Fulda Germany ~A Baroque Gem

1. The Cathedral : Built between 1704-1712, this Baroque gem houses the tomb of St. Boniface, who brought Christianity to Germany in the 8th century.

The Cathedral Museum is a must-see, with its Boniface relics and its Lucas Cranach painting.

2. Stadtschloss : Originally erected as the residence of the Prince Abbots and Prince Bishops, the building now houses the administrative offices of the city of Fulda.

3. Vondreau Museum : After visiting the residence and seeing how the very wealthy lived, it is interesting to visit this museum and get a picture of how the middle class lived. This museum offers a cultural history of Fulda from pre-history to current times.

4. St Michael’s Church: We were very disappointed to find out that St Michael’s is closed in January; we were looking forward to visiting this 9th-century Romanesque church.

Quick Tips:

We stopped at the tourist office and I was hoping to meet some of the people who had helped arrange our visit for us. Fulda has the friendliest and most helpful online tourist office that I have ever communicated with. Not only did they book our hotel for us, but they also arranged with the cathedral for Joe to say Mass at the tomb of St. Boniface.

Silke was not in the day we were there, but the other girls in the office were equally as friendly and happy to hear that we were enjoying our visit.

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Best Way To Get Around:

We parked our car at the hotel and didn’t move it again until we left. The streets, especially in this old part of town, are very narrow, and though there is a public parking lot adjacent to our hotel, I can’t recommend driving in town. I never saw any form of public transportation, not even a cab. This is the perfect town to walk in, so put on your most comfortable shoes and hit the pavement.

The French doors open out onto a terrace that overlooks the park. Our room, in the least expensive category, was on the ground floor. Our view was the garden. The lobby is quite a stunner,

with an open plan that allows you to look straight up for three floors. The elevator is glass.

We had two beds that shared a headboard. Each bed had two pillows, one large and one small, and a featherbed. There was a table, an upholstered chair, and a desk chair. There was a large closet and another large open storage area for our suitcases. With a minibar, remote color TV, telephone, and radio, our room was fully equipped. The bathroom had a tub and a hairdryer. Plenty of towels completed the picture of comfort.

There was an indoor swimming pool and a sauna. For a fee, there was a tanning bed available. Internet access was available, but not free, and it was impossible to figure out the keyboard. I lost my euro and tried for three minutes to figure out how to work the computer. The desk staff was no help in this area, and I was not the only one who had a problem.

The location of this hotel couldn’t have been any better; it is right in the center of Fulda, and we had an easy walk to everything in town.

The breakfast buffet was included in our rate,

and the breakfast room was so beautiful that even if the selection had been terrible, the visit to the room would have been a pleasure. As it was, the selection was extensive: scrambled, fried, and boiled eggs, sausage and bacon, eight varieties of cold cereal, lots of rolls, three types of bread, toast, pastries, yogurt, juices, fresh fruits (cherries, plums, pineapples, oranges, melons), cold meats, fish, and cheese -- a well-presented spread. You can drink champagne, mineral water, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. All the while, you can look out onto the park or up at the beautiful ceiling.

We originally booked the hotel though the Fulda Tourist Board. We were quoted a rate of 148 euros. While cruising the Internet, I found a site that offered the hotel for a rate of 118 euros. I sent off an e-mail and, sure enough, we got the lower rate -- another example of never accepting any rate as the cheapest available. Parking was 8 euros a day. This was also the only hotel I have ever checked into where they didn’t ask for a credit card until we checked out. That level of trust is unusual these days.

It was such a good experience that we returned our second night.

I decided to try the local pils, a Hochstift. It was a dark amber color and had a slightly bitter back-taste -- very enjoyable. I could have had a Becks had I preferred, but I usually try a local brew if given the opportunity.

The house provided a small starter on both nights. The first night, it was a fish terrine, pink on top and white and cheesy on the bottom. The second night, it was a fish cocktail -- shrimp and calamari in vinaigrette with olives, lettuce and tomatoes. Both were tasty and a nice surprise.

They have a set menu at 35 euros, but the meat was venison, so we ordered a la carte.

