The Ansbach-Sicily Connection

This message came from my friend Werner in Ansbach, Germany, where I lived from 1987-1994. Every Thursday night, a group of Americans and Germans would get together at a "Stammtisch" or "meeting table" in the same winebar in downtown Ansbach and talk about everything and nothing. Werner writes:

Maybe you know, Helga and I have made a tour through Sicily in April (last year) with a group from Ansbach. We visited the whole island, and, of course, we were in the Villa Romana del Casale. We saw these wonderful and very well preserved Roman mosaics. They really are great but not the only one we've seen. When you say, they are the best in the world, this reminds me to the biggest trees in the world. I have seen three of them. One is the "General Sherman," a big redwood in the Sequoia National Park in California. The next one was in Mexico. It was a huge water cypress, also the biggest tree in the world and finally the "Father of the Forrest" in the Kauriforrests on the northern island of New Zealand.

Do you know, that a famous poet from Ansbach, a certain Mr. von Platen (you know we have a "Platengymnasium" here in Ansbach) died and was buried in Syracuse. You will find his grave and a stele in a small park, opposite of a very modern church (sorry, I forgot the name).

If you ever come to Palermo and especially to San Monreale (close to Palermo), you should know that King Ludwig (the one whose big picture is above the right altar in the Ludwigskirche in Ansbach) is buried there.

As you seen, Ansbach and Sicilly seem to be very close!

Helga & Werner

P.S. Say hello to all "Salvatores"! The Stammtisch smiled about the nice story about your water problems. That's Sicily!