Day 82

The sun warmed my faee as a woke up this morning. I was thoroughly thrilled at the idea of an excursion to Bingen. I did my normal morning routine and met with the friendly neighborhood hipster from Seattle, AousTeen. As we made our way to the Hofgarten, we purchased some rather splendid black kaffee from a quaint, little coffee stand at the entrance to the park. AousTeen and I started back on our adventure to the bus stop, when all of a sudden, a gust of wind blew us away! Startled, I yelped and turned to see my good, tall, old, and maybe Australian, friend Kate whiz past me. Then in the blink of an eye, her ENTIRE LIFE -which to University students is your laptop- flew out of her bag and slammed into the ground with a tremendous thump that was comparable to a sound made by stampeding elephants. Flustered by all of the sudden events -I am very jumpy if you haven't guessed yet- I just turned face and went to the bus stop. Upon arrival at the bus stop, I saw all of my wonderful friends faces and it filled me with joy. We boarded the bus and talked about our Easter weekends. It was nice seeing all the friendly faces, especially Corey's. We talked about who was the messiest eater and a certain somebody's drool problem. I tried to sleep, really I tried, but all of them were just way too loud. I love them all to death, but seriously guys, if you see a girl trying to sleep, LET HER SLEEP! Anyways, enough of that nonsense. We finally got to the Hildegard Museum and

------------------- all of the text above this line was created by Corey Khanhkham -------------------------


ANYWAY once we arrived in Bingen after a very long drive, we stood next to the Rhein and Dr. Wasser began his lecture about the historical significance of Bingen. From where we were standing we could see a tiny tower in the middle of the river that used to be a trading watchtower and has an interesting history. This is the tale, courtesy of Wikipedia:

The story of how it came to be called the "Mouse Tower" comes from a folk tale. According to this popular, but unsubstantiated, legend, Hatto IIwas a cruel ruler who oppressed and exploited the peasants in his domain. He used the tower as a platform for archers and crossbowmen and demanded tribute from passing ships, firing on their crews if they did not comply. During a famine in 974 the poor had run out of food, but Hatto, having all the grain stored up in his barns, used his monopoly to sell it at such high prices that most could not afford it.

The peasants became angry and were planning to rebel, so Hatto devised a cruel trick. He promised to feed the hungry people and told them to go to an empty barn and wait for him to come with food. The peasants were overjoyed and praised Hatto heartily. They made their way to the barn to await his coming. When he arrived with his servants, he ordered the barn's doors shut and locked, then set the barn on fire and burned the peasants to death, derisively commenting on their death cries with the words "Hear the mice squeak!" (This quote exists in several slight variations.)

When Hatto returned to his castle, he was immediately besieged by an army of mice. He fled the swarm and took a boat across the river to his tower, hoping that the mice could not swim. The mice followed, pouring into the river in their thousands. Many drowned, but even more reached the island, where they ate through the tower's doors and crawled up to the top floor, where they found Hatto and ate him alive.

Fun stuff. After hearing about this, we entered the Hildegard von Bingen museum. Brother Jeremy led us on our tour, and even sang a hymn for us. He never fails to impress us with his many talents. After learning all about the life of Hildegard, we went outside to look at the medicinal garden. Each of us was assigned to plant to find and stand by. Brother Jeremy then went around and told us about the medieval and current medicinal properties of each one. Once our botany lecture was concluded, we all followed Nick to the chosen restaurant for lunch. The red wine that they served us was very dry, but good nonetheless. I'm going to miss being able to legally have wine with my food. When we finished eating, we headed back to Bonn. Us 308 noobs had math class, which was a huge bummer. After math, I went home and went straight to bed. Sleeping is extra fun when you're really tired.