Stephen and Elaine Biddulph

TRIP TO HASSMERSHEIM (8-14 March)

On Friday, 13 March, about 8 senior couples got together and took an overnight trip to a small town on the Neckar River called Hassmersheim. We wanted to experience some of the true German culture, and a Church employee recommended a place called Wirtshaus am Treidelpfad. The burg of Hassmesheim is situated deep in the Neckar River Valley. The Neckar has been a waterway for human transport for 2000 years. It lies in rich farmland, prominent hills, and dark forests. If you want a good representation of the area Google it on Google Maps and click on "Photos," and you will see how pretty it is. We had a comfortable room at the Wirtshaus, and we ate supper in the small hall there--it turned out to be a sort of community beer hall, and the local citizens of the small town came in to socialize and listen to a few musicians play accordion and clarinet and sing their traditional German songs. It was kind of strange for them to have about 12-14 Mormon missionaries in their midst. They swayed back and forth as they sang and I had the feeling of the simplicity and peacefulness of life in these little farming communities, much like it was in Idaho where I grew up as a youth, although I think the effects of alcohol had something to do with their good cheer. Nevertheless, they cheerfully waved and said "Tschuss" as we departed to meet our 9:30 p.m. bedtime!!! We also visited Bad Wimpfen, a beautiful old city--once a fortified castle high on the hills overlooking the Neckar River and surrounding valley--built around 1200 BC. The building architecture is really interesting with post and beam construction, narrow streets, and very rough cobblestones. Part of the old wall, buildings, and some entry gates still stand. After that we traveled across country roads to Miltenburg where we walked about some and had lunch. Miltenburg lies on the Main River. We saw a wedding in an Evangelische Kirche and heard the old bells ring out filling the valley and echoing off the surrounding hills as they have done for centuries. In 24 hours we saw three major rivers in Germany: the Rhein, the Main, and the Neckar. The Bavarian countryside is green and brown fields of rolling hills, dark pine-hardwood forests, speckled with red-roofed little villages, each with a church steeple. We saw big flat-bottomed barges cruising up the Neckar carrying all kinds of goods. At a little town called Burgstadt, just beyond Miltenburg, we stopped at a small church. From the outside one would think little of it, but inside was a most remarkable tapestry of paintings depicting the mortal life of Christ. The church was built in the 1500s and has not changed. We arrived back at Frankfurt about 4 p.m. just in time to witness a Muslim marriage ceremony held on the street below our apartment. The street was filled with honking cars, drums, flutes, and Arabic type sounds while the bride, groom, and guests danced in the streets and then said a blessing upon the marriage; all left and little Porthstrasse returned to its quite self.