Traveling by car from Lüneburg to Bavaria gave us an opportunity to make an overnight stop in Nurnberg at the Hotel Drei Raben. I had stayed here a couple of years before on my trip to Bayreuth for the Ring.

Just steps across the hotel in the historic pedestrian zone is the Neuses Museum. It was an unexpected find, with collection of Gerhard Richters and Bernard Luries. The museum’s widely swooped facade was a dramatic complement to the historic buildings surrounding the museum.

Inside, the whimsical staircase draws you immediately to the collections upstairs. The curved exterior wall contrasts intimate views of old buildings outside. It guides your eye along the entire length of the neighborhood. Generous community and additional gallery space are located in the level below.

The building was one of many numerous museum, school and research facilities designed by Staab Architects. Notable projects include the Albertinum in Dresden and the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg.

The Neues Museum proudly houses a permanent collection of Gerhard Richter paintings. Because Richter’s work imbeds a long span of both German and modern art history, his paintings are in high demand and sell for over $30 million at global auction houses.

Richter was born in Dresden and got his training at the Dresden Academy of Art. He later joined the Dusseldorf Academy and taught there. He designed the south window of Köln Cathedral in his signature pattern of colorful squares.

Richter uses horizontal brush strokes and dry brush techniques to obscure the subject matter. In doing so, he forces the viewer to question what is real. This insight helped me to appreciate the beauty of his work.

Bernard Lurie is another artist originally from Eastern Europe. He fled to Berlin during WW2 and then eventually made his way to the US. His sculpting of the human figure and graphic references to the human form appealed to me.

Nurnberg along the Pedestrian Zone

Good Design Award

Look! A Charging Station! Also. storage for large carry-on bags for tourists schlepping from the nearby railway station makes this museum a top hit for me.

After our trip abroad to Bulgaria to see opera diva Sonya Yoncheva at the Ancient Theater in Plovdiv, we flew back to Frankfurt, Germany. I caught up with sketch buddy Hazel from Heidlberg to travel by train back to Luneburg, my base in Germany. We met in Cologne for a side trip to Aachen, a UNESCO world heritage site. While most architects would consider visiting the Cologne Cathedral in all its Gothic glory, the earlier Aachen Cathedral is equally, if not more, impressive.

Aachen Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The history of Aachen is intimately tied to Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Crowned in 800 on Christmas Day by Pope Leo III in Rome, Charlemagne is also known as Charles the Great or Karl Der Grosse. Having multiple names in different languages seems to obfuscate his fame and the fact that he is one and the same individual.

Charlemagne was a multi-tasker. As King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian Empire, he conquered the Saxons, the Allemands, and the Moors. As the Holy Roman Emperor, he consolidated Christianity in Western Europe. He was considered “Frankish” but spoke a language similar to what is German today.

After his father and brother died, he controlled large swaths of Europe. He chose his palace in the old Roman settlement with natural mineral springs and rebuilt Aachen Cathedral over the previous site. Over thirty German kings were crowned in this chapel.

The exquisite beauty and high quality of this cathedral impressed me. The stained glass windows, perhaps recently cleaned and replaced, were the most vibrant colors I had seen of any, and the decorated ceilings and walls were laden with gold in a tasteful and restrained manner.

The octagonal layout reflects the Romanesque buildings in Italy that preceded the taller, reaching for the sky Gothic buildings. Its structure was among one of the first of its kind and helped to establish itself as a UNESCO World Heritage site. This unique and marvelous building is worth a special trip to see it for both architects and the general public.

City of Aachen and Cathedral Exterior

All that Glitters is Gold

Cologne Cathedral

The later and better-known Gothic Cathedral in Cologne built around 1200 has its own magnificent place in architectural history. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Compared with Aachen, Cologne is much more ornate from the exterior. Despite it being the largest and tallest Gothic churches in Northern Europe, Cologne’s twin towers seem short and buried into massive side supports. The towers do not appear as elegant as later Gothic structures.

Nevertheless, its interior is a sight to behold. The Biblical stories are clearly depicted in the stained glass windows. The mosaics contain more white background and allow more light into the interior but are less brilliant than the windows in Aachen.Gerhard Richter designed one of the stained glass windows in the chapel.

The structure was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in World War II, but it was restored by 1956. While this is the more famous cathedral that architects yearn to visit, the Aachen Cathedral is equally worthy of a visit.

The East Asian Art Museum, Cologne

Wealthy collectors of East Asian Art in the early 20th Century became founders of this museum. They collected a wide spectrum of excellent examples of Japanese calligraphy, porcelain ware, early Chinese bronzes, and miniature rock sculpture.

After a long-awaited pause in Luneburg at Annemarie’s home, we are preparing for the final leg of our journey. We will be traveling by car from Luneburg due South to Verona, Italy, stopping in Annemarie’s birthplace and heimat outside Munich, Bavaria. Come join us for the rest of the trip!

