KEHL, GERMANY

Just across the Rhine River from Strasbourg is the German town of Kehl.  With only 34,000 inhabitants to Strasbourg's 275,000, it has quite a different atmosphere. We spent a few hours exploring, starting at the Kehler Kirchen, a simple little church next to the town square:

It had an interesting "Requiem for the Dead of the Berlin Wall." I haven't seen very many German memorials for their own war dead.  Note the use of the colors of the German flag and the representation of the Brandenberg Gate on the center panel. Names are etched into the black and red side panels:

Next to the memorial is a plaque in German and French.  My sister Angie translated the German version for me: "[The artwork] is to commemorate the people who met death at the wall and at the border fortifications of the former German Democratic Republic.  The names are listed on the side tablets.  Unknowns are indicated with a cross. The shape of the triptych represents a cross and the colored fields correspond to the federal flag's black-red-gold. The notes in the middle panel represent the first beats of the Verdi Requiem.  As a frontier city on the Rhine, Kehl with its border location had experiences through the centuries filled with sorrow and victims.  Also on this border, many people, above all French and Germans, died innocently.  The triptych by Manfred Aust commits to reconciliation (atonement) and peace.  The peace community knows this duty is required."

Interesting.  I think the words "met their death at the wall and at the border fortifications" sounds a bit euphemistic, but I love the inclusion of the first notes from the somber Verdi Requiem. If you are curious about what it sounds like, go here.

A homeless man was sleeping on the back bench, a reminder that this is a fully functioning church, not a tourist attraction run by the government:

I loved this simple little alcove:

. . . with the ten virgins made of a linen applique:

Back outside, the church made a picturesque background for a family photo:

A dandelion-looking fountain added a bit of whimsy to the church courtyard:

All that walking made us hungry.  Okay, so sitting made us hungry too, and so did sleeping, but that's beside the point.  What did Vegan Bob find to eat at a GRILL?

He had them make him a surprisingly delicious kebab sans meat.  

Chris and Dave didn't think much of Bob's snack, so they found something else to eat:

Bonnie and Stan come around just in time to save them from themselves. Well, maybe not.  I think they were actually waiting in line.

Revived by our nutritious snack, we visited one more church before returning to our ship. St. John Nepomuk Church had perhaps the most beautiful grounds of any church we saw on this trip:

The interior was as quiet and peaceful as the grounds:

St. Andrew on the left with his x-shaped cross, and St. Peter on the right holding his keys:

My favorite work of art in St. John Nepomuk was the altar. I believe this depiction of Isaiah refers to the scripture in Isaiah 6:

 5 ¶Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

On our way back to our ship, we walked past a garden of sculptures lining the river.  Among them was a memorial to the dead of World War I:

. . . a Jewish prayer shawl scarf,  and a very sweet sculpture entitled Reconciliation:

Back on the boat, we continued on our journey north.  As part of the entertainment on board, there was a cooking demonstration by our chef (on the right in the picture below):

When they called for a volunteer, one of my helpful siblings volunteered my sister Chris.  Actually, I think it was her Helpful Husband.  I can't remember what it was they were cooking, but it looks suspiciously like Gak.

Chris was a pro.  I'm pretty sure she could have handled the ship's kitchen without much problem.  I know she can put on a Stake Relief Society dinner for 200 women with her eyes closed and one arm tied behind her back.

After a bit, another husband volunteered his wife to go up and get some pointers from Chris:

I think Doris is smiling because she is glad she wasn't the one up there.  My sentiments exactly.

Next: Beautiful Heidelberg

STRASBOURG CATHEDRAL

The dominant building of the Strasbourg skyline is the Strasbourg Cathedral, built between 1176 and 1439.  At 466 feet tall, it was the tallest building in the world until 1874.  Now it is the sixth tallest church in the world, but it is the tallest building completed in the Middle Ages that is still standing.

It is very difficult to get a decent picture of it because of how surrounding buildings have crept ever closer to its walls through the centuries:

An aerial view from the internet shows what I mean:

The magnificent High Gothic front of the cathedral has thousands of intricate figures carved into its pink sandstone facade:

The interior is equally dramatic, rising over three stories and with an unusual 14th century pipe organ suspended high up on one wall between the stained glass windows:

The richly ornamented "stone lace" pulpit was carved in the 15th century.

The cathedral contains a famous astronomical clock.  It's not quite as spectacular as the one we saw in Prague, but it has its own charm.  It was completed in 1571 by a team of sculptors, painters, mathematicians, and watchmakers.  It ticked regularly along until one day in 1788 when it suddenly stopped.  After studying it for years, a self-taught Alsatian clockmaker was able to rebuild the mechanism.  It was restarted in 1842 and has ticked on since then.

The signs of the zodiac:

The clock:

The Pillar of Angels, with its fourteen slender figures, stands in one of the transepts. While seemingly quite delicate, it actually supports the archway:

The cathedral has more than 4,600 panels of stained glass windows that date back to the 12th to 14th centuries.  There are three horizontal levels of windows, a rather unusual configuration that allows for more light than is typical for a Gothic interior. The fragile windows were removed during World War II and stored in 74 crates in a salt mine. That must have been one giant jigsaw puzzle!

The very unique rose window, 45 feet in diameter, does not depict a religious scene.  Instead, it shows sheaves of wheat that indicate the city's economic power.  I remember Mom, who knew a surprising amount about religious architecture, telling us as we traveled together through Germany that some cathedrals were "built for God" and some were "built for power." I wonder if the Strasbourg Cathedral was some of both.  Because of the lighting, I just couldn't get a good picture of the rose window, so I borrowed these from Wikipedia:

The exterior view

The interior view

We were really on a spire-climbing kick on this trip.  Whenever we had the opportunity, we climbed.  I think it is one of the things that saved me from a premature Death-Caused-By-Gelato.  The Strasbourg Cathedral has a mere 326 steps.  (We would be climbing an even taller spire a few days later.)

There was a nice resting area about mid-way up that gave us a chance to escape the claustrophic stairwell.

We continued up to the viewing deck, which unfortunately was some distance below the top of the spire itself:

Note the spire rising behind us.

Views of the city could almost be from one or two centuries ago:

There was some really interesting graffiti on this level: names and dates carved into the soft sandstone in the 18th and 19th centuries:

We had a great view of the buttresses and of a cute little gargoyle or two:

Back down on street level, we heard the Strasbourg Cathedral bells ring for the second time.  We had also heard them when we were on the viewing platform up above.  I never get tired of what Edgar Allen Poe called "tintinnabulations":

The famous German writer Goethe described this cathedral as "a sublimely towering, wide-spread tree of God," and French author Victor Hugo wrote that "the true triumph of this Cathedral is the spire. It is a veritable tiara of stone with its crown and its cross. It is a gigantic and delicate marvel."  I can't imagine what this building must have looked like to 15th century Europeans.  Even today, it can still be seen from miles away.

Next: Moving on . . . to Utah!