I can see the Barlach Engel.  On the way, I stop at Kolumba, one last time for a couple of photographs, and a moment in the chapel, and then make my way over to the other church.  As I approach it, I get a very bad feeling.  It is Evangelisch, and likely to be locked.  

Pentecost Door at Antonio

I am right.  The doors are locked tighter than a drum - I try each one but to no avail.  I read every bulletin and announcement, and it looks like Sundays only.  In the courtyard a gentleman is closing the door.  I ask him when the Church is open, "Nur am Samstag" is the reply.  I tell him that I had hoped to see the angel (hoping he would let me in for just a couple of minutes.  "Nein, es tut mir leid" (No, I'm sorry) "Schade" (Too bad), I reply, and he says "Bitteschön!" (You're welcome!).

Every Lutheran Church that I have seen in Köln has been closed, and uninviting.  Every Catholic Church has been open and quite welcoming.  I should talk, my own church is closed, except for mid-day Mass during the week.  This will make me think a bit.  It appears that the Evangelical Church has a huge restaurant - information center that surrounds the church on two sides.  Coffee? Yes!  Art and Prayer? No?  I am disappointed.  So I wander away, hoping that something else will come up.

Pyx at Apostelnkloister

And indeed it does, as I wander away from the closed church, I see a familiar profile up ahead.  It is Apostelnkloister,  a Romanesque Church of great beauty.  It is open, and once inside, a gentleman comes up to me and allows me to wander and take photos.  There is a remarkable hanging pyx above the altar.  I have read and seen photos of such things, and always wanted to see one in use.  A pyx is a vessel for holding the consecrated host (the box being held in the claws of the dove).  It is quite beautiful, along with the other furnishings.  Heavily bombed in the IInd World War, it is heavily rebuilt with new windows, some doors, and vault and ceiling frescoes.  God has given me something else other than the Engel, and I am grateful.

Mariahimmelfahrt

I've been walking too much, so I find a place for a macchiato and two thumbprint cookies, made with marzipan, however.  I sit and relax and watch the world walk by.  There are (and have been) lots of men walking their dogs - eye candy.  I wander around looking for a Süßwarenladen where I might find some marzipan fruits for Mom.  None are to be found.  I am going to have to rely on the store at the Hbf, or at the Flughafen.  I am on a mission, however.  I want to go back to Egino Weinhert's studio and store next to the Erzbischofsvikariat, near the train station.  He is the artist that is responsible for a great deal of the metal work that I have been seeing.  In the studio it is all lying around, like so much hardware - but such beautiful hardware. Yesterday I saw an aspergillum that was afordable and a good example of the metal work of which I have been bragging in these posts.  Now it is mine, my souvenir of a wonderful trip to Köln.

I go back to the hotel and prepare to check out.  It is an ugly day in Köln, with thunder and lightening.  I really enjoyed the Hotel Domstern - the hosts are really quite nice.  I lug my stuff to the Hbf, buy a ticket (getting here it was €8,60, and the return was only €2,50).  I get there quickly and with no hassles - why can't we do this in America?  There lunch and then waiting for Passport Control to get there, and finally we board.  Once again the Channel is covered over by clouds, but as we approach the mouth of the Thames, it clears off.  We streak over Eton and Windsor, and I crash at a Holiday Inn.  It was just a few days - but it was utterly refreshing.

Köln - Wednesday, 27 July 2011

Altarpiece at Minoritenkirche

Der Dom, Ja, aber es gibt anders

I have an irregular sleeping pattern last night - very odd.  So I wonder if I will be tired today.  I have breakfast and the English and the Canadians are still there.  We talk about income taxes.  My goal today is to see Kolumba, the Archepiscopal Museum at Köln.  Arthur raved about it when he went to see it a couple of years ago, so now I want to see it to.  I will approach it gradually.  The deskman at the hotels warns me about possible rain, so I go to the Hbf and buy an umbrella, and a large tote, and then start out in the direction of the Kolumba.

