As I look back on the Oberammergau trip, the things that stand out in my mind are people-related things. Yes, the Bavarian mountains are spectacular, the Neuschwanstein castle is impressive and the Passion Play is unforgettable. But, as Lyle said to a newspaper reporter in Westerkappeln, we have gotten to know the real Germany here. The people we met, from folks in Ulfa to Westerkappeln to fellow travelers on the train all have helped to give me a better perception of the real Germany.

The Fritz Rosburgs and Celia and I had started planning the trip over a year ago. On July 4, 2000 we began our travels, including Fritz, Marilyn, Lyle and Karen Rosburg, Mabel and Ruth Busdieker, Margie Dieckman, Minnie Holt, Celia and me

The flight from St. Louis to Philadelphia was our first experience with carry-on luggage that has to be checked. First of all, it was announced that it was a "regional" jet and anything larger than a small briefcase had to be "checked" into a special carry-on luggage section of the plane, which meant we had to drop our hand luggage off as we were walking on the pavement in the open air to the steps leading up into the aircraft. Then in Philadelphia, as we deplaned through a set of stairs rolled up to the plane, we picked up that "carry-on" luggage from a baggage cart at the base of the stairs.

In Philadelphia, boarding the plane for Munich was done in a unique way. When our plane arrived, it did not park next to the terminal gate. Rather, the passengers walked from the gate area onto a "people mover". It could be called a gigantic bus on which over 150 passengers could sit or stand. After the people went from the terminal waiting area to the "people mover", it was lowered to travel level and then, when arriving at the plane, was raised a number of feet to match the door of the waiting plane so the passengers could enter the plane. Two such trips filled the plane.

Elisabeth, our tour guide for the first week, was a fascinating person. She took her job very seriously and would not allow hotels or bus drivers or others to shirk their responsibilities in regard to us. We were happy to learn that the 40 person group we were expecting to be a part of for the week turned out to be just the ten of us. It seemed that she appreciated the fact that we were all well acquainted, because it meant she did not need to involve us in group-building exercises.

After a guided tour of Munich and having supper together, we were walking back to the hotel. On the way back we noticed an elderly frail woman asking (in English) for directions from a person who was clearly not an English-speaking person. Celia and Elisabeth noticed it and took her under their wing. The lady was from Tennessee and was looking for the City Hotel; she had left it to go shopping in the area and could not find her way back. She was only a block and a half away from the hotel. We walked with her until she saw it on the street a half block away. She gave both Celia and Elisabeth a big hug.

During our visit to Dachau, the former concentration camp near Munich which had been the location where many medical "experiments" were conducted on Jews by the Nazis, it was interesting to note that the majority of visitors seemed to be student groups. One gets the impression that the German society today wants to be sure that the youth of today are accurately informed about past history.

Our experience at the Passion Play was unique. The play was presented in German, but each of the over 4,000 spectators at each performance got a copy of a book (written in German from one end and from the other end written in English) that gave the history of the play since the seventeenth century, and the word for word dialog of the actors. There was a choir and a narrator. At times there were hundreds of people on the stage, at time there were sheep, goats, and even a donkey and a horse. The intermission came at 12:30 p.m. after three hours. We had reservations for lunch at a restaurant a few blocks from the Theater. We finished lunch with lots of time to spare so we spent time browsing in the area and even buying some souvenirs. The second half of the Passion Play performance lasted another three hours. The dramatic parts of it were, of course, the crucifixion scene, and even Judas' suicide by hanging occurred on the stage. When the play ended, it was raining rather hard. We dashed for the shuttle busses, crammed in like sardines, but unloaded an a few minutes back at the bus parking area where our bus and driver were waiting.

The day at the Neuschwanstein castle was quite a day. We had left Partenkirchen with a deadline of needing to arrive at Neuschwanstein by 10 a.m. when we were scheduled to tour the castle. After traveling a short while, the driver suddenly stopped, backed into a narrow alley and headed back to Partenkirchen because he had suddenly recalled he had not brought his luggage. He made up the time by speeding along narrow mountain roads. We got there in time; not everyone in our group wanted to tour the castle with all its steps. Those that wanted to tour the castle waited in the light rain in the castle courtyard until our turn came.

At this point the tour guide left us to connect with anyone not taking the castle tour.

