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Down
the
Danube
The
Danube, quiet and serene.
It was a clear and beautiful
day in July 2005, I traveled down the Danube with cousin Axente and wife,
Renate. We boarded in Weltenburg, where the
Benedictine
monastery and
church is located. The monastery, of
beautiful Bavarian Baroque architecture is the oldest
in Bavaria, built by the
Asam brothers, in
1718. Together they built and decorated the church
of the Benedictine Abbey of Weltenburg on the Danube,
near Regensburg, which was to become their most famous
creation.
Here we
also enjoyed a
traditional meal (Schnitzel)
at the world's oldest monastery brewery with one of
Bavaria's most attractive beer gardens.
Our
ancestors who traveled from Ulm, [1718-1787]
surely passed by, if not stopped at the Abbey of
Weltenburg, on a small barge typical for Ulm called
"Ulmer Schachtel."
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'Schachtel' is
German for 'box' - click to enlarge photo I
took in 2004 |
It was a
peaceful feeling going down the Danube and I wondering
if in fact some of the beautiful scenes I viewed were
also seen by my ancestors. I imagined what their
thoughts were knowing they were going to a unfamiliar
place to begin a new life.
The
large dome sitting above the tree tops is the
Befreiungshalle (Liberation Hall), an observation point.
Built by
King Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1863, it commemorates the
“Great Battle of Nations” near Leipzig when the 34
German states defeated Emperor Napoleon. The round
building is divided into 18 sections, each with a statue
of a feminine member of one of the 18 (or so) Germanic
tribes. Read more about this monument in English at the
following website:
http://www.altmuehltal.de/kelheim/index.htm
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