Beyond the Northwest Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Pacific Northwest Explorer

Building Murals

My wife, Joan, and I are both art lovers as well as enthusiastic travelers. Finding local artworks is always on our agenda. We tour local museums, of course, but we also seek out street art wherever we go. Street art is alive, connected to the community, always interesting, and often surprising. The photos below are a sampling of the building murals that we’ve found on some of our more recent trips around the Pacific Northwest (and beyond), starting with Freak Alley in Boise, Idaho.

Another large collection of building murals can be found in the small town of Nelson, British Columbia, home of the Nelson International Mural Festival.

The town of Leavenworth, Washington offers a more traditional, sponsored set of building murals that highlight the Bavarian village theme of the town.

Other Northwest towns with significant collections of building murals include Chemainus, British Columbia (aka Muraltown), and Estacada, Oregon.

Farther afield, we recently traveled to Arizona where we spent an afternoon exploring the back streets and alleys of the former copper mining town of Bisbee.

Downtown Phoenix also offered up a large collection of building murals and other street art, as well as abundant sunshine and 85 degree October afternoons.

Art enriches everyone’s life. And public art does so in a much more direct and immediate way than art that is hidden away in a museum. And yes, art saves lives.

Posted by Alan K. Lee, November 11, 2019

All photos by the author

Rhine River Cruise: Freiburg, Colmar, and Basel

The final leg of our Rhine River cruise took us to Freiburg, Germany, Colmar, France, and Basel, Switzerland.

On the next to last day of our cruise, we docked at Breisach, Germany, after an overnight sail from Kehl. After breakfast a number of us boarded a bus that took us to Freiburg im Breisau. Others opted for a day long bus tour of the Black Forest.

Freiburg

Freiburg is a city of about a quarter of a million people, located on the western edge of the Black Forest, about 15 miles east of the Rhine River. It is another ancient city, founded in 1120 at the intersection of trading routes from the Mediterranean to northern Europe and from the Rhine River to the Danube.

“Freiburg” translates to “free town” and the city has a long history of independent minded and educated citizens. Freiburg has long been an academic and research center, and today is home to the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and several other universities. The city has an interesting mix of old and new, provided by the city’s long and valued history and the youthful energy generated by the large university student population.

Freiburg residents have a strong environmental commitment, and Freiburg is known as an “eco city.” In 1995 the city council passed an ordinance allowing only “low energy” buildings to be constructed, and Freiburg has become home to a growing solar power industry and is a leading center of green energy research and development.

Much of Freiburg was destroyed in WWII by Allied bombing raids (and one, mistakenly, by the German Luftwaffe in 1940). The city’s cathedral, though, was spared, and the city was rebuilt along its medieval plan, so its city center retains the look and feel of a medieval town. Most of the historical center is a car-free pedestrian zone, which also adds to its medieval feel.

The city has an unusual network of street gutters with flowing water diverted from the Dreisam River. These “bachle” were originally built to provide water for livestock and for fighting fires. They are at least partly responsible for Freiburg never having had a major fire, unlike almost every other medieval town.

To the east of the historic center, Schlossberg hill rises almost 900 feet above the city. A funicular railway takes visitors part way up the hill to a restaurant with a good view of the city below. Hiking trails lead higher, to a park near the summit with an observation tower. While we didn’t have time to take the funicular and hike to the summit, we did have enough time after our guided tour to hike part way up the hill to get a good view of the city.

Freiburg is a beautiful and very interesting place, and I wish we had been able to spend more time there. But we had to return to the boat with the rest of the tour group. After lunch, we once again boarded a bus for a second excursion, this time across the Rhine to Colmar, France.

Colmar

Like Strasbourg, Colmar has changed hands between France and Germany several times over the centuries and its local culture is a mix of French and German. It’s also similar to Strasbourg in look and feel, with its half-timbered buildings and cobble stone streets. And Colmar is even older than Strasbourg, dating back to at least the early ninth century.

