In which my German skills are praised & we look like yokels

When K and I visited Bacharach, we had hoped to buy some neuer Wein. It's a fall special, beloved in the Pfalz, and is a sweet and effervescent drink made from fermented grape juice. The time window to buy it is short, as is its shelf life.

We decided to see if we could find some in Bacharach. Even though we were no longer in the Pfalz, we were in the Rheinland, a region of wineries, and even part of the same state, so there had to be some there, right?

When one buys neuer Wein directly from the grower, one can bring her own container. I happened to have a gallon jug in my car that I normally fill with water to take to work. Even though we didn't plan to buy that much wine, the jug would do in a pinch.

We walked through the wine festival downtown but had no luck finding a booth that sold neuer Wein. Giving up, we stopped at a gift shop so I could buy some postcards. In German, I asked the woman how much the cards were. She just about fell over, effusing about how wonderful my German was.

I held the postcards, shocked, then said in German, oh, thank you, but I still have a long way to go. She continued. I then told her I live here. She still gushed. Um, thank you, that is very kind, I told her.

It was definitely hyperbole, as kind as it was. I should be much more fluent and have better pronunciation, especially considering that I've been learning German for five years and practice with native speakers. If I had been a tourist, then yes, my German was darn good. For someone who've lived here almost four years, my progress is very slow.

I finally managed to pay her for the postcards and we moved on. However, finding no neuer Wein sellers, we came back and K asked her in excellent German if the woman knew of somewhere that we could buy it. Of course she mentioned the wine festival but we had no luck there earlier.

Then K held up the gallon jug and was babbling about how we live in the Pfalz and normally one brings a jug and buys the wine from a farmer on the side of the road.

The woman looked a bit horrified. I don't blame her, imagining drinking a whole gallon of neuer Wein. It's sweet as heck and would cause extreme gastrointestinal distress in such quantities. I also think we struck her as a bunch of redneck yokels who drank that thar wine stuff down in da Pfalz and we wanted to get our alky-hol on. Here the city was having a perfectly genteel wine festival where one could buy a glass of wine and it looked as if we wanted to swill it.

Oy vey. All we wanted was a glass or two each and it's cheaper to buy a whole liter than it is to buy a glass of it.

My week: September 4 ed.

Man, was I tired at the beginning of this week. Even though I wasn't sick from allergies, which have been mostly held at bay thanks to an aggressive daily routine of allergy pills and maintenance breathing steroids, my immune system still freaks about goldenrod and other allergens. I kept wondering why I was so tired but when I saw the goldenrod, I figured that must be the reason. I haven't been sleeping well because of congestion and also since my bedroom gets too hot. If I leave the rolladen up for air flow, then there's too much light coming into my room. If I leave them down, then the room gets stuffy. I turn on the fan and then I'm too cold. The whole thing is a bit ridiculous.

I met with my tandem partner and for the second time, followed her recommendation where we'd each speak our target language the whole time. I managed to work my way through a complex sentence, complete with relative clauses and multiple ideas, and I did it right. Yay! It's easy to get lost in German sentences, especially when using subordinating conjunctions and relative clauses. After watching out for verb order and keeping an eye out for splittable verbs, by the end it feels as if one has come up for air.

Another night, I invited my friend Ay. and her sister over for dinner. Ay. is from Pakistan and wanted to try to macaroni and cheese because "it's what single dads always make for their kids in American movies." She is always cracking me up and I tumbled into a heap of giggles over this reasoning. I bought Kraft Mac n' Cheese because she wanted the typical kind. Both gals liked it. Heck, I like it, as low-brow as it is, but mostly avoid it because the wheat in it gives me a headache.

During the weekend, I took a trip to the Stuttgart region. My friends C+K, who had previously lived in Neustadt, moved there. While I'm sad that they're no longer an easy 30-minute train ride away, I'm still glad to be in contact with them and the Stuttgart area does have some interesting activities.

On Saturday, we spent some time at their new apartment then started our journey to Tübingen, a university city about half an hour away. On the way, we stopped at C's parents' house to drop off some things. We were just in time as his mother, R, had just put a pizza in the oven. I've stayed there last year with C+K during C's annual garden party, so it was a nice reunion. My German has improved so much even since then so it was nice to talk more with C's father, who doesn't speak as much English.

After that, we drove to Tübingen and wandered around the city. More will follow about this trip, as a separate blog entry, but below is a picture of how pretty it is. I'm a sucker for cities with bodies of water.

