Mark and I got up early and took a morning walk through the park across from Uschi’s lovely (and now freshly painted) apartment building and along the little harbor and part of a canal.
On our last visit, there was scaffolding at Uschi’s house because the façade was being painted. It looks gorgeous now!
Then we bought some rolls (including a couple of delicious sweet rolls–a Franzbrötchen and a Quarkbrötchen, to be exact) and some butter and yogurt for breakfast with Uschi. We had a lovely conversation (always a refreshing exchange of travel plans, family events, big philosophical thoughts about living in the moment, Last Things, and social and political differences between the States and Germany–alongside chatter about lemon curd and the price of free-range eggs). Then we set off for a day of exploring the nearby coastal areas just north of Oldenburg by car. Uschi took us to some of her favorite places on the Butadingen peninsula east of the bight or bay called “Jadebusen” that always made us giggle as kids because “Busen” means boobs and its older meaning of “bight” (maybe a reverse boob shape?) did not make an impression.
Our driving route for the day (we went counterclockwise), but our stops along the way were so small that this map from Mark’s geotagging app does not include their names.
Most of our stops were in tiny villages with churches that often went back to the 11th and 12th centuries but were just as often added onto, repaired, rebuilt, and renovated through the centuries. Many had old churchyards that had some amazing vertical old gravestones and vaults with enormous engraved stone grave plates as covers. We found out from a very passionate cemetery gardener that these are family graves that are so old that (unlike most German graves) cannot be removed (eingeebnet) because they are considered historical monuments, and when a family does not want to keep the site, the church has to find a new “owner” for it . Several of the churches were open, so we could take a tour of the interior, and thanks to Uschi’s expertise, we discovered the fascinating art of an artist, Ludwig Münstermann, who carved elaborate altars and pulpits out of wood in the 16th/early 17th century (Baroque / Mannerism). His composition is often quite theatrical and the facial expressions and exaggerated movements of some of his figures are very dramatic and interesting. More detail in some of the photo captions, because I don’t want to go on and on without visual details!
Our first stop: a little harbor along the river Hunte called Elsfleth, where Uschi celebrated many a family occasion. The Hunte also flows through Oldenburg, and we walked along it this morning, but it is a much smaller river there. Here, it is near the confluence with the Weser, which then flows into the North Sea by Bremerhaven a few miles further north. St. Matthews Church in the village of Rodenkirchen, with many different layers from ca. 1200 to the 18th century (plus later renovations). No spire, but to the left is a bell tower with a low-hanging bell. There were two churches (this one and the one at Tossens) with those kinds of towers. 16th-century tombstones outside St. Matthews’ Church in Rodenkirchen. One of the family vaults that cannot be removed and have been used for hundreds of years. The hand-carved 17c altar by Ludwig Münstermann in its full glory. 17c grave plates below our feet. Altar detail: A carved last supper with a theatrical tilt and cheeky little angels in front. Detail of the cheeky little angels, with the artist’s signature and initials. Partly recovered medieval wall fresco and wood ceiling in the style of the original 13th c. pre-gothic church, but painted in blue-toned “marble” in the 18th century. At that time, they also painted the ENTIRE carved altar in that style. It was later repainted in somewhat garish colors in the 1880, and in the 2000s finally returned to the carefully researched original colors Münstermann used. Village church St. Hippolytus in Blexen, a little ways down the road. Mark is always fascinated by the many layers that show, especially where windows or doors were closed or altered. Lunch French fries, brats, and “fish cake” (Fischfrikadelle) in a rather protected beach basket near the coast in BurhaveMore beach baskets–although the tidal mudflats behind them are not the Atlantic, but the estuary of the river Weser. Across the estuary is the harbor of Bremerhaven.Looking back to the land from the mudflats from the pier that we were able to use so that we wouldn’t be knee-deep in this. But you can walk out with the receding tide for miles and miles here, because the slope of the beach (which is never usable as a beach but are always either mudflats or covered in water at high tide) is so gentle. Sheep at the dyke–the ideal dyke maintenance: they mow the grass, they fertilize it, and they stomp down the soil. St. Lawrence’s church in Langwarden was another church where we could admire the interior–they let visitors to get very close to the altar and the carved receptacle that served as the sacristy (for the bread and the wine). The carving and hammered ironwork was fascinating…… as was the back view of the altar by (I think) a student of Ludwig Münstermann (with modern metal supports), but check out the angel’s feet sticking out the back.Uschi especially liked this little angel, who looked to me like he is having a toothache!Special caption for those of you who, unike us, know something about organs and musicology: St. Lawrence also had a special organ from the early 17th century, pre-dating Arp Schnitger’s organs, and using a meantone tuning, which makes it possible to play certain Baroque and pre-Baroque compositions A mossy grave plate at the St. Bartholomew Church in TossensThe old Langvarden church bell was cast in 1468 (BEFORE COLUMBUS DISCOVERED THE NEW WORLD) and cracked in 1930, when it was replaced. Now it just sits there. Varel, St. Peter. How many different layer of windows…? Lots of trial and error going on here. One more cool gravestone/grave plate at St. Peter’s church in Varel, which was closed… …so we went to a cookie outlet store instead. What you see here are buckets of cookies and wafers that did not pass muster at Bahlsen (think: the German Nabisco), so these sold for a fraction of the normal price. We bought a pack of 10 Butterkekse with dark chocolate (a favorite) for 59 Euro cents.
After our all-day tour of the Budjadingen peninsula wound up around 6 pm, when we picked up Uschi’s friend Dieter from his place and went to get ice cream in downtown Oldenburg instead of dinner. It was yummy and it was fun to meet Dieter, whom we had never met before.
Uschi, Dieter, Antje, Mark. Note that Uschi’s “ice cream” was little pieces of bread with proscuitto and salami and an alcohol-free beer! Not everyone can survive on sweets alone… Uschi and Dieter
But I was also in need of a little walk, so Mark and I left the two lovebirds at the gelateria with their coffee to take a little walk through Oldenburg’s old town and through the beautiful public park (Schloßgarten) near Uschi’s place. We listened to an a capella group that performed Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and were very glad to use our feet for a little bit. Then we chatted a bit more with Dieter and Uschi before I decided that it was really time to go to bed! Uschi gave Dieter a ride home and we didn’t even finish the blog. What a great day, though–with wonderful discoveries!