One of the first things we saw upon arriving in Colmar was a scaled down replica of the Statue of Liberty. It’s there because the creator of the statue, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, hailed from Colmar. In addition to the Statue of Liberty, Bertholdi created many other large-scale sculptures and fountains, including the Lion of Belfort. The Bartholdi Museum, located in what was once the Bartholdi family home, contains scale models of the Statue of Liberty and the Lion of Belfort used in creation of those works, as well as many of Bartholdi’s other works. Other Colmar museums include the Unterlinden Museum, the Musee du Jouet (Toy Museum), and the Hansi Museum, dedicated to the works of Jean-Jacques Waltz, a native of Colmar known for his satirical works and his opposition to German control of the region.

Colmar is known for its white wines, and one of the optional tours that many of our fellow passengers took advantage of was a tour of the areas wineries and vineyards. A variety of grapes are grown in the region, including reisling, gewurtztraminer, pinot gris, and pinot blanc. Colmar and the Alsace region have been producing these wines since the early middle ages.

After our organized tour of the city, we had time to wander around the town for awhile on our own. The old town of Colmar is interesting, historic, and one of the prettier towns we visited on our cruise. Part of the old city along the Lauch River is known as Petite Venise (Little Venice). That comparison might be a little off the mark, but it is certainly picturesque. I took many photos of Little Venice and we would have lingered there longer, but, alas, once again we had to return to the ship with our fellow passengers or get left behind. One of the downsides to river cruising, I guess.

Basel

Our cruise ended the following morning in Basel, Switzerland. We rather reluctantly said goodbye to our Viking Longship and the friends we had made on the trip.

After disembarking the ship and taking a taxi to our hotel, we had the rest of the day to explore the city. Since Rick Steves’ Switzerland guide book had not a single mention of Basel, I didn’t have high expectations. But we discovered, on our way to Museum of Contemporary Art, an old section of the city (the St. Alban District) that is as picturesque and has all of the charm of the other old city centers we’ve visited, but with few tourists and no crowds.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the city center, including Basel Cathedral (Basel Munster), and the Basel Town Hall, and sampling Swiss cuisine. All in all, Basel was a delightful surprise, and a fitting end to our Rhine River cruise.

The end of our cruise wasn’t the end of our vacation, though, as we continued on to the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Berner Oberland section of Switzerland. Look for a future post on that delightful extension of our trip.

Posted by Alan K. Lee, May 2, 2019

All photos by the author

Rhine River Cruise: Heidelberg to Strasbourg

The fourth full day of our Rhine River cruise took us to Heidelberg, Germany. Day five found us in Strasbourg, France.

After docking for the evening in Rudesheim (see my previous posts on Amsterdam and Kinderdijk, and Cologne and the Middle Rhine), our cruise ship sailed overnight to Manheim, Germany. After breakfast on board we ventured to Heidelberg by bus. First stop was Heidelberg Castle.

The road to the castle is steep and narrow and there are several hairpin turns that were definitely not built with tour busses in mind. It took a good bit of maneuvering and a bit of time, but the driver had obviously done this before and we made it up the hill without incident.

Heidelberg Castle overlooks the old city, and is largely in ruins. The first structure was built on the present site around 1300. Shortly after the first castle was built, a second was built higher up the mountainside. The second castle was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1537 and nothing remains of it today. The remaining lower castle was heavily damaged in the early 1600s during the Thirty Years War, and almost completely destroyed by the French in the late 1600s. A portion of it was restored in the late nineteenth century and the ruins of the rest of the castle were stabilized and remain in the condition they were in at the time.

Our tour guide was a graduate student working on his doctorate in history at Heidelberg University, so we got a wealth of local history during our tour, told in an entertaining and often humorous manner. The castle ruins are a treasure trove of photo opportunities, as well. I could easily have spent a full day, or more, at the castle, but had to move on with the group.

After touring the castle, we made the short trip back down to the old city. We opted for an abbreviated tour by our guide, giving us ample time to wander the city on our own. Like many of the old medieval centers in European cities, the historical center of Heidelberg is quaint, picturesque, and thoroughly charming.

