One of the reasons we were back in Central Europe was our son, who was getting his master degree at the University of Utrecht.
Together with Cordy’s parents, we travelled with our respective campers from Vienna to Utrecht to celebrate with him. On the way through Germany, we stopped at Würzburg to visit the castle Festung Marienberg.
In Utrecht, we stayed at the tiniest campsite possible, and got ready the next day, for the ceremony held at a beautiful historic University Hall, a special place for a special occasion.
In the evening, we had a lovely dinner together with our son’s girlfriend and her family. The next day, we rented a boat to explore Utrecht from the channels, which was a lovely tour.
Afterwards, we had to say goodbye to our son and spent another day in the Netherlands together with our parents. It was King’s Day, and we stopped at Wijk bij Duurstede at the Nederrijn where we enjoyed the good weather and the celebrations going on. A visit to a windmill still in operation was very educative, and we even could buy flour ground at the mill.
The next day, we drove back to Germany for a business meeting near Karlsruhe. Afterwards we headed north again to Brünen, visiting an “old” friend of Cordy. On the way, we stopped at the monastery of Maira Laach for a break.
We had a great day with our friends, which included an excursion to the Rhine on their rubber duck.
On the way south, the paths crossed again, and we had a lovely dinner together with Cordy’s parents.
The next day, we visited first the city of Alzey and later the famous castle of Trifels.
The medival castle of Trifels has been gradually restored since the 19th century, and today replicas of the Imperial Regalia (Reichskleinodien) of the Holy Roman Empire are on display here. The fascinating fact about the Imperial Regalia: it went to the Habsburgers and today are kept in the Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg palace in Vienna.
Trifels Castle is also famous as the site where Richard the Lionheart, King of England was imprisoned after he was captured by Duke Leopold V of Austria near Vienna in December 1192 on his return from the Third Crusade.
It is alleged to be the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross during his crucifixion.
The Imperial Regalia are the only completely preserved regalia from the Middle Ages. The most important parts are the Crown, the Imperial orb, the Imperial sceptre, the Holy Lance and the Imperial Sword.
Until the 15th century, the Imperial Regalia had no firm depository and sometimes accompanied the ruler on his trips through the empire. Above all, during conflicts over the legitimacy of rule, it was important to possess the insignia. Trifels was one of the imperial castles which has served as depositories during the 12th and 13th century.
After our visit to Trifels, we found a vinery (Weingut Wind in Eschbach) which offers a camper parking. Of course, the winemaker sold us a couple of nice German wine bottles to take home.
The next day, we cruised further south through the Black Forest and stopped for a walk and later at the town of Calw, to explore more of the timber-framed houses, which are so picturesque.
As we were in Germany, we decided to pay a visit to another friend, which we haven’t met in person before: Nina, DL2GRC, our helpful radio amateur, which enabled Edi to do so many radio contacts from Africa. Nina handed over a HAM radio AMSAT diploma for his activities in Africa via the satellite.
Afterwards we came past Augsburg, which is one of Germany’s oldest cities, founded in 15 BC by the Romans as Augusta Vindelicorum. Augsburg was granted the status of a Free Imperial City in 1276 and from then until 1803, it was an independent city. With its strategic location at an intersection of trade routes to Italy, it was for centuries a major trading centre.
Augsburg became the base of two banking families that rose to great prominence, the Fuggers and the Welsers. The Fugger family donated the Fuggerei, the oldest social housing estate in the world, inhabited since 1523, which remains in use until today and which we could visit.
Finally, we reached our flat near Freyung. But we left again and crossed the border to Czechia, where we wanted to visit the south of the country, before we had to be back in Austria.