A Georgia Girl in Germany

MacKenzie’s final field trip of 4th grade was to the medieval town of Bad Wimpfen. After having recently worked 12 days straight, my boss was kind enough to allow everyone in the office extra time off to compensate, so I took the opportunity to chaperone MacKenzie’s class trop, and she really enjoyed that I did.

We had a guided tour of the town by Eleanor of Portugal -- well, actually someone portraying her, since she lived in the 15th century. She was the daughter of King Edward of Portugal and married the German King Frederick III (they were crowned Holy Roman Emperor and Empress three days after their wedding). Her costumed guided tour was a nice touch.

One of the historic landmarks that we passed was the Blauer Turm (Blue Tower). If you look closely, you can see a small balcony-like structure jutting out above the front door. That’s a bathroom -- a gravity bathroom with a hole in the floor. Not quite sure why it’s above the front door! The tower has been occupied as a residence for more than 650 years! In fact, the lady who currently lives there works for the town, collecting admission fees to the tower. She also has a piano inside the tower -- can you imagine being part of the moving crew that carried the piano up the stairs!?!!

We had a wonderful view of the Neckar River and valley below. We later took a boat ride on the Neckar River.



We also went inside and on top of the Roter Turm (Red Tower). The room here was a bedroom, and the alcove at the top was a fireplace. The students seemed to think that the most interesting room was the bathroom (the entrance through the doorway at the top right), although I’m not sure why.

We ate lunch while sitting on the bank of the Neckar River, and MacKenzie liked seeing this man and his dog kayak by. It was definitely something you don’t see every day.

Another highlight of the trip was the bus itself. MacKenzie and I sat on the top of the double-decker charter bus. I think the smile on her face shows that she really enjoyed the trip.

Labels: Germany, MacKenzie, Travel