The Tale of a Dog

Hubster's daughter Debbie (I guess that makes her SD1) was with us for Christmas. Here we are on Christmas Eve, eating shrimp and unwrapping presents. My favorite was a big gift certificate to the local yarn store - Hubster knows what I like. Deb is holding the Aran-style sweater I made for her dog - she was absolutely over the moon about it, but it didn't make a hit with Max (the dog). Here's Max, wearing his new sweater. He stood like this for at least five minutes, unmoving, wearing a pitiful expression "What have you done to me, why am I being punished by wearing this strait-jacket?" This from a dog who normally won't stand still for an instant. At least I got a good picture. When we took it off, he rolled back and forth on the floor for a few minutes, as if he couldn't believe he was really free.

I can now post some of my Christmas knitting - I didn't want to spoil the surprise in case the kids checked my blog. I made three pairs of these cute slippers for the grand-daughters (and I plan to make a pair for myself also).

This is the Koolhaas hat, made for S1 who lives near Seattle. The pattern is named after the architect of the Seattle Public Library, and resembles the structure of the building. It was a real challenge to get all the crosses straight, especially at the top decreases, and it took quite a while to knit. I absolutely couldn't read while knitting this. But I do love a challenge and I'm rather proud of this. (It looks kind of weirdly narrow and tight, but it's really stretchy and it fit me well - I do hope it fit S1 also).

I made a few other small things but didn't take pictures, including some headbands, and little mittens that were enclosed in Christmas cards. Hard to believe Christmas comes and goes so fast, when you spend so much time preparing for it.

It's Snowing, So Let's Go to Germany

We've had about a foot of snow today, my car was almost completely buried in a drift, the shop didn't call me in to work so I'm assuming they closed for the day (good choice!), and I just woke up from a two-hour nap. Time to re-visit Regensburg.
Regensburg is an old town, originally a Roman garrison town guarding the Danube. Here's an ancient wall, with a more "modern" wall above it. Here's Hubster - not quite as old as the arch he's standing under. I love seeing these bits and pieces of antiquity absorbed into the modern town. There are several of these towers below built in the 14th century by medieval merchants anxious to protect their wealth.

And of course, here's the beautiful Gothic church. The main body of the church was halted in the 1500s, and the two spires at the front were actually not added until the 1800s.

Here are the gorgeous medieval windows - the colors are breathtaking. This tower is all that remains of the original Romanesque church built on this site, and it's incorporated into the newer Gothic building. (Use what you have!) Notice the scaffolding - I don't think we saw one church on the whole trip that didn't have some repair work going on.

I had to take a photo of this great iron door.

And of these old windows with tiny panes of glass and their flowerboxes.

This plaque was on the house that OsKar Schindler lived in (you remember the movie).

That's all for today - see you in Straubling next time. And one of these days, I'm going to have to post some knitting context. I Netflixed "Julie and Julia" last night (I really enjoyed it), but I'm not hoping someone will want to make a movie of this blog. Maybe I can think of some knitting challenge that will take me a year to complete - how about all the designs of Elizabeth Zimmerman, or my travels through lace, cables and Fair Isle. Never mind.

Weltenburg Monastery on the Danube

On the twelfth day of our trip, we spent the morning at the Weltenburg Monastery. This is the oldest Benedictine Monastery in Bavaria. These are the ancient plastered stone walls that surround the buildings. This is the beautiful baroque church of the monks. But the exterior didn't prepare us for the splendor of the interior. It was breathtaking. The domed ceiling was amazing, but too bright for me to get a good photo. But monks still have to make a living, and this is how they do it - beer! This is the logo of the Weltenburg Brewery - I had to take the photo through a glass window, but the scroll below the shield reads (translated from Latin) "for Mary and Jesus". You can probably make out a crown and sceptre at the top of the shield. We watched men loading up beer trucks in the courtyard.

We next took a small boat to travel through the Danube Gorge, miles of high cliffs on either side of a fairly narrow river at this point. We're on our way to Regensburg and Straubling.

.... to be continued.

