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Last year in our month's stay near Munich, Celia and I spent about 75% of our time on our own, with the rest of the time spent with friends and relatives. For this year, those amounts were reversed. We still saw a great deal of tourist attractions and visited significant historic and cultural spots, but most of the time with people we had come to know over the past five years.
The phenomenon of people stopping us and asking for directions continued as an interesting part of our trip - at least that part while we were on our own. It seemed to happen relatively often. The fact of being viewed as probable Germans was enjoyable. Even the cabin attendant on the plane who was serving refreshments apparently judged some to be Americans and addressed them in English, judged some to be German and asked them for their drink preferences in German, and with others of whom he had some doubt, he began his question differently. He judged us to be German.
Here are a few of the highlights of the trip.
Wednesday, June 22:
a. Taken to airport by Carl and Raven.
b. Trip to Atlanta, then Frankfurt were free of crises.
Thursday, June 23:
a. Hadn't left Frankfurt airport before being asked twice by other tourists for directions and fare-related questions.
b. Was asked in downtown Heidelberg by a young couple for directions to the Altstadt part of the city. After a couple of exchanges in German, they spoke to each other in English, so we switched to English to conclude the conversation.
c. Took a bus tour of Heidelberg. The tour bus had seats for 40, but there were only 9 of us, so we got a good audible commentary in both English and German, both on and off the bus.
d. Spend a delightful evening with the manager of the Holiday Inn in Heidelberg and his wife. We delivered Diana Dierberg's package to them. They were our hosts for dinner in the hotel, then took us for a drive through Heidelberg, through narrow quaint streets in the Altstadt part of town, past old university buildings. Had a good illuminated view of the old castle across the Neckar River. Had a chance to see the banquet and assembly rooms in the hotel, and the creative way in which he had had them furnished.
Friday, June 24:
a. Surprise! Our overnight stay at the hotel was "kostenlos". All we had to pay for was our breakfast and some snacks we had had in our room.
b. Found the Kasseler Hof Hotel a short walk from the Göttingen train station - nice.
c. Spent a leisurely four hours "bumming" in the "old town" part of Göttingen, including supper at McDonalds, from which we received a coupon good for a Fisch-Mac on our next visit because my special order had not been ready within four minutes as promised.
d. Saw a parade, allegedly of graduating university students, who were following the centuries-old custom of kissing the goose-girl (statue) in the Göttingen town square.
e. Lots of shopping at bookstores.
Saturday, June 25:
a. Travel from Göttingen to Hannover - picked up at Hannover Hauptbahnhof by Gustav Voss (Jr.) and his son Matteus.
b. Breakfast at the Voss home and brief chatty visit with Irmgard, Gustav Sr., and Gustav Jr.
c. After a brief nap, we toured the farm buildings.
d. Time for coffee, then moved to a sheltered area of the yard as fifteen members of the clan gradually gathered for a barbeque.
e. Learned from Jasmin Voss, (the 2 year old great-granddaughter of Irmgard and Gustav), as she looked at our picture of Raven in his bed at Children's Hospital, that German children say, "Owwaa" instead of "Owwee" for perceived bodily injuries. She insisted on searching for and finding his picture in our album of pictures at least 23 times over a period of a few hours.
f. A brief shower of rain about 9 p.m. forced us into a former cattle barn - now renovated as a bar/rec room.
g. Learned the Voss family was one of a number of families forced to move from Bleckenstedt by the government in order to build a munitions plant near Bleckenstedt. (shades of the TNT area!)
Sunday, June 26:
a. Up for breakfast by 8 - then walked with Irmgard and her husband to Irmgard's "home place" where their daughter Brigitte lives now, with her family(husband Leopold Dörn, their son Ralf and their newly married daughter Kerstin, who lives with her husband Stephan Bode, in a renovated chicken house on the farmstead (an elegant, spacious, well-furnished apartment). Had a long visit on the patio with this part of the Paul/Voss clan.
b. Learned that the Voss's had to house several dozen refugees after World War II.
c. Another quiet evening chatting in the barbeque area of the yard - saw several hot air balloons float over - reminded us of home.
Monday, June 27:
a. Gustav Jr. took us to the train station in the morning, timed perfectly, as an ICE train for Hamburg was getting to leave.
b. Got information from the Verkehrsamt (Tourist Office) at the Hamburg train station and found a hotel fro the price we expected to pay within a stone's throw of the station (Hotel Popp), and found a McDonalds nearby for lunch.
c. Spent the afternoon shopping along Mönckebergstraße, the main shopping street of Hamburg, according to one of our guide books.
d. Had supper at the sidewalk cafe outside our hotel and spent time eating and watching the throngs of people. About 9 p.m., there seemed to be a significant change in the character and behavior of the people out and about and there was an increase on the obvious police presence in the area. (sort of like Frankfurt near the Frankfurt Ost train station in 1991). We turned in about 10 p.m.
Tuesday, June 28:
a. Modest breakfast in hotel - shopping in shops in the train station
b. Lengthy bus tour of Hamburg, including several stops (one where we finally found several appropriate T-shirts for Thor and Kyle). Saw and travelled on a unique suspension bridge(Kohlbrand bridge: 2.5 miles long and up to 178 feet high) and passed through the New Elbe Tunnel, which is 2 miles long and up to 89 feet below the surface, with three lanes in each direction. Saw one church left in destroyed state as a memorial after World War II bombings (60% of Hamburg was destroyed - 90% of its suburb, Altona). Saw statue of famous pirate. Rambled leisurely through another shopping district near the Hamburg train station for most of the afternoon - supper at McDonalds.