The next day, while C did some work around the house, K and I visited the Keltenmuseum Hocdorf/Enz in Eberdingen. It's a museum dedicated to the Celts who lived in the area and includes artifacts from the grave site there. Entry was 5 euros and we spent about an hour there, looking over the exhibits. Most parts are in both English and German but the last third of the museum was only in German.

What's up, Celtic statue!

As we were leaving, I saw a sign for a free museum in the neighboring town of Markgröningen and we decided to visit. The Wimpelinhof Museum is sparse but offers some information about the local sheep herding traditions. K and I were very sad to learn that by a week, we had missed the annual herders' festival, where women wear Tracht and run races with water buckets on their heads, among other things. I would have been keen to view the former as I enjoy strange traditions.

Wimpelinhof Museum

After we wandered around the city a bit more, ate ice cream, and got rained on, we cut our visit to Markgröningen short. It's a shame because the town is quite lovely, full of historical fachwerk buildings. However, we didn't bring umbrellas and didn't feel like standing around in rain so we went back to their house. For dinner, I cooked raja masala, which they enjoyed, and then I drove home, content after catching up with some good friends.

Oh, the irony

This juxtaposition is very humorous. Sign #1: "Warm Welcome." Sign #2: Entering the grounds is forbidden.

Seen near the Mehlinger Heide.

Staubsauger Museum, Bruchmühlbach-Miesau, Germany

Staubsauger Museum
Website

Miesau Pfühlstraße 15
66892 Bruchmühlbach-Miseau
Museum visits are by appointment only. Call 06372-5090051.
Entry is free but a donation is suggested


About two weeks ago, some friends and I were searching for a bit of fun on a cold winter day. I enjoy visiting eclectic little museums, so I suggested the Staubsauger Museum in Bruchmühlbach-Miesau. It's a short drive from Kaiserslautern (about fifteen minutes) and made for a pleasant and local trip.

Entrance to the Staubsauger Museum

What is a Staubsauger? That is the German word for a vacuum cleaner. I was initially charmed by the fact that there was a museum dedicated to vacuum cleaners. As the tour continued, I was charmed by another element.

The museum is open by appointment only. When I contacted Herr Steffgen, the proprietor of the museum, he informed me that the museum is normally closed during the winter because the building was not heated. However, if we were willing to have a chilly visit, he was willing to accommodate us.

Since our group of friends is accustomed to hiking during the winter and spending time outdoors, we gladly took Herr Steffgen up on the offer and met him at the museum, which was previously a cow barn and is now a neatly organized and displayed collection. It had been my impression that we would just look at the museum but we were in for a treat as he took us on a tour. He said that normally he would prepare a customized tour based on the participants' interests, whether it's focusing on history or more on technology. Since we hadn't specified our interests, he covered a bit of both.

He started by showing us the vacuum cleaner that had started the collection. Shaped like a milk can, it is at first glance nothing that extraordinary, other than antique. However, as Herr Steffgan told us, the vacuum cleaner's back story is rather unusual. In 1993, an 83 year old man from the local community gifted the slightly rusty vacuum to Steffgan and told him about its history. The elderly gentleman had bought the used vacuum cleaner from his boss in the 1930s. He had used it regularly but during World War II, he had to evacuate the area. He couldn't take the vacuum with him so he buried it. After the war, he returned and dug it up, finding that although it had rusted a bit, it was still perfectly usable. It was so usable, in fact, that he continued cleaning his floors with it until 1993!

Pictured on the right is the vacuum that started the collection.

Herr Steffgan continued the tour, taking a historical approach. When pointing out the earliest vacuum cleaners, he even gave me the chance to try a few mechanical models, which had been introduced starting in the 1860s. Phew! They are quite the workout, requiring the user to pump the handle up and down in order to create suction.

When we moved onto the 1930-50s, we found vacuum cleaners that were more than just devices to vacuum. Companies had been developing the motors for the vacuums and found that these motors could power other appliances. One could change out the vacuum bag for a blender, for example! Even better yet? With the proper attachment, it is possible to turn some of the vacuums into airbrush painting machines. Herr Steffgan allowed us to "paint" a board with some water in one of the airbrush attachments.

A futuristic vacuum cleaner, ca. 1950s, that hovered above the floor when in use!

We also learned about the power of vacuum cleaners. Herr Steffgan demonstrated a board that can be held to the wall with only suction. To prove the power of the connection, he had one of our group members sit on it.

The seat o' suction. No worries - the suction holds the seat on the wall.

