Literally amazing. And yet every time I am in awe of a place like this, I'm also struck by how utterly ridiculous it is. But it is impressive what the combined resources of the church and state (as well as legions of Medieval (middle-to-late Middle Ages) people with Bronze Age fears) can accomplish.
The detail is incredible. Can you imagine walking through this door as an ignorant 14th century person? Shit, this was 500 years before it was accepted that Germ Theory was the proper model, not "miasma" or the "vapors" that spread disease. I'd be beyond impressed.
Angels _are_ real! :) Please note, too, that her shoulders (*gasp!*) are securely and very opaquely covered from the wandering eyes of the faithful. Oh, and the Creator of the Universe. That can definitely not see through that material. Nope.
The look on their faces - dude looks worried about what that little cherub is capable of doing to him if he doesn't get where he's going quickly enough.
Parse this one - there is a LOT going on here.
I thought this one was pretty cool. I'm a bit rusty on my biblical studies, but this looks like Mary and her squad. What's with the dude with the butcher's cleaver? This isn't Abe and Isaac, there are others there. Don't remember it being Moses, but there appears to be a tablet. Anyway, as you move upwards on the painting, notice that the fully-formed angels give way to just heads with wings. Trippy.
Another gallery of Very Important People. Notice the stained glass at the top with a bit of a modern twist. Super cool.
The Mother Ship, with about a half-dozen drones docked.
A classic Madonna, absolutely beautiful.
After that, we caught our train to Rudesheim - such a cute little town! This was the beginning our our "Team ARM!" (Amy, Rick, Maya) - we never miss connections, even if it means sprinting through trainstations fully-loaded (more foreshadowing!)
Sorry to interject/inflict this upon you, but this little bit of nightmare fuel was brought to you by "German media". I remember this from past trips - they have some bizarre ads. This set off a mild case of Trypophobia when I saw it.
Shout out to our good buddy, the fellow from Coffee Fellows! He's everywhere, and it's a good thing he is. This is like Bahnhof comfort for all of us.
Before we went and toured the cathedral above, we had a ton of luggage to stash at the train station. It's all automated, usually a line of people, a couple terminals non-operational. But you put in the money, a door opens up, you put your luggage in and then it disappears. Importantly, it gives you a barcoded receipt that you can use when it comes time to get the luggage back! We had 3 loads, 2 of them came out perfectly, but one of them gave us back TWO receipts, neither of them with a barcode. When it came time to get our luggage back, nothing came out for one of our loads... Thankfully, they do actually have a human that operates the vast underground storage area where the robots and conveyor belts drop your stuff off at, and we were able to get help from a Real Human Being™ and got our stuff and made the train. Although I did accidentally leave behind our beloved schweine töte (just a loss of some sunscreen and other replaceable items, but still - that bag was like a member of our family). Sorry!
We made it! (again!)
Maya, chilling enjoying the view from the train.
The other thing that was a bit of a logistical miracle, thanks to Amy, was that we were able to reserve some bikes to ride along the Rhine. Lots of castles, vineyards, and scenery galore. But to get the bikes, we have to get up to another town about 60 km away, reserve them, and lock them up in a place where we can get them tomorrow to ride back to Rudesheim. SCORE!
See what I mean? It really is a cute town, a fair amount of tourists and everything.
I'm getting into my vacation rhythm now.
Just look at them! So lovely.
Ever since Maya was little, she has LOVED playgrounds. Nearly every time we pass one, we either hear "playground?" or see her running off to climb around on it. This was an outdoor exercise station (there are quite a few here).
Tomorrow, we will take the train _back_ to Overlandsheim to pick up our bikes and head down (up?) the Rhine.
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