Wednesday, June 29:
a. Traveled from Hamburg to Osnabrück - bought flowers, (German custom we had never done before) for Günter and Friedhelm at Osnabrück station.
b. Long talk with Günter and Friedhelm about income, retirement, taxes, insurance, sharing information about U. S. and Germany.
c. Went with Günter and Friedhelm to reclamation area where coal waste had been deposited, then trees, plants and shrubs planted and made available for public pedestrian use. (highest "mountain" in the area with a 42 mile view on clear days)
d. Planned details of trip to Holland for Thursday
Thursday, June 30:
a. Up by 8 a.m. for trip to Holland and province of Friesland there.
b. Saw lots of farms with cattle, lots of reed-thatched roofs.
c. Had lunch in Lelystat, built on reclaimed land within the last 30 years.
d. Spent time in Giethoorn, the Venice of Holland, with canals for streets and lots of wooden bridges and walkways for sidewalks.
e. After some 400 miles, back to Westerkappeln for long chats and to bed shortly before 1 a.m.
Friday, July 1:
a. Slept till 8:40 a.m. - a new record for this trip.
b. Visit to Fritz and Wilma's - lots of chatting with more and more comparative discussion about politics and economic conditions.
c. After lunch, including a dessert, Wilma had to dig up a second dessert including strawberries, because Fritz remembered that I liked strawberries.
d. Back to Günter and Friedhelm's for visiting, then strawberries and cake.
e. Guests of Fritz and Wilma's at the Freilicht-Bühne in Techlenburg to see the operetta "Der Vogelhandler".
f. Learned the Hackman's were members of the SPD.
g. Had midnight snack of ice cream at Günter and Friedhelm's.
Saturday, July 2:
a. Had been invited to Fritz and Wilma's for noon meal but plans changed - shortly after breakfast Fritz called: Wilma was "not good"(deathly white and with very high pulse rate) and Günter should come over with his blood pressure meter. Within an hour, her condition had stabilized and Günter returned with the frying chicken she had defrosted for lunch - so Günter and Friedhelm prepared it for lunch per Wilma's request.
b. Spent afternoon watching hundreds of Günter's slides of their trip to Holland last year and of his family over the past thirty years.
c. Supper at Fritz and Wilma's with chatting until 11 p.m. Learned that they had given our name to friends who were traveling through the USA by motor home as a possible contact.
d. Saw the inscription on the new house that Fritz and Wilma had built:"Trennung ist unser Los, Wiedersehen unsere Hoffnung".
Sunday, July 3:
a. After breakfast, went with Günter and Fritz and Wilma to Kloppenburg, which there is a recreated old-time town of several dozen buildings illustrating life on the farm and in the villages of the last several centuries in Germany.
b. On the way back from Kloppenburg, we visited Fritz' sister and family in Quackenburg.
c. Fritz & Wilma returned home to prepare a horse for sale tomorrow; they returned to Günter & Friedhelm's for chat and drinks on the front porch from 10 to 11 p.m., then said their goodbyes to us.
d. Watched some soccer on TV with Günter & Friedhelm.
Monday, July 4:
a. Taken by Günter & Friedhelm to Osnabrück to retrieve Alice's model train engine, then on to Melle to the Wilhelm Balsing residence.
b. Günter & Friedhelm, Wilhelm and wife had a lively conversation in Low German for quite a while, seated in the Balsing living room. Then we said our goodbyes to Günter & Friedhelm as they left to return to Westerkappeln.
c. Substantial noon meal at Balsings: potatoes, beef roulade, gravy, lettuce salad with sweet cream dressing plus drinks.
d. Long drive in the afternoon to Porta-Wesphalia to see the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial. According to Wilhelm Balsing, giving the "Heil Hitler" salute is a crime in Germany - except at this memorial.
e. On the way back to Melle, visited the "Rattenfangerstadt" Hamelin, where pictures of the Pied Piper were common. According to Wilhelm, one possible historical reason given for the story is that young boys/men without work would come there and be sent/sold to foreign countries as mercenaries, thus disappearing.
f. Had "Butter-Brot" and then spent the evening watching their slides from Israel.
Tuesday, July 5:
a. Breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Called the train station to find out possible schedules to Bingen today. Had to cancel offer of lunch with Wilhelmine Krause at a Chinese restaurant because train schedule required us to leave Melle no later than 12:05 p.m.
b. Brief tour of the city center of Melle courtesy of Herr Balsing, then on to the Krause residence.
c. Chat and drinks with Wilhelmine, delivered Emily's photos and received items for Emily and Carl Brakensiek. Walked to museum where Wilhelmine works and had a nice, but brief tour before we had to return to her home to be ready for her son to take us to the station. Met her son, then we all went to the Melle train station where we said our goodbyes.
d. Traveled from Melle to Bielefeld; changed trains and traveled to Cologne; changed trains again and headed for Bingen. On the last leg to Bingen we shared a train compartment with wine/spirits salesman who formerly worked for Coke. He and his wife and two sons live in Bielefeld. He had a great-aunt who moved to the U.S. after World War II and lived in St. Louis until her death a few years ago. arriving at 5 p.m.
e. Found room in Rhinegau Hotel in Bingen where we stayed in 1989 and in 1991; enjoyed Italian ice cream in the same store we'd visited the other years.
Wednesday, July 6:
a. Almost routine: breakfast; by train to Mainz and then change to train to the airport; several hours to spare in Frankfurt; normal flight to Atlanta; several hours layover in Atlanta; normal flight to St. Louis, where we were met by Tim and returned home.
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