They offered two soups on the regular menu, but on the set menu, they had sweet chestnut soup with cream,

and who could resist that? I asked if I could order the soup outside the set menu, and they said, "of course." It was a euro-and-a-half more expensive than the other soups, but it was so wonderful that I was happy to pay extra, and I did so not only once but twice.

My entree both nights was a vegetable curry.

It was delicious, with lots of vegetables and some fruit over basmati rice with a coconut-based sauce. There was none of the spice curry, but it was so delicious that Bob ordered it the second night, as well. Al had the rump steak on the first night and pork steak the second night. He loved the roasted mushrooms and roasted potatoes. He had herb butter as his sauce the first night, and pepper sauce the second night. Both were delicious. Joe had leg of lamb the first night, and steak the second. There was almost no way to make a bad choice at this restaurant.

We had dessert one night -- I had caramel cream with lukewarm sour cherries...need I say more?! Al had a chocolate sundae

which everyone loved. The only thing we found less than fantastic was the coffee, but that is our own personal taste.

Our waiter both evenings was attentive but didn’t hover. We would eat here again in a heartbeat. It was a wonderful experience, and it would be a great place to go for a romantic dinner.

Just looking at the cakes through the window was enough to send us literally running in the door. We put our new knowledge to use and picked our cake first before we went into the café part to take a seat. I ordered the fruit tart, Al the Black Forest cake, Joe strawberry with cream cake, which is the specialty of the house, and Bob the Gooseberry meringue. They gave us our numbers and sent us into the dining room.

We all decided to have tea and we tried the English Sir William and the Darjeeling. We each got an individual pot. Unfortunately, the whole restaurant was smoking and there were some people around us smoking like a chimney. It’s a good thing the cakes were so good, and it was very good. My cake was almost shortbread with the fruit in jelly on the top and served with whipped cream. Bob’s gooseberry meringue was a real winner too. It isn’t everyday you find gooseberry anything. Al’s Black Forest cake was chocolate and there is the required cherry; it was moist and delicious. I think, though, that Joe had the all-around favorite with his layers of cream and strawberries. We soon realized why it was their signature cake.

Everyone was very friendly here and when they saw me taking pictures, they gave me a post card of the restaurant, which I though was very nice. The décor was simple and yet elegant with wooden upholstered chairs and wooden tables. We had a table with chairs and a wall bench. There was a fresh tulip on each of the tables and service was friendly and efficient. It was an excellent choice and the location is right on the Unterm Heigil Kreuz Square. You will know the square by its sandstone obelisk, which is quite distinctive.

There has been a religious foundation on this site for over 1,200 years, and for many of them, it was a monumental basilica in the style of St. Peters in Rome. Today, some of the old basilica remains -- the towers are the original Carolingian ones with a new baroque exterior -- but it has been largely replaced by a Baroque design.

The raison d’être has remained the same throughout: to house the tomb of St. Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans. With the help of the staff at the Bureau of Tourism in Fulda, we had arranged to have Joe say a private Mass for us on the two mornings that we were in Fulda.

He was so excited, we practically had to put weights on him to keep his feet on the ground. They put up ropes to keep other tourists from walking through the chapel while we celebrated Mass so we felt special. The sextons made Joe feel very welcome and supplied him with vestments and a chalice; they even brought out the relic of St. Boniface on the second day so we could venerate it. If you’re not Catholic, all this doesn’t mean a thing to you, but to us, it was about as big a privilege as we could have imagined.

I have to admit that Baroque leaves me cold; it’s just too fussy.

Give me a good old Gothic or Romanesque cathedral any day. If you are a fan of Baroque, then you will enjoy just walking through this church, and there were certainly plenty of people doing just that. I wanted only to visit the museum, and it is well worth the two-euro entry fee.

For an additional .50, you can purchase a guide to the museum in English. You will need to do that, since the signs are all in German. It is not a detailed guide, but it divides the museum into sections, so it helps you figure out by yourself what some of the exhibits are. There are several real treasures here -- the Adulteress, by Lucas Cranach the elder, the silver altar which also has the skull of St. Boniface and the knife that killed him on it, and the Von Buseck throne and vestments. There are cases filled with priceless religious items, missals, chalices, monstrances, and statues.

Outside there is a rose garden, but of course, in January, there wasn’t a lot to see.