Door handle at Minoritenkirche

On the way, however, I stop in at Minoritenkirche.  It is a beautiful church, a product of rebuilding after the war in which modern elements are posed against older pieces that survived.  Here, again, there is wonderful metal work - the lectern, candle stands, gates at the confessionals, and door hardware are all remarkable.  The windows, however, are not to my taste.  There is a beautiful gilded altarpiece mounted where the high altar once stood.  A man has followed me as I entered.  He explains auf Deutsch, some of the themes and pieces.  I thought he was going to chide me for taking photographs, but rather he invites me into the chancel to take more!  It is a delight to freely move around the room to capture some of the delights.  I think he liked it that I honored the Sacrament, and signed myself with holy water upon entering.

Kolumbakirche is but a block away, but I come at it from the other side, and as I look at a surviving wall, I recognize the same stone pattern as at Düren and at Marienplatz.  As I walk around the remains of the church (which is surmounted by a huge modern buiilding) I notice that the church is actually still there.  There will be more surprises later.  The Kolumba doesn't open until 12:00, however, so I shall have to wait.  I walk down the street to kool my heels and glance at my watch - 10:00.  I stop at a Café to have a Macchiato and some apple cake.  When that is finished, I realize that I have some time to kill and set out toward the North.

This part of Köln is what I heard some English people complaining about - modern buildings with little character, lower grade retail, and very little in the way of public amenities.  True indeed, and lots of traffic as well.  There are surprises, however, just waiting for the patient.

In the distance I see a belfry with a glockenspiel inside - soon it chimes out as my attention is drawn to a portal that is standing in the midst of a sidewalk approaching the church with the belfry.  I appears that this is the only part of a Jugendstil house that stood on Apfelstaße before the war.  A plaque explains the house and its owners and the symbolism of the portals.  It is quite lovely, and I wonder what the house was like.

The church Notre Dame du Mont, is a Marian shrine.  A plain brick exterior hides an elaborate Baroque interior.  The wood, however, is not gilded or painted, but left natural.  One can only peer in, as the gates are kept locked.  So I shoot some photos through the grill of the gates, and then sit and meditate at a shrine of the Black Madonna that sits at the entrance to the church.  Lots of people come and go, lighting candles and muttering prayers.  A young woman and her little girl come and go as well.  There seems to be an active piety here.

Notre Dame du Mont

I continue further north, and notice a building that piques my interest.  It turns out to be El De Haus, a former jewelry business that was rented by the Gestapo and turned into a Nazi Documentation Center.  The "El De" stands for the initials of the jeweler who built the building.

Inside there is a great deal of documentation, original propaganda posters, pamphlets, kinoscopes, personal letters, etc.  It is moving and disturbing all at the same time, doing what the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe does, but with less technology and a much broader mandate.  Downstairs there are cells where detained types were held: conscientious objectors, Roma, Jews, homosexuals, communists and others.  The graffiti of the cells attests to the human presence there, and the under basement is evidence of the executions that took place there.  

It is not crowded, but neither is it quiet.  Those who are there are dealing with a past that may have alluded them.

Sacramenthaus at St. Kolumbakirche

Kolumbakirche is a marvel.  It "floats" in the midst of the ruins of its former self, revealing four or five other churches that have stood on this sight.  The chapel is small, with a circular chancel where the altar is surrounded by stained glass angels.  At the western end is an elegant and modern window depicting St. Catherine.  Next to this chapel is a sacramental area with an old baptismal font, and an exquisite modern tabernacle, all gold and jewels.  I pause there for a moment to take it all in.  Behind the Sacramenthaus and incised into the wall are the Stations of the Cross.

I take some photographs and then steal away to the museum.  Unfortunately I locked up my camera with my tote at the insistence of the museum sentry (although others were taking photos).  Perhaps it was a good thing - I just looked and took it all in, from the walkway over the ruins, to the juxtaposition of ancient reliquaries, vessels, and processional crosses to Jena teapots, Stella steel, and the art of school children.  Marvelous!

