Münster, Noon and Night

We had a lovely morning with Sabine and Bina as our tour guides.  After doing little shopping for a DVD I was searching for, it was time for lunch.  Sabine knew of a little place call Das Blaue Haus, so we headed there. It was not hard to find among the mostly brown and red brick buildings.  She showed us around the interior but because it was so nice and sunny we enjoyed our lunch outside.

Das Blaue Haus featured grünen Nudeln  on their lunch menu, the noodle dish went very well with my golden beer. 

Sabine and Bine inside Das Blaue Haus. Judging by Sabine's happy face, this place must bring back fond memories for  her!  I'm happy to add  Sabine, Bina and Das Blaue Haus to my good memories, also.

After lunch we had to head back to Rinkerode because Bina had to go to work later that afternoon.  This gave Kathleen and I time to talk with my Aunt Marie and Lina who was finished school was for the day.  Shortly after Holger arrived home and about fifteen minutes later Klaus Walter and Devin appeared.  They wanted to take us back to Münster and show us more of the city.

 Fürstbishöfliches Schloss now part a campus of  Westphalia Wilhelm University. 

The first stop was Fürstbishöfliches Schloss. This palace was built in the Baroque style between 1767-1787 for the Prince Bishop Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels.  After the war the British Occupiers want to teardown the burnt-out remains of the palace but the citizens of Münster protested loudly.  The people wanted rebuild and have the completely destroyed Westphalia Wilhelm University move in.  The Brits relented and the University reopened in 1954.

After touring the beautiful greenhouses and gardens of the University we headed to another Schloss this time in Nordkirchen.   Kathleen and I hopped in Klaus Walter's Mercedes, the others went with Holger.  We took the A1, the first Autobahn in Germany.  My cousin apologized for driving so slowly, traffic was heavy, we were only traveling at 170 KPH.

Wasserschloss Nordkirchen is one place I would like to return and visit in the summer, to see its gardens and tour its rooms.

One word to describe this place would be WOW!  I loved everything about this place especially its symmetry.  I would have to say that Prince Bishop Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg had excellent taste in houses.  He laid the first stone in 1703 and the place including all its gardens were completed by 1734.  One hundred years later Maria von Plettenberg married the Hungarian Count Nikolaus-Franz von Esterházy-Galantha.  The family changed the north Baroque gardens to an English garden, they also began to breed thoroughbred horses.  In 1903 the property was sold to Duke Engelbert of Arenberg.  

After World War 1 many of the foreign properties belonging to the House of Arenberg were sequestered by governments Belgium and France.  The family leased out the palace to various groups, it was holiday home for postal workers, then it was turned into a school for developing leaders by the Nazi Party.  The palace sustained only minor damaged in the Second World War.  The new State of North Rhine-Westphalia rented the property in 1949 with the promise to start the restoration.  In 1958 the state bought the palace for $900,000.00 roughly 7 million in today's dollars.

Schloss Nordkirchen viewed from the north garden.

The main house and courtyard started by the Prince-Bishop of Münster.

When the Prince-Bishop died, his son Ferdinand von Plettenberg inherited the palace. He was gravely ill and promised that he would add a church to the palace should God decided to let him live.  God must have heard the prayer, Ferdinand recovered and lived for another 27 years.

Not only did Ferdinand have to build a church but for the sake of symmetry he had to built a new service wing on the west side in order to balance the look of the palace! 

Today the Schloss and its gardens is a World Heritage Site and well a home of the NRW College of Finance. 

Students reflections.

The day was finally coming to an end, Kathleen and I  and all the others gathered at Klaus Walter, Sabine and Devin's home for a favorite German dinner of mine, Bratwurst.  Klaus Walter and Devin grilled then to perfection over the Hibachi.  The meal was washed down with good German beer, a fitting end to a great stay with both Munsch families.