Saalburg and Frankfurt

On our final full day in Germany last week, AC and IC took us to Saalburg, a museum built on the grounds of an old Roman fort. Close to 2000 years ago, the Romans built these forts every few kilometers along the wall that they built to keep the "barbarian" Germans out of their civilized empire. This museum is just a few kilometers from AC's home in Rosbach.

The buildings of the museum were built to re-create the structure of the Fort, which looked like this:

Most of the buildings were packed with various ancient artifacts, which aren't very photogenic, so the only good pictures I have are of some of the structures outside of the buildings.

Entrance to the fort

Ruins of Roman bath found on the site

 

The Romans baked their bread in these ovens by first heating them with firewood. After the fire went out, the thick clay walls of the ovens held enough heat for baking bread. AC told me the museum has special events for children which include giving them an opportunity to bake bread in these ovens.

That afternoon, AC took us on a quick trip to Frankfurt (a.k.a. Frankfurt am Main). The architectural highlight of that trip was the Cathedral (below). Construction on this church began in 1235, but there has been a church on this same site since 852!

The dome inside the cathedral was quite impressive.

This picture of graffiti with the famous Cathedral in the background exemplifies the interesting mix of old and new that seems typical of many European cities, but especially of Frankfurt.

Here's another example--recently discovered Roman ruins right in the middle of downtown Frankfurt.

I couldn't believe how many churches Frankfurt had. Downtown, there seemed to be one every block or so. This one is St. Paul's.

View of Old Saint Nicolas church in Römerberg square--very close to St. Paul

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Last Thursday afternoon,when AC dropped us off at the Frankfurt-Hahn airport, I felt sad. It was harder this time to come back to Morocco that it has been before. Everything – driving, communicating, food – had seemed easy in Germany. In comparison, Morocco suddenly seemed intensely more irrational, disorganized, dirty, and difficult. I went to bed that night feeling sad and despondent.

But I felt better the next morning. The sun, which I had hardly seen at all in Germany, was shining brightly in a completely blue sky. It was warm outside, and T and I had a pleasant walk to the marché to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. Our favorite vendor seemed glad to see us and wished us a Happy New Year. I slowly settled in again to the fact that, for now, Morocco is my home.