The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

It rained almost all night! We can understand why the countryside is so lush and green. Because of the rain we decided to give Osnabrück a miss. 

After many jobs early we set Thomas to take us to the Museum und Park Kalkriese, an important museum for Germans. 

The Roman soldier's face shield - one of the prize possessions of the Museum. 

 

It was here in 9 AD that German tribes annihilated theee Roman Legions  - about 15,000 men lost their lives! This was the beginning of the end of Roman expansion north of the Rhine, and in the process, Germany (then only scattered tribes) had a hero-leader in Arminius and he has been used by propagandist ever since the rediscovery of the battle by scholars in the 1600s. The Roman general, Varius, committed suicide after the battle. 

The dense Teutoburg Forest. 

A sectiion of where the battle was supposedly fought. 

Contrasting "uniforms" of the German tribesmen and the well resourced Roman soldier. 

We were given a special introduction by one of the young archeologist/historian  because there were no tours in English. The museum is part outdoors with a extensive indoor collection from the diggings. 

The metal sheets depicting the path of the Roman Legions. 

Coins found at the battle site. 

Mass graves discovered as well. 

As well, a special exhibition on Piracy in Antiquity was part of the museum complex. This was interesting with some of the collection coming from Comacchio, a village in Italy we visited last year. 

Greek artifacts in the Piracy exhibition. 

Beautifully carved sarcophagus. 

Time was getting on so after we had a late lunch we drove onto Bünde for our overnight stop. 

Other photos from today:

House in the yards of the museum. 

A famous legionnaire!

Bad Iburg

It has been a jacket-on jacket-off sort of a day! Just sitting here on the outskirts of Osnabrück listening to the rain on Hilton's roof! Very therapeutic!

After a very peaceful night's sleep we woke full of energy and took ourselves for a walk through the town of Bad Iburg and the famous castle (they are all famous for something!!!). 

Schloss Iburg towering over the village green. 

The baroque facade of the Schloss-Monastery at Bad Iburg. 

A very neat and well organised town with great facilities for most ages. Some of the playgrounds for children were outstanding with some very innovative features. 

Bad Iburg village. 

We walked around the small lake before accending the path to the Schloss on the  hill overlooking the town. Being in the northern heart of the Teutoburger Wald (forest) the town is surrounded by forests.

Lake and local feeding the ducks. 

 

Lakeside walk below the towering Schloss. 

Schloss Iburg was the Residenez for the Prince-Bishop of Onsabrück for over 600 years and later became a Benedictine monastery. A little more trivia- the first queen of Prussia, Sophia Charlotte, was born here! And another -trivia, that is, Bad Iburg was first mentioned in literature in 753! 

An internal view of the apartments. 

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And the view from our van this morning. 

It was here at Bad Iburg that some of the Anabaptists were captured before being executed and displayed in the cages on the church in Münster. 

Internal courtyard and octagonal tower, where the Anabaptists were imprisioned.

It was also near Bad Iburg the Zeppelin crashed in 1910 - not that I remember!

We later drove onto Osnabrück where we shopped, had lunch and shopped some more - well, one member did!

Rained during the afternoon which cut short some excursions. Stopped here for the night. 

Münster

It was a cooler morning when we set off by bus to the centre of Münster. Being a Sunday morning there were very few people about. 

Given that Münster suffered heavily during WWII,  the reconstruction has been done incredibly well. This old Hanseatic town has over 1200 years of history, and being a university town today, the old and the new compliment one another very nicely.

The Prinzipalmarkt and the merchant houses and arcades. It is in this area that the community festivals and other happenings occur. 

The Domplaz and the Prinzipalmarkt have a combination of Gothic and Renaissance merchant houses with arcades which ooze wealth and success. 

The streets are lined with arcades with VERY expensive shops!

The St Lamberti Church is a late Gothic building with some very interesting stories. It was here that Cardinal von Galen preached his famous sermons criticising the Nazis. It also has three interesting cages high on the belltower - these were for the Anabaptists  who "mutinied" against the Lutherian  teachings and were tortured and killed  back in the mid-16th century. Their bodies were left to rot in the baskets to warn other would be 'decentors' not to meddle!

St Lamberti Church, cages and tower. 

One of Münster's landmarks is the Kiepenkerl, an itinerant trader with his traditional basket on his back, a short linen smock, red scarf, cap, pipe and gnarled walking stick. He was reponsible for both goods and news being  exchanged between towns. 