The tour lasted about an hour. I did find that my feet became quite cold because I hadn't worn my hiking boots, but that is definitely my own fault as Herr Steffgan had been very careful to communicate that the museum would be cold.

Herr Steffgan and the vacuum that started his collection

Despite the cold, our small group really enjoyed the visit. I had mentioned earlier that in addition to the museum, there was something else very charming about the visit; it was Herr Steffgan himself. His enthusiasm for vacuum cleaners is catching and it's clear that he loves sharing his hobby. I had never given much thought to vacuums before but was sucked into the fascinating stories and information that he shared. Both adults and children can enjoy the museum with its mix of history, hands-on experimentation, and enjoyment of one man's hobby.

What I've been up to: the September 14 ed.

I was hoping for a less busy week this time because I was rather exhausted by the previous week. I still ended up going to bed reasonably late every night. I should rectify that but I don't regret having fun instead of sleeping a lot.

-Invited my tandem speaking partner over for dinner. She fell in love with Moo and said that he was better than watching a movie. She's not normally a cat person but she thought he was great and kissed his little Moo face. He kept doing cute things, hamming it up for attention. Well, he was cute except for when he was sick of us oohing and aahing over him and turned his back to us and started licking himself.

-Met up with my friend and a new resident of Kaiserslautern for drinks. Despite the bar's reasonably good exhaust system, the smoking inside still bothered me. There are some loopholes in the law so some places can still allow smoking inside. Sigh.

-Had a meetup with one of my groups where we planned lots of activities. I'm thrilled! It's really starting to come together nicely and we're progressing from a group of friendly strangers to a big group of friends. I'm absolutely thrilled.

-After that meeting, we walked to a restaurant to meet our friend and drank neuwein on the way. I had a jug of it that I really needed to finish so my friends were happy to oblige. We were super classy and drank straight out of the jug!

-Signed up for a Volkshochschule class. I will also sign up for a university class later this fall, but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't totally rusty before a more intensive class.

-Went camping in the Mosel River valley. It was amazing! We sang, danced, partied, sauna-ed (is that a word?), hiked in the vineyards until we couldn't hike any more (and even today I am still hobbling around with sore muscles), took a boat ride on the Mosel, didn't sleep, bathed in a cow water trough (interesting experience), and enjoyed the company of people from all over the world (mostly from the Netherlands ;) I'm exhausted and sore but feeling blissful after the fun.

A caged saint in Saarbrücken

Poor saint is caged in Saarbrücken. However, I'm not entirely sure that he's not a monkey (look at his face and tell me that doesn't look like a monkey) so maybe that's the reason for the cage.

Hamburg's Mannequin Scene

Continuing on my Tour d'Mannequin, I came across another interesting mannequin in knock-off Harley clothes. He was on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg.

I'm impressed because:
-he does not appear to be beaten up then subsequently patched up, as the French and Macedonian mannequins appear to have been;
-his facial hair appears to be factory-installed and not after market (à la Sharpie markers);
-and he seems to be genuinely thrilled with his (knock-off) clothing.

I'm concerned because:
-he has crazy long glue-on eyelashes;
-but if he didn't have eyelashes or if they were painted on that would be weird too;
-and I spend too much time pondering this.

  

 "Whoa, man! These knock-off Harley clothes are the bomb! I'm also glad that no one drew in my facial hair!"

The mobile chef in Hamburg

We took a trip to Hamburg this past weekend. I saw the van below and thought it was super cute with a pot on the top of it. As I was grabbing my camera and giggling about the van, the driver came out and grinned at our goofiness. I think it would be awesome to drive a van around with a pot welded to the top of it!

I prefer Tibia Air, myself

We smiled when we saw this travel agency, Fibula Air, in Skopje.

I wonder if it's especially popular with skeletons.

Skopje: more weird mannequins!

On vacations, some people collect things. Maybe the vacationer picks up a magnet from the location or even worse, a t-shirt with the name of the location. In the past, I would buy a Christmas ornament from the places I visited. Then I was honest with myself and realized that as long as I had Moo (or any cat, for that matter), I would probably never have a Christmas tree because cats can be jerkfaces.

Instead, I find myself collecting memories and pictures of oddities on my trips. First it started with taking pictures of roadside candy machines, in all of their desolate, sugary solitary life. Then I started taking pictures of depictions of Church figures holding buildings. Now I'm also taking pictures of weird mannequins after a Strasbourg trip with my cousins.

