I have a good morning today. A long glass corridor leads us to the dinning room of the hotel.
The restaurant is in a building (left) once used as a concert hall. I can select various kinds of ham and cheese, and I can order to fry egg at the service table.
At 10:00 a.m. Klaus and Kaeko picked us up from the hotel. I wear a coat I bought yesterday.
We first visited an open market in Herford town office place. Yes, Wednesday is a market day. Thee are many kinds of vegetables, meat, and flowers on the wagons that fill the place.
Keiko often visits here because he can find good fish stand here. She is happy today because she could find wonderful mushroom she has long been looking for.
After enjoying local residents' daily life, we then visited a church, which features two spires of different shape. The spires are so high that I hardly take the whole shape of them. Kaeko explained that it took more than 300 years to complete the two towers and the shapes of the spires naturally became different from each other. The church is in Lemgo.
We then came up to Detmold to see the colossus of Hermann. It is said that such a colossus is rare in Germany. The colossus known as "Hermann the Germany" is to honor the memory of Hermann, the Cherusci, who freed the German people from the Roman oppression. The monument was first erected in 1875. Visitors can climb up to the winding stairs up to the circular overview terrace. I could enjoy a grand view of rural landscape dotted with red roofs of the houses in the prairie.
We took a rest and snack at a small food stand in the park. I found a cigarette vending machine. Such vending machine itself is very rare, they say.
Next stop is Extersteine in Horn Bad Meinberg. The unusual shaped mass of rock was used as a holly place of primitive religious ceremony, they say. I climbed up the steep stairs that lead me to the height of the rocks. There is an alter in the sanctuary in the Rock 2. A round hole carved in the altar allows the morning sunlight to penetrate in the altar. The rock relief of "Descent of Christ from the cross" is very unusual art carved in the first half of the 12th century.
A narrow walkway called "Avenue of 1813" passes through Rock 3 and Rock 4 on which a large stone "Balanced Stone" sits on the top. The Stone looks like very threatening than it really is. After vain attempts to topple it down, because of its supposed danger to fall, it was finally fastened by iron-hooks in 1813 by a lord who governed the area.
Next, we visited Hameln. This is very famous town of Pide Piper of Hameln by Grimm fairy story. There is a clockwork mechanism in the wall of the municipal marriage registration office. The Dolls come out at 15:30 every day with the chimes of the bells.
The bells started to ring at 15:30, the door opened and the Pied Piper doll appeared. Many rats followed him in line.
The Pide Piper got rid of the rats successfully, but the town people didn't pay him in violation with the promise. Pide Piper got angry and when all the grown-ups were at church, he played the flute again. This time, all the kids followed him. They all soon vanished somewhere.
Only two children were left behind, one was blind and another was deaf. They couldn't tell what happened to the grown-ups.
Many people gathered in the place to watch a short performance.
As I felt something hungry, I got a pack of vinegar herring sandwich. It was very tasty. I took a picture with a Pide Piper model.
There are many beautiful gabled houses in Hameln and flowerpots are everywhere in the pleasant streets. White rats teach and lead the visitors to the points of interests in the town.
This is a restaurant named Rattenfangers. The menu reads "blood of rat", "rat tail", and other terrible name. On the three plates on the white wall the story is written that reads: "On June 26, 1284, the Piper and 130 children disappeared from the town." On a street in the town called Bungelose Gasse (Drumless Lane), it is still forbidden to sing or play instrument in it.
Hameln is located on the bank of Weser, the third largest river in Germany. The streets are filled with beautiful houses featuring Weser Renaissance.
Today, I first got on an Autobahn by Mr. Klaus's car. Unlike usual, he doesn't drive so fast. The outmost lane is for trucks, middle lane for low traffics, and center lane is for passing-by cars. I have had a very good day today.
