Filsum/Leer, August 7, 2008
bei Hildegard juergens/ Schulstr. 6/ D 26849 Filsum
Tel. (011-49) 4957-1709)
The last phase of our journey: Germany
After the manyfold adventures in Poland we are now back in Vaihingen with Werner. Thus the journal of this year's unusual journey really ends here. We will spend most of our remaining weeks abroad in Germany with family and friends.
As always, it is at Werner's that we recharge our "emotional batteries" and sort out the impressions from our latest travels. Here we can "loaf and invite our soul" --- unless we eat and drink and make merry.
As luck would have it, Werner's three large cherry
trees were heavy with ripe cherries. Thus we could eat our fill of red cherries, and we consumed these by the dozens, pounds, kilos. For a week or more our logbook simply records: play chess, pick cherries and loaf. Since Werner and Richey both like Italian food, we often went to Bellinis in Muehlacker, Werner's favorite Italian restaurant.
Sister Maedi and brother Walter also live in the Stuttgart area. While Richey and Werner were engrossed in their games of chess, Ziggy spent many beautiful hours with her siblings, mainly with sister Maedi in Ludwigsburg, a 35 minute drive away. Maedi's condo has an ideal location: it is situated on the outskirts of town on the Neckar River, adjacent to miles and miles of vinyards. Maedi is an expert cook and whenever Ziggy visited, she prepared some family favorites. The location of the condo is ideal for digestion of our large meals: it is only three blocks away from miles and miles of vineyards which climb up the Neckar valley. What a pleasure to take long after-meal hikes with Maedi and dog Ronja through this beautiful valley!
With Maedi and family: Helge, Dirk, Simone, Janna, Henri in Ludwigsburg Biergarten
Whenever Richey and Werner "could" spare us an afternoon, we visited Walter and/or Maedi. Siegfried and Ursel (Uschi) Riegel nee Scholtz usually joined us and they also invited us in return. These gatherings were memorable occasions during which we old-timers swapped family stories and caught up on the latest family news. Uschi is our cousin who had saved the Johann David Scholtz Journal (1805-1812) in January 1945 by carrying it in her backpack on the flight from Silesia to the West. This is what happened: the 14 year-old Uschi had received a copy of the journal as a present for Christmas 1944 and found it too interesting and valuable to leave it behind. In the 1990 the University of Bremen published the journal, which appeared in an English translation in the USA in 2004.
Later in Hamburg, we met up with cousin Georg Scholtz from Moelln. With him, we exchanged more memories from the past. He was the only member of the Scholtz clan whose family lived in West Germany --- and contrary to everyone else in the Scholtz clan --- his family had been spared the disastrous flight in 1945 from Silesia. Thus they were able to save most of their family possessions, including valuable family photographs and family heirlooms.
In Europe, the month of June is asparagus month: these noble white stalks are an expensive regional specialty: they are one of the earliest vegetables of the season and thus a special delicacy, the consumption of which is reserved for special occasions. Our visits happened to be such a special occasion, and we were offered this seasonal feast where ever we went: with Werner at the fancy Maulbronn restaurant which is famous for the earliest and best asparagus of the region, served with an ample supply of Sauce Hollandaise, Richey's favorite; with sister Maedi's fabulous feast of "all you can eat" asparagus with all-you-want buttery Hollandaise sauce, Richey's favorite; and brother Walter who treated us to Renate's asparagus 'cooked to perfection' and served with golden brown butter. All sharing with us the season's best: wonderful white asparagus with golden buttery sauce! For the first time in our lives we have eaten enough white asparagus to last us for quite a few years.
As mentioned before, we visited often with sister Maedi and her family, Helge, Dirk, Simone and her two small grandchildren. Before leaving south Germany we all got together for a farewell party in a Biergarten on the bank of the Neckar River. This typical German institution is ideal for family outings, or the gathering of friends and colleagues. To the envy of many Americans, one can sit here all evening and simply sip a beer or coke and enjoy the evening breeze. Long tables and benches are set up under large trees, a small playground to one side with sandbox and toys; and booths for semi-self-service on the opposite side. In these we bought Bratwurst and Schnitzel with potato salad; beer and soft drinks; with ice cream bars for dessert. The murmering of the Neckar and the rustle of the trees provide soothing background music. It is easy to understand why this type of outdoor entertainment is perfect for families and clubs: there is plenty of space for everyone. We all enjoyed our Bier and Bratwurst or Wiener Schnitzel and potato salad. All in all it was a memorable evening. We think we were in the same Biergarten which Heiner and Sarah enjoyed so much last year.
