Germany April, 2004

Muenster (Münster)

Getting There

Tickets are supposed to be purchased BEFORE one gets on a German railroad train.  However, the only method to get a ticket in Werne  was via the ticket machine at the abandoned railroad station.  It is the very large orange object in front of the phone booth. (If you look very carefully, you can see Basia's reflection in the phone booth as we were waiting for the cab when we first arrived in Werne.)  In major cities, the tickets from these machines can be purchased in many languages.  In Werne, the choice was German or German.  Now, the hard bit.  Turns out Muenster has at least two railroad stations and the fares are different depending on which you select.  Worse, we found out later, two different railroad lines go through Muenster so we could have gotten tickets for the station that we could not get to.  It got all too confusing so we took the advise of an elderly German couple who stolled by (the only people who strolled by) and suggested we 'just board the train' (at least I think that is what they were saying).  So, we went to Muenster without tickets.  (Culture and/or religous note: on American trains and subways each and every ticket is checked, which is very much in the Puritan conviction that given any opportunity, man will go wrong.  In this portion of Germany, whcih appeared to be Catholic (as well as in Poland, which IS Catholic) there appeared to be more of an honor system where people punched their own tickets and there were only random checks)  On our return trip, we purchased tickets but did not 'punch' them as we did in Poland as Basia was concerned that it might somehow invalidate the tickets.

Muenster - Sunday morning

Muenster, like many European towns, was virtually shut down on Sunday which made walking about quite nice.  Having no idea how exactly to get to the center of town, we just struck off in the general direction.  However, we didn't get very much past Von-Vickle Strasse before I found this 'wonderful' walking path and took a left hand turn to go down it (for those who know me, I am easily distracted).  After about two blocks, I lost interest and started back toward the AltStadt part of town.

Seeing this church, I thought the perhaps it might be one of the 'to see' churches in town.  I found out later, it was not.  However, it was still rather pretty so I took this picture. I walked across the street to the church entrance. Even better I was no longer lost.  I found a 'Here You Are' map (of course in German) but from there I had my bearings.
From there I turned around to take this picture of the little park.  For some reason, the leaves on one of the trees has turned, as if it were Autumn.  Either this is a very confused tree or a rather nasty frost hit Germany.  It was very cold when we got to Germany, much colder than in England which at times left me with teeth chattering.  If you double click on the picture, you should be able to see some of the detail more clearly. Okay, I admit it.  I like this picture.
Finally, I got down to the AltStadt area of town.  On the right is the Rathaus (which is German for City Hall)  An incredibly important treaty,  that formed the Netherlands, was signed here in the Rathaus but I forgot what it was all about.  Luckily Basia came to the rescue, as it was the Treaty of Westfalia (Westphalia) signed here on October 24, 1648 between the King of France and the Holy Roman Emperor. Dead ahead is the Lambertkirche.  I think the church  is now Catholic but sometime during the Prostestand Reformation, the radical Anabaptists took over the town. If you don't know who the Anabaptists were, they were a violent and extremely radical body of ecclesiastico-civil reformers...and still exist in milder forms, probably as Republicans.
Anyway, the strength of the Anabaptist party was steadily increased by accessions from Holland, until, in February, 1534, their leaders, John of Leyden, a tailor, and Jan Matthiesen, a baker, came to Münster from Haarlem, when the sect gained complete control of the city, and the peaceable minority either left the city voluntarily or were expelled. The Anabaptists now indulged in the wildest orgies in "the New Jerusalem", as they called Münster, introducing polygamy and communism, plundering and selling churches and monasteries. Well, there is NO pleasing some people, so the bishop was now obliged to go to war with the city in order to maintain his secular authority. In alliance with Philip of Hesse, he began (28 February, 1534) a siege of the city in which John of Leyden, as king of the New Zion, had established a reign of terror. After a siege of sixteen months the city was taken in a bloody assault (25 June, 1535). The leaders of the insurrections were executed with horrible tortures and their bodies were exposed in three cages hung on the tower of St. Lambert's Church. You can see the cages just above the clock.
Here is one of the many outdoor cafes in Germany, this one right next to Lambert Church..  It is a pity that Muester was so badly flattened by the Allied bombers that you will only see a stone or two, pock marked with shrapnel, that were part of the the original buildings.
One, last picture of eatteries at the 'far end' of town.  I don't know exactly what they were serving but this was by far the most popular place to eat in the entire town. We had one of our best ice cream 'lunches' near here and across the street from the Überwasserkirche. So, we trekked back to the Haupbahnhof. and from there back to Werne. However, German efficiency got the best of us on the train back.  Basia sat in one section and I selected another.  When she moved (grudingly) , we think she might have left my German/English phrase book on the seat.  Within minutes of this happening, a German cleanup person came into the car and removed anything left behind...which we think included my phrase book. (She thinks I left it at the station)

And from Germany, we went to Amsterdam.

Cologne

Werne

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