The last time I visited the gatehouse was in the late winter of 1982 with my father. We were coming back from a joint guitar lesson with the guitarist Dieter Henze in Darmstadt. It was late and cold, but we were both game for a quick stroll around the grounds at around 22:30.

We had developed a taste for this sort of activity after walking from the US Army housing in Worms, down to the cathedral, during a gentle yet steady snowfall on Christmas Eve, 1981. There is something about early-medieval architecture and dark winter nights that just goes together.

We had previously visited the site in 1977, when my mother (a native of Bad Kreuznach, Germany) recommended we go there after reading about it in her copy of "Schatzkammer Deutschlands". This is a great resource for the tourist of history in Germany as it gives highly detailed entries on the smallest to greatest historical sites in the country. It can make a drive that much more worthwhile, especially in a country as stuffed with "treasures" as Germany.

I always liked the site from our very first visit. It is small, manageable, easy to grasp, and deceptively simple. There is far more to see and learn than the size of the site might lead one to believe. And if you are there when very few (or no) people, it is especially wonderful.

I guess I retain such fond memories of Lorsch and the Torhaus because of its associations with my parents, and the simple fact that it is a lovely little building of extreme antiquity. What more could one ask for?