+49° 18' 50.46", +8° 26' 40.57"

In the minivan, I'm driving through the streets of Speyer with two medieval chroniclers, Lambert of Hersfeld and Bruno the Saxon, whom I've just met at the Speyer Nord-West train station. As host and driver, it's my job to start the conversation, and the silence is getting kind of awkward, so I ask Bruno and Lambert if in fact the town's name refers to the spires of the cathedral (the English name of the town used to be "Spires"). It's actually one of the questions I wrote in my notebook as I prepped for this trip.

I'm pretty proud of the result—my research is paying off!—Bruno and Lambert immediately fall into scholarly disputation: Bruno being of the opinion that the name, from the Latin spira, or breath, could not possibly refer to the spires of the cathedral as said structure was not built until the 11th century and the name was in use as early as 500 A.D., while Lambert points out that spire, like aspire, comes from that very root word, and that the town's Teutonic name was Nementum, home of the Nemeter, and that undoubtedly there was some sort of church, with some sort of spires, by time Nementum (also known as Noviomagus) became Speyer.

I gotta admit that some of the finer points of their colloquy escape me as I search for a parking place. Finally I find one, on the outer edge of the Domgarten, with a great view of the Dom's backside. It's a very impressive structure, impressive enough to render Bruno and Lambert momentarily speechless as they emerge from the Opel's sliding side door.

I ask Bruno and Lambert to show me around the cathedral. They hesitate for a moment.

"Excuse me," says Lambert. "But is... is the King, Emperor, whatever he calls himself these days—is he expecting us?"

"Henry?" I say. "No, we'll be meeting the family in town. About an hour. C'mon! We don't have much time."