For the first time Kallista and I have decided to share some of our photos  from several of our  week-long tours of the German Rhineland with special emphasis on spending four evenings of  "Darshan" with Mother Meera, a living Avatar, near Frankfurt.   We do request that No copies be made of any photos displayed here without our express written permission.  We hope they give you a glimpse into our pilgrimmages to these sacred sites and inspire you to share these treasures with us in 2007 or beyond!   Thank you.  Namaste.

If you have questions or want to make a comment on our Mother Meera & Germany Tour Album,
please e-mail me at:   chet-snow
 

Here is our 2000 tour group sharing one of the delicious meals we have each summer.  This was Sunday dinner at one of our favorite restaurants: a reconverted Dutch mill in Hadamar, just a few miles from Mother Meera's home in Dornburg-Thalheim.   We always visit Mother's home village each summer.
	Two views of the fantastic Baroque (17th-18th Century) architecture that beautifies the Rhineland and Taunus regions where we visit. On the left is an old building in Limburg am Lahn.  On the right is a view from the interior courtyard of the Schloss at Weilburg, once the home of the Dukes of Weilburg-Nassau, who later became the Grand Dukes of Luxembourg.  As you can see, the German weather varies daily from cloud-filled to sunny skies.
This is an early photo (1998) of Mother Meera's new "Public Home" just below Schloss Schaumberg, where she has held her evening "Darshan" meetings for the last several years.   Mother and her small local group of devotees have converted this former carriage and guest house into a comfortable and elegant meeting center for the 200 or so people that come for "Darshan" every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday evening.  Each year our group attends all four "Darshans" and quite literally we've seen how it can change one's life!
	Two photos showing, on the left, your hosts, Chet and Kallista Snow outside the lovely Bah'ai "House of Worship" for Europe - one of only 8 in the world that is so dedicated - near the picturesque town of Idstein.  The gentle Bah'ais are members of the world's youngest monotheistic faith, based on the teachings of a 19th Century Persian mystic whose ideas on equality, education, peace and the brotherhood of all people are very modern, especially coming from the Islamic world. On the right is a view of the "Sieben Schmerzen" healing spring, dedicated to Mother Mary and in use since ancient times.  We always visit this lovely wooded spot where local villagers still come daily for fresh spring water that is completely drinkable.  Above the spring is an outdoor chapel sponsored by the local Catholic church.  A wonderful spot for meditation and prayer.
Here's a photo of the facade of world-famous Cologne Cathedral.  The world's largest Gothic Cathedral, this incredible stone edifice took over 500 years to complete.  Begun in the 13th Century by the Catholic Archdiocese, it was left half finished from 1500 to 1850 when the Kings of Bavaria and Prussia, who wanted a monument to the new pride of the German people, donated money to insure its completion.  It was finally finished in the 1890's.  Severely damaged by bombing in World War II, it has been completely rebuilt and is among the most impressive spiritual buildings in Western Europe.  Visiting it is among the highlights of our annual visits to Germany's beautiful Rhineland.
	If the weather cooperates, our Sunday morning always includes a visit to the former Saint Michael's Mount Chapel near Dornburg-Thalheim, Mother Meera's private home.  This ancient stone chapel, whose present form dates from the Middle Ages, is set atop the region's tallest hillock and was once the scene of ancient Teutonic pagan rituals and worship of Wotan, the Sun God.  Now dedicated to St. Blaise - whose altar is shown in the right-hand photo - it is found at the end of a pleasant hike up a winding path through ancient woods that includes modern representations of the 14 Stations of the Cross.  Elderly or infirm visitors can always be brought up in our van.
One of the highlights of our annual tours to Mother Meera and the Rhineland is the (optional) two-hour boat cruise on "Father Rhein" between St. Goarshausen and Rudesheim, twin city with Bingen - famous for Medieval healer and prophetess, Saint Hildegarde von Bingen.  As the group sails up the majestic Rhine river, one of Europe's most famous waterways, you pass the Lorelei rock, infamous spot of many ancient ship-wrecks and home of the legend of a seductive Siren whose beauty and charming songs lured unsuspecting sailors to ruin on the shallow rapids there.  Later, we explore Germany's wine capital of Rudesheim where one narrow street has the distinction of housing more wine & beer cellars than anywhere else in Germany.
	During our cruise up the Rhine, our tour group members see dozens of ancient romantic castles, once home to knights and damsels.  Some are in ruins, others remain private homes of the rich and famous while still others have been converted into deluxe hotels and restaurants.  The 50 mile stretch of the Rhine covered by this boat trip is considered among the most beautiful in all Germany.  The narrow passage on either side of the river includes both highways and railways as well as terraced vinyards planted on the steep hillsides.
One of the highlights of our day on the Rhine is our afternoon visit to the Catholic convent of Saint Hildegarde von Bingen, who founded it in the 1100's as one of three monasteries she patronized.  It's always a moving experience to go into the brick church where Benedictine sisters still worship and see powerful wall murals depicting the life of this most-unusual woman from the past.  In recent years we've been privileged to have one of the English-speaking sisters greet our group and give us first-hand information about Hildegarde's life and her monastic rule.