Daedalian Adventures

The road ahead is rarely straight…

By Lynelle Barrett

The View is Tomorrow

It was a gray, brisk autumn day in Rüdesheim, Germany. I walked with my best friend from America, her German uncle and one of her aunts who was a Benedictine nun. We ambled along a vineyard trail high on a bluff. The abbey trail followed the Rhine River and was cuddled by rows of naked grapevines that swept up to the crest of the bluff and curved down to the river valley. The surrounding hills were blanketed in flaming colors, like the dying embers of summer. The Rhine flowed past ancient castles, woodlands, vineyards and the fabled Lorelei Rock.

The Lorelei is a steep rock cliff at the narrowest and deepest point of the Rhine. Reefs and rapids make this passage extremely difficult for ships to navigate. According to legend, there was once a beautiful golden-haired maiden named Lorelei, who threw herself into the river in despair over a faithless lover. In death, she was transformed into a siren and could be heard singing on a rock along the Rhine River. Her hypnotic music bewitched sailors so they could only look up at her and not at the dangerous rocks below. Her song lured them to their deaths.

Lorelei’s song may have been universal, but communication was not so easy for us on the abbey trail. Only my friend and I spoke English. I spoke no German, only a bit of Dutch. I was surprised at how much of the German I could understand. The Germans found my Dutch words strange. They listened politely. Then they waited for my friend, who spoke no Dutch, to translate. Sometimes when she was talking she couldn’t remember a word in German. Then she would ask me if I knew the word in Dutch because often they are similar. It was a convoluted way to converse.

I admired the glorious scenery. It had probably looked almost the same for centuries, only the boats plying the river had changed over the years. I said, “Het overzicht is mooi.”  The view is beautiful. But “mooi” means something else in the regional dialect. The Germans heard, “The view is tomorrow.” Everyone was too polite to say anything at the time. My friend told me later. I wondered what other strange things they thought I said that day.

On reflection, possibly it wasn’t so strange. I always thought the legend of Lorelei was very romantic, but now I think differently. Imagine if Lorelei had decided to get over her heartache and move on with her life. All those sailors would not have been seduced by her sad and lovely song. Her song would have been completely different. She would probably have found a new love and she wouldn’t be stuck up on that rock. Maybe tomorrow is the most beautiful view of all.

Links:

Benedictine Abbey of St. Hildegard, Rüdesheim am Rhein, Germany

www.abtei-st-hildegard.de

Lorelei Rock in the Middle Rhine Valley

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorelei

Lynelle Barrett is residing in The Netherlands, where the Nederlanders don’t understand what she says in Dutch either. Check out photos and notes of her adventures on her website at: http://spaces.msn.com/lynelleinholland