Passau

The southern Bavarian city of Passau was originally established as the Roman colony, Batavia, in the second century B.C. The only thing that is this old in America is the average age of a Republican, so walking around this gorgeous city was heady, astounding, sobering, almost an out-of-body dissociate exercise. Just think to how long people have thrived their, how humanity and civilization has continued on there, in that one place for two millennia. Over two thousand years, before Jesus was born, people were there, evolving culture and society. In that ancient city whose history is prehistorical, I shopped and ate in many buildings that were built in the 13 century. 

One of the most breath-taking things I saw in this nearly 2300 year old city was the St. Stephan’s Cathedral (just think—that church was there even before Jesus was born. No wait a minute.. never mind.) The interior of the church is Italian Baroque in style, replacing an ancient Gothic structure that was destroyed by fire in the seventeenth century. Passau has a rich church history. The St. Severinus monastery was established in Passau in the fifth century, and within two hundred years, the Passau Diocese had grown to become the largest diocese in the Holy Roman Empire. Currently, St. Stephen’s cathedral is the largest church downtown, and it is the church that my cousins, Martina and Florian, attend. The St. Stephen's Cathedral (Der Passauer Stephansdom) is in the the "Old City" (Die Altstadt) portion of town. The pipe organ at St. Stephen's has 17,774 pipes and 233 registers. It was the largest pipe organ in the world from 1924 until it was usurped in 1994 by the First Congregational Church, Los Angeles. You have heard that old joke about the guy streaking through the church, haven’t you? They caught him by the organ. Well at this church, that guy would be easy to catch. Its a really big organ. The one at the church, I mean.

 

Here are the various names of the church at different times in history

Passau was established on the confluence of three rivers; the largest and most well known is the Danube, the other two are the Inn River and the Ilz River. The downside to this natural aquatic beauty is the propensity to flood. As a matter of fact, in June 2013, they experienced the worst flooding in 500 years. One of the buildings next to the river has painted markings documenting the floods. What is hard to see in the photo is the most recent flood is pencilled in, not painted on the building yet; so I added that with Fotor. (Flooding pics are from the internet, since I was not there at the time; otherwise all pics from this post are from my iPhone. I do not own these pics and if the owner reads this and objects to my using them, I will remove them).

 

I had the great pleasure of meeting two of my distant cousins who live in Passau. A third generation American, my German connections have long been lost, and it is only by the magic of the Internet and Facebook that I have been able to reconnect with quiet a few of my German relatives. Martina and Florian are fun, intelligent, warm and exceptionally hospitable. Meeting them was phenomenal, and I am blessed to count them as friends and relatives. We had coffee and pie at the Konditerei Simon. After that, we had a great walking tour of the city, and my Bavarian cousins, both Passau natives gave me a city ... isn't that about the coolest thing in the world? How often in life do you get a personal tour of a foreign city by cousins you just met for the first time?  I have to say, this must surely be one of the highlights of my life.  I do look forward to the day when I can show them around Chicago.  After our walking tour, we ended the visit with coffee and a glass of wine at a amazingly charming cafe. We sat in the outside portion, in a courtyard in the center of the restaurant. We were surrounded by trellises with hanging plants. It was a cool fall evening in October, the air was fresh, the architecture surrounding us medieval Bavarian. The restaurant had thick fuzzy blankets to wrap up in while you enjoyed your hot beverage in the cool autumn air. 

 

This is the Kondieterie Simon, where I met my cousins

The city of Passau was breathtaking. It was never a surprise when I looked at a building and Martina would say “this was built in the 1200’s.” Amazing and awe-inspiring, but not a surprise. The centuries old building had a certain look and feeling to them, as if they have an aura themselves, speaking their own language about the centuries they have seen. The streets in the old part of town were cobblestoned and narrow, and overflowing with pedestrians. There were also many street vendors, entertainers and bicyclists. I saw people selling hot chestnuts, playing the French Horn, and putting on marionette shows. 

 

 

One of the things that I found particularly amusing on my Bavarian tour, is that there is an Irish pub every town. Being half Irish and half German, I found particular personal delight in this. Who doesn't like an Irish pub, after all? Us Irish are loads of fun ... and so are we Bavarians. Considering the two halves of my heritage, its no wonder I seldom take life too seriously. Particular amusing to me was this Irish Pub in Passau, right next to a lederhosen shop. I could buy my lederhosen and go right next door for a Guinness, and celebrate the totality of my heritage in one fell swoop. 

I could go back every year to Bavaria, and in particular, Passau. I hope to return with family and loved ones to share the experience. 

Freising, Lederhosen, Dirndls and Thousand-year old Beer

During my Bavarian Sojourn, I spent a few days in Freising. Freising is a lovely Bavarian city located just north of Munich. Freising has a population of 45,000.