An exhibition in one of the oldest guild halls was quite outstanding and the moving. It was all in German but we could follow the story. It was by a Dutch artist painting from the perspective of his memory as a 12-year old in 1939-40. 

A brochure of the exhibition. 

We took another bus to the Münster university and the associated botanical gardens. The university's administration is housed in the Schloss-Residenez, the Baroque Residensez for the Prince-Bishop. 

The Baroque Residencez of the Prince-Bishop. 

The botanical gardens had some interesting plants with an outstanding selection of Australian plants - some we had never seen before! 

A little bit of Oz. They have very cleverly kept the eucalypts in pots! 

We also took in a delightful modern art exhibition there.

We returned to the van in the afternoon and decided to move on to Bad Iburg for the rest of the afternoon and for our overnight stop. 

Bad Iburg - as you can guess by the name has a burg or castle. This castle has some good pedigree, with it being the residence for the Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück when his palace in Osnabrück was damaged by fire. 

A quick look at the burg in Bad Iburg. 

And some sort of a German guild day with marching band and uniforms etc. They entertained us with their music and singing for the next few hours - music from the traditional marching band music to Abba and other well known tunes. 

Münsterland

A very restful night in Rosengarten, and the morning looked to have good prospects too. 

We travelled to Greven, just north of Münster to spend time enjoying the lovely surrounds of the canal and the marina. But when we arrived the heavens opened, and jackets went on,  and we knew we wouldn't get to lay about in the sun today. 

Our travels this morning took us through the farmlands of Münsterland. Of interest through these parts are the  Wasserschlösschen. Because of the low lying area traditionally defensive hilltops are not available, so the next best natural defensive  feature is water. So, the feudal noble families created what have become known as Wasserschlösschen (water castles).  About 100 of these still remain in  50 km radius of Münster - about 40 still remain in the original families!  

Farm buildings at Burg Vischering inside the double moat defensive perimeter.

We  visited the Wasserschlösschen Burg Vischering, one of the oldest and best preserved Wasserschlösschen in Münsterland. Founded in the 13th century it has been added to over the years.

Burg Vischering set in a very pictureque location. 

The drawbridge. 

Oriel windows being a feature. 

The south side of Burg Vischering. 

The quaint chapel in the grounds of the Burg. 

The Burg retains many of the medieval defensive features - the loop-holes for the archers still remain. 

Returned to Münster and parked up in a stellplatz from where we were ready to explore Münster tomorrow.  Relaxation for the rest of the day. 

Stepping Out in Dortmund!

Fixed! Hymer is back in favour too. The Dortmund service was great and the problem step is no longer. It turned out to be a small plastic bush that had broken and was stopping the step-motor from working. It could have been fixed 600km back! Fortunately we were traveling in this direction so now we will explore the area around Munster. 

Hymer world - Motorhomes almost as far as the eye can see. Nearly tempted to trade ours in!

Having all our worldly worries forsaken we set off in the direction of Munster but only got as far as Lüdinghausen and the small village of Rosengarten - where, living up to its name, was a whole village of rose gardens!

On our journey today we saw the contrasting environments of the modern world - a peek at the private serene world of a Schloss and the modern world's demand for energy. 

Schloss Sandfort and ....

.... it's moat.

Contrasting with a neighbouring nuclear power station .... 

..... with its towering stack. 

Arriving at Rosengarten we vowed not to drive another kilometre! Instead we took a long leisurely walk around the village and the extensive gardens of roses. A very special place. 

Rosengarten, a very tidy town. 

 

With some lovely sculptures 

Pendulum clock in rose garden. 

And the roses!

Deutschland Day 2

We have not driven such kilometres since a trip between Tennant Creek and Katherine in the Northern Territoriy in Australia! This time there were a "few" more cars and trucks on the road - but no road-trains! 

Some typical rural scenery as you drive across Germany. 

Hymer in Hamburg were useless! Fortuitously,  as we were trying to sort out who in Hymer could help us with our step, we had a call from Dirk and Brigitte and with their great language and negotiation skills they were able to get us an appointment with Hymer in Dortmund first thing tomorrow morning. So, on our bikes and off we went!

The lovely part of Germany we were going to explore will have to wait for another time. If we can get our step problem sorted out tomorrow, or even next week, we will have the opportunity to see this great part of Germany. 

An awful picture, but only one of the mighty Elbe River near Hamburg, whose course we tracked a couple of years ago. 

So, summing up the day - driving and frustration! 

Many more solar farms ....

....  And a new support structure for the windfarm towers!