Münster and Münsterland

Was it really two weekends ago that we drove 547 km (340 m) roundtrip from our home in Zuid Holland province to Münster and Münsterland (area around Münster), Germany! Dear blogger friend, Philine, from several years now, had invited us for a Saturday-Sunday rendezvous. I had met her previously in Amsterdam a few years back but it was a first for Astrid. To all be together at one time was a treat we cherished.

As I think about it, I'm still blown away by how close these European countries are (click on map to enlarge). It seems far to Astrid but for me, this trip was nothing. In less than 3 hours on a Saturday morning, we were there, in Germany, getting situated into our hotel room and then walking over to Philine's house for lunch.

What a sweetheart! Philine is 3 years my senior, a retired school teacher, who has no blog of her own but who has become the Mother of All Commenters on the blogs of those of us who know her, mainly on Shutterchance. She has also met some of our same blogger friends in England, there. So you could say we all get around!
We were thrilled to be her guests for lunch on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday.

[As always, click on collages to enlarge and then click again on an individual image.]

True to her teacherliness, Philine had a plan for our two days together: on Saturday we would see the city center itself, Münster, on foot, and on Sunday we would drive out into the Münsterland area, known for its moated castles.

So first, MÜNSTER, the city center, in Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia), Germany:

Lucky for us, Philine is as interested in archecture as we are, if not more so. The top-left old tower gate is just a block away from her apartment's front door. The bottom right-hand tower was taken outside our hotel window.

It's not my intention to tell you what everything is but rather to give you a feel for the city and what we saw architecturally as we walked around. However, because we are gluttons for old city halls, look at Münster's (top center image) and how it is juxtaposed not far away from the new, modern library (bottom right-hand image).


It was an overcast day with a bit of rain here-n-there, except for when we were actually touring the city. By mid-afternoon it was starting to get dark, but then, that's what it's like here in northern Europe at this time of the year. A couple things of note above: the second image down on the right-hand side is an outdoor free book-exchange kiosk where books are left for others to pick up, whatever you want to take. How fun is that! The image second down on the left side is a chandelier that hangs in a public toilet off the market square. And the bottom center image has a Woolworth store that Philine says almost no one can pronounce. LOL.

But as you'd guess, it's the churches that captivated us the most, true to form. There were four of them we entered:

The first was just the wee St. Johannes kapelle (St. John's chapel) at the beginning of our walk to whet our appetite. Philine is the consummate tour guide...in Dutch, German or English. Take your pick. Sometimes she spoke all three languages in the same sentence...and no one blinked an eye!

The second church was the Überwasserkirche from 1340 (the original 1040 church was destroyed by fire). We first accessed the more modern building adjacent to it which is a library with the courtyard you see on the bottom row (above). The statue is called the Angel of Death. It was in that courtyard where I did the following "Body Language" collage for my Hart & Soul post last week:

That was fun! Philine was such a good sport.

From there we walked to the St. Paulus Dom, Münster's big Roman Catholic cathedral from the early 13th century (1225-64) on the market square.

Wiki says "The most famous feature of Münster Cathedral's interior is the magnificent astronomical clock, made in 1540-43." See it there in the top left-hand corner above.

When we entered the cathedral, I heard immediately the sound of chanting in the distance and wondered if it was something in preparation for Sunday services. No, it was Vespers for the resident priests.


I'm a glutton for the little details I find in these huge cathedrals, like this little prayer box that was so easy to miss if I hadn't been in the right place at the right time. Philine helps to give scale to the size of it. And yes, I opened the little door, where there were indeed folded pieces of paper...with prayers, I presume. I did not disturb them further.

From the market square we walked a bit further to the fourth church, St. Lamberti, the market and citizen's church built in 1375 to "counter the over-powering St. Paul's Cathedral" nearby (St. Paulus Dom above).

What this church is most famous for is the Anabaptist Rebellion (notice the 3 cages on the steeple in the top right-hand image):

To this day, there are three cages attached to the tower of the church above the clock. In these cages, the dead bodies of the leaders of the Anabaptist movement (Jan van Leyden, Krechting, Knipperdollinck) were put on display by the Archbishop after their execution on the 22nd January, 1536, as an example to all. The cages were not taken down until the tower was demolished between 1881 and 1898. They were put up again on the new tower which is still in place.