We spent an hour or so exploring the old city, then stopped at a sidewalk cafe at one of the hotels for lunch. While there, another of the couples on the cruise joined us. Fran and Victor, from Santiago, Chile, were one of the few non-American couples on the cruise. Coincidentally, Victor, who is a surgeon, had been sent to Heidelberg some time previously by the university hospital where he practiced (they had some sort of reciprocal relationship with Heidelberg University), and had stayed in the same hotel at which we were dining.

While we were touring Hedielberg, our cruise ship had sailed upstream to Speyer, where we rejoined the ship. The historical center of Speyer was only a short walk from where our ship was docked, so we had plenty of time to explore it that evening.

Speyer has a long history, dating back to its founding by the Romans in 10 BC. The Speyer Cathedral, begun in 1030, was the site of the 1526 Diet of Speyer that temporarily suspended the Edict of Worms that had banned Martin Luther in 1521. In 1529 a second Diet of Speyer essentially reinstated the Edict of Worms. Supporters of Luther then issued a Letter of Protest, and henceforth became known as Protestants.

The Altpoertel (Old Gate), one of the other major sights in Speyer, was built in the 13th century. One of the 68 original towers of the old city’s wall, the Altpoertel is one of the largest medieval city gates and towers in Germany.

That night the ship took us to Kehl, Germany while we slept. There the Rhine forms the boundary between Germany and France, and the next morning we bused across the river to the city of Strasbourg, France . Neither my wife nor I had been to France before, so this was an interesting excursion for us.

Strasbourg today is home to the European Parliament and a number of other European Union institutions. In the past, it has been part of German territory, so its culture is a mix of French and German. In fact, it has changed hands between France and Germany four times in the last 150 years. Our tour guide’s grandparents lived under both French and German rule, and had to make the transition from one to the other three separate times. France and Germany have very different legal and political structures, as well as languages, so it must have been very difficult to adapt each time the city changed from one to the other.

The historic city center of Strasbourg, the Grand Ile, is an island in the Ill River, which flows through Strasbourg before joining the Rhine. The Grand Ile has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988. The Ile is full of magnificently preserved and very beautiful examples of medieval architecture, particularly the Strasbourg Cathedral, which was constructed between 1176 and 1439. Its 466 foot high north spire made the cathedral the tallest building in the world from 1647 until 1874. The cathedral is also noted for its massive (18 meter tall) and intricate astronomical clock, completed in 1843. The current clock replaced an earlier one built in the 16th century, the remains of which are preserved in the Museum of Decorative Arts.

We had a wonderful time wandering around Grand Ile on our own after the end of the organized tour, taking lots of photos, and having a leisurely lunch, dining outside at one of the many local cafes. After returning to the ship, we walked into the town of Kehl and did some further exploring.

From Kehl, the ship sailed that evening to Breisach, Germany. Our excursions on the following day took us to Freiburg, Germany and Colmar, France. Look for an upcoming post on those outings.

Posted by Alan K. Lee, April 12, 2019

All photos by and property of the author

Rhine River Cruise: Cologne and the Middle Rhine

The second and third days of our Rhine River cruise took us to Cologne, then the villages and castles of the Middle Rhine region. After leaving Kinderdijk (see my previous post) on the afternoon of our first full day of cruising, our “longship” navigated its way to the Rhine, and then upstream to Cologne overnight.

“Love locks”, Hohenzollern Bridge, Cologne

My wife and I took two guided tours on the second day of our cruise. In the morning our guide led a tour of the old historic city center. Normally that includes a tour of the cathedral, but it was Sunday, so tour groups were not allowed in. We had the afternoon to ourselves, though, so we were able to tour it independently later that day – a very impressive structure, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe.

We also spent a good bit of time that afternoon exploring the Museum Ludwig (modern art, including a large collection of Picasso’s), and the nearby Roman-Germanic Museum, which preserves a Roman villa from the third century B.C. that was unearthed during the construction of a bomb shelter in 1941. Both are adjacent to the cathedral. If you’re an art and history buff, those are two places you do not want to miss.

