By Diane Walker and David Zell

Twenty-seven intrepid OLLI members and guests traveled in southwestern Germany from May 25th  to June 3rd to experience its castles and wine as well as its history, people and scenery. Our first stop was Heidelberg, where some of us learned that the 'burg' (fortress) is on the 'berg' (hill) and not the other way around. Heidelberg was hilly and did indeed have a fortress/castle on one of them. Germany's oldest university (1386) community felt familiar to many of us. Students bicycle everywhere and frequent the plentiful cafes for delectable Flammkuchen, beer and/or wine.

Wonderful German meal: spargel (white asparagus), Schnitzel, glass of Riesling

Most of us repeatedly enjoyed spargel (white asparagus); it's available only for a few weeks in the spring and is prepared in every imaginable way by almost every restaurant in the country.

Heidelberg Castle was built and rebuilt in native red sandstone over centuries. One major remodel was for the benefit of Elisabeth Stuart, granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots, who married Frederick V of the Wittelsbachs, a prominent family among the prince electors. The baroque Frederick Building in the castle memorializes these princes with stone statues on its façade. Another highlight of the castle is the Great Tun, reputed to be the biggest wooden barrel in the world ever to have been filled with wine. It stands over 2l' high and is over 25' wide; it could hold 220,000 liters!
           

Speyer cathedral

An outstanding feature of our visit to Speyer was its tremendous Romanesque Cathedral. Built in just 30 years in the 11th century, it is 111' tall and 440' long and can  accommodate 12,000 people. It remains a burial place for Habsburg rulers. Speyer was the location of a Roman military post as early as 10 BCE and a Roman city for 400 years. Speyer has a long tradition of a strong, but sadly not unbroken, Jewish community. A well-preserveded 11th  century ritual bath is still filled with 48-degree ground-water and continues to fulfill its ceremonial function. Its uneven steps symbolize the imperfect people who use them.
 
En route to Annweiler, where the Pension Bergterrase was to be our base for three nights, we visited Bruchsal, the palace of a Bishop of Speyer. Our outstanding tour guide explained how painting was used to fool the eye in many ways, making the palace seem even grander than it already is. A collection of huge, ornate mechanical music boxes housed here also captured our eyes and ears!
 

Anna and Traci enjoy the winetasting.

Everywhere we went in the Rhineland-Palatinate we saw steep hillsides growing grapes. Grapes for wine production were imported during Roman times, and wine production remains a major industry in this part of Germany. The single biggest German wine-growing community is Zell on the Mosel River with over 6 million vines.

A most memorable lunchtime was spent at the Weegmuller family winery. Founded in 1685, it is now in the hands of the 11th  generation, and today's chief winemaker is a woman. At our official tasting, we sampled several wines from dry (trocken) to semi-dry (halbtrocken) to sweet (süss); then there's the official classification system with "Kabinett," "Auslese," and "Spätlese," but we won't go into that today. At the tasting we were served so many yummy soft pretzels complemented by cheese and sausages that we almost decided to make this lace-curtained wine-tasting room our cafe.
 
Another day trip from Annweiler included a visit to Hambach Castle, where a powerful pro-democracy protest took place in 1832 and a wiccan (witches') convention was being held when we arrived. Burg Trifels, which could be seen from our lodging, was a focus of another day. There we learned a new definition of "gentle slope." Burg Trifels (three rocks) was never taken in battle and is renowned for being the place where Richard the Lionhearted of England was held for ransom as he was returning from the Crusades.
 
Other remarkable castles visited included the ruins of Rheinfels, a massive fortress once home to hundreds of soldiers, and the intact Burg Eltz, which has remained in the ownership of the same family for nearly 900 years. Portions are still used by the 33rd generation today.
 
Trier, another ancient Roman city, was once one of the top ten cities of the Empire. Roman relics, some noted by UNESCO as World Heritage sites, abound: a basilica that was once the Emperor's throne room, the Porta Nigra (Black Gate), an amphitheater from about 200 CE, and the ruins of extensive Roman baths. The 12th  century Trier Cathedral, oldest in Germany, is traditionally famed for possessing Christ's Tunic, a gift of St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine.
 
Koblenz, too, owes its existence to the Romans who built a castle at the scenic confluence of the Mosel and Rhine rivers around 9 BCE. Today, a monumental statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I overlooks the area. Nearby is a monument made from three panels of the notorious Berlin Wall.
 
When we left Annweiler, our innkeepers gifted us with several bottles of wine. Our OLLI group did its best to sustain our good relationship with this part of Germany, which is already home to America's Ramstein Air Base (formerly Landstuhl), an important refueling stop en route to Afghanistan and Iraq. During our last evening in Germany we enjoyed the wine given to us in Annweiler as we cruised along the romantic Rhine River enjoying delicious pork tenderloin along with another multitude of castles!
 
Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland!