Speyer, GERMANY

The first extra is of the Dom in Speyer, a magnificent cathedral outside but quite bare inside, none of the Baroque flamboyance of the typical Catholic church building.

The second extra is of the schloss in Alzey, which is actually where I went first.  Left the house rather late -- 11.00, with still enough diesel from last time, which was a good thing as I wanted to drive at least a couple of hundred kilometers into Germany and then fill up there.  Stopped by Mayen to do just that, then on southwards, calculating to reach Alzey by 16.00.  Got there at 15.50 and gave myself an hour.  The sky continued to clear, and by the time I hit the road again, at 17.10, I had already decided to continue southwards to Speyer as it was a mere 65 km. further and would save me a future trip.  By the time I got there, the sun was out sufficiently so that I could take better shots.

While the schloss in Alzey has been recycled -- part of it is used as a boarding school, the other part has the offices of the regional court -- the schloss at Speyer, as you can see, has been transformed into a museum.  Naturally, it was too late to enter as I arrived at 17.40, but that was perfectly okay with me.  Spent the next two hours exploring the city on foot -- a very clean, well-organized, and beautiful place.  By 20.00, I had a terrace seat at a local restaurant and had ordered dinner, and by 21.00 I was done.

The drive home was straightforward and uneventful, as I hoped it would be -- no exhausting traffic jams, no confusing motorway flyovers and exits, and no rain, just steady on the A61.  I was home by 02.00.  The house was empty because AW was at Eindhoven.  Thought I'd check my mail ... and what did I see?  Three important messages -- from the Viking, the literary agent, and an ex-colleague hoping I still had the marks I gave my first-year students last schoolyear.  I spent a bit more than an hour replying as the Viking needed answers to some pressing questions, and the ex-colleague's request wasn't difficult to respond to either (I simply mailed him my entire Excel sheet from last year).  In bed a bit after 03.00, batteries completely empty.