Through the Heart of Europe -- Part 9, Bonn

The next stop on our river journey was Bonn, a mid-sized city on the Rhine that had a half-century of glory as the capital of West, and later United Germany. Starting in 1998, though, most government functions were moved to Berlin and Bonn has since reverted to being the quiet little river city it had been before World War II. Bonn is an ancient city -- historical records date back to the first century BC and it had been long-established before then -- but little of its ancient past remains today. In the sixteenth through the eighteenth century, Bonn was the residence of the Archbishop of Cologne, who also was one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire, and some impressive structures from that period are on display

This is a view across the Hofgarten [court garden] showing the Kurfürstliches Schloss -- The Prince/Elector's palace. Today it is the administration building for the University of Bonn. The city has lots of students.

Mistletoe on a tree bordering the Hofgarten.

A dead bicycle simply left to rust.

Looking back across the Hofgarten toward the art museum.

The Bonn Cathedral -- constructed during the High Middle Ages. It used to serve as the Cathedral church for the Bishop/Elector of Cologne. Before that a church stood on the site dedicated to the memory of Saints Cassius and Florentius.

These disembodied heads commemorate the saints, Roman legionaries who were martyred because they refused to fight against other Christians, or so we were told.

An interesting statue, representing a local folk legend, near the Dom.

A street leading off the main market square. We were there on a Sunday morning so everything was closed, but there was no reason not to take pictures.

A decoration adorning the fountain that stands at the center of the market square.

We then went to a high place where we had a nice view of the Rhine. Naturally, I took a picture of a barge loaded with scrap metal.

A ferry on the Rhine docked at an amusement park.

When we returned to our boat another one was tied up next to us. They were serving lunch.

Through the Heart of Europe -- Part 8, Traben-Trarbach

After Trier we sailed back to Traben-Trarbach where we once again tied up along the bank through the night and much of the following day. Time enough for a leisurely stroll through the towns.

A kayaker out for his morning exercise.

A view of Trarbach from Traben.

Very aggressive waterfowl. There were a lot of different species constantly fighting over territorial rights on the river.

You see the strangest things looking out of European windows.

The center square

Crossing the bridge to Trarbach

Looking back at Traben from the bridge connecting the two towns.

There are a lot of representations of ravens sprinkled around the area. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it is because the name Traben derives from an old Celtic word, "raven" which meant "small settlement".

And of course representations of waterfowl.

Just a nice staircase with some art deco features that I shot as we returned to the boat.

Then it was back on the boat and heading toward Bonn. On our way we passed what remains of the famous Bridge at Remagen.

Through the Heart of Europe -- Part 5, The Rhine Gorge

Back on the boat we headed down the middle course of Rhine past numerous picturesque castles and towns. Here are a few of the things we saw.

Through the morning we sailed past castle after castle on our way to Boppard. 

This is the Ehrenfels castle.

Eventually we pulled into Boppard where we paused for a while. We ate lunch, then some of us took a walking tour of the town while others boarded a bus for a tour of the Marksburg castle.

Back on the river. Contrails in the sky.

Schloss Liebeneck

Then, towering above us, the Marksburg Castle, the only hilltop castle in the region that was never destroyed.

The town of Lahnstein.

Approaching Koblenz

Castle Ehrenbreitstein

The "German Corner" of Koblenz, where we docked for the night. The mounted statue is of Bismark.

The Continuing Collapse of Scientific Authority -- Warming Hysteria Is a Fraud

Here's another heavyweight climatologist weighing in against the Gore hysterics. He has some very interesting things to say about supposedly objective scientific authority. A few excerpts:

Hans von Storch is one of Germany's leading researchers on climate change. DER SPIEGEL spoke with him about why fears of global warming are exaggerated and and the doom-mongering tendencies of German scientists. .... SPIEGEL: Some climate protection groups and politicians are calling on Germans to spend their summer vacations in their own country in the future.

Storch: That's just another one of those typically German attempts to save the world with symbolic acts. It makes us feel like better people and morally superior to everyone else.

....

