Sun 16
I have had 5 nice days in Riga. A surprise was discovering that Riga has a wonderful collection of Art Nouveau buildings dating from 1898. Also interesting to see the transition from communist government to democracy…..I am always fascinated by Eastern European countries & seeing their move from Soviet control. This started with going to Romania in 1991 & subsequent visits to East Germany. Tomorrow I fly to Berlin & will have 2 days there before the next adventure.
Mon July 1
After 2 days in Berlin I caught the train to Wroclaw in Poland. Wroclaw is the former Breslau, capital of the Prussian province of Silesia. I have always been interested in these former German lands given to Poland after WW2. Many Germans who settled in South Australia in the 1800’s came from here, incl the woman who married the son of Amos Noble, the original Noble who came from England in 1837. Wroclaw was fascinating & I enjoyed exploring it & visiting beautiful churches.
St John Baptist cathedral on Cathedral Isle
Old Town Hall
After 2 days in Wroclaw I caught the train to Krakow. This is a uniquely beautiful city, thanks to not having being destroyed in WW2. So many lovely churches as well beautiful old buildings. I attended Mass in the cathedral, church of the Assumption & the stunning Carmelite church.
Carmelite Church, chapel of Our Lady of Piasek
Church of the Assumption
Fortress where city wall was
Cloth Market
After Krakow it was back to Berlin via Wroclaw, then to Mannheim. Great to be welcomed back to the hotels again.
Mannheim Water Tower Park
Jesuit church (1733) amazing restoration after WW2 bombing
Observatory built by Jesuit Royal Astronomer in 1772
From Mannheim I went to Trier for the weekend. Trier is Germany’s oldest city with many Roman remains, notably the famous Porta Nigra & 4th cent Dom.
Porta Nigra
St Peter’s Dom
I was fortunate to attend Mass in the Dom for their Patronal Festival
Went for a walk along the river Mosel on a warm summer’s afternoon
Old Roman baths
Sat July 6
On Monday I returned to Mannheim, spent the night there & on Tuesday went to Fulda. I have wanted to visit Fulda because the shrine of St Boniface is there. He was an English monk who in 717 went to Germany to convert Germans to the Faith. He was subsequently made Bishop of Mainz & was martyred in 754. His body was brought to Fulda & an abbey established. He is called the Apostle to the Germans & his shrine in the Dom is a place of pilgrimage.
I was surprised that Fulda is a small city & quiet, except for lots of visitors. On Wednesday I attended 7 am Mass in the Dom Lady Chapel & then explored the city. There is much to see, incl the magnificent Residence & its garden. In the afternoon I climbed up the hill outside the city walls to Frauenberg monastery. This was built in 1623 & is still a working monastery. I enjoyed afternoon tea in their cafe.
At 5.30 pm I attended Vespers in St Mary’s Abbey. This is a Benedictine convent built in 1626 as the successor of the 7th cent Abbey. 10 nuns continue the daily round of prayer. I then had dinner in a typical German restaurant called Das Weinhaus. It is built on the old city wall & the proprietor told me there had been a restaurant there since the 15 cent!
Fulda Dom
Sanctuary
Shrine of St Boniface
Residence
Residence garden looking towards Orangerie
Frauenberg monastery
View from monastery
St Mary’s abbey
After 2 nights in Fulda I caught the train to Munich. Yesterday I visited the town of Oberstdorf. I have wanted to visit here since reading a book about it during the Nazi period, called A Village In The Third Reich. It is in the Bavarian Alps & has always attracted visitors during the Winter. Altho much changed since 1946, 3 places were familiar – St John Baptist Church, the old Town Hall & Traube Tavern. On the way back I stopped at Sonthofen to look at the Nazi Ordensburg. This was one of 4 fortresses built by the Nazis to train their young leaders. The largest & most famous was Vogelsang near Bonn, which I visited years ago.
This is the end of my visit to Germany. It has been another wonderful trip. Tomorrow I fly home via USA.
Friday July 19
I am now back home in Melbourne. All flights were good & I slept for 7 hours LAX-SIN. Landed Tues night to Melbourne Winter & have had a busy 2 days, incl medical appointments. Jet-lag will last a few more days, but I am back to the usual routine. Today I fly to Adelaide for Port’s home game tomorrow. They have been disappointing whilst I was away – so hopefully my return will see an improvement, despite key injuries.
Monday Sep 30
I have not written up the Blog since I returned from my June/July trip – & tomorrow I go on my next overseas trip. LIfe has been fairly predictable: Footy ever weekend, which means a trip to Adelaide every 2 weeks. Church for Daily Mass – Mt Carmel here & St Francis Xavier in Adelaide. On weekends in Adelaide I catch up with old friends & always my cousin, Noelene.
In Melbourne I also catch up with friends – usually involving a nice meal. I occasionally entertain at home & recently had the new Vicar of St Mark’s. Fitzroy, here for lunch. He was most interested to hear about my time as Vicar – but I pointed out that the parish was far different then to now. The usual medical appointments did not reveal any concerns. In fact my Dr said that my trip had obviously had a good effect as I was obviously more relaxed.
I had high hopes that Port Adelaide would do well in the Footy Finals. l went to Sydney for the preliminary Final, but alas they were soundly defeated. I was able to get a dining package for the Grand Final last Saturday. It is probably the best sporting event in Australia, but the game was not the usual standard. Brisbane Lions ran all over Sydney, which made for a disappointing game, even tho I was happy for all the old Fitzroy supporters.
So tomorrow is my usual trip after the footy season. I am going to Germany, with a stopover in Singapore. After 10 days in Germany I go to London & then Wales for 5 days. Then back to London & return to Germany for 2 weeks. This will conclude with a week in Berlin for the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. I have fond memories of being there 10 years ago for the 25th.