Sanktmaria Himmelfahrt

It's time for lunch, and my back is killing me.  I grab a quick bowl of potato soup with mushrooms.  It's good, but the service at the restaurant is horribly bad, being run by late teens who have no sense of responsibility or service.  I have wanted to see the other church that faces the Hbf, but on the north.  It is Sanktmaria Himmelfahrtkirche, and it is also the complex from which the Erzbischof runs his archdiocese.  The church is gated, so the photos are restricted to what you can get from poking your camera through the grill.  It is a high baroque sanctuary situated in a late gothic building.  The ceiling is a wonder, an aspect of German churches that I have always liked.  All is gilt and putti.  The windows are modern, clear glass with a complicated modern leading that is difficult to photograph.

Down the street and next to the offices of the Archdiocese, is the studio of the man who is responsible (I think) for a great deal of the metal work in the city.  I am allowed in and look at all the beautiful things that he is created.  I will go back tomorrow to see more.

Lectern at the Dom

I go back to the hotel, first attempting to get into St. Ursula's, but to no avail.  My back is hurting, so I rest a bit.  I hit the cathedral one more time taking a few more photos - this time with the correct setting.  The crypt with the tombs of the Archbishops is especially interesting with more of the metal work that I saw at Minoriten.  The cathedral is jammed because it is raining outside, and people are staying in.  I go over to the cathedral bookstore, and then to the bookstore next to the German-Roman museum.  It is in the latter that I discover that the Barlach Engel is here in Cologne, hanging at St. Anthony's Church.  That will be tomorrow's adventure.

I have suppers (Goulash, Salad, and Vanilla Eis mit Rotegrütze - all excellent at a boisterous and sehr Gemutlich Gaffen am Dom.  A quick run, then, through the rain, and home.

Köln - Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Before and after all that Gothic


I sleep in a bit, but am at breakfast by 9.  It's a typical German hotel breakfast, except that here, all there breads are hausgemacht, and so good.  So I have slice of bread packed with whole grains and nuts along with a little sausage and cheese.  Very good.  There are two young women from Canada there along with a couple from England.  When I come back into the room they are commenting on "how unfriendly" Americans are.  I object, and they ask me where I am from.  "San Francisco."  "Oh," they reply, "it's only the people on the East Coast who are rude and unfriendly."  I am at a loss for words.  When I tell the English couple that I've just come from Salisbury, they are delighted.  "This one (the Kölnischer Dom) is just too dark.  I don't like it" says the English woman.  Again, I am at a loss for words.

It's difficult to take in the Dom.  And I must admit, I shall need to warm up to it.  Perhaps it is the swarms of people, or all the construction (restoration) that is going on. I just don't seem to be able to settle in and engage this building.  I decide to go to the Schatzkammer and there find a great deal of delight, not only in seeing holy things, but also the ancient cellars that they have used, and the fine materials they have used in giving the tourist access.  I am especially appreciative that they have included modern pieces (crosiers, pectoral crosses, vestments, and eucharistic vessels) in their display.  The modern pieces are quite nice.

I walk across the south plaza and look back.  It is truly an amazing collection of stones.  I sit at a small cafe and have a Coke Light.  I need a pause.  I catch the profile of the Rathaus in the distance and make off for that, but am detoured by Groß Sankt Martinus.  Here in this wonderful Romanesque church are all the aspects of modern architecture that the Germans applied to ancient buildings as they rebuilt them after the War.  The clean space highlights the architectural mass.  I am quite taken.  (Although not everyone reacts to the space in the same way that I am.  An English family lets their young son - say 5 years or so - scream and yell, and jump up an the altar.  Not good.)  I drink it all in as a realization begins to develop in my mind.

I walk around the building trying to get a sense of its mass.  There is no one good aspect to this building, except, I guess, from the air.  I move on, crossing Heumarkt, noticing two towers that seem interesting.  To get to the one, I need to walk around a huge subway construction project, and when I get to the tower, realize that the church is gone.  Only the tower, and a door from a restoration after the war remains.  The door is marvelous - chased bronze with seven medallions, and a central image of the suffering Christ.  As I walk away, I realize that what remains is now a night club.  Sad.  But I need to get on to the next tower.  It means navigating this subway project, which in its own way is just as fascinating.  There is a complexity to what they are doing down there that just boggles my mind.

