Worms (re-corrected)

OK let's try this again...

Just in case you looked at the blog today and thought, "wow, that entry made even less sense than usual", it was because a big portion of it was missing. It has since been corrected.

So without further ado, I present the Worms entry of Tony's Okra Haven in its entirety...

Sunday I decided to take a small trip. I was looking at a book about Germany and saw that the town of Worms (pronounced Vorms) was the one of the areas that makes Liebfraumilch wine. I read that “(the wine style goes) back the two single vineyard sites in Worms, situated next to the Church of Our Lady (Unsere Liebe Frau) known even today as the "Liebfrauenstift" and the "Liebfrauenstift Kirchenstück ". These are the high-quality wines, examples in the USA will usually be by producer Valckenberg, who own most of the vineyard.” I don’t know if it’s supposed to be good, but I’ve liked the ones that I’ve tried. I do know that when I mentioned the style to Emily at the Wine Market in Louisville, she kind of pushed her nose into the air and said (somewhat emphatically, “you didn’t get it here.” Now, I’m not here to drink snooty wine, but I am willing to (just in case anyone decides that they want to come over and buy me a case drink some snooty wine).

I’ve also read that Worms is a neat little town, and being as how it’s not far from here (less than 40 km). I thought it would be a perfect Sunday afternoon trip. So I decided to check it out. I made it there in practically no time on the Autobahn. The Tacoma was cruising down the road at a respectable (or so I thought) 85-90 mph. The CD player was blarin’, the GPS was navigatin’, the cruise control was controllin’, and Audis and BMWs was passin’ me like I was standin’ still.

You need to look to the rear twice when you are on the Autobahn. The first time is just to see if there is a car there, and then you look away before you look back again. You need to do this get a feeling for how fast the car is coming. Let’s just say you’re cruising along at around 60 mph in the U.S. You look at the rear view mirror and see a car really coming up fast. Chances are that car is only going 50% faster than you are (that is roughly 90 mph for The Haven’s “computationally challenged” readers). Now consider that you are cruising along at about 75 mph on the Autobahn, and you look in your rear view and see a car. You look away and before you look back again, the car could be along side you. This guy could be going twice as fast as you are. Which is, as my buddy Dennis in Kentucky would call, “runnin’ like a scalded cat!”

Anyway, I made it to Worms and proceeded to check out the town &c. Being that this was a Sunday there were not many places open, but I did check out a few of the churches and such. The first was St. Peter’s Cathedral which, like most things around here see to be, was undergoing rehabilitations. However, being as it was originally built in the 12 century, I’m willing to cut it some slack. It is really beautiful. The interior is incredibly ornate in some places, and very stark and simple in others.

I also got a couple of pictures of St. Paul’s Church which used to be, and maybe still is, a Monastery.



Then it was on to see some remnants of the city wall. Apparently the city had recorded maps of it’s walls in the 10th century. A brochure I picked up says that Worms is the oldest town in Germany. Maybe I need to come back and pay more attention next time.



I walked down along the Rhein for a bit. When I got to the end of the path I looked over to my left and saw the Liebfrauenkirche itself.



I saw in another brochure that the church is supposed to have some great stained glass windows. I also saw on another website that there is a church just across the river from Wiesbaden that has windows by Marc Chagall. And another church just down the road a piece that has an ossuary in the back. According to the website it contains the bones of 20,000 skeletons that are from the years 1400 to 1750.

I’ve got to see that!

Hey Jimmy, look what I found along the Rhein in Worms…