Bad Homburg
We walked around the old town. While there were some half-timbered houses and a 14th century Hexenturm, or witch tower (a reconstruction in the 19th century), the old town looked modern. Bad Homburg Palace didn't look too old either. In the 17th century, Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg built it by demolishing the old Medieval castle that had been standing at the site.
The keep, the "White Tower" is the only structure of the old castle that remains today. It stands in the middle of the upper courtyard like a candle on a birthday cake.
The museum sections and exhibitions of the palace, including the keep, is open for public. At the ticket counter, we were told that it would take about four hours to see all. We didn't prepare for the long palace tour on the day. We just bought a ticket for the Imperial Rooms, which the young man at the ticket counter recommended.
After Hessen-Homburg fell to Prussia in 1866, the palace became one of the most popular summer residences of the kings of Prussia and German emperors because of the beautiful landscape around the palace. The interiors were renovated and modernized to accommodate the purpose. The museum sections called "the Imperial Rooms," or "King's Wing," present the rooms that have been preserved for the most part just as the last German Emperor William II (1859-1941) and his wife Empress Auguste Victoria (1858-1921) left them in 1918.
Our guided tour group were seven visitors including us. Before entering the door to the main staircase, we were asked to clean the shoes with the shoe cleaning machine that was placed at the door. It was the first museum or palace that cared about potential problems from dirt on visitor's shoes. Was it a kind of German culture? I strongly support the measures. Our guide spoke in German, but she kindly gave us a booklet that briefly explained each room in English. We walked through nearly 20 rooms, including the Assembly hall with the classic Louis XVI style seating furniture,
the Great dining room with a small table due to the circumstances of WWI,
the Emperor's study with several items related to meteorology that the Emperor was interested in,
the Emperor's bedroom with a surprisingly small and modest bed,
the Emperor's corridor with a lovely ceiling lights,
the Empress's study covered with the silky emerald color fabric,
the Empress's spacious and bright bathroom that also functioned as a living room,
and the Empress's large bedroom that she apparently shared with the King.
It was an interesting tour. It took almost an hour but I didn't feel it was that long. We stepped out to the garden. There were two giant Lebanese cedar trees. Impressive!
Just outside of the garden, there was Erlöserkirche. Built in 1908, the large Evangelical Protestant church was designed "in the freest way based on the beautiful models of German, French and Italian Romanesque-medieval art" according to the church's website. "Its outer shape with the diamond-helmeted towers evokes motifs from the Rhenish region, while inside the reference to Hagia Sophia and orthodox traditions is unmistakable."
I didn't know the shape of the towers were called the diamond-helmeted towers. With regard to the inside, The dome, walls and ceilings were covered with millions of mosaics! We should go to Istanbul to compare it with Hagia Sophia.
We found another church on the same street, just a block away from Erlöserkirche. It was the Catholic church of St. Marien, built in 1892. Smaller and simpler.
Lunch time! We tried La Vecchia Banca, an Italian restaurant situated in a 19th century building in the old town.
For a starter, we shared octopus. It was nice.
My main was Calamarata, a classic Neapolitan pasta in shape of Calamari - a short, wide tube, cooked with baby calamari, garlic, olives and capers in a light tomato sauce. It was pretty good. The portion was generous. I won't need to eat squid for a while.
J had raviolis with duck fillings, I think. I hope he enjoyed the dish.
After the lunch, we walked on the main street. Unfortunately I didn't see any high-quality bakery or pastry shop except one that we have already known because they also have a store in Wiesbaden. Meanwhile, there were a nice-looking German deli, a Italian deli, and a Korean supermarket, where we did some shopping at. It was a nice winter day-out!
