On Saturday, I joined Clara’s family in a very unusual activity: Roman warboat rowing. There is a site not far from here in Bad Iburg where an ancient battle mask was discovered. After some archeological exploration, experts have decided that it is likely the site of a battle between the Romans and the Germanic peoples, where the Romans were beaten for one of the first times. Today, there is a museum on the spot, and since this year marks the 2000th anniversary of the battle, the site is hosting special exhibitions and events.
Roman rowboat
One of these events is the rowing. A costumed leader directs vistors on one hour tours in a recreated Roman rowboat. We trekked down to the river to join in, and I tried to follow along as best as possible, despite all of the directions being in German. But the hardest part turned out to be just handling the paddle, which was wooden and surprisingly heavy. Steamboats passing us on the river stopped to stare at the strange sight. After the workout, we took a quick tour of the museum, which has a gallery of painted masks, which are now symbols of peace, from all of the countries in the European Union.
peace masks
Yesterday, we took a bike ride through the surrounding countryside, which was quite fun, despite my lack of biking skills, because we were mostly passing through flat, untrafficked farmland. At night, there were fireworks going on in town, which we watched from the roof, to celebrate a local festival going on right now, called Schutzenfest, which I still have only a dim understanding of. From what Clara and her family tell me, it’s become an unexplainable local tradition, mainly a time for the old men to drink beer and wear green. In a few hours, I’ll be leaving Germany for Brussels, Belgium by bus (an eight hour ride!), as the final leg of my journey begins. Today marks 7 weeks that I’ve been away, with one more to go before I return to the United States.