Friday 16th October – Eichstatt, Germany

There were drips landing on the van roof during the night, sounding like very disorganised rain. I correctly guessed that it must be mist depositing water on the leaves of the trees above the van. It was very misty and the hills were lost in it.
We walked into the city and visited the Altmuhl Valley Nature Park Visitors Centre, which was housed in the former Notre Dame du Sacre Coeur church. An interesting building and some interesting exhibits.
We moved on to the cathedral, which was not spectacular but had some interesting alters and monuments.
Next we walked up to the Willibaldsburg Castle that sits above the city. The castle is in private hands but it houses two public museums. The Historic Museum was interesting but the information boards were only in German. The Jura Museum was very impressive and there was English text as well as German. The museum is dedicated to fossils and the exhibits are the finest that I have ever seen. The conditions in the area meant that the dead fish and animals lay undisturbed on the ocean floor and were then covered in a very fine silt. This has meant that the fossils retain very fine detail. The museum has been excavating a quarry near Ettling since 2007. Expert excavators may find ten small fish fossils in a day but, occasionally, larger specimens are found. They are then carefully cleaned under a microscope and preserved – a 40 cm specimen will take an average of 100 hours! A very large tropical fish tank with living coral demonstrated the kind of conditions that were present when the fossils were laid down. This museum is well worth a visit.
Photos: The dome ceiling of the Notre Dame du Sacre Coeur; Incredible carving on the famous Pappenheimer Altar (c. 1490) in the cathedral; Approaching Willibaldsburg Castle; The small fish fossils found in abundance; A cobbled-toothed reef fish; The tropical fish tank; Plants and insect fossils are also found – this is a spider and there was also a grasshopper even though there was no grass at the time that it lived!