Tag Archives: medieval

Gallery: Hameln

Gallery: Museumsdorf Düppel Fairy Tale Festival

Elliott alerted me to a sign he saw advertising a fairy tale festival at a museum that is a recreation of a medieval German village. We decided to attend, and while it was very lovely and fun, it was raining quite hard and the actually storytelling was forced into tiny tents. Rather than elbow children out of the way for my own selfish interests, I opted to wander the grounds and try to talk to the staff. Language proved to be a challenge, because contrary to popular belief not everyone in Germany speaks English, especially older people who grew up in the East before the reunification. However, I did manage to learn a bit about “Schlüsselblumen”, or “key flowers”, which is the flower we call Cowslips. She explained that it was part of the folklore of fairies, elves, and woodland spirits, although I am not certain how. It is also known as the more Christianized “Himmelsschlüsselblumen”, or “Keys of Heaven Flowers”. It was a lovely, if not rainy, afternoon.

Gallery: Bremen

My search for the Bremen Town Musicians statue was thwarted because a refugee rally was taking place in the town square. I returned the next day and was able to locate my statue. I did get the chance to explore St. Petri cathedral and much of the architecture of the square. Bremen is known as a blue collar town, and in the modern day has some fairly obvious issues with drugs, alcohol, and homelessness. Someone tried to pick my pocket in the train station, and I encountered several people who were clearly either mentally ill or intoxicated who were aggressively panhandeling. I also encountered an elderly man loudly and endlessly singing a song about cuckoos on a park bench.

It is interesting to note that all 5 of Germany’s veterinary schools have a statue of the Bremen Town Musicians in front of them.

Gallery: Nikolaiviertel

Nikolaiviertel (“Nicholas Quarter”) is the oldest part of Berlin, dating back to 1200. Like everything in the city, what we are seeing is not the original neighborhood, but a post-war reconstruction.