Located along the Ilmenau River, Lüneburg is conveniently located a half hour by train from Hamburg. This beautiful and wealthy Hanseatic city has a history founded on its salt deposits. Salt was coveted in Europe and was transported from this area along the river since its discovery.

We think of salt used at the table to flavor food, but it was also essential for food preservation. In fact, over 80 per cent is devoted to the production of building and plastic. Another small percentage is used to salt roads.

The merchants of Lüneburg built fancy homes and tall buildings. They consolidated power in the 16th Century and battled against the ducal regime to become a free state. The Lüneburg patricians are lesser known than the Venetians, but were just as wealthy and prominent.

Because of their proximity to the bog and Lüneburg Heath, a rise from the salt extraction, the earth was unstable. Many buildings subsided. The exteriors and local brick finishes are wavy gravy or look like leaning towers of Pisa, all sorrowfully showing their age and arduous future.

Copper roofing is prevalent throughout Luneburg, a further display of the city’s wealthy heritage. Local red brick was used for all the major buildings, including the St. John’s Lutheran Church. It was converted from a cathedral to a protestant church after the Reformation. A model of the spire is shown below.

The City Museum

A couple of displays in the City Museum showed architectural elements in buildings. The numerous windows and levels of an exposed timber structure would have been a child’s delight. The model depicting the steeple at St. John’s Church demonstrates the intricacy of the construction. The heavy assembly further added to the weight of the building and its impact on poor soil.

Excellent curated bilingual displays explained the paleontology, anthropological and contemporary history. Cess pits used to collect human waste were mined to yield household pottery, leather, and artifacts.

The East Prussian Museum

Another new museum in town connected alot of dots for me. In particular, where Prussia was located. Elector King Friedrich Wilhelm and the Hollenzollern family ruled over the area between Danzig and Königsberg (Kaliningrad), its capital. Dresden houses many of the treasures from the Prussian rulers.

When Napoleon defeated Prussia in 1807, the queen of Prussia, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, tried to plead with Napoleon for favorable terms. Two completely different depictions of the unsuccessful meeting were displayed. One was a sculpture indicating the diminutive Napoleon next to the powerful queen, and the large painting showed a different perspective, with Napoleon confident and the Queen at his mercy.

The museum also presents the history of the refugees who were forced to flee after World War II.

Living in Lüneburg

Living in Annemaries’s home gives me a glimpse of life as a resident in this frisky city of 185,000. Both tourists and residents enjoy active pedestrian shopping areas, numerous restaurants and cafes, and convenient transportation in the center of town. I can watch, hear and feel my tummy pulsate at each pit stop, whether it’s due to the frothy German pastries, cream coffees, or evening wine set precisely to the .11L mark that I snuck.

Spargel season is in full tilt so various thicknesses of the succulent stalks are batched and sold at the market. Solid German efficiency is evident in the display of Lovers’ locks packed along the river’s balustrade.

A industrial-strength iron at Annemarie’s assured me that I was going to get a permanent military-pressed fold on any piece of clothing or napkin.

I’m off to Berlin in the next few days for my fourth encounter of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, so stay tuned!

Perth appears to be the last major urban vestige of the world on a standard two-dimensional global map. As mentioned previously, I was reminded that it’s only five hours from Singapore. Australia is to us, a corner of the world, when it isn’t. Being here helps me to undo that bias.

The 35 degree heat, long sun-lit days from 5am to past 10pm and chokingly clear air are other mental adjustments. A brisk wind returns evenings to manageable temperatures. It reminds me of the hours when fog rolls into San Francisco around 3:30 in the afternoons.

After four days in transit observing the Australian landscape with passive wonder, I am now actively challenged to interact with the environment and people. My first adventure was a one-hour side trip by train to Fremantle, a cozy little town on the coast of Western Australia.

Fremantle Prison

Known as the Mound, the octagonal building constructed in 1830 served as an outlook as well as the gallows for misbehaved convicts.

This prison preceded the larger Fremantle prison constructed in 1850.

Fremantle offers an opportunity to escape the sprawling dreariness of Perth. The streets have a neighborhood feel with quaint shops, galleries and cafes.

I wandered into a gallery and ended up purchasing an Aboriginal work. I was captivated by the history and subject matter of the artists represented in the gallery. The gallery manager gave me an unrushed introduction to Aboriginal women artists.

I took a break after a long walk in the seering heat for outdoor seating at Pasta Addiction. I also asked if I could charge my phone there. The more you use your blue dot on the phone, the faster you deplete its battery. On top of the 35 degree heat, I wondered if my remote brain wasn’t going to explode!

Perth Art Gallery

I’m not sure what the difference between an art gallery and a museum, but this gallery was monumental. The exhibitions of Aboriginal art were commendable, but I’m not sure the scale of the building warranted being built. The donors must have place a high value on the lasting nature of art, or it would not exist.