A short train ride from Stuttguart to Baden-Baden where we simply strolled around.
A beautiful grounds for the spa resort and casino - Kurhaus. Built between 1821 and 1824.
Baden-Baden is known for it's warm springs. This is Trinkhalle, Baden-Baden's Pump Room, with its
Corinthian pillars and striking murals. Ever since Roman times, people have stood on this
spot and enthused over Baden-Baden and the healing powers of its water
from a 17,000 year old Friedrichsbad spring.
Paul and Melody Moore outside the Pump House. Melody has family from Baden-Baden so we decided to
visit while in Stuttgart. It was fun going back to her roots.
Wall fountain
Baden-Baden street and appartments
Fresh seafood market
Creative medallions on a building overhang.
After Baden-Baden we took a short train ride to Freiburg. In the center of this very picturesque
town is the Freiburg Minster. The building started around 1200 in Romanesque style the construction
continued in 1230 in Gothic style.
Freiburg was founded by Konrad and Duke Berthold III of Zahringen in 1120 as a free market town;
hence its name, which translates to "free (or independent) town." Frei means "free", and
Burg also means "a fortified town."
Thus, it is likely that the name of this place means a "fortified town of free citizens."
Gold statue in front of the church
It is the only Gothic church tower in Germany that was completed in the Middle Ages (1330),
and miraculously, has lasted until the present, surviving the bombing raids of November 1944,
which destroyed all the houses on the west and north side of the market
Another statue with the Freiburg Minster in the background
Freiburg Minster exterior detail
Freiburg Minster stained glass
The nave windows were donated by the guilds, and the symbols of the guilds, are featured on them.
The deep red color in some of the windows is not the result of a dye, but instead the result of a
suspension of solid gold nano particles.
Candles light a statue of the Madonna.
.
Inside the Freiburg Minster
And of course gargoyles
High in the buttresses is a gold statue
The front of the church - I was intrigued by the plants growing high on the church.
Freiburg apartments with beautiful flower boxes
Houses and businesses along the marketplace.
The Martinstor (English Martin's Gate), a former town fortification on Kaiser-Joseph-Strase,
is the older of the two gates of Freiburg preserved since medieval times.
Restaurants next to a small canal in Freiburg
Freiburg street
The town seal of Freiburg on a manhole cover
Statue in the market square
The New Palace the magnificent 18th Century Baroque residence of the Kings of
Württemberg from 1746 to 1797 and from 1805 to 1807.
The World War II air raids on February 21, 1944, New Palace was almost completely burned to the
ground by Allied bombs, leaving only the facade standing. For many years, preservationists
fought to rebuild the New Palace (once, it was nearly demolished in favor of a hotel) until 1957
when finally it was agreed that the castle would be rebuilt - by one vote.
Opera House in Stuttgart - we watched Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven. Well, Virginia Ann
and David saw the whole thing, Cal ducked out at the intermission.
Our last night in Eastern Europe - the next day we flew back to the United States.