SPIEGEL: But many believe that the end of the world is upon us. Is the climate debate gradually becoming too hysterical?

Storch: Indeed. The fear of climatic catastrophes is an ancient one and not unlike our fear of strangers. In the past, people believed that the climate almost always changes for the worse, and only rarely for the better -- God's punishment for sinful behavior. And nowadays it's those hedonistic wastrels who pollute the air so that they can look at some pretty fish in the South Seas. It would be better if we only ever rode bikes. Oh, there's always someone wagging a finger in disapproval.

....

Storch: Detailed forecasts are not possible, because we don't know how emissions will in fact develop. We climate researchers can only offer possible scenarios. In other words, things could end up being completely different. But there are undoubtedly parts of the world that will benefit on balance from climate change. Those areas tend to be in the north, where it has been cold and uncomfortable in the past. But it's considered practically heretical to even raise such issues.

....

SPIEGEL: And what about the monster storms that will supposedly be rushing in our direction in a greenhouse climate?

Storch: A false alarm, so far, even though it's become warmer by almost one degree since the beginning of industrialization. According to the computer models, we do expect high winds in northern Germany to increase by one percent per decade. But this is such a weak phenomenon that we won't even notice it at first.

SPIEGEL: And the thousands of heat-related deaths the Kiel Institute for World Economics predicted in a recent study? Storch: Such claims are completely idiotic and dubious.

....

SPIEGEL: Aren't climate researchers helping fuel a state of panic with their generally bleak warnings?

Storch: Unfortunately many scientists see themselves too much as priests whose job it is to preach moralistic sermons to people. This is another legacy of the 1968 generation, which I happen to belong to myself. In fact, it would be better if we just presented the facts and scenarios dispassionately -- and then society can decide for itself what it wants to do to influence climate change.

Read the whole thing here.

This is what happens when you mix science and politics -- you corrupt both. As I have said many times, scientific authority is not objective and, while it should be heeded, it's recommendations should be balanced against other concerns, political, economic, even moral.

Mommies and the Nanny State

Much has been made in recent years about the marginalization of feminism in the United States. It seems that the same thing is happening over in the socialist fantasyland that is Europe. Der Spiegel reports that Eva Herman's book, "The Eva Principle" has become a sensation by challenging the central tenets of modern feminism.

In print, on TV and in public appearances Mrs. Herman has been advocating

a series of tenets so old-fashioned they seem almost revolutionary again: Motherhood instead of emancipation, child-rearing instead of career-climbing, devoted marriage instead of egoistic self-fulfillment.

....

"Let's just say it loud," Herman writes. "We women have overburdened ourselves -- we allowed ourselves to be too easily seduced by career opportunities." She recommends women exchange the cold sphere of work for the "colorful world of children" and discover their "destiny of nurturing the home environment."

Not surprising, she has become,

the target of scorn from all sides of the political spectrum. Critics accused her of sending women back to the 1950s and said that she, as someone who successfully combines her career with child-rearing, was guilty of hypocrisy. Several German women have written their own books in response, damning Herman's thesis.

There have been prominent converts, though, including

Christa Müller, the wife of the left-wing former finance minister Oskar Lafontaine. Just five years ago, the economist and left-wing politician lectured the public that she was unsuited for the role of the ornamental wife. But now she, like Herman, has radically changed her mind.

Of course, this being a socialist state, government subsidies are involved.

Minister for Family Affairs Ursula von der Leyen has proposed,

that the government increases the number of nursery places for children below the age of three to 750,000 by 2013, three times more than at the moment. Her argument is that better childcare provisions make it easier for mothers to return to work -- as well as encouraging German women to have more children...

Coupled with proposed state welfare subsidies for stay-at-home mothers, this proposal has raised a huge storm of protest from those who feel that the state should refrain from interfering in family affairs. And, of course, the proposal for state subsidies for women has been followed by similar proposals for men. The idea seems to be that the state will pay mothers and fathers to stay home and have children, and then the state itself will assume the burden of raising the offspring. Essentially this would turn families into baby factories and little more.

Oh my!

See what happens when personal choices become the subject of social science investigation and state policy recommendations?