Dinner Where Romans Once Tread
Having resided in Germany for a month, the one thing that continues to amaze and astonish is the sheer depth and breadth of history that everything carries. Coming from the US, we tend to think that things are old after a hundred years. A little older still is the Civil War at just over 150. The nation was founded 241 years ago, and the first English speaking colony at Jamestown dates to 1607. For Americans, this is old for our context. As our anniversary dinner this week illustrated to us, this is a mere drop in the bucket.
Dinner this year took us to La Brocca, a family-owned and operated Italian restaurant run by a native Sicilian. La Brocca is less than 100 meters from St. Michael's Church, takes pride in serving generations-old recipes in a great atmosphere. Having the boys with us, we opted for an outdoor patio table and quickly ordered meals for them. While we were waiting we were brought a bruschetta salad appetizer and we both ordered a glass of wine--Janet a pinot grigio and I selected a Lambrusco which is a sweet red. For our dinner Janet and I both opted for the lasagna. The portions at La Brocca are enormous and the flavors were unforgettable. Just writing about it makes me long for another slice.
After a quick run to an ATM to pull out some Euro (cash is still dominant here in Europe) and settling the bill, Janet, the boys and I decided to continue our celebration with ice cream via a walk through the market square. For a Wednesday evening, there were a decent number of patrons at every restaurant, cafe and bar that we passed. The square featured a large fountain and amazing views of St. Michael's Church.
We opted for gelato from Gelat!oh which offered the authentic Italian dessert--yes we do enjoy our Italian food offering. In addition to speaking German, I overheard them speaking Italian to one another, so I was looking forward to a great treat. We initially got 3 single scoop cones for 3 Euro. Mine was quickly claimed by Sam, so while I went back to get a 4th cone for myself, Janet and the boys made their way to the end of the pedestrian zone and were admiring a bronze statue.
Now, bronze statues are seemingly everywhere here in Germany--there were three in the market square alone as we headed for the gelato.
By the time I caught up to them, Will was walking around the statue and I attempted to read the commemorative text. My German skills are still elementary at best, but some key concepts immediately jumped out at me. Awestruck by what I thought I had read, I quickly jumped to Google Translate to confirm my suspicions. The city of Homburg, while known in the modern era as the home to the Karlsburg Brewery and a fabulous medical center, was in actuality founded by the Roman Empire over 2000 years ago during the reign of Ceasar Augustus.
The text of the inscription read:
"Genius Populi Romani
A life-size replica of the 2000-year-old bronze statue of the Roman god of protection, found in the present Roman museum in Schwarzenacker.
Donated by the Homburg [Utility Company] on the occasion of their 100 years of existence to the jubilee 2000th anniversary of the city of Homburg
Designed by Klaus Glutting Anno 2000"
After doing some additional research, Schwarzenacker is just to the southeast of Homburg city, so we'll be adding a Roman museum to our future list of activities. History is everywhere in Europe and we've only begun to scratch the surface.
