Well Saarbrücken is a pretty nice city. A nice suburban town, right on the border with France, and so it has some French influence, as the two countries have always been close allies. I started the day off walking by the “Historic Sundial” Which was right on the way to Ludwigskirche which had a cheese/bread/meat market set up out front. (I don’t know, and couldn’t find anything out about the sundial, the area around it was closed off, but could still get a picture. Ludwig’s Church however was really neat! It “…is a Lutheran baroque-style church. It is the symbol of the city and is considered to be one of the most important Protestant churches in Germany” It was built from 1762-1775, as there was a major delay in the plans. (The prince who commissioned it died, and they ran out of money, but the prince’s son finished it). It was severely damaged in WW2, and only the outer walls remained. And there was strong debate whether the interior should be redesigned as it originally looked, or should be updated to a modern appearance. I’m guessing it was rebuilt with the original appearance. But it just looks awesome.
Next was the Saarbrücken Palace/Castle (because I obviously just haven’t seen enough castles in the last 2 months) There were several palaces before what stands there today, but many of the original fortifications of the palace still remain, and are ‘underground’ in below the quite modern palace which stands there today. You can walk and along and in, and all around the remaining stone structures which is entirely inside as walls and a roof/ceiling were built overhead. Part of the Palace is also a museum which spans into the palace, with displays on Germany from the 1870’s, through WW1, through WW2, and ending around Germany in the 60’s/70’s. The map/layout and design is really difficult to understand, as part of it is interior underground castle walls, and part of it is inside the new palace, and just trying to figure it out is really confusing how it all forms together.
I noticed there was swap-meet a long ways along the road down to my next stop, so walked past dozens and dozens of tables with all kinds of antiquities and clothes toys etc. which was nice. Walked past an old WW2 memorial for the fallen German soldiers. It’s not something you think you would see, but there are several memorials around Germany for the German forces during WW2 (Remember the Kriegsmarine flag at the Laboe Naval Memorial.)
The rest of the day was a nice walk around the shopping/dining district around Saarbrücken, including a few more church one of which had a wedding going on! And a visit to the town hall which is neat. Then a walk through another shopping mall.
Now that that’s out of the way, another German city with a funny name! And today’s city is: Baden Baden! Which means Bath-bath. See Wikipedia for origin of name Baden Baden.
On another worrisome note, my blog is quickly running out of storage space for images. My whole first 2 month trip in 2015 used a little under 30% of the space. One month into this and I’m up to just over 80% storage space used, so I will have to see what I can do. I do feel like I am uploaded a ton more pictures than my last trip.
Saarbrücken. Bridge over the river Saar. Although in this context (as it normally does otherwise, brücken refers to the Old German word Bruca, for stone/castle. So Saarbrücken means Saar Castle. But in virtually any other context, brücke means bridge.The historic sun dial.Ludwigskirche.Neat! There was a tour group/guide here.Neato!Really neat! Notice the figures holding up the second floor.Super neat!Ultra neat!Ghandi! There were numerous cutouts and posters of famous people, such as MLK, and signs promoting global peace.The Church of Peace. Literally directly right across the street from Ludwig’s Church.Inside… not quite as… elegant.Interesting fountain outside the palace. It was a statue, probably of a saint, but the face was all broken off.The palace today.What it used to look like probably around the 16-1700’s. Originally there around the year 999 it was destroyed, deconstructed and reconstructed several times.A hat stamping machine.A super very very tiny prison cell inside the main museum part used by the Gestapo.It was soooo tiny! The inside was completely covered in old/original scratches and graffiti, much of it Russian, so it was ‘glassed off’ to protect it.Nazi toys for children.Beware the Jeep… saw… thing? I have no idea what this vehicle was or why there’s a saw machine on the front.Inside the museum, in the castle areas. The numbers you may see on some of the walls just refer to a corresponding section on the brochure explaining what it is.
Main wall, standing in the ‘shooting chamber’ where the old soldiers would stand shooting through a big hole with a ‘harquebus’ Basically a really giant heavy musket that has to rest on a stand.Looking up at the shooting chamber.Tunnel in the wall to a well.
Some of the images are sharper because I was able to set the camera down on something for a long exposure.
The prison up the stairs. It’s just a small empty room.
A map/layout of the museum. The dark pink sections in the top right, and bottom right are the rooms with the old castle walls.The others are all just regular museum galleries, but the big yellow/tan room, the tunnel connecting to the gray room are all the main galleries underneath the palace you see above outside.A cross section I just made explaining the layout. It really took me a long time to figure it out, but once I did it seemed so simple.A funny comic in the museum, of a French knight holding out in a fort against attacking German forces with a captured German duchess. She says she should be let go, as the Germans are attacking, and the guard responds saying that ‘we’re not afraid of you kraut eaters!’ She then says ‘But we have cannons!’ The guard then says “And we have the duchess.’ The duchess says they’re shooting down at the castle’, and the Frenchmen says ‘We conquered this castle, and we will never surrender as long as these walls stand! Vive la France!’ A canon ball then smashes through the wall, and she just responds ‘Ok, now let me go.’
View of garden from the palace. With the street fair in the ackground.Looks a but modern,proooobably not from the 1600’s.Though this might.Exterior wall of palace.Other side. I don’t think this is the original wall though.The soldier memorial.A completely empty restaurant that was playing music. There was just one guy working hidden in a hut. It was like a beach themed bungalow.
Basilika Sankt Johann.The wedding inside the beautiful interior.
City hall.
Another nearby Saint John’s Church. The other was Johann’s Basilika, this is St. John’s Church.Interior was alright.
Sky bridge between two buildings!Neat staircase on a German lottery building when I went out later to check out the mall, which was closing up by then.
Looks like you’ve seen many of really neat castles and churches. I find it interesting you are going to so many smaller towns not just the big ones. Also, thanks for providing the english translations of the german words you use.
jonsjourneythroughgermany.com 
Looks like you’ve seen many of really neat castles and churches. I find it interesting you are going to so many smaller towns not just the big ones. Also, thanks for providing the english translations of the german words you use.
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