It was a short train commute from Freising to the Oktoberfest, which turned out to be easy and efficient, as German trains are well known for their punctuality. You might say their trains run like a Swiss watch. Which is not a far stretch since DB Bahn runs through Switzerland as well as Germany and Austria. I have commonly heard it said that you can set your watch by the German trains. It is true. The neither arrive a minute late nor a minute early. The International Atomic Clock checks with the German trains once a month to make minor adjustments. 

 

I stayed at the Bayerischer Hof and had excellent service. The hospitality at the Bayerischer Hof was par excellence. I am 51 years old and have been staying in hotels for all of my adult life, and I have to say I have never had better hospitality anywhere. I had a lovely conversation over dinner with retired Canadian cyclists and the hotel manager. The Canadian couple were biking across Europe. The manager was very intelligent and insightful about world politics, German economics and European culture. 

Frühstuck (breakfast) is always included in the German hotels. Frühstuck is nothing like the American “continental” breakfast where you get dried out English muffins and instant oatmeal. The frühstuck in the german hotels was an elaborate spread of a wide variety of foods. Forgive the incredibly long list, but this is what they had: Fresh cold cuts and varied cheeses, whole grain breads and various fresh rolls and pastries, assorted locally made jams and jellies, assorted fruits, fresh yogurts, eggs made to order, bacon, sausages, waffles to order, coffee, tea, juices, Nutella (they were big on Nutella). The frühstuck could easily cover your needs for breakfast and lunch, especially if you have nice pockets in your suit coat, if you know what I mean (wink wink). Oh, I’m just kidding. (….Maybe).

     

 

One thing that was a new experience for me as an American in Germany was the locks on the doors. In America, all our hotels have electronic keys which you slide a card into a slot to open. Not in Germany. they have big huge keys, and you have to unlock and re-lock your door both from the inside and outside  These keys matched the big german word for key, “Schlüssel.” They have to make them bigger than American keys to match the magnitude of the words. I’m just glad they are not named “Schlüsselfürschlösser,” then they would not have fit in my pocket. (Schlüssel für Schlösser means key for locks … and I would not put it past the Germans to make up such a word, if you know anything about the German language, you know what I mean.)

Visit the Bayerischer Hof in person... or online.

Right next door to the Bayerischer there was Dirndl shop, so naturally that is where I went to get my Lederhosen and hat. Like the hotel, the service at the dirndl shop was outstanding. The clerks spoke hardly any English, so it was a great test of my rudimentary german and iPhone translator. Lederhosen are traditionally made from goat leather. They date back at least to the mid-18th century, and are originally the traditional clothing of mountain shepherds. The Dirndl originated as an Austrian maid’s dress. In this day and age, Germany’s top models are paid high dollars to wear designer dirndls at the Oktoberfest opening ceremony. The word is shortened from “DirndlKleid.” Kleid is “dress.”  Dirndl, in some Austrian dialects, is “girl.” So you could go to the Oktoberfest and see Dirndls wearing Dirndls. Although this represents the historical language; I’ve never heard a modern German referring to a girl (Mädchen) as a Dirndl. I think if I had walked up to a girl at the Oktoberfest and said “hey dirndl, nice dirndl,” she would have slapped me and called me a stupid American Lederhosen.

 
 

 

Apparently, many cities in Germany adopt an animal mascot. They’ve done this for centuries. I wonder if this is an evolutionary forerunner to sports teams naming themselves after ferocious animals? Maybe some American cities should do the same. Detroit could be the Dodo bird because it is just about extinct from lack of ability to adapt quickly enough. Washington DC could be the Mockingbird; they say what you want to hear but it isn’t their real song. Freising, for whatever reason, identified with bears. Bavaria, as a larger region, identified with lions. (There are no lions in Bavaria; neither large cats nor Detroit footballers). So all around the city of Freising were whimsically painted bear statues. 

Freising has the oldest brewery the world; Weihenstephen. Weihenstephen began in the year 1040. (The beer isn’t a thousand years old, just the brewery.) To put that in perspective, other things that happened in the same year:  1. Harthacunte lands in Sandwich and claims the English throne. 2. Block printing invented in China. 3. Lady Godiva rode naked through Mercia and 3. Weihenstephan starts brewing beer in Bavaria. The only one that remains? The Bavarian brewery.  Weihenstephen is now owned by the German state of Bavaria. Weihenstephen actually has a university, where they teach, of course, brewing. They also offer degrees in university -- B.S. and Master's in biotech, engineering, renewable resource, landscape, architecture and applied science. The university is also the home of a beautiful flower garden.

  

 

I would definitely visit Freising again. 

Every picture in this post was taken by me, with my iPhone-c. Many of these buildings date back to the 13th century.  Enjoy these pics of the city of Freising: