Visiting Heidelberg (Germany) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Heidelberg (Germany) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Heidelberg, located in southwestern Germany, is famous for its university, printing presses, and Gothic castle that is perched high above the Neckar River.

Heidelberg has an important history in Germany and Europe as home to the Palatinate electors, who voted for the Holy Roman Emperor.

Charlemagne (c. 742 – 814) was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor in 800, the first Roman Emperor since the Fall of the Roman Empire.  Charlemagne is considered to be French and German.  The Germans date the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire at 962 with ascension of Otto I (912 – 973) to the throne, a wholly Germanic figure.

According to a Deutsches Historiches Museum exhibit about the Holy Roman Empire, the Empire was decentralized, multilingual, and multidenominational.  It covered Germany, Austria, and Central Europe.  This diverse cultural base of the Holy Roman Empire required adroit diplomats and politicians to hold it together.  The Germans of the Palatinate, of which Heidelberg is a political center, distinguished themselves for meeting the needs of the Empire.

The Holy Roman Emperor was elected by an elite group of churchmen and princely electors.  The position of Emperor was not hereditary; each candidate had to be a skillful politician to get elected.

The last Holy Roman Emperor was Emperor Franz II (1768 – 1835).  He abdicated the throne in 1806 and assumed just the title of Emperor of Austria as Franz I.

Heidelberg’s importance somewhat diminished with the end of the Holy Roman Empire, but one look at the solid, stone houses leading up to the castle alerts visitors to the town’s self-assuredness of its historical role in creating modern Germany and Europe.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Laurent Paget Photography

Laurent Paget Photography

Ruth Paget Selfie

Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Bavaria) - Winter Olympics Site by Ruth Paget

Visiting the Winter Olympics Game Town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Bavaria, Germany) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, located south of Munich and straddling the Austrian border, was the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics and the World Alpine Ski Championships in 1978 according to the Michelin Touring Guide for Germany

It remains a ski resort in winter and a hikers’ paradise in summer.  Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitze, towers above the Wetterstein Chain of the Alps here.

Brown, wooden German chalets decorated with murals on their white, outer walls are nestled in a valley below the snow-covered mountains.  The murals make the town buildings look cheerful and inviting.  People stroll and buy baked goods and Swiss watches.

You have to be a road warrior to get to all of this tranquility though.  As of June 2015, the road through Munich requires a turn at the Allianz Soccer Stadium, driving through tunnels under central Munich, and surviving snail’s pace traffic jams; plan your exit early to snake your way there by Olympic Park.

 Once you are on the outer roads leading towards Garmisch Partenkirchen there is construction with no updates to the GPS network it seems.  Once headed south, you go through one-lane roads with slow traffic and lots of tunnels under mountains.  Munich dwellers interested in skiing appear to take the ski bus and leave the driving to other people.

We usually stay at the Hotel Mercure in Garmisch Partenkirchen.  This hotel has rooms decorated in light wood with old-time skiing photographs.  Their restaurant is open all day.  The hotel is modern, but the rooms remind me of little chalet hotel rooms.

The hotel restaurant offers Bavarian specialties.  I like eating what was described to me as a Bavarian Sunday lunch favorite: pork roast with gravy, braised red cabbage that tastes sweet, and dumplings with croutons in the center.  The dumpling tasted as if it had been steamed over chicken broth.  I drink Pils beer with hearty lunches like this.

A walk is in order after a Bavarian Sunday lunch.  Bakers, restaurants, and luxurious accessory shops provide window shopping interest galore.  The stores are polished and new; very spiffy.

Garmisch Partenkirchen is a town for people whose only worries appear to be getting the day’s bread.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Laurent Paget Photography

Ruth Paget Selfie

Visiting the Tomb of William the Conqueror in Caen (France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Tomb of William the Conqueror in Caen (France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget


Caen, France is a favorite destination of American and British tourists alike but for different reasons.

The Americans come to the area to see the Normandy beaches, especially the new museum dedicated to D-Day at Utah Beach.  My husband Laurent and I visited the Utah Beach Museum on a Memorial Day weekend and also rendered homage to my English ancestors by visiting William the Conqueror’s (1028 – 1087) tomb at Abbaye aux Hommes in Caen.

William the Conqueror was the son of Robert I, Duke of Normandy.  William and his army invaded England in 1066.  William won the English throne by winning the Battle of Hastings.

William the Conqueror’s rule brought about profound changes to English culture.  William’s supporters became the new ruling class of England.  French was the language of the ruling classes, the courts, government, and high culture.  The French language has retained its lofty stature in English society; the Queen of England speaks French fluently.

William the Conqueror also commissioned the Domesday Book in 1086, which was a survey of landholders in England.  The Domesday Book is now available online.  It has a search function, which allows you to type in your family name to see if your family was recorded at this time.  I typed in my maiden name, Pennington, and found several listings for landholders, an endowed church, and a town named Pennington.  That was nifty!

A trip to Caen is nifty, too.  William the Conqueror’s wife Mathilda of Flanders (1031 – 1083) is buried about one mile away from the Abbaye aux Hommes in the Abbaye aux Dames.  There are many restaurants in Caen for all pocketbooks, which makes all the walking seem shorter.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Photo by Laurent Paget

Photo by Laurent Paget

Photo by Laurent Paget

Ruth Paget Selfie