Retaining Wall at S. Maria in Kapitol

I am making my way to Sankt Maria im Kapitol, and come upon it from the real.  There is a delightful gothic entrance to the yard around the church, with figures in niches on the interior side.  There are architects walking around making comments about the building.  It is fun to listen in.  However, I make my own little discovery before going into the church.  The retaining wall next to the gothic gate displays a combination of dark stone with a lighter material, a pattern that I have seen before.  At Rudolf Schwartz's Sankt Anna Pilgerkirche in Düren (I think I may have to train over there before I leave) there is a similar combination of dark stone with light stone used in his tower for the church, built in the 1960s.  I will find another reference when I enter the church.

Tower construction at Saint Anne's Düren

The church entrance is finally found and one enters through a restored cloister.  The plan is a nave with three apses acting as a sort of cloverleaf attached to the nave.  The altar is at the crossing and the eastern apse is divided at the crossing by a "bridge", somewhat like a rood screen, but surmounted by a lovely organ rather than an inhabited cross.  The building was heavily damaged during the war, and one can see the restorations.  I think that Rudolf Schwartz may have been involved in the reconstruction here as well.  There are a series of windows that are reminiscent of his chancel stonework in Düren.

Window at St. Maria im Kapitol    

Chancel wall (exterior) at St. Anne's Düren

 

On my way out, next to the gothic gateway I mentioned earlier, I find a plinth of stone with a poem engraved on it.  Upon closer inspection I see that it is a memorial to all who had died from AIDS.  I am moved, as a pause, and then make my way back to the world that is now.

By now I am hungry and make my way back to Heumarkt and sit down at an Italian place on the square, but decide that I shouldn't eat Italian food when I am in Germany.  So it's over to another place with a nice Schnitzle mit Waldpiltzenrahm.  I wonder when its a piltzen or a pfifferlinge?  I shall have to find out.  

From there I wend my way to the Rathaus, and on the way come across a huge archeological excavation where the new Jewish Musem is going to be built and where they have uncovered both medieval and Roman ruins.  At the Rathaus I am especially interested in an Italianate portico built by Wilhelm I, with a rather presumptuous inscription bounded by rondels with the profile of the Emperor Constantine.  It seems that the Holy Roman Empire wasn't quite dead - at least not in his mind.  This portico is attached to a gothic building which is connected to the gothic tower by a small modern extension with a wonderful balcony.

And here I will say it.  I am really quite partial to German architecture, especially their ecclesiastical and civic architecture.  They seem fearless in joining new to old.  The metalwork is especially fine, and can be seen everywhere, made useful and attractive in very ordinary situations.  Door knobs, emergency push bars, fire doors, ordinary doors.  It's all quite appealing.  There's not much post modernism here.

I take some time at the Roman-German museum, but perhaps I have seen too much.  MEGO - "my eyes glaze over" as my sisters would say.  I walk through the museum, and there is an interesting exhibit on the gardens at Amarna during the reign of Akhetaton.  There are artifacts, and they have reconstructed some of the floral necklaces and pectorals that were used at funerals.  There are also large models of the gardens themselves along with associated buildings.  Enjoyable.  Also enjoyable were the mosaics that had been recovered in the 19th and 20th centuries.

I need something sweet.  At an outdoor restaurant I have Vanilla Eis mit heißen Kirschen.  Delicious.

  

I head north by the front of the Dom, looking for my final (for today) Romanesque church - Sankt Andreas.  It's difficult to get a feel for the exterior since it is bound in on three sides by its cloister, and on another by a huge bank building.  It is a marvelous building.  It is a traditional cruciform building, with the altar at the crossing, and behind it a choir for the monks (Dominican).  The windows are all new and quite stunning.  Down in the crypt are the remains of Albertus Magnus, the great Doctor of the Church and the hopeful reconciler of Science and Religion.

I am, by now, quite tired.  It's time for the hotel.