Wed Oct 9
My trip began with a 3 day stopover in humid Singapore. It was good to catch up with Rupert, former manager of the Adelaide Hilton & now manager of Singapore Hilton. On my 1st day I wandered around the city & on the 2nd I explored more of the old railway trail. I discovered this last June when I was here & this time I went to a restored station & famous truss bridge..
On Friday I flew to Frankfurt & had a relaxing weekend there. Was good to be welcomed back to one of my favourite hotels. On Monday I caught the train to Goettingen, where I stayed last year. My 2 nights back here were so I could visit Witzenhausen on Tuesday. This is a delightful little town – but the train service returning to Goettingen was not so delightful! Each night I enjoyed dinner at a nice restaurant I discovered last year. Now today I catch the train to Hannover.
Mon Oct 14
It was great to be welcomed back to the Hannover hotel where I have stayed before. 2 nights here allowed me to catch the train to Bueckeburg on Thursday. Another delightful historic town. Its attraction is the Schloss – ancestral home of the Schaumburg-Lippe family. The prince still lives there with his family, so we only toured part of it.
On Friday I caught the train to Koln for the weekend. My sniffles were still hanging around, so the only things I planned were a visit to the laundromat & Mass in the Dom. However, I discovered that on Sunday night there was a celebration for Cologne’s patron saint, St Ursula: procession thru the streets to St Ursula Basilika concluding with a wonderful Service of Benediction.
Wed Oct 16
I have had a nice 2 nights in London catching up with friends. Yesterday was a real treat. An old friend, Fr Christopher Colven is now RC chaplain to parliament. So I met him & he gave me a tour of the Houses of Parliament. All Pugin’s work after the fire of 1834 destroyed the palace, the chapel of St Mary Undercoft is particularly stunning. Today I catch the train to Cardiff for 5 nights – another new city to explore.
Thurs Oct 17
Today I explored Cardiff Castle
Friday Oct 18
Today I visited Newport – a visit I have long planned. I have always wanted to go to St Julian’s church to see the reredos, which came from the abbey of Llanthony monastery. This was built by the charismatic Fr Ignatius who felt called to restore the Benedictine life in the Anglican Church back in 1870. His story fascinated me & I visited the site of the abbey in Capel-Y-Ffin about 30 years ago.
Remains of Newport Castle
The art deco Civic Centre, started in 1937
St Julian’s church – only 100 years old!
Wed Oct 30
After 10 nice days in the Uk I caught the Eurostar to Cologne. 1 night in Cologne then 1 night in Mannheim followed by a weekend in Kaiserslautern. This is a lovely town – but my main aim was to visit Saarburg on the Saturday. I had seen Saarburg with its castle & churches from the train when I went to Trier in June & resolved to visit it on my next trip to Germany. I was not disappointed. As well as climbing to the castle I explored the town. It is divided by a creek which flows into the river Saar & has an amazing waterfall.
I returned to Mannheim Monday & met up with Wolfgang, the father of Karin, whom I know thru the Port Adelaide Football Club Cheer Squad. On Tuesday he drove me to Ladenburg, his old home town. A picturesque town, it was the home of Carl Benz, the German car inventor. It was great being guided around by Wolfgang. Afterwards we drove to Heidelberg & the top of Konigstuhl, with a wonderful view of the city & river Neckar.
Wed Nov 6
After 2 nights in Mannheim I spent 3 nights in Munich.Main reason was to attend All Saints Day Mass in the Dom. I also attended the local church, St Wolfgang’s, & was delighted to find it was their patronal festival. On Saturday I caught the train to Berlin. Sunday was a lovely sunny day & I went out exploring new places.
View from my hotel room in Berlin Hilton
Gruenwald forest on outskirts of Berlin
Teufelsberg…..a hill made from rubble after WW2. When the Cold War started the USA built a listening centre on top
I do love Berlin S-bahn stations – this one a mix of Bauhaus & art deco
Remains of Anhalter station. It was Berlin’s main train station into Europe
On Monday I caught the train to Dresden. I planned to visit 2 Saxon town. Tuesday it was Bautzen. This is the main city in Upper Lusatia, which is the homeland of the Sorbs (also called Wends) who are descended from Slav tribes who settled in Saxony, Silesia & Bohemia in 6th cent. There has been a blossoming of their culture since the 1950’s & street signs are in both German & their language.
Today I went to Meissen, famous for its porcelain. The highlight was climbing up Albrechtsburg, the hill where the Schloss & Dom are.
Sunday Nov 10
On Thursday I caught the train from Dresden back to Berlin. Saturday was the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Wall & there is a weekend of celebrations. On Friday I went to Tempelhof Airfield, famous for the Berlin Airlift in 1948/49. The huge brutalist terminal was built by the Nazis & I joined a fascinating tour thru it, led by a German woman who had studied at Melbourne Uni. Yesterday I walked along the site of the Wall lined with posters – then enjoyed several exhibitions & museums. This weekend is a great finish to another wonderful trip. Tomorrow I catch the train to Frankfurt & on Tuesday fly home to Melbourne.
Thurs Nov 21
I have been back home a week now – a busy week settling back, medical appointments, catching up with friends, etc. This time it has taken me a week to get over jet-lag, which used to take only a few days. But that was when I always had a stopover in the US on the way back. Now am back for just 3 weeks before going away on my next trip…..including a visit to Adelaide next week. I leave Melbourne on Dec 13 to go back to Germany for Christmas. I did this in 2016 & loved it, so thought that I would do it again one last time. The good thing is that the fights are free (Qatar business class) thanks to frequent flyer points I have earned from my regular footy trips!