Celle

Celle is a small town but it's really cute and has a lot to offer for its size. Celle has over 400 timber-framed houses and a member of the German Framework Road or Deutsche Fachwerkstrasse. This is a "road" going through Germany that covers towns with historic Framework Houses. Walking around in the town center makes me feel like I've gone back in time. The houses are kept up really well, though. Either the town or the owners of the houses must repaint them fairly often to keep them looking so nice. Last Sunday we were able to explore a little bit more of the town with some of Daniel's coworkers. Here are some photos of the town itself.

Framework Houses. They look so pretty.

Church Tower.

A house with the wooden framework and decorative paintings.

More houses. I think most of them are shops on the ground floor and houses on the upper levels.

Another part of the church. 

You can see that the houses just go on and on down the street.

Starting in 980 AD there has been a structure at this location. It started out as a wall and over time was built up into a palace. The different residents through the ages also made changes and additions to the palace. In 1378 was when it first started being transformed in a palace. The Dukes of Brunswick-Luneburg relocated to Celle after a war. By the mid 1500s in was in the shape it is now, four wings in a square with a courtyard in the middle. In the late 1600s Duke George William had it decorated in an Italian Style, the facade was copied from Venetian buildings. There were many different occupants after him, and it was even empty for a awhile. We didn't get to see all of the palace open to the public because parts are only shown on guided tours. We just walked through on our own.

The Palace in Celle. I've heard it called many different things; Celle Palace, Herzogschloss, Schloss Celle, Residenzmuseum, etc.

Coats of arms made of stone.

You had to wear these really weird slipper things going through the state rooms. You didn't have to take your shoes off, you just slipped your feet in them. We were all "ice skating" across the floor :).

A beautiful chandelier and decorated ceiling.

Backgammon!

A fancy wooden desk.

Bed Chamber. Sometimes the nobility would meet with people while they were in bed.

Elaborate wallpaper and wall designs. I love that green color.

Even the wooden beams were painted to make them look nicer.

The silver. There was a ton.

Caroline Matilda's dress. She was a Danish Queen banished to Celle Palace in 1772 because of an affair.

Roll top desk.

Old letters written in the 1700s.

I mainly put this picture on here because you can see Daniel's reflection in the mirror. I didn't notice when I took it but he must have because it looks like he's posing, lol.

I think these are headbands. The museum hardly had any English descriptions so I'm not 100% sure.

Another really pretty chandelier. This one has more color to it.

There was a military section in palace. This is a flag. I'm not sure what it was used for.

There was a large section with different uniforms worn from 1800 to 1900.

 

 I thought this hat was really strange. It's really tall but it also has that white sticking out of one side.

There was a second set of state rooms on the other side of the palace. This is a beautiful table.

Anything made of wood in this palace was so beautiful. It had so much extra design added. I think this is inlaid ivory.

Another bed chamber.

The curtains match the wall paper. This was one of the smallest rooms. The super busy wallpaper made it feel even smaller.

After we finished looking around at the Palace, we went across the street to the Bomann Museum. This is kind of a random museum. It first started as a way to preserve the history of Celle but many different things have been added on. Now there's a modern art section. It was really weird when we walked through these houses from the 1800s and 1900s and then moved into an area with really abstract art.

A machine used for making fabric.

The beds looked so lumpy. I'm assuming two people were supposed to fit in this bed but it doesn't look big enough.

An old clock. I didn't notice whether or not it still worked.

Art using light. This was in the modern part of the museum.

In the modern art section there was a room with a lot of diorama's like this one.

There was also a section devoted to women's clothes through the ages. This one had a real fox stole.

Living in Celle throughout history. Again, more really pretty wooden furniture.

Some weird horse shoes.

Old Fashioned kitchen. There was an alarm or something in here because if you stepped too close a beeping noise would come on.

I couldn't read the description but I'm assuming this was some sort of toilet. You probably put a bucket or something underneath.

Cool stove.

Some weapons from the war/military section.

Here are some photos of the landscapes we saw as we were driving around the country. Most are from Germany but some of the photos may have been taken in the Czech Republic when we went to Prague.

Snow!!! It was coming down pretty hard on our way to Hamburg.

Tree lined roads. Kind of reminds me of Hairy Man Road in Austin before they cut all the trees down.

Windmills! Reminds me of West Texas.

I think most of the windmills here are shorter.

 Another pretty tree lined road.

I loved seeing all the little villages and towns along the autobahn.

More snow! This was on the way to Prague. I can't remember if we had crossed the border or not.

This was definitely close to the border, either in Germany or Czech Republic.

Towns in the Czech Republic.

I'm pretty sure this is in the Czech Republic too.

This is probably in Germany because we were almost to Dresden.

To be honest, days in Celle did get pretty boring. I didn't have access to the internet, a car, much t.v., and it was too cold or rainy to walk around outside. However, our weekend trips were really great. We got to spend time with an amazing family (The Marshes) for Christmas and New Years, we visited my new favorite city (Prague), and we got to see lots of historic sites and experience a different culture.

After 3 months away from our family and the familiarity of our own country, I'm ready to go home. Our first flight leaves at 6 from Hannover, so we're being picked up tomorrow at 3:30 a.m.!!! Yikes.

I hope to see or speak to everyone soon!

Janelle