Birthday Celebration in Eastern Europe

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Thursday, 23 September 2016 - Traveled by short train from Stuttgart to visit the elegant spa town of Baden-Baden where we walked the beautiful Kurhaus grounds and Pump Room, enjoyed its historic warm springs and murals, wandered the charming streets, and continued on to explore picturesque Freiburg with its Gothic Münster, medieval marketplace, and detailed stained glass before ending the day with dinner.

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A short train ride from Stuttguart to Baden-Baden where we simply strolled around.

A beautiful grounds for the spa resort and casino - Kurhaus. Built between 1821 and 1824.
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Baden-Baden is known for it's warm springs. This is Trinkhalle, Baden-Baden's Pump Room, with its Corinthian pillars and striking murals. Ever since Roman times, people have stood on this spot and enthused over Baden-Baden and the healing powers of its water from a 17,000 year old Friedrichsbad spring.
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Paul and Melody Moore outside the Pump House. Melody has family from Baden-Baden so we decided to visit while in Stuttgart. It was fun going back to her roots.
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Wall fountain
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Baden-Baden street and appartments
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Fresh seafood market
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Creative medallions on a building overhang.
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After Baden-Baden we took a short train ride to Freiburg. In the center of this very picturesque town is the Freiburg Minster. The building started around 1200 in Romanesque style the construction continued in 1230 in Gothic style.

Freiburg was founded by Konrad and Duke Berthold III of Zahringen in 1120 as a free market town; hence its name, which translates to "free (or independent) town." Frei means "free", and Burg also means "a fortified town." Thus, it is likely that the name of this place means a "fortified town of free citizens."
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Gold statue in front of the church

It is the only Gothic church tower in Germany that was completed in the Middle Ages (1330), and miraculously, has lasted until the present, surviving the bombing raids of November 1944, which destroyed all the houses on the west and north side of the market
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Another statue with the Freiburg Minster in the background
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Freiburg Minster exterior detail
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Freiburg Minster stained glass

The nave windows were donated by the guilds, and the symbols of the guilds, are featured on them. The deep red color in some of the windows is not the result of a dye, but instead the result of a suspension of solid gold nano particles.
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Candles light a statue of the Madonna. .
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Inside the Freiburg Minster
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And of course gargoyles
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High in the buttresses is a gold statue
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The front of the church - I was intrigued by the plants growing high on the church.
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Freiburg apartments with beautiful flower boxes
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Houses and businesses along the marketplace.
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The Martinstor (English Martin's Gate), a former town fortification on Kaiser-Joseph-Strase, is the older of the two gates of Freiburg preserved since medieval times.
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Restaurants next to a small canal in Freiburg
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Freiburg street
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The town seal of Freiburg on a manhole cover
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Statue in the market square
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The New Palace the magnificent 18th Century Baroque residence of the Kings of Württemberg from 1746 to 1797 and from 1805 to 1807.

The World War II air raids on February 21, 1944, New Palace was almost completely burned to the ground by Allied bombs, leaving only the facade standing. For many years, preservationists fought to rebuild the New Palace (once, it was nearly demolished in favor of a hotel) until 1957 when finally it was agreed that the castle would be rebuilt - by one vote.
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Opera House in Stuttgart - we watched Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven. Well, Virginia Ann and David saw the whole thing, Cal ducked out at the intermission.

Our last night in Eastern Europe - the next day we flew back to the United States.
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