It was an interesting castle tour, but a bit shorter than the ones Celia and I had experienced in previous visits to Neuschwanstein. The kitchen and related items were not included in the tour this time. We had agreed to meet at a restaurant after the tour, so after the tour was over we went there and had lunch, but no one else showed up. Finally we went to the bus parking area further down the "mountain" but only the driver and bus were there. Soon the guide showed up, and after waiting another hour, during which time Lyle, Ruth, and Karen went back up the mountain to make contact with the rest of our group, we finally contacted the police. After another hour, we were all together again.

After a continental breakfast at the Prinz Hotel in Rothenberg, we were given a 90 minute walking tour of Rothenberg by a very knowledgeable young man, who was a part-time tour guide and full time student at the local university. Included in his presentation was the legend of how hundreds of years ago Rothenberg had been saved by a man able to consume three liters of wine at one time.

We had a tour of Heidelberg from 9 to 12 the morning we were there. We saw everything from a spot where centuries ago horses went down to drink; a student jail; the remains of the Heidelberg castle whose construction and destruction spanned several centuries; a cathedral and lots of shops around the base of the cathedral.

In the interest of genealogical information, Elisabeth imposed on the bus driver to stop briefly at an institution in Speyer where one could do family research.

Ruedesheim was our home for two nights. We were taken to the 125 foot high Niederwald Monument, 750 feet above the Rhine, a huge monument designed to symbolize German unity and the reestablishment of the German Empire. Thirty-two tons of bronze were required for casting the statue.

The bus then took us to St. Goarshausen where we boarded the K-D cruise ship heading upstream back toward Ruedesheim. We traveled past the Lorelei rock to the singing of the Lorelei, "Ich weiss nicht, was soll es bedeuten, dass ich so traurig bin...." . We briefly docked along the way at the towns of St. Goar, Oberwesel, Bacharach, Assmanshausen, Bingen and finally Ruedesheim.

That finished our 8 day Oberammergau bus tour. The bus dropped us off at our Intercity Hotel in Frankfurt. Soon thereafter, as five of us were crossing the street from our hotel back to the train station, we noticed a woman on the pavement who had just had a seizure and fallen. Another woman immediately rushed to the train station to get help - before we had time to cross the street, a police officer had come to assist.

Five of us: Lyle, Ruth, Mabel , Celia and I used our rail and bus pass from the hotel to take the S-Bahn to Friedberg, then changed trains and took a train to Nidda. There we took a bus to Ulfa where the Holt family's ancestral church that Ruth had discovered and wanted to see is located.

We had learned by phone that the pastor would not be able to be at the church until after 5 p.m., so we started to walk around the streets of Ulfa. We found the church immediately, but found it locked. After strolling for about an hour through the virtually deserted streets, it became important to find public rest rooms or, alternatively, a restaurant, which would provide both food and rest rooms. All such businesses were apparently closed. We finally asked a man just coming out of his house about locating a restaurant. He indicated that on Wednesday afternoons, all places of businesses were closed. By then we had already told him of our reason for being there, of our waiting to see the pastor, of our coming by train and bus and thus not having a car. When we told him that what we really needed were "Toiletten", he and his wife invited us into their house to use their facilities. Then they offered us a variety of drinks; we sat around their dining table, drinking and visiting. Ruth brought out her genealogical charts and we chatted about families they knew whose names were on the charts. They told us about friends and relatives who either lived in the U.S. or who had visited there. He worked in the local bank.

After leaving them we continued walking down the virtually empty streets, occasionally greeting and speaking with the quite friendly people we met, sharing with them our reasons for being there.

Apparently at least one of them must have spread the word because as we were crossing an intersection, from a hundred feet away a couple of ladies were calling for us to come. One lady introduced us to her mother, an 89 year old lady who had some information to share with us and who invited us into the home she shared with her husband and with her daughter and son-in-law. A sharp lady at the age of 89, she shared what she knew of the genealogical information we were seeking., but she also shared her ideas of things important in life. At one point in our chat we talked about flags of the various German provinces. I wanted to be sure that they meant flags and not coats of arms, so I asked about that. The German word for coat of arms is "Wappen" and the lady thought I had said, "Waffen", the word for military weapons. She said Oh, No, that she had lived through two wars in Germany and she didn't want that to happen again. Her daughter let her know the word I had used, but we continued with her topic for a while. I mentioned that people from different countries getting to know each other would help avoid war. She said "Yes" and the we all have the same God. After covering a variety of topics we thanked them for their hospitality and moved on down the street.