And that was that...a tour of Münster's city center before we headed back to the hotel for a wee nap, followed by dinner at the lovely home of Philine's friend, Mechtild, where we spent a delightful evening getting to know a new friend around delicious food in her kitchen:

Don't you love how tickled-pink Philine is (lower left-hand above) to watch the connections!

Then it was nighty-night before embarking on MÜNSTERLAND the next day, known for it's moated castles (about 100 of them!). It was a must for us, so Philine and Mechtild both obliged. Since we were headed in the general direction of Holland, it made sense to take both cars so that we didn't have to backtrack to Münster before heading home. I rode with Mechtild and Philine rode with Astrid. It was perfect.

Because Philine knows I'm a sucker for windmills, at the start of our day, even before they were officially open, we stopped at the Mühlenhof Open-Air Museum to see their windmill. A German windmill, mind you. But as Astrid says, remember this is very near The Netherlands! We were there several minutes early but Philine used my "big-lens-American-lady" ticket to get us inside for about 5 minutes, long enough to capture the windmill. As fast as you could say 'Sam's scratch,' we were on our way again....

...but not before we got a preview of the organ grinder in the parking lot, getting ready to go inside to set up his little 'shop.' See how Lady Luck follows us everywhere we go!

So, we were on our way to see castles. Decisions, decisions. With over 100 to choose from, and only limited time, we leaned on Philine and Mechtild to choose for us.

It ended up that we visited two castles well. How's that for putting it.
The first was Haus Rüschhaus, a country estate built in 1745-48 that we had the privilege of touring. It's where Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, one of Germany's most important poets (January 10, 1797 – May 25, 1848), lived with her mother and sister after the death of her father.

Did you see our Granny Towanda above? Yup. She was there all along the way. And as Lady Luck would have it, Philine bumped into one of her teacher colleagues there (bottom right-hand image).

No photos were allowed inside but I cheated big time to take the one picture I couldn't resist...and then got my hand slapped afterwards (in German). But but but....how could I say NO to this:

From Haus Rüschhaus we drove 5 miles away to the Burg Hülshoff, Annette's birthplace. That made total sense, of course, especially since it's one of the most famous of all of the moated castles in Münsterland. We were not disappointed!

Notice the bronze bust of Annette on the bottom row (above). Actually, better said, notice the yellow tree behind her. That one lone, yellow tree became the focal point of the outside landscape the rest of the visit.


Did you know that many castles have their own private chapel (we saw that in England as well)? And can you imagine eating lunch inside such a place! We'll never forget it.

After lunch we took one last walk all around the castle and in the process met up with this fella, Mark Ivo, a 'crazy guy' from Germany who rides his bike all over the world. Interesting trivia: the distance around Germany is longer than the distance from Florida to California across the States. Who would have believed it!

There was one last castle Mechtild wanted us to visit just to see it, since it was a private residence....

...but on the way there, we saw another castle, Haus Havixbeck, which we could view only from the front gate (above left). Also, we passed Gerleve Abbey, (center image above), "a Benedictine monastery and education centre for persons who are interested in religion," per Philine. She adds that it is possible to enjoy there "inner recreation days" which is "rather beloved in Germany among stressed managers and burn-out persons." The right-hand image just caught my eye from the car.

The last castle of the day was Haus Stapel, first mentioned in 1211 and formerly owned by one of Annette's uncles. Because it's a private residence that takes tours by appointment, we were only able to walk around it outside. But it was enough to make us feel that we had come full circle on the day.

Then, as the day was winding down, Mechtild needed to stop and pick up a painting she had purchased from a recently deceased artist who wanted his wife to sell all his paintings for dirt cheap (relatively speaking) to the common person who could afford them.

That was a sweet moment near the end of our day.

And then we really wound down, as the late afternoon became evening, first at one last church, followed by Good-Byes at the café across the street....

This is the St. Ludgerus Roman Catholic church in Billerbeek. It was appropriate to see one last church after all the castles, to somehow bring both days together into one big circle. To then say Thank You and Good Bye to each other in this context was the frosting on the cake. We had been so well taken care of by our two new friends, Philine and Mechtild!

Once back home, Philine herself then sent me photos she had taken of us throughout the weekend. And with this I close a long rendering of a weekend we will never forget:

One last point of trivia:
Münster is twinned with the following places:

• Fresno, USA
• Orléans, France
• York, United Kingdom
• Kristiansand, Norway

HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEK
to those of you who celebrate it!