During the Skopje (Macedonia) trip, I saw more weird mannequins. What's up with beaten-up mannequins with creepy facial "hair"? Do they get in fights at night when no one is looking, then try to fix it up by drawing on themselves with permanent markers?

Super alarming dude with Magic Markered facial hair!

Justin Bieber, in mannequin form, beaten up then with fake eyelashes added.

More creepy facial hair.

Manneken Pis is not welcome in Kaiserslautern

...at least this sign in downtown Kaiserslautern would make it appear so, with the little guy crossed out:

The sign actually says "Cultural heritage: no open pissoir!"

In other words, "people, quit using the alley as a bathroom!" Phew. For a minute there I thought that Kaiserslautern didn't like Manneken Pis.

Even the frogs don't speak the same here

My friend shared a funny story of language misunderstandings with me:

She was enjoying dinner with a German friend. His English is intermediate, she doesn't speak German, and they were eating in France. She couldn't read the French menu so he offered to order for them. He asked her if she liked some sort of animal. She wasn't sure what the animal was so, trying to be helpful, he said "quack."

Ah! She thought, and said that would be good, as she liked duck meat.

Imagine her surprise when a huge platter of frog legs appeared! In Germany, frogs "quack." Good to know, huh?

Quack Restaraunt's logo is a frog and apparently that's the noise he makes.

Seen in Seligenstadt, Germany

On Saturday my friend S and I traveled to Seligenstadt, a handsome town with half-timbered buildings and cobblestone streets*.  We came for the Europäischer Ostereiermarkt, or the International Easter Egg Market in the museum in the Benedictine Abbey. In addition to visiting the market, we also strolled throughout town to take in the sights and to enjoy the beautiful, sunny and warm weather.

First we happened upon this old motorcycle with its passenger's car.

Then we passed by this bar and saw the dog in the window enjoying the weather too. Oh, Germany, you are so wonderful that dogs get to visit the bar too!

Elderly ladies and their walkers were out in force. Not only was the dog in the window enjoying the bar, but some grannies were too, as evidenced by their parked walkers on the left.

 
Some other grannies were even more active! Several pushed their bikes past us. It was amazing, because the bikes were almost as tall as they were. I was wondering how they are able to hop onto the seats, which were adjusted to be quite tall.

Here's a spiffy guy who decorates the side of a building. I thought his pasties (and not the kind that Yoopers eat!) were quite festive but my friend burst my bubble when she asked if his "intestines" were falling out. My hopes are that the intestines (?) are just decorative flowers in a Baroque show of exuberance. One can hope, right?

When we visited the Landschaftsmuseum later to see the Easter Egg Market, I also caught some unusual pieces in the museum's collection: Lil' Baby Wrapped Up Slightly Creepy Jesus, anyone?

If that's not your style, how about Potential Older Lil' Baby (okay, Toddler) Jesus in a jar?

Or, even creepier yet, how about a memorial wall plaque (possibly) made of the hair from the deceased being memorialized?

*aka streets that make Ms. Around the Wherever silently worry very much about her ankles, which are prone to strains.

Seen in Eindhoven, Netherlands

When I was in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, I noticed the logo for Seats and Sofas. The logo includes a sofa with the American flag and the tagline "a giant take-away."

Oh my. Is it giant because everything in the US tends to be bigger, including our sofas and the buns that sit in them?

Lickin' lions, oh my!

Some people believe that Himalayan salt crystals possess healing properties. There are even lamps made of Himalayan salt. I have told my friends that if they ever bought such lamps, that they should hide them when I come to visit. I would have an overwhelming urge to lick the lamp. We were giggling, imagining the owner of a lamp being flummoxed why the lamp was growing smaller and me leaving, licking my lips.

I ate dinner at Pizzeria Napoli (I need to write a review...sometime, I guess) and was very excited that the candle holder was made out of Himalayan salt. Everyone was goading me on to lick it, via Facebook (I was catching a quick bite alone, before meeting with friends). Of course I didn't lick it, even though the lion on the chair in the upper left hand corner appears to be licking the letter "B" on the chair.

December's Adventure: Day 7, Part 2: Brussels

If I had to sum up the apparent theme of Brussels, I would use this word: peeing. No, it's not that I've seen people relieving themselves in inappropriate places. Instead, it is the Belgian city's odd fascination with sculptures of mammals relieving themselves that has made an impression on me.

The oldest, of course, is Manneken Pis, the statue of the small peeing boy put in place in the early 17th century. In 1987, Manneken got a little sister named Jeanneke-Pis, who also is relieving herself at Impasse de la Fidélité 10 (across from Delirium Cafe, for those who want to drink some beers and get the feeling she's having). She was dressed up for Christmas in a festive outfit as she squatted.