We began in the pre-history section. We looked through cases of bronze and Iron-Age tools and implements, and there were several recreated burial sites. One thing I really liked about this museum was that they had visual displays that placed the real items in the cases into actual use.

For example, they would place an axe head on an axe and in the hand of an early man, so that children would understand what they were looking at. There was a very detailed model of the city of Fulda that showed how large the Dom is and how it dominates the city.

This led into a sections of rooms showing the lives of middle class citizens in the 18th and 19th centuries. This included some lovely furniture, cases of china, firearms, and a recreated pharmacy.

There was a wall depicting the battle of Austerlitz. It looked like a miniature version of the panoramas done with wallpaper but was impressive nonetheless. There was a book open with information on the battle, but of course, it was in German.

One section that we all enjoyed had to do with industry in Fulda. We were particularly entranced with the Fulda Mobile.

There was a large display of candles of all sorts, some with very elaborate decorations, that are produced here in Fulda. There was also a pictorial display of the affects of the Nazi era and the war on the city and people of Fulda. Allow at least an hour, or maybe more if you have children.

We began our visit in a green room

that had a great view all the way to the Orangerie at our hotel. From here, we visited the tapestry room and then the Princes Hall, which is a large room filled with chairs, like a concert hall. The Venetian glass candles are of particular interest.

We almost gave up at this point. The chapel door was locked. We were totally at a loss, since what signs existed were in German and not of the type that we could translate. After traveling up and down halls of offices and meeting with nothing but closed doors, we were willing to admit defeat...almost. Joe stopped a woman in the hall, and luckily for us, she understood English. She ran downstairs to reception, and after a quick conversation with the woman there, she rejoined us. She then showed us where the living quarters were and how to get in.

To visit these rooms, you need to go through a door that is marked but is kept closed.

Don’t be intimidated -- just go on through, as there is a docent on the other side who will check your ticket and send you on your way. You will go through a suite of rooms that have a fine collection of Fulda porcelain. It was produced for 25 years in the 18th century and ranges from figurines to dining service. This is the finest collection in existence of this rare porcelain.

The piece de resistance is the Cabinet of Mirrors. .

It is just that, an intimate room with walls covered in mirrors and windows. There was elaborate Baroque decoration on every available surface. To me, it looks gaudy and gold, but Joe was delighted. You can visit the residence in about 45 minutes.

We took the long way from Heidelberg to Fulda by way of Kassel. The reason we did this was to visit the Wilhelmshohe Palace. This imposing Palace houses a museum that will knock your socks off. Where else can you see so many Rembrandts at one place? Nowhere in Germany. 

The Old Masters Art Gallery is just that, two floors of the most amazing paintings that you can imagine.The Second floor has the German and Italian painting. This collection is spearheaded by a Lucas Cranach triptych and Titian’s portrait of an Italian Commander. This is "World Class" not at all what you would expect in this out of the way location.

What we had come for though, was the third floor. Room after room of Rembrandts, Van Dykes, Rubens, Bruegels, Franz Hals, Joordans and Dou. Rembrandt’s "Jacob’s Blessing" has a prominent position in the collection. We were in shock. Every wall had the most amazing collection of painting and most of the time we could actually be alone in a room with these phenomenal paintings. If you only get to visit one museum in Germany, at this point Kassel has my vote. Now granted, I haven’t been to Berlin yet but certainly, this is an outstanding collection.

Visually, this museum is very attractive. The feeling is very open and the lighting is perfect. All the paintings are shown to great advantage and the spacing is also excellent. It is an enjoyable museum to walk through. Staff are available to answer questions but it never seemed as if they were following us around.

In the basement, there is a very nice but small store and a bistro. Of course when we got here it was after 1pm and I was hungry. We stopped for a bite and had some delicious soup and a salad that was amazing. Even the hot chocolate was superb. This is a win-win stop. Come to eat, to shop and to be very impressed. If we had had more time, there are several other interesting museums in Kassel that I would have liked to visit.

The entrance fee is a bit steep here, €7. Also the parking lot is quite a walk away from the entrance to the museum and the walk is uphill. I can't recommend this museum highly enough, if you are ever in the area don't miss it, or like us go way out of your way to see it.