Back Home . . .

It took us about two weeks to get back to normal, unpacking suitcases, laundry, grocery shopping, and catching up on life’s every day functions. And as we did, we recalled what a great time we had on our trip to Germany.

After meeting with family for a grand celebration, the four of us traveled Germany’s Romantic Road, taking in medieval towns, ancient castles and sumptuous palaces. I did not think about work, however, now that I am sitting back at my computer and reviewing where I left off on my blog, the one thing that pops into my head is exactly what I was promoting in my last blogpost . . . educating the young on the principle of value. And that value is part and partial to preserving the past, being medieval, ancient, and generational history, everything that happened then is what made and gave shape to who we are today. And if those histories were not saved and taught to everyone who visits, especially younger folks who may not value history as much as others, where would we be today?  What stories could one age group hand down to the next one if the next generation doesn’t care, of which I fear may be today’s millenniums. What history of people, places and things would we have and improve upon to make our lives better today if we did not know about all the ways and means of the past?

 

For instance, hearing about all the gory ways of punishment inflicted upon those who may or may not have deserved such wretched forms of chastisement such as at Harburg Castle in Bavaria. Not terribly fainthearted, but enough to make me not want to recall those ghastly methods, yet from that history came less merciless techniques used today.

Castle walls surrounded and protected many medieval villages and as we walked along the one in Rothenberg ob der Tauber, we were pleased to see embedded into the walls plaques from contributor’s who donated money to the preservation of the castle walls. And using our imaginations, we could picture a sumptuous dinner served on gold-plated china in the palatial banqueting hall in this Renaissance palace in

Weikersheim, Count Wolfgang II at the head of the table. If none of this history, if none of these antiquities have not been saved, I ask you again . . . what would our lives be like today?

"It has been said that at its best, preservation engages the past in a conversation with the present over a mutual concern for the future."

William Murtagh, National Register of Historic Places