To complete the happy little family of children relieving themselves, in 1998 the city added their pet dog, Zinneke Pis, at Rue de Chartreux 31H.

In addition to the awkward sculptures, we saw the city's interesting emblem on trash cans: St. Michael is trampling the devil.

We then saw the city's Official Santa Transport mammal. Okay, maybe it's not official, but it's a restaurant's take on holiday decoration. I think it was some sort of...topiary (?) wrapped up with fabric and then Santa was given a leg up to ride the odd beast. There were Christmas lights, so it was very...festive.

Things that make me say "hmm..."

December's Adventure: Day 7, Brussels

We enjoyed a pleasant night at our Brussels hotel and woke up refreshed on Friday morning. On our way downtown we stopped at the Carrefour grocery store two blocks from our hotel. To save money on my trips, I like to buy my drinks (if not filling up from the hotel tap) and some things to eat at the grocery store. Plus it's a great way to try out food that the locals eat daily! I was happy to find a couscous for breakfast, which was a slightly more healthful option than the various Christmas market foods I'd eaten. After some basic French by my cousins and some pantomiming by me, we convinced the helpful store clerk to give me a plastic spoon so I could eat the couscous.

Our first official stop was the City Museum of Brussels, or the Maison du Roi, on the site of the previous bread market hall located in the Grand Place. It covers the history of Brussels, including its art, architecture, design, culture, and...best of all, Manneken Pis! There is a silly and cute documentary about the little statue. My favorite quote from the documentary is people, in many different languages, saying, "he is so small! I thought he'd be bigger." At two feet tall, he definitely not the towering "personality" that one would assume for a sculpture who has become the unofficial mascot of the city. In addition to the documentary, visitors can see many of M.P's costumes from different countries. There is even a computer where one can view a catalog of the costumes with more information.

I enjoyed the museum and would suggest if for those curious to learn more about the history of Brussels. The city itself has an interesting history and has been subject to many architectural changes. Also, it's fun to see the costumes of a "world famous" little peeing dude.

I did sit for a bit at the museum. After a week of extensive travel and walking at least 10 miles a day, my feet, even clad in my expensive and comfortable Christmas gift boots, were quite sore. We didn't take any public transport in the towns we visited after dumping the car; it was all walking. I love walking but after about 60 miles of it up to that point, my feet were saying they wanted a rest.

I was able to rouse myself for more sights and walking. Using the super handy and free Use-It Guide for Brussels, I had identified some things I'd like to see, do, and eat. My cousins very kindly obliged.

On the way we saw some interesting sights not on the list. For example, we found a small Christmas market tucked into a square. My cousins enjoyed some macaroons while I oohed and ahhed over a steampunk carousel. As vintage as it looked, it was built in 1999. How cool is it though? Many of the seats did interesting things, like the Pegasus that "flew." Here is an article about this magical contraption and its builders.

My cousins wanted to eat some more delicious quiches from a vendor they had found the night before in Place Sainte-Catherine, a nearby square. As they ordered, I stopped by the Brussels Use-It Guide location, also in the square. This was the first time that I actually went in-person to a Use-It office; normally I just print the guides from the internet. The office in Brussels is really neat; there is free wifi, friendly locals to meet, and free Use-It Guides, including other cities. I stopped by and told the volunteers how awesome I think that the guides are. And, just to be clear, I don't get anything other than the pleasure of recommending a good, free guide out of this :) I'm super impressed with the guides and the quality, non-commerical information written by locals. The volunteers at the office were pleased by my input and even offered me some guides that weren't on the general racks. As I left the office and looked at the Brussels guide, I realized that some of the people I talked to were pictured on the guide itself. It was a fun experience and great to meet some of the folks who made the guide happen.

One stop from the Brussels guide that I felt was a must-eat location was the Comus et Gasteria ice cream shop at Quai aux Briques 86 (in St. Catherine's Square). Oh. My. Goodness. That ice cream was divine! I ordered the salted caramel that the guide recommended. I also ordered lavender ice cream. It was fragrant and delicious. The guy who ran the place was a bit grumpy but I didn't even care. The artesian ice cream was fabulous. Ignore the proprietor's surly demeanor and make a trip there.

I decided to follow dessert with a lunch/dinner from the Christmas market at the square. I chose "poylee savoyarde," which looked similar to German  käsespätzle. I'm not sure if the blobs in it were potatoes or egg noodle* based like the German version, but the cheesy dish was was delicious.

