Day 5-Worms!

The Worms Cathedral (Dom)

That’s pronounced “Verms”, not like the squiggly dirt creatures.  Today we wondered why we keep going to cold places in cold seasons!  I guess we like the absence of crowds.  37F just seems a lot colder with grey skies and stiff breezes, and well, a “Texas winter coat”.

We headed to Worms, and to the public library.  As near as we could tell, there was only one.  Anyway, we had a book reserved with them; the book was on the 1200 year history of Ober-Mörlen (790-1990), so I guess it is about 2% out of date.  400 pages of history, all in German!!  (The Google Translate App on our phones, while not perfect, has been VERY handy!!)  We sat down and began paging through, photographing pages I might like to read later.  But mostly looking for “Geck” in the history of the town. 

400 Pages of History...in German!

The Gecks are Bürgermeisters! (maybe)

I found that there were two Gecks that were either Bürgermeisters (Mayors) of Ober-Mörlen or at least a noteworthy person in the “burg”. 

There was also the “famous” (as evidenced by the street in his name) Adam Geck, and bit of a write up about him.  It seems after learning his trade as a shoemaker, he was itchy for adventure.  So he borrowed 30 Guilders from his Aunt, and immigrated to England, first living in Middlesex and then Surrey.  He became a leatherworker, and made shoes and boots.  Having no children with his wife Jakobina, he set up a fund to pay out to the poor and needy of his home town, Ober-Mörlen.  Between 1905 and 1913, about 920 people had received 50 to 100 German Marks, according to their needs.  Hmmm…  Likes travel and adventure.  No kids.  I like this guy!!

The Dom from the Library parking lot.

After the library, we headed over to see a few of the churches.  Right next door was Holy Trinity Church, in which Martin Luther’s trial was held in 1521 in front of the King.  The church is now sort of a testament to Luther, which seems ironic.

Across the plaza is the Dom (Cathedral) of Worms.  The building has roots back to 1000 AD, when Bishop Burchard began building the first large building, although the current structure was not started until about 1181, and was still in process in 1300 when they changed the style of the design.  Anyway, the Bishop is laid to rest in the current Dom.

So many sausage choices...

We started looking for lunch.  Options included a Mc Donald’s (a mere ¼ mile away), some sort of Chinese, some mall food options, and several outdoor vendors.  There was a grill with assorted “wursts”, that both looked and smelled GOOD!!!  But it was also 37F.  After some debate, both of us wanted the sausage, so we stood out there shivering with our brats, beer, and fries.  It was good, but oh so COLD!!

Beer, brat, and brrrrrr!!!

We have been surprised at how many places do NOT take credit card here, and have been burning through cash.  So we stopped in to a bank to get some more cash.  Parking was awkward (in this giant beast Hertz gave us), so Bill pulled up at the end of a drive and waited while Theresa ran in for some cash.  A couple of police decided this was not OK and insisted that the car must be moved immediately! (although they never actually got out of the way so I could go anywhere).  Then a pedestrian stopped to talk with them.  Before they ever moved, Theresa was back in the car.  No German jails tonight!

In honor of our Bürgermeisters, we're having Burgers for dinner...Except they're made with pork...