Cologne ( Koln) was founded by the Romans in the fist century A.D. (The Roman name for the city, Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, was shortened and became Cologne to the French and Koln to the Germans.) The city was heavily bombed during World War II, and 95% of the central city was destroyed. Only the cathedral, city hall, and a few other buildings survived. A lot of the rebuilding was done in a style to match the surviving buildings, so much of what you see when you visit looks old and historic, but is in fact less than 70 years old.

Cologne’s city hall is built on the site of the ancient Roman Praetorium, which was the seat of government of the Roman province of Germania Inferior until 475 A.D. The Praetorium was destroyed in an earthquake in the late eighth century. Cologne municipal government was formed around 1100, and the original city hall building was constructed in the mid-12th century. The current structures date from as early as 1330.

Construction of the Cologne Cathedral began in 1248. In 1478 construction was halted and the cathedral remained unfinished for another 400 years. It wasn’t until 1880 that it was completed to the original medieval plan. The cathedral was damaged by a number of bombing raids in WWII, but remained standing, and repairs were completed in 1956.

Detail of the Cologne Cathedral exterior

Our second tour in Cologne was an optional pub crawl that evening, led by a local guide. In Cologne each pub has a working agreement with one of the local breweries that produce the local brew, called kolsch. Each pub serves only one brand of kolsch, so to sample a variety of different kolsches, we visited four pubs. Kolsch is served in small seven ounce straight-sided glasses. You never have to order a refill. An empty glass is considered the order and will be refilled without your asking. A coaster placed over the top of the glass is the signal that you do not want a refill. Needless to say, we had a great time, drank our fill of good beer, and the guide managed to get all of us back to the ship before it left that night.

Spay, Germany, viewed from Marksburg Castle

The next morning found us in Koblenz. After breakfast on board, most of us boarded a bus that took us to Marksburg Castle. It’s not the prettiest castle along the Rhine (in my opinion), but it is the most intact. It is the only castle that was never attacked, so you get a better peak at what castle life was like back in the middle ages. Many of its rooms display historically accurate recreations of how they looked and functioned in medieval times. It was all very interesting, but also very crowded.

Back on the ship, we spent the afternoon cruising the Middle Rhine Valley (sometimes called the Rhine Gorge), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here the Rhine flows through a narrow valley with picturesque villages along the shore and many castles high above the river on the ridges either side.

The cruise ships travel this section of the river during the day both because it is the most scenic part of the river and because it is difficult to navigate in places. The famous Lorelei Rock is on this section of the river.

Late that afternoon we docked in Rudesheim and spent the evening exploring on our own. Rudesheim is a small, picturesque town, like many that we passed earlier in the day. It was a pleasant end to a very nice day. By this point I was fully onboard with the idea of doing more river cruising in the future. Maybe the Danube next time, perhaps.

Our cruise continued with stops in Heidelberg, then Strasbourg and Colmar, France, and a tour of Freiberg, Germany before disembarking in Basel, Switzerland. Look for future posts on the remainder of our trip.

Posted by Alan K. Lee, 3/21/19

All photos by the author

Rhine River Cruise: Amsterdam and Kinderdijk

Our Rhine River cruise began in Amsterdam and our first port of call was Kinderdijk, Netherlands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Neither are actually on the Rhine River, but a network of canals that crisscrosses The Netherlands and connects to the Rhine allowed our “longship” to sail from Amsterdam to Kinderdijk, and then on to the lower Rhine.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a major transportation hub as well as a popular tourist destination. Many travelers headed to other places in Europe travel through Amsterdam, and many of them stay for a day or two. Many others come to Amsterdam for a variety of reasons – to visit Amsterdam’s many outstanding museums or the famous (or infamous) red light district, to tour the Anne Frank House, some to experience the liberal and tolerant culture of Amsterdam, and a few, I’m sure, come for the “coffee shops” where they can smoke marijuana in public without risk of arrest.

I came for none of those reasons, but simply because it was the embarkation point for our cruise, and because my wife wanted to visit Amsterdam. I had no real desire to see Amsterdam. But I quickly fell in love with the city. It’s crowded, noisy, and surprisingly dirty. Dam Square, the heart of Amsterdam, is filled with people elbow to elbow during the day, and filled with their left behind trash in the evening. The Nieumarkt Square, which our Airbnb rental faced, didn’t quiet down until two or three in the morning. Normally, all of that would be reason for me to dislike a place. But none of it really mattered.

