Travel Tales Excerpt – Lumber of Love in Würzburg
It was here that the unstoppable Skilton met an unmovable German local in the form of Johan’s father, Fritz. The two men were opposites in many ways. Skilton was thin, and Fritz was stocky. Skilton smiled and had genuine charm, while Fritz was implacable and seemed bored and stoic. Fritz’s voice was deeper than Skilton’s voice, and Fritz had a bored quality to his tone, whereas Skilton’s voice betrayed his mood.
“We will pay you good money,” Skilton began his offer. Skilton had morals and started his negotiations on an honest footing.
“What good is money?” Fritz countered. He was a man in his forties with several children, including the youngest, Johan. Fritz had seen two wars, been in both, and survived combat many times, and now saw that he and his people were again on the losing side of war. “Money is worthless. Each day, the price of items goes up. There is no work, no market, no economy, and as far as I can see, there is no future except to either learn English or Russian.”
– End Excerpt
The Würzburg Residence, or the Residenz, was a fantastic palace because of its architecture and the efforts to save and restore it after World War II. The main entrance drew me into the palace, and the walls to the side surrounded me long before I got to the main entrance. It felt like the building was hugging me in greeting. I saw a series of stone statues and an intricate floor and wall design as I entered the building.
Ascending the first set of stairs, my fellow tour group members and I beheld the giant Fresco of the Four Continents by Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
Seeing it is breathtaking, and I hope my photos do it justice. There is so much detail in the painting that we hovered around it for 30 minutes and still felt rushed. I could have spent just a day admiring the ceiling fresco artwork.
That ceiling fresco saved the building after its destruction. The roof had been destroyed, but the fresco was unharmed and suspended in the air, exposed to the elements. When he saw it, Major John Davis Skilton realized the importance of the artwork and lobbied hard to save the building, not just the fresco.
There is an exhibit that talks about Major Skilton. While he was not in the movie, ‘The Monuments Men,” I learned he did much of that effort. It dawned on me that enormous amounts of lumber were needed to rebuild the Residenz, and having seen the movie and then researched Major Skilton’s efforts, I dreamed up the lumber story. Major Skilton’s efforts are fodder for a whole book, and a book has been written about him. For a short story, the efforts to get lumber provided enough material.
