Osnabrück, Germany - May 3, 2010

Our annual assault on Europe in 2010 was more structured than usual since we were scheduled to meet one of our granddaughters and a friend of hers en route, at about the halfway mark. As events transpired, we were driven way off track but did recover in time to collect the youngsters in Italy. More on that in future posts.
We set off from our usual launch site in the Netherlands and aimed for Osnabrück, a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, highlighted on the map top right. The population of Osnabrück is around 160,000 making it the third largest city in the region.
Developed originally in 780 CE as a marketplace when the area was controlled by Charlemagne, King of the Franks, in 889 Osnabrück was given merchant and coinage privileges by King Arnulf of Carinthia.
Lots more history over the next millennium although it wasn't until 1561 that anything really memorable happened. In that year Osnabrück killed its first witch the result of which must have been beneficial, for over the next 80 years they killed a further 275 witches and 2 wizards.
Today the city has a run down air not helped by the overcast and gloomy conditions that prevailed throughout our visit. For more views of this ancient city, click here,