Shortly after 5 p.m. and four hours after we had arrived in Ulfa and had these several remarkable experiences, the pastor of the Ulfa church arrived and opened the church for us. More picture taking followed as well as chatting - this time in English.

At a quarter to six we caught the bus to Nidda, then the train to Friedberg and then the S-bahn to the main Frankfurt train station.

An interesting part of the trip on the Inter City Express train that we took from Frankfurt to Hanover was watching the video display at the end of the car occasionally registering speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour).

We changed trains at Hanover and headed for Osnabrueck, arriving there just before 3 p.m. as planned. Herr Michels, who had arranged for our rental cars, was waiting for us, took us to the dealer to get our two five-passenger rental cars, then led us to the Rieskamp-Goedeking guest house, where we settled in. Then we arranged for a meal to be prepared for us by 6:30 p.m. I invited Guenter and Friedhelm to join us for dinner. It was a delightful evening with people trying hard to communicate across language barriers and having lots of fun doing it.

The trip to Melle the next day turned out very well. All ten of us in the two cars headed for Melle soon after breakfast. Lyle and Ruth negotiated the local roads and the autobahn in good shape and we arrived at the Am Busdiek Road near Melle in one hour rather than the two we had allowed. So we had an extensive picture taking session at the Am Busdiek sign, then drove on to the Martini church in Buer. We found it open, had a chance to explore it and chat with the custodian. We learned that the custodian had a grandmother with the maiden name of "Freese" who had lived in the area east of Westerkappeln, but she could not recall the first name.

After a lot of picture taking, we back-tracked to the Am Busdiek sign and followed the road to the Busdieker residence. Lots of Busdieker pictures as well as of the whole group were taken outside their house. Then inside, Fritz took photos of several photos they had. After some time, we all drove to the church where the recorder/historian of the church told us about the history of the building and the congregation. I served as translator as best I could, translating every few sentences. Then we walked to the restaurant where our hosts had made reservations. On the way to the restaurant we stopped at a large shop that was repairing windmills. After lunch we were given a guided walking tour around the church neighborhood, which included eldercare, kindergarten, assisted living apartments, and apartments for women with small children.

Then we had a tour by car, going to three different Busdieker homes, taking pictures at all of them, and briefly going inside two of them. One of the families was very much into homing pigeons and had quite a display of the trophies they had won. We ended our auto tour at the Bussdieker Furniture Store where we were given "Kaffee", i.e., coffee and the typical galoptious German cakes, one a sponge cake with a strawberry gelatin topping the size of a large pizza, the second a pound cake with a vanilla center and cooked sliced apple and almond topping, the third a chocolate chiffon with slivers of dark chocolate sprinkled on top along with whipped cream.

After quite a while in the store, which included time for shopping and purchasing, we said our goodbyes to all the Bussdiekers. Ruth and Lyle had no trouble getting us back to Westerkappeln.

The next day Guenter and Friedhelm arranged for us to visit the Tractor Museum near Westerkappeln. This included a display of old tractors, potato diggers, straw choppers, threshing machines and a 4 foot by 6 foot picture of Guenter's parents along with a 7 year old Guenter using a tractor pulling a harvesting machine. Then we returned to Guenter and Friedhelm's for a photo session with a newspaper reporter. Later that day we were invited for supper to the Bente home, the ancestral Freese home from which my great-grandfather had emigrated in 1842.

Sunday was spent by going to church at Guenter and Friedhelm's church and in the afternoon all ten of us, Wilhelm Erke and Guenter and Friedhelm joined in an excursion to Tecklenburg, a place "high on a hill" from which the surrounding scenery can be easily admired. We rode there, saw the old fortress walls, the open-air theater, and did some shopping.

During the afternoon of the next day, our two cars and ten persons headed for Burg Steinfurt and its castle where a Bergfelt ancestor had played in the orchestra many years ago.

Lyle and Ruth drove there with no problem with Karen as navigator. Upon arrival we only had thirty minutes to wait before the next tour. We joined that tour and received a thorough narration of the history of the castle and its architecture. After the tour was over and we were leaving we mentioned why we were interested in the castle. The guide asked if the person might have played in the orchestra in the year 1805 because she had at home a book that would have that information. She offered to drive home and get it so we could find out. We agreed to wait for her at the restaurant across the street from the castle. The ten of us went to the restaurant and were seated around a very large table having drinks when she returned. The Bergfelt name was indeed listed; the guide offered to sell the book, saying she would buy another copy. Ruth did so and after some more conversation, we headed first for a brief stop at the nearby Bagno Concert Hall, a recent authentic reconstruction of the hall from the last century and then on to Westerkappeln.