During this year in Europe we have turned into soccer fans (sort of) and now can watch a game more or less intelligently, although some of the rules still elude us, mainly Ziggy. In Poland we watched the beginning of the European championship games. Now during our two weeks in Vaihingen, the finals were being played, and we watched these games with Werner and Ursula. To everyone's surprise the German team -- with more luck than skill -- went from quarter finals, to semi finals and finals against Spain when it finally lost one to zero. In a display of true sportsmanship --- from Poland to Portugal --- everyone cheered the results and agreed that the best team had won, and that the Spanish team truly deserved the European crown.
For us it was both astonishing and up-lifting to experience the Europe-wide enthusiasm for the sport.. During these championship games a euphoric mood permeated the continent and gripped us too. The entire population - young AND old alike- Dutch or Greeks, were gripped by soccer fever; national flags waved from car windows and houses; young folks displayed their country's national colors on hats and T-shirts. In the beginning of the matches, everyone cheered for their own country But After their country's team had lost, their enthusiasm for the game persisted throughout the games until the European crown was finally won by the Spanish team. All over Europe the games were carried live. They were also projected on big-screen TV in town squares where they attracted large boisterous crowds of beer-guzzling fans. Flags of different nations flew peacefully side by side in these crowds-- the entire continent from Poland to Spain and Portugal was caught up by this football fever and celebrated together --- in stark contrast to the rowdyism of British soccer matches. It was pure pleasure to watch a beautiful and fair patriotism instead of the chauvinistic nationalism of the past. We felt uplifted and were duly impressed by this display of camaraderie and fair sportsmanship between the European nations.
The two weeks of rest and recuperation in Vaihingen helped us prepare for our next set of adventures of this year-long journey.. Our last farewells were ---understandably--- rather emotional: with increasing age, every farewell might be the last one.
Bremen: Dom
Bremen:
Henny and Lutz Roeber, a couple from Bremen, had offered us a one-week vacation without any commitment of reciprocity. It was an offer we could not reject. So we spent a memorable week with them in Bremen. They were not only kind and generous but also interested in sharing with us their beloved Hansestadt Bremen and its cultural offerings.
Bremen is a beautiful old Hansestadt and we enjoyed walking through the narrow streets, visiting the Boettcher-strasse, the ancient Dom with its naturally mummified bodies, the statues of the Bremer Stadtmusikanten and the Roland in front of the Rathaus, the all-important Ratskeller.; and of course the oldest district of Bremen, the Schnoor,
The Roebels' condo is located in the pretty suburb of Lesum, where an annual summer music festival is held at this time of the year. It takes place outdoors in a large Park, where the stage and the setting resembles that of the Hollywood bowl in L.A.. The generous Roebels had reserved tickets for us and we were eager to participate in this popular outdoor spectacle.
It was a motley scene and great fun to observe. People of all ilk arrived that evening, usually with large baskets of food for a picnic, and with folding chairs or blankets to sit on. The Roebels had prepared a delicious picnic for all four of us, complete with champagne and glasses. Not only did we have chairs and blankets, but also umbrellas in case of rain and/or cold.
We enjoyed the entire colorful and joyous scene immensely, best of all the performance of Grieg's Peer Gynt by the Bremen Philharmonics. Non of the later performances of the festival surpassed this first evening! Needless to say: the sprinkles of a gentle rain could not dim our enthusiasm, nor the increasingly cold air later that first evening.
Another surprising and new activity for us was an evening of bowling. The Roebels belong to a Kegelklub and introduced us to there to their partners. We were even asked to participate and thus bowled for the first time this evening. To our surprise we really enjoyed knocking over the pins. Actually, a couple of times Richey was able to knock down all nine pins with one ball (you do not get a second ball). Of course beer with Schuss and Rote Gruetze also contributed to this evening's merriment.
We could hardly believe our luck or lucky star: How had we earned this unbelievably generous hospitality?! We cannot imagine that all people in Bremen are as gracious and generous and hospitable as the Roebers! But they were surely excellent representatives and advertisers for this beautiful old Hansetown.
Henny and Lutz Roeber, a beautiful couple and wonderful hosts
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