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Trip to Germany and Luxembourg
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6	June 29 to July 2, 2010

Tuesday, June 29, 2010
For some reason I don't want to explain here, I needed to get away from everything for a few days to relax so I decided for a biketrip to Germany and Luxembourg.

A few years ago, while on holiday in the East of the Netherlands, we went to Xanten in Germany to visit the Archeological Park.
Xanten used to be a Roman city a long time ago and they restored some of the buildings, on the old foundations they found, so you can see how the Romans lived here around two thousand years ago.

Now I wanted to go there to take some nice pictures and walk around in the park. My plan was to leave home at five in the morning to avoid the rush hour but when I woke up at seven AM, I didn’t care to much and left at eight on my BMW.

The normal route the GPS wanted me to ride was right past the roads that are overcrowded during the rushour so I decided to ignore the GPS and take a route more South of the normal route via Breda and Den Bosch. That worked fine and without delay, I drove almost all the way to Nijmegen.

On my way to Nijmegen, I stopped at a road restaurant called "De Lucht" on the A59 for a coffee.

Road restaurant "De Lucht Geffen" on the A59

Short after I left the restaurant, I saw warning signs on the portals above the road and brake lights in the distance, just before an off ramp.so I didn’t think twice and left the freeway and programmed the Tomtom GPS to avoid the freeway and continued my ride to Germany.

Through Nijmegen, Kleve and Emmerich I finaly reached my first destination, Hotel restaurant Jonkhans on Bruchstrasse 69 in Rees at around midday.

Hotel Restaurant Jonkhaus
Bruchstrasse 69
46459 Rees in Germany

I found the hotel on the Internet and with a price of only € 40 a night including breakfast, it was a good choice. I had room 1, on the first floor of the hotel and they had a garage to park the BMW during the night.
I put my luggage in the closets in my room but left the panniers on the bike and then left the hotel for Xanten.

With the Tomtom I found the Archeological park effordless and parked the BMW close to the ticket office. I stored my boots and bikejacket in the panniers and bought for €9 an entry ticket for the park.
My destination for the first day, the Archeological park in Xanten.

When I entered the park I noticed that a lot of schools in Germany took their students on a trip to the Archeological park in Xanten. There were hundreds of schoolchildren running around.

A class of schoolchildren near the entrance

It was very sunny warm (hot) weather and I tried to walk as much as possible in the shade of the trees, lining the paths in the park. I admired the remains of a Roman temple, some watchtowers and a big building that used to be the entry to the Roman camp.

The rebuilded remains of a Roman temple

It is very high

A big building that used to be the entry to the Roman camp

Then I went to the "LVR-RömerMuseum" that is also in the park. The had a display of Roman things found in the ground like weapons and tools and a lot of explanation how the Romans used to live here. There was also a foundation of a Roman bath house, covered with a modern steel and glass building to watch. It was interesting but there were to many schoolchildren running around to realy enjoy it.

A very modern and beautiful museum

A typical Roman helmet

When I approached the amphytheater, I noticed two photographers and a model who were doing a photoshoot there. I had a chat with them and they were doing a photoshoot with a proffesional model for Mallorca TV. I asked if it was alright if I took a few pictures too and they agreed so I made some pictures of the nice lady in red.

photoshoot in the amphytheater.

After my visit to the anciend buildings I went back to more modern times in the city center of Xanten. I parked the bike close to the city center and walked into a street.

A nice street in Xanten

In a small shop on Klever Strassew 36 in Xanten, I saw some very nice hand puppets in the windows and a sigh “Geöffnet bitte klingeln” (open, please use the doorbell) so I rang on the doorbell and a nice old lady opened the door.

Ellen De Witte used to be a schoolteacher but now she has this show for antique and retro theatre clothing and she makes those hand puppets.

The puppets are part of a series of puppets about the “Nibelungen saga”, and ancient story about killing dragons, princesses, kings, knights, love, violence and betrayal.

Beautiful handpuppets

She told me the story while showing me all the puppets that she made as the characters in the story and she realy made some beautiful puppets that really made the story alive.

Then she showed me all the antique and retro coats, hats and dresses she has for sale in het basement. Some very nice dresses someone may have worn to a nightclub in the ‘30’s and much more.

This is how to play handpuppets classic dress

After this very entertaining and pleasant visit, I continued my walk through Xanten. I walked through an old gate, took some more pictures and visited the Nibelungen Museum.

In this museum the have a lot of pictures and stories about the Nibelungen saga, books about it and the way the saga was used by the nazi’s during WW2. There was a display of movie posters about the saga, including one of a porn version(!).

Nibelungen Museum Xanten
Kurfürstrasse 9
D-46509 XANTEN.

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Last modified: 7 April 2021

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Trip to Germany and Luxembourg