We began our day (after breakfast, of course) at the Museum of Modern German History (Haus der
Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) in Bonn (which was of course the West German capital).
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| Old U.S. Willys Jeep |
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| The original FRG Bundestag seats. You can sit in them and everything! |
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| In case you didn't know, the GDR (East German government) was a bunch of dicks. |
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| Italian-style soda parlor, all the kids were wondering why no one served them... |
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| East German DIY lawnmower, made from pram wheels and a bunch of other recycled parts. See my earlier comment about the GDR. |
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| GDR "craftsmanship" |
The museum presents a very well-organized and thoughtful
presentation of German history since the second World War, from the division by
the Allied forces, to the West's Wirtschaftswunder ("economic miracle") recovery in the 1950s, , on to the
eventual reunification and into the present day.
The museum presents an unvarnished view of the closing of the war
and the hardships endured by the West in rebuilding their economy, as well as
the extremely stark and oppressive rule of the East as part of the Soviet Bloc.
When I was a teenager and visited Steffi the first time, there
were still two Germanies – I was one of the rare Westerners who had the
opportunity to travel to both West *and* East Berlin, so I can speak directly
to the contrast between the two. Touring
the museum, I was somewhat emotional to have returned to the unified Germany
and took some time to reflect on how far this modern, wonderful country has
come.
After the modern history museum, we drove down to the banks of the
Rhine where Ludger dropped us off so we could catch a boat from Bonn to Linz
(it’s the same trip back up, so he very graciously agreed to pick us up at the
end.
Rick Steves calls this section of the Rhine the “unromantic Rhine” but I have to wonder if he took the Drachenfels into account. Drachenfels is the site of and old ruined castle high atop a cliff overlooking the Rhine. It is the place where (according to legend) the great German hero Siegfried killed the dragon Fafnir.
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| Steffi, with the Drachenfels in the background. |
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| Drachenfels. The Drachenburg is to the left, lower on the hill. |
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| Lots of cyclists up and down the Rhine valley. |
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| The kids staying out of the wind |
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| Everyone looking out the front of the boat. |
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| Fish-shaped tour boat. Steffi said they built this some years ago after a Beluga whale got lost and swam up the Rhine. |
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| Remagen |
The boat continued down through some other interesting sites, including the famous “Bridge at Remagen” which was destroyed in the late days of the war. Part of the bridge itself – as well as the two towers on either side – still remain.
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| Remnants of the Bridge at Remagen. |
We debarked and met up with Ludger and took a stroll through Linz,
which has a charming and very friendly old downtown area. We checked out the Linz Torture Museum (hey, who doesn't love a torture museum?) and stopped in a shop on the square for some
“spaghetti ice cream” (which the kids enjoyed VERY much) and made our way back
to the car.
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| Hi, I'm Luigi, I'll be your torturer today... |
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| If your torturer had one of these, he probably wasn't a very good torturer. |
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| Shame mask, used for minor offenses such as gossiping or gluttony |
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| Max and Erin and Luis played a lot of street soccer with random objects. |
After dinner, we stopped off briefly at the house to see Caruso
and then popped into Dernau for a non-German (but still fantastic) Chinese
buffet! The family who owns the
restaurant is very friendly, and the staff couldn’t stop telling Max how good
his hair looked.
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