There is a vibrancy and energy to the city that is a more than a little bit intoxicating. It’s a thoroughly modern city, but with a long and deep history. It is Dutch, certainly, but it is also one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world. Almost everyone in Amsterdam speaks English, but there is little about the city that is evocative of either England or America. No city in the U.S. even remotely resembles Amsterdam. And therein lies much of its appeal. It’s exotic and yet very approachable and understandable. The people are friendly. The atmosphere is relaxed. It’s easy to feel at home there. And it’s an immensely interesting place. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that there is something for everyone there.

Getting around Amsterdam is pretty easy. Most of the major attractions are within walking distance of the Central Station. The city also has a good public transit system. But the best way to get around is probably by bicycle. There are plenty of places to rent bikes at reasonable rates, and there are dedicated bike paths everywhere. You will quickly find that Amsterdam is a city of bicycles and bike riders.

Art pervades the city, not just in the museums, but in the streets, and in the culture. Our first night’s stay was in the Art’otel Amsterdam, a boutique hotel near the main railway station (Central Station), that houses a surprisingly interesting gallery. And there are hundreds of other galleries and art museums scattered throughout the city.

The two most prominent museums, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum are both on the Museumplein, as is the Stedilijk Museum (contemporary art and design). The Museumplein is about a mile and a half south of Central Station. That should be one of your must-see destinations. The Anne Frank House is another must see.

Museum tickets can be purchased online. Also check out the Amsterdam City Pass and I Amsterdam cards. Both offer free “skip the line” entrance to the major museums. Tickets to the Anne Frank House are available only online and are not included in either card. Also note that tickets to both the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House are time specific, so advance planning is a must.

Our Rhine River cruise began with boarding our “longship” (the Viking Mani), and dinner onboard. That was the first of many outstanding meals served on the ship – and the first of many pleasant surprises on the cruise. (See my previous post for more information on river cruises in Europe.) The ship left Amsterdam well after dark, and we arrived at Kinderdijk the following morning.

Kindedijk

The largest surviving group of ancient windmills in the world is in village of Kindedijk, Netherlands, located about 50 miles from Rotterdam in the province of South Holland. Kinderdijk was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

The entire area was once one giant peat bog. The first settlers built their homes on the local sand dunes nearly a thousand years ago. Over time, the fertile soil brought others to the area. In the 13th century district water boards were formed to coordinate the building and maintenance of the dikes and canals needed to drain areas of the bog and keep waters out of the resulting polders. But over time the soil of the polders subsided, and the Lek River level rose due to siltation.

After a disastrous flood in 1421 killed thousands of people and damaged or destroyed many of the dikes, the water districts decided a better system of water management was needed, leading to the construction of a group of stone windmills in 1738 and an additional group of wooden windmills in 1740. Of the original 20 windmills, nineteen survive and remain operational.

The name Kinderdijk means Children’s Dike. Legend has it that after the 1421 flood a cradle was discovered bobbing in the flooded fields. In the cradle were an unharmed baby and a cat. The cat was said to be jumping from side to side to keep the cradle balanced and preventing it from tipping over.

In the late 1800s steam powered pump stations began taking over the primary pumping needs. These were replaced by diesel powered stations in the early 20th century. During World War II the occupying German army commandeered all diesel supplies, so the residents had to once again rely on the windmills to keep their land dry.

Currently two large electrically powered pump stations provide the primary pumping power, but the old windmills remain operational and serve as a backup to the modern pumps. One of the old pump stations now serves as a visitor center, and two of the windmills are open to the public.

From Kinderdijk our cruise joined the lower Rhine River and proceeded on to Cologne, Germany. Look for future posts on the rest of our Rhine River cruise, including Cologne, Heidelberg, and Freiberg, Germany, the castles of the Middle Rhine, and Strasbourg and Colmar, France.

Posted by Alan K. Lee, 3/1/19

All photos by the author