By Erik Skye

9 Jul 2011

Words du jour (Francais): petit-dejeuner (breakfast), dejeuner (lunch), diner (dinner)

As in Australia, here in Germany, the Government pays for college.

We visited a Saturday farmer’s market filled with fresh produce, flowers, wines, cheeses, etc…

Sabine suggested I tour the Ludwigsburg Residential Palace, one of the largest baroque palaces in Germany. I asked the tour guide what “baroque” meant. She wasn’t sure, but it’s probably both a time period and style. Anyway, it was incredible. The first monarch to inhabit it was King Frederick, a giant measuring 6’7” tall and weighing 400 lbs. When tiny Napoleon met him, he announced ‘I didn’t think human skin could stretch so much’, to which Frederick replied ‘I didn’t know there could be so much poison in such a small person”.

Napoleon lived in in the palace for two months in 1805, and during that time, he and his entourage drank 2000 liters of wine a day. Napoleon effectively made Frederick a king by granting him enough land for a kingdom. Before that, Frederick was a duke of one of the many fiefdoms of pre-united Germany. In exchange, 16,000 German soldiers were assigned to Napoleon for his wars in the east. Only 350 would come back alive.

Some of the rooms and styles of the Ludwigsburg Residential Palace were directly influenced by The Palace of Versailles, the largest baroque palace in the world, in central France.

Later, we travelled to Guttenberg Castle, passing the Audi factory along the way. Guttenberg Castle is in Sabine’s home town of Neckarmuhlbach, and as a child she lived in a house just below it. The castle is still owned and inhabited by the original family line. We climbed the spiral staircase to the top and looked out across the Neckar River Valley to other villages (and yet another castle) dotting the green landscape. (It reminded me of the view from the plane 10 minutes prior to arriving in Paris, by the way.) Sabine’s father later told me there are about 20 castles between here and Heidelberg.

Sabine introduced me to her grandmother Irma, who lives in Heilbronn. Irma was 16 years old at the end of WWII and witnessed almost total destruction of this town.

We had dinner on the grounds of Bad Wimpfen castle, our third castle of the day. I tried a German dish of pickled fish (not cooked) topped with eggs and a cream sauce that must have been mostly sour cream and mayonnaise. Edible yes, but I’ll stick with the Maultaschen next time.

Sabine had to watch the women’s World Cub football (soccer) quarter finals where Germany was playing Japan. Unfortunately, Sabine’s team lost. I did notice my team won their contest though. France beat England to advance.

Here’s a pretty song I heard today too: Revolverheld - Halt Dich an mir Fest.

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