Had a great sleep until 08:30 followed by a fabulous breakfast before leaving on the 100km trip to to the old Roman town of Xanten on the Rhine near the Dutch border.The Roman foundations were discovered during building works and the entire section of land is now closed to further development as the Roman history is revealed. Part of the archeological activity is to rebuild in the original style and materials for research and preservation. Included is a substantial covered bathhouse and large museum which if we had the time could have filled in most of the day. One comment about the day is that it was bloody bitter, we think a couple of degrees below zero and I recon that the Antarctic may be warmer!!
Mid afternoon we walked over to the Kriemhildmuhle, a 14th century working windmill. What is interesting is that the Dutch influence in this area is very strong and their names appear everywhere in the town.
Next on the list was the old St Victor cathedral which can trace it´s roots back to the 4th century and is build on the foundations of an old Roman tomb claimbed to be that of St Victor. The present cathedral was commenced early in the 12th century.
No day would be complete without a pub meal in the 15th century Gotisches Haus, a saurbraten with red cabbage and hot gluhwein.
The trip home to Leverkusen was great, the car was warm and I had a good sleep. This evening we had light snow.
No comments:
Post a Comment