We had an appointment with a reporter from the Neue Osnabruecke Zeitung. The manager of our guest house had set up a dozen chairs in one of their several banquet rooms. The reporter arrived on time and was conducted a lengthy interview of the ten of us. He was almost through when another reporter, this one from the Westfaelische Nachrichten, arrived. We went outside briefly where both reporters took pictures. When the first reporter left, the second one began her questions. Being interviewed was an interesting experience. After the conclusion of the interviews, we ordered our meals and were served in the same room where we'd been interviewed.

At breakfast on the following day, we decided not to travel as far into Holland as originally planned. We decided instead to go just over the border and then explore some small towns in that area of the Netherlands. It worked out well. We took the autobahn into Holland, got off at an exit that had a McDonalds, since it was time for a rest room stop. After buying some food, we asked the young lady at the counter for a recommendation of a small town in the area that would be interesting to tourists. She recommended the town of Ootmarsum, showed us on a map where it was located and how to get there. It was a quaint town with good shops with souvenirs. Virtually all of us found something to buy during our 90 minute stroll of the "down town" area. After our lunch back at the McDonalds, we decided to take the scenic route home, including stops at several authentic old style windmills that Fritz had spotted on a map.

We spent that evening at Guenter and Friedhelm's chatting and included watching slides of Holland that Guenter and Friedhelm had taken. It also included Friedhelm giving Fritz, Marilyn, Lyle, and Karen a tour of their farmstead. The evening ended with delicious dishes of ice cream served to us by Guenter.

The next morning we were eating breakfast when the mother of the guest house manager came and showed us an article that had appeared in the issue of the Westfaelische Nachrichten that had just been delivered. There were actually two pictures, one of the group and one of St. Johns, Cappeln back home as well as the text from our interview. We all decided we wanted a copy so Ruth and Celia and I ended up going to Westerkappeln to get copies. While there we also got copies of the current Osnabruecker Zeitung because an article, including a picture of our group, appeared there as well.

On our train ride from Osnabrueck to Hamburg, our reserved seats turned out to be in the last car of the train. It was interesting to look through the locked back door and see the tracks receding into the distance, kind of reminiscent of old movies and reminding us that our trip was coming to an end.

I was sitting in one of the four seats we had reserved in the six-seat compartment when a man in our car, apparently having heard our English, asked us where we were from. After he learned we were from Missouri, he became quite excited because he had a good friend with whom he had lost contact, the man being on the faculty of the University of Missouri in Columbia. He asked if I might be able to make contact with that person and let him know of the result. He himself was a professor of History at the Max Planck Institute in Goettingen. When I told him I thought I could do that, he repeatedly expressed his gratitude. Our conversation of an hour or so ended when we arrived in Hamburg. A few days after arriving home, Celia very quickly found the web page of the faculty member at the University of Missouri. I checked further and found his home phone. I called him to inquire delicately whether he wanted to be contacted by the person on the train. He said that they indeed had been colleagues, and he had been derelict in not maintaining the contact and was very appreciative of receiving his colleague's current address and e-mail. He indicated he would make immediate contact.

In Hamburg, after Lyle and I got information and tickets, our group traveled on the subway and came up successfully a few blocks from our hotel. After checking in and after a brief break, most of us left to go to the harbor, using the subway again, and took a one-hour cruise there. It is an impressive harbor with many ships and large, efficient cranes for loading and unloading ships.

Taking the free shuttle from the hotel to the airport the next morning was smooth and painless.

While flying from Munich to Philadelphia, there was a call over the P.A. system to determine if there was a doctor or nurse on board. That was the first time that Celia and I had experienced such a call in our flights hither and yon in the past ten years. It seems that a lady had developed a bad case of hives and needed care. She was sitting a few rows behind us and we could see that medical personnel did volunteer to help, directed a stewardess to go for a particular kind of medication in their supplies, which she found. After this was administered, everything seemed to be improving.

The rest of our trip home, including going through customs in Philadelphia, went smoothly.

This page hosted by Free Home Page