This entry is getting long so I'll finish up the details of our Brussels day in another post.

*hehe. I'm getting quite Germanified here because when I first type the word "noodle," I wrote it with the German spelling. I'm finding myself doing that sometimes with other words too.

December's Adventure: Day 6 Continued, Brussels

We left Valkenburg in the Netherlands on Thursday evening and drove to Brussels in Belgium. I purposefully arranged the schedule so we would arrive past rush hour; in this case, it was 7 p.m. However, it was still a mess with congestion and driving lanes that would converge with no warning then spread out again. The government in Brussels is actually considering closing down parts of the city to auto traffic because of congestion problems. It's recommended to take public transportation in Brussels and not drive, for sure!

We finally found our hotel and dumped the car at the underground parking at the hotel across the street. The parking was 23 euros per day, which seemed a bit steep after being in the other cities, but I was feeling so tired and frazzled by that time that I just wanted to be rid of the car so it was worth the convenience.

We checked in at the Hotel Villa Royale (more detailed review to follow, at some point). It was freshly decorated with small but comfortable rooms. Since it was still somewhat early, we headed out to the main part of downtown, the Grand Place. It took us about 20 minutes to walk downtown. Once we arrived at Grand Place, we enjoyed the Christmas light and music show. It's quite pretty.

Our next stop was to buy some chocolates. I've been to Brussels before so I suggested my favorite store: Corné Port-Royal. We each bought some delicious chocolates and enjoyed the rich, fresh taste, as good as I remembered it from my visit in 2008. The other wonderful thing about the store is where it is located, in the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, a beautiful 19th century shopping arcade.

We then went to visit Brussels's famous statue: Manneken Pis (literally "Little Man Pee). There are so many legends surrounding this small statue who is also a fountain, but the residents mostly love him (or roll their eyes). The funny thing is that the statue is quite small at about two feet tall. He was naked when we saw him but he does have a huge collection of fancy costumes to wear and even a city employee to dress him. To find him, Wikipedia.org instructs the curious to find him at "...Rue de l'Étuve/Stoofstraat and Rue du Chêne/Eikstraat. To find it, one takes the left lane next to the Brussels Town Hall from the famous Grand Place and walks a few hundred metres southwest via Rue Charles Buls/Karel Bulsstraat." Getting tired after our Brussels fun, we walked back to the hotel.
 

 Delicious chocolates in a gorgeous 19th century shopping arcade? Check!

 Cheesy tourist attraction? Manneken Pis: check.

 My astute cousin D. pointed out this Cactguy after I told her the disconcerting story about the Cactguy I know.

December's Adventure: Day 5, Part 2: Cologne

St. Ursula Church
Ursulaplatz 24
Cologne

Earlier on day five, we huffed and puffed up and down more than a thousand stairs at the Cologne Cathedral as mentioned in Part 1. That was a beautiful trip to the cathedral. We were then ready to see something unusual: the Golden Chamber (Goldene Kammer in German) at the Basilica of St. Ursula. It's an ossuary filled with decorative arrangements of human bones.

We silently perused the church, taking in the architecture and adornments. However, we didn't see one thing in particular: the ossuary! I turned around and looked toward the main entrance to the church. There were two doors on the side. One was locked and quiet. A woman walked up and opened the other door, which turned out to be the ossuary. For about two euros a piece we were admitted and spent about ten minutes taking in the room. Photography without a flash is allowed so these pictures have an odd hue.

I would say that it's definitely worth a visit to the Golden Chamber. It's very unusual, interesting, and of course, a bit macabre. There is a legend about St. Ursula and the 11,000 or 11 virgins (that's quite a difference!) who died with her during an attack of the Huns. Supposedly those are the bones used to decorate the Golden Chamber. A very bored-sounding gentleman who worked at the Domforum said that the bones were actually from the Roman graveyard that was removed to make way for the current church to be built.

Whether these bones are legendary virgins (11 or 11,000? Gee, maybe the legend got distorted like a game of Telephone!), or just from ancient Romans, it's an interesting visit that encourages some memento mori.

She may just be hiding bones in that belly!

This Mädchen either had brain surgery...or she's hiding bones in her head! Either way, she seems strangely happy.

Seen in Cologne: some McIrony

We saw this in Cologne and laughed:

 A McFit gym is next door to McDonald's.

My cousins asked me if McFits were always placed like that and I laughed even more. Nope, they aren't, per se, but it's a funny juxtoposition.