Visits with the Kids

This is my Indiana group - S2 Barry, with GD2 Olivia, GS2 Sam, and the matriarch of the family, me! The Colts sweatshirt is a giveaway that this is Indianapolis - everybody there seems to be Colts crazy, even the ladies in the Curves exercise studio that I used one morning. (It's a football team, in case you didn't know.) We visited the Indiana State Museum - very well done with lots of fascinating exhibits. I especially like the huge globe lit from within which showed the succession of changes which formed the continents. The picture below was taken outside the rear of the museum, showing a partial skyline of Indianapolis and a canal. Here's Sam, with his wonderful impish face. Yes, that's a little rubber ducky on his head.

And speaking of wonderful impish faces, this is the newest member of the family, six-month-old Great-grandson Lucas (I guess he's GGS1). He's sitting in the 100-year-old rocker/high chair I bought a few years ago, and he's wearing the socks I knitted for him.(they didn't stay on long).

Four generations - it doesn't seem possible.

Here's Momma and Poppa with baby Lucas (a handsome trio but a little out of focus).

I'll be getting back to the European cruise next time.

Cruising Down the Main

Here are a few views along the Main (pronounced Mine) River. Narrower and less commercial than most of the Rhine, and lots of locks as we traveled higher into the hills.

Vineyards were tucked in everywhere among the cliffs on this portion of the Main.See the little shacks tucked in among the vines, I assume for equipment and supplies.A pretty town - all those roofs again. And the photo below is one of the many locks. We traveled through many of them at night, and were sometimes awakened by bumping, but mostly we just glided through. Next blog will be Nurnburg - stay tuned.

Bamberg

Bamberg was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and it dates from the 12th century onwards. This is the colorful frescoed town hall - I could only get the right edge in my photo. It stands in the middle of a bridge over the river Regnitz. This is the view from the bridge near the Town Hall.

Geraniums, half-timbering, roof dormers - this building has it all. The attic spaces were usually used for food storage, we were told. I love the jumble of the building with their red tile roofs.

Here is the interior of the 12th century Cathedral, mixing Romanesque with early Gothic.

And the exterior. The Stations of the Cross were painted on the walls. And for something different, this is the rose garden outside the Prince-Bishop's Residence.

Almost Two Days in Wurzburg

We had a free afternoon, and Hubster and I climbed up (way up) to the Fortress Marienberg, built in the 13th century. St. Mary's Church is inside - you can see the steeple.

One of the gates of the Fortress. There is a cafe inside the Fortress, and Hubster and I had lunch there. This is the view from the terrace, and I imagined the soldiers in the Prince's army must have had much the same view hundreds of years ago. Views of Wurzburg across the river from the Fortress. A beautiful day.

I love to take photos of rooftops. Note TV dish. This is the garden of the Palace Veitschochheim, which was the summer palace of the Prince/Bishop of Wurzburg. Very extensive, with ponds and fountains and tree-lined paths. Much is in ruins, as you can see here.

There was this very strange building inside the garden - this looks like stone but it was completely faced with shells, including the animals in the niches. Even the walls of the room inside were faced with shells. We couldn't go in but I peeked through the door. And of course, here's one of the churches. Very baroque.

This is a different church, I believe. I took the photo because of Adam and Eve on either side of the entrance, and also the shops built right into the walls of the church.

Next stop - Bamberg.

Big Knitted Poem

Remember that 12-inch square letter C I knitted a couple of month ago? Here is a link to the finished poem, a project of the Poetry Society of London. I can't find my letter in these pictures, but it must be there somewhere. I especially like that the poem is by Dylan Thomas, whose poems I read intently when in my teens and again in my twenties.

http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/knit

Aschaffenburg on the Main River

Aschaffenburg is the first town we visited when we left the Rhine and cruised into the Main River, which runs through the interior of Germany to Austria. Here's a typical pretty house - I was told somewhere that the geraniums on windowsills deter flies. You do see these windowboxes everywhere.This has got to be the most extreme half-timbered house I've ever seen. I don't think the exterior is really original, just restored to perfection. Another medieval church, St. Peter and Alexander. I like its simplicity.

This herb garden was built into the wall of the churchyard. And here's our leader, guardian, lecturer, guide, all-around nice guy - Hugo. This is the Schloss Johannisberg, high above the river.

And a more intimate view of this huge pile. Next, Wurzberg.