Sunday 6 March 2011

sunday drive: fantasery

After managing to revive the Bulli from her Winter’s hibernation without much effort or hardship, we took her for a calisthenics drive through the woods and over the mountains to the fair city of Fulda. We had explored the historic part of town with its impressive abbey transformed into a basilica as a reliquary for the remains of Saint Boniface, apostle and patron of the Germans and founding archbishop of Mainz, which was constructed as a tribute to the original St. Peter’s in Rome (not the one today at the Vatican), and baroque adornments, so we also visited the abbot’s Propstei (Provostship) at Johannesberg.
The steeples and towers rising up from the start of the Hessen AlleenstraรŸe (manicured, tree-lined lanes) was quite something but the complex of buildings, though well preserved with the chapel still there, was converted to more of a office-park, with an information-technology company and a realtor there. Next we stopped at the Schloss Fasanerie (DE)—as in pheasant-hunting, although I insisted on mispronouncing it “fantasery,” as in some place fantastic.
This was an absolutely massive but typical German weekend hunting retreat. The faรงade of the main building of the lodge was undergoing restoration but it was neat to be able to stroll down the long, continuous corridor through the endless scullery, lager, weems and stables. For its size, it seemed a model of efficiency and industry for entertaining, and I was impressed with the bath for the horses after a long day of pursuit.