Frankfurt

The Paulskirche, or St Paul's Church, in Frankfurt. This church has great historic and political importance, as it was the seat of the first democratically elected German parliament in 1848. This first National Assembly paved the way for the unification of Germany as a nation state in 1871.

The Römer has been Frankfurt's city hall for over 600 years (the British Queen Elizabeth II visited this historic landmark just a few weeks ago). These buildings have been much restored, for in 1944 Allied bombers obliterated the Römer, along with much of central Frankfurt. 

Opposite the city hall, and forming the east side of the Römerberg square, are more reconstructed buildings.

The famous Eiserner Steg, or Iron Bridge — a pedestrian bridge connecting the Römerberg with Sachsenhausen on the south bank of the river Main. The bridge was blown up by German forces at the end of World War II, but quickly rebuilt in 1946.

The view west down the Main from the Iron Bridge.

Cityscape old and new: modern skyscrapers dwarf the Catholic Leonhardskirche, which originally dates from 1219 and is an important pilgrimage church. Frankfurt lies at an intersection of pilgrim routes leading to Jerusalem and Santiago.   

Frankfurt's Historisches Museum (Historical Museum). Once again, this has been completely restored.

At one corner of Saint Paul‘s Church stands this concentration camp memorial — a sober reminder of the Holocaust and the dark days of the early 1940s.

The Goethehaus at 23, Grosser Hirschgraben. Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born here on 28 August 1749. The house was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944, but reconstructed as closely as possible to the original between 1947 and 1951. Inside you can see Goethe's study and the writing desk at which he wrote The Sorrows of Young Werther, a seminal book of the Romantic movement.

On the second floor of the Goethehaus stands this astronomical clock made in the eighteenth century by clockmaker Christian Kintzing of Neuwied.

Witches And Artists

The church of Saint Sebastian, Friesenhagen . . .

Opposite the church are two more Fachwerkhäuser, or half-timbered houses . . .

On Blumenberg ('hill of flowers') above Friesenhagen lies the chapel of Saint Anna. It looks peaceful enough today, but on this very spot around 400 years ago 200 women were branded as witches and executed . . .

The meadows and forests of Wildenburgerland, at the northern tip of Rheinland-Pfalz . . .

The artist Barbara Weiss stands in front of her mural at an art exhibition in Geisweid, a suburb of Siegen 20 km east of Friesenhagen . . .

The city of Siegen, birthplace of Peter Paul Rubens . . .

Historical Rheinland-Pfalz

Schloss Crottorf near Friesenhagen.

Schloss Crottorf.

Entering the abbey at Marienstatt, Rheinland-Pfalz.

Marienstatt abbey.

Inside the abbey's Gothic church.

Historical market place in Hachenburg, Rheinland-Pfalz. 

Half-timbered house with free-swinging pendulum clock in Hachenburg's market square.

Ever seen an English telephone box used as a library before? No, nor had I — until I found this one in Hachenburg!

Wildberg, a small village just over the border with Nordrhein-Westfalen.

A Small Village In Germany

I'm living in Germany right now, in the western region of Rheinland-Pfalz, and it's beautiful: picture-postcard villages, lush green valleys, hills and forests stretching as far as the eye can see. This pilgrim sign made me feel reassuringly at home . . .

The church of Saint Sebastian in Friesenhagen. Next to the church is a fine example of a black-and-white Fachwerkhaus, or half-timbered house, dating from the 18th century.

The valley of the Wildenburger Bach.

The chapel of Saint Roch above Friesenhagen lies on one of several Caminos which cross the area. After Saint James, Saint Roch is the Camino's most important saint. Like Saint Francis, he distributed his worldly possessions among the poor, then set out as a mendicant pilgrim from his birthplace of Montpellier in south-west France heading for Rome. In northern Italy he nursed plague victims, paying scant regard to his own health, and was later venerated, along with Saint Sebastian, as a 'plague saint'. He is usually shown dressed in pilgrim clothes and pointing to a plague sore on his thigh; the dog normally depicted at his feet saved his life by licking the wound clean. He was falsely arrested as a spy and spent five years in prison, where he died. According to Wikipedia, Saint Roch is the patron saint of bachelors, diseased cattle, dogs, wrongly accused people, invalids, Istanbul, surgeons, tile-makers, gravediggers, second-hand dealers, pilgrims and apothecaries — covering most options, you might say!

A rose for Saint Roch.