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West of Frankfurt |
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So the third day we crossed the windwaves and plundered... No, wait a minute! I was having a Viking moment there. The third day we headed first to Wiesbaden, which is a small town west of Frankfurt. Wiesbaden is a rich sort of town with a large shopping area. This being Sunday and the day after Christmas- nothing was open. I know- there seems to be a strange trend here. We just walked around the downtown district, checked out this casino which had all kinds of recently made Roman sculpture. That is something that kind of really stuck out to me actually. Germany really embraces its Roman past. Roman Gods adorn everything from apartment buildings, to casinos, to town squares. They are all over the place. It is really weird because you don't really get that here in England. The Germans also seem to take a lot of pride in their country as well. While the German flag is where one would expect it, the German Eagle- the state bird- is all over the freaken place. Anyway- so Weisbaden had this hot spring that bubbled up and poured out sulfur water, and people go to it to wash their hands and even drink it- though there is a warning posted. It is actually right next to this play Viking ship. You can see the steam from the springs coming up in the background. The few churches we came across in Wiesbaden were holding mass, so we couldn't go inside and check them out, so we departed toward Mainz. |
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Leaving Wiesbaden in our rearview mirror, we struck a little southward in search of the town of Mainz. During all these travels the first couple days we drove in the 'Nanny Mobile', which was Taramin's car for work. During our many trips, we listened to a lot of German radio. German radio isn't classed into categories like- soft rock, rap, or classics- they play everything on all the stations. And I have to say- having stayed in England for three months and having experienced a lot of German radio while I was there- I realize now one of the major exports out of American culture, the embassadors to the world of American values if you will, are rappers and hip hop music. Whether you back home like it or not- I didn't hear a string of country music played, not a lot of classic rock- nope! It is rap music which is popular outside the States. When I think of this- I wonder at all if this influences peoples' opinion of Americans in general? Major themes of rap- destroy people who disrespect or mess with you, make a ton of money at all costs with no thought to the damage or hardships caused to others, brag about how much money you have and show it off to everyone, being above the law, this all equals getting a great deal of respect. Hmmm.... (Picture of President Bush in my mind)
Anyway, just something to put in your pipe and smoke. So we head off to Mainz (pronounced Minez), and when we get there we try to enter this church. It is still closed so we decide to get something to eat and hit up Subway. Fast Food- McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, and Pizza Hut- is big in England and Germany. These establishments are all over the place. There are two McDonalds, two Burger Kings, a Subway, and three Pizza Huts in York alone. KFC is also out there but not so common.
On the way to Subway, we see these really cool sculptures, so we take some pictures. |
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I thought this dude might be practicing his Karate Kid move, so I was trying to show him how to do it properly. He wasn't listening...
So we go check out the church after we have Subway. It is an old structure, but it has this very new kind of stain glass I haven't seen anywhere before. It didn't impress me, so I didn't take any pictures. Imagine a child coloring scenes from the bible and someone deciding to put them up in stain glass windows- that is what it reminded me of. Taramin and her sister liked it though, so we stayed for a little bit before heading back to Frankfurt.
Once we got back into Frankfurt, we rushed to the Liebieghaus, which is the Museum of Ancient Scuplture in Frankfurt. We had less than an hour before the place closed, so we rushed through, and I got some good pictures. I am not one for reading every little tag, well... I couldn't have done so if I wanted to because they were mostly all in German, but anyway- so we rushed through the Museum and I got some really good photos. After the Liebieghaus we headed home and called it a day because Bethany had an early flight the next morning and still needed to pack. We had fondue that night with the family- it was really good!- and I crashed out still dreaming of seeing my first German castle- that is for tomorrow! Enjoy the pictures of Sculpture. |
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Hercules! Hercules! |
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Roman Sculpture of a boar hunt. I love hunting scenes. Great Danes were bred to hunt boar- I don't think this is a Dane- too small. Cool sculpture though! |
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This is actually one of my favorite things which I saw while I was in Germany. I am really glad the picture came out ok. This statue is really beautiful. We got Christ in Mary's lap, and he is clearly emaciated and dead. The skulls in the earth are similar to scenes of crucifixions where they usually place skulls at the base of the cross (in Medieval portraits anyway). Christ though is like half-human here- he is somewhere between full grown Christ and child Christ- that is what I really like about this. Mary is in a golden gown- usually it is blue- even though she is the bigger figure she takes a back seat to the bloody and holed-up Christ. The fighting for attention makes this sculpture really special I think. Awesome! |
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BACK ONE! |
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