Germany - Soest
When you begin walking into the old town of Soest, you feel like you are walking into a fairytale: narrow, winding, cobbled and bricked streets; vines that look like Rapunzel’s hair; medieval half-timbered buildings with red, yellow, and blue decorations and inscribed with Latin or German phrases; red-tiled roofs; bramble vines that look like they would surround Sleeping Beauty’s castle; stores with wooden toys and scrumptious looking baked delights; and a pond in the centre of town with mallard ducks and white swans and ‘witch dunking’ steps.
There were people living in this area 2000 years ago. By 1000 AD, Soest was becoming an important spot on the travel route from west to east. Today, a city wall made of the stone of the area – green sandstone – still surrounds about a third of the main part of this city of 50,000 people. The double-walled area is a park and you can walk between or on the walls that run between the remaining gatehouses.
There are 18 churches inside the city walls, many built using the green sandstone – all seem to be chiming their bells throughout the day and night. You don’t need an alarm clock to awake. At 7:00 am each weekday the bells of the churches peal. They also peal on Sundays at 9:15 to make sure everyone is awake to go to church.
On the old city square by the Rathaus (city hall built in 1715) are the two largest churches: The Catholic Patrocli and Protestant Petri Churches. The Patrocli has been the centre of a religious order since the relics of St. Patroclus were placed there in 964. In 1950, beautiful, colourful, stained glass windows, of very modern design by Hans Kaiser, were installed in many of the windows. Across the street the Protestant Petri Church that dates from the 600's, has an onion-shaped steeple. The oldest parts of today’s church date around 1150. The Alt-St. Thomae Church has a crooked steeple built in 1653 - either a mistake in building it, a political statement of some kind, or else done on purpose with the intention of strengthening its resistance against the winds - the jury is still out.
I’ve been to Soest several times and have yet to have a bad meal in any restaurant. Terrific German food at the ‘Wild Man’ hotel or The Pilgrim. There are also Italian, Thai, Chinese, Greek – so many choices for such a small city. On the large square, Café Lamang has Art Nouveau style stained glass, bar, and furniture. It also has a popular Sunday brunch.
CANADIAN SOLDIERS were stationed in Soest as part of NATO in the 1950’s and 60’s and there is a plaque to them on the walls of the Rathaus.
CHRISTMAS IN SOEST
Christmas trees - Oh, Tannenbaum - green spruce trees are everywhere. They are either undecorated, or else decorated with white lights, or gold or red bows. The streets are strung with white lights in green boughs. Many building are lined with white lights. It is fun to see the life-size Santa Clauses 'climbing' on many of the buildings.
Christmas Markets are all over Germany. Soest’s wooden stands set up in the streets sell everything from candles to crystals. Enjoy the hot mulled wine and buy the souvenir cup for 2 Euros. Freshly fried potato pancakes are a treat with applesauce or a multi-cultural touch - tazziki sauce. Kale and sausage, bratwurst, and baked potatoes are also tempting delights. Of course the bake and chocolate shops are fully of yummy treats including the famous ‘Berliners’ – donuts with a filling inside.
At 5:30 pm on Christmas Eve the candlelit churches are full of singing parishioners. In the Catholic Church there is a detailed 3-dimensional depiction of a legend of some sort – several ‘scenes’ are set up with wise men as a part of one. There is running water in the brooks, small trees, animals and people doing chores, eating.
Every Christmas Eve since the 1700’s something magical happens at 7:00 pm – the old city square goes dark and the bells of the Petri Church are the only ones chiming the hour. Thousands of people line the streets looking 200 feet up at the square platform below the church’s onion-shaped steeple. There they see the trumpeters and a choir holding candles, sing The Gloria in Excelsis Deo. When they are finished, the Catholic church across the street begins pealing its bells.
NEW YEAR'S EVE IN SOEST
At midnight all the bells are pealing and there is fireworks going off everywhere. It is the one time of the year when it is legal to shoot off fireworks. Quite a sight!
HOW TO GET TO SOEST: The closest international airport to Soest is in Dusseldorf, in the northwestern part of Germany. One gets off the plane, takes a monorail directly to the train station and onto a direct train, 1 1/2 hours, northeast.
Spa
One of Germany’s many spa locations is just a 3-minute train ride or a 5.7 km bicycle ride from Soest. Bad Sassendorf is a small spa village with bricked pedestrian streets. You can swim (in a bathing suit) in the heated (33°C) sea-salt indoor/outdoor pool, or try out several different kinds of saunas. The sauna area with its own pools has a 'no clothing' policy. Another part of the complex is a health and wellness area where you can soak in a milk bath, or get a massage, facial, manicure, etc. Around it is a delightful park with bronze statues and an area that is ‘musical.’
