23/5 A very Bonny Day (funny)

Wednesday 23 Bonn

My day started badly . . . . stop laughing Stephie. I headed off early to the supermarket that we hadn’t been to in order to get some muesli and yoghurt for brekky. This all went well until I realised that all the shops and stalls had opened while I was inside and everything looked different. Where the hell did we stay last night? Round and round and up and down until I tracked back to within sight of the supermarket and started again.

(J says: *sigh* I really shouldn't let him out on his own. lol)

I made it back to the unit and while fiddling with the large bunch of keys, dropped one yoghurt, which split and sprayed yoghurt all over the steps and ricocheted onto my pants. I said The word and then dropped the other one. Another splatter on pants and steps. I took half the stuff upstairs , tore off a bundle of toilet roll, back down to smear the yoghurt off and fetch the rest back up. The stairs are incredibly steep and narrow and curved. We had to get a chef from the restaurant downstairs to carry the biggest bag up yesterday.

There was enough yoghurt left to enable us to digest the muesli and then we tried to remember what time Elisabeth was coming to collect us – she had said 9.30 but when she left she said 10.30. J looked out at 9.30 and glimpsed the black Audi arriving so we hurried down and headed off to Bonn, about half an hour away. We had a walk around, looking at the architecture and squares.

 We then had a walk round the house where Beethoven was born, which had been set up as a sort of museum filled with musical instruments and objects he had owned or paintings of him and his family and friends.

Beethoven's birthplace

After a bit more of a walk we stopped for a coffee and cake in a square, watching people walking by and generally feeling very cosmopolitan and European. We then walked through the university and looked at the broad park behind, and on to another cathedral.

University is housed in a rather grand chateau(schloss)

Cathedral (above) and cloisters (below)

Section of original city wall

We retrieved the car and took a scenic detour down the East bank of the Rhine to the Grand Kahuna hotel. This was quite striking and even the trip downstairs to the opulent toilets was well worthwhile. This was round about when we discovered that Elisabeth and I had been supporting the same software products for Wang computers in the 1990s, her in Bonn and me in Canberra.

Moby Dick, goes from city to Sea World

Outside we noticed a strange looking glass cabinet out in the open between the car park and the river. On closer inspection, it turned out to be an unlocked outdoor library!! You just took books out and replaced them or added new books whenever you chose. Several people came and used the facility in the few moments we stood there.  Can you imagine trying that in Perth? J was struck by the restaurant outside our hotel in Mainz, which just left its outdoor chairs and tables sitting on the footpath overnight. In Perth they would either be stolen or set alight.

What a great idea

Next Elisabeth took us back to the chateau or schloss (although it was called a borg because there had been an old fort on the same spot). It had belonged to a remarkable man named Clement Augustus who had been a duke and a bishop in the 18^th century. He was one of 9 dukes who were allowed to vote to elect the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which comprised most of Europe.  This left him the 3^rd most powerful man in Europe, after the Pope and the Emperor.

Elisabeth kindly bought us tickets for the guided English tour of the chateau, which had been built to serve as a reception centre for important visitors. It was designed to impress and that it certainly did. Elisabeth had told us that it had an amazing staircase but that understated just what a huge and sensational entrance it provided.

The guide did a splendid job of describing and explaining all aspects of the chateau and the lives of the inhabitants. The entry chamber looked for all the world to have a domed ceiling, but it is apparently flat and the “dome” is the product of clever illusion by the painter. (Who took only 14 days to paint it - amazing) The huge dining room had an upstairs gallery for musicians and ordinary local people who were allowed to come in and watch the Duke entertaining his important guests. The Germans call this “eating with the eyes”.

The property had been the official reception centre for the West German government during the period when Germany was divided and only the most important international figures were received there. Typically, there would be dinners for about 500. The chateau, the associated hunting lodge and the respective gardens and grounds of the two properties are collectively included in the UN World Heritage List as the finest examples of 18^th century grand properties. We weren’t allowed to touch anything to preserve the excellent quality of the marble finish and the silk or leather wallpaper. No photographs allowed.  The best I can find for you to see images is the following link.
http://www.schlossbruehl.de/media/raw/Kap3_Bruehl_kleiner_neu.pdf or try http://www.schlossbruehl.de/Home which is in German but has some good images.

The hunting lodge had closed already but we had a look from the outside before being driven to Elisabeth’s lovely unit for dinner. She had prepared a culinary treat with chilled carrot and ginger soup, marinated chicken kebabs and a sinful yoghurt/cream with strawberries and strawberry coulee. We had a sat and chat and then she drove us back to the unit.

Elizabeth's lovely house companion