Journey Back in Time at Quedlinburg, Germany
Quedlinburg,
Germany is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a fantastic medieval and Renaissance
town. The old part was built in the early 900's and the new part was built
in the 1300's. I took my two children (11 and 9) there to see a town with
one of the greatest concentrations of half-timber buildings (and one of Germany's
oldest) in all of Europe!
For
years, this town, and its 1100 years of history, was inaccessible because
it was behind the Iron Curtain. We could've stayed a week and they would have
still been interested. There is a Museum for Half-Timbering (Fachwerkmuseum),
a miniature train museum, a tourist "train" through town (on wheels), art
galleries (Lyonel Feininger, for example), charmingly original shops, a poet's
house, an historically important stone, a river, two remarkable market places,
enchanting statues and fountains, one "best street" after the next, tours
through the castle and cathedral and of course, a museum of imperial treasures
that date from the 10th century. Some of those treasures were stolen by an
American serviceman in 1945, and have only recently been returned. The town
of Quedlinburg has so much colorful "hands-on history," that even my children
remembered the details days later. Every plaque pales in comparison.
We stayed at "Hotel
Domschatz" ("Cathedral Treasure", named for its location across from the
cave where the treasure was hid during WWII) at the very foot of the fortress
mount, but you can also stay at the castle itself in 
Quedlinburg,
or one of many real life fairytale inns. My children always had plenty to
climb on; be it boulders, walls, fountains, ledges, steps, benches, city walls
(with towers) and pedestals. Wander the cobbled streets and just TRY and find
a favorite building (you will have to change your choice constantly; even
the ones waiting for an investor are a wonder to behold), eat some yummy German
pastries or breads (or go down a tucked away alley mysteriously named "Hell"
(Hölle) to a delicious and tiny restaraunt (even has a vacationer's apartment)
named, "Himmel & Hölle" (Heaven and Hell), release a "good luck dove" just
like King Henry the Fowler (Heinrich I der Vögler)—but be sure to make a wish
first, visit the church of St. Servatius with the tombs of the first German
King, the same Henry, and his queen, Mathilde (who was sainted for GOOD reason!),
take part in the cadence of the local's daily life. My children were not the
only ones charmed by a little girl sitting on the steps of her lopsided 1600's
house in a beautiful dress and singing songs with a guitar; selling flower
seeds from her garden (Quedlinburg was a significant producer of flowers,
herbs and their seeds during the Middle Ages and still is today). There's
no wonder why Quedlinburg has been voted one of the top ten sites in Germany!