Reasonable Regulations

I had originally thought to visit Friedrichshafen with my daughter as part of our journey. My grandparents lived there for a great portion of their lives after the war was over. I was able to visit them on occasion while we were living in Aschaffenburg.

Something pretty to look at.

My Opa sent me home in a variety of ways as mom had 3 more needing care. Once, I was packed into the cab of an 18 wheeled truck with a trusted driver. Another time they put me on the train with a tag as to where to get off. I got scared and got off too soon but someone put me back on the train and I ended up where I belonged. Oma took me to market and taught me to read German when I could visit.

My mother’s parents

Fear of the weather quickly overtook nostalgia. They were expecting snow. The Bodensee area gets darn cold so I convinced my daughter not to risk the rental car. We opted instead for a city I’ve never visited. Stuttgart. It put us back on track to make it to Frankfurt in time for our flight home. I tend to worry more than I should.

am Bodensee with a small tour vessel

2006 trip to Friedrichshafen

The saying goes if you can’t say anything nice about something or someone, don’t say anything. I’ll just say the shopping center right down the street from our hotel in Stuttgart was a godsend. We got our walks in and found lunch and dinner. Since my daughter worked into the night hours to coincide with her office hours in the states, I usually started my day with lunch. She ate what they brought her for breakfast. I was being contrary (I can get that way) and refused their choices, happy after seeing it, to forgo that meal. Even with our vaccine certificate they were the only place that refuse us entrance to the breakfast room.

They use a lot of paper bowls for their take away salads

We couldn’t go into any stores because we didn’t have the QR code on our vaccine certificate from the states. Without it we couldn’t be seated for a meal or go inside a store. We could pick up take away food and walk around the three levels all day, fully masked. We didn’t dawdle. Each day, we walked down the hill after a sweet young woman personally took us to find the hidden entrance to the shopping center. We made the circle of all three floors, got our food and mineral water supply, then headed back to our room.

I wish I’d had cards with this on it for some people. FB photo

We did try to do laundry there but there was no parking available. I found a tiny fabric shop that was mostly for home decor but since we had paid for parking, I purchased a 50-cent pack of needles for embroidery.

I usually like to comment on how helpful the staff is at a hotel in helping us find our way around a new city. I won’t be doing that here. I found the whole city uninviting. We took no photographs and we were not allowed to ride public transit according to the hotel manager.

Have you ever visited a new place you never want to see again?

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” ~ Henry Miller

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself

The Beginning

Coming to Germany was an exercise, in what? I’m not quite sure. My daughter had heard my stories of growing up in Germany for so many years that she really wanted to see for herself what I was talking about and get a little of the flavor of my life. It was quite different than most of my peers.

Me and Oma

We decided to go back to the beginning where I was born. I have only a few fragmented memories of that place. Small, maybe two rooms and austere. No color or warmth. No indoor plumbing.

 

Wolfgang Stein owns this photo. I borrowed it. Winter would make it look grim.

Down in the valley. My hometown.

When mom and I went back in 2000, we saw where our house had been located but already a massive two story stood instead. This time we couldn’t even find the road to it or the tavern in which my mother found old friends.

A couple of old friends who remembered her

We drove down the main road, got stopped on dead ends up on the hill and turned around not seeing even the tavern, and left. There was no market or anywhere to stay.

Just me somewhere in Germany

So back to our room at another version of German hospitality. The Pension. My daughter didn’t know it didn’t have an elevator but I made it up all those stairs with the kind owner helping with luggage. She ran to get bags up to the top of the second set of stairs and made every effort to make us comfortable. She even spoke a bit of English and probably understood more.

Pension Zur Krone first of many stairs

Pension Zur Krone with so many doors

The room was small for American tastes but clean and very comfortable. Bad Endbach was a just slightly larger village than my own. Because of the health baths, there was  more available.

Bathroom for 2

Our beds

common eating area

Every town has trash day. Bad Endbach was 8 miles from my even smaller village

Gray day in Bad Endbach

Out the window of our Pension room.

We found a place in Dillenburg to buy some take out for our Sunday dinner after we found a place to eat lunch. Breakfast was nonexistent. We could find only a Greek and Asian food place open that day. The tiny common eating area at the Pension had everything we needed. Even a tea kettle to make a cuppa. We put the dirty dishes in a pan and Yolanda came to collect and do them. It’s a spa town so they do attract regular guests.

Deserted Dillenburg

Sunday midday Dillenburg

Winter and Covid has left every business everywhere vulnerable to collapse and this lovely person tried so hard to meet our needs. The next day we even found a small grocery to get fixings to make our own sandwiches.

When I left the area, I felt like I was done there. Nothing left of my old life and it was time to keep moving on to a new one. I felt no attachment at all. It had definitely changed course without me and everything felt like it had nothing left to offer. On to the next adventure.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. ~ Heraclitus

 

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself

The Best Way

Somehow, we made it. First to Arizona. then down to the Phoenix Airport to catch our flight to Germany. Until the moment we finally got on the plane, I fully expected someone to inform us of Germany’s lockdown. I was so afraid to get excited and jinx the trip.

Out our hotel window I saw a woman looking at the wall of books.

It didn’t happen and here we are. We spent two nights in Frankfurt to recover from jet lag. It took longer but we moved on anyway. The best thing we saw in Frankfort with the time and energy we had was the train station right across the street from our downtown hotel. My daughter didn’t realize when renting our car that we had to pick it up in Frankfurt proper rather than the airport. It goes back there too and turns out to be much less expensive that way. The taxi ride to pick it up wasn’t.

ELEGANT AND DARK

HOTEL Monopol

WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT lots of pamphlets

BREAKFAST ROOM IN THE LOBBY

The Frankfurt Bahnhof (train station) was amazing. If you need anything, I think you can find it there. Every kind of food imaginable, a small grocery store, bars, bakeries, and humanity from all corners of the world. Germany is as much a melting pot as the US.

Endless choices

So much good stuff

Schnitzel on the menu

Fries anyway you want them

I’m going to admit something here. I had been struggling for air at my son’s place and was somewhat better when we arrived in Phoenix. It was the next morning, loading our exorbitant amount of luggage into the Phoenix Airport that I was absolutely grateful my daughter had ordered wheelchair service for me. I have a tendency to be very stubborn about my ability to be independent but decided not to be stupid about it and acquiesced. It turned out to be a lifesaver. We were whisked to security and through not so quickly as the RFID folders she had me use kept setting the alarm off.  I didn’t even realize it was in my pocket. They dropped us off way down a terminal that was so far, I’d still be trying to get there. Everyone along our route including changing to Lufthansa in Huston was extremely helpful and kind. I would not have made the connection to the second flight without all the help I received at both ends of that flight.

What language do you want

The bookstore, of course.

Books in English. I left without one.

Getting through customs with the help of a German/English speaking airport staff member cut the time in half. I tipped generously to all the runners that got us where we needed to be before the flight left. The layover almost didn’t give us enough time. It was well worth it all the way around. The best way to travel is by wheelchair…sometimes.

My health issues aren’t obvious until the huffing and puffing starts so I wasn’t willing to ask for help. If you have health issues and avoid travel for that reason, remember there are people on airport staff just waiting to be helpful. A kind word and a nice tip go a LONG way. I also managed to make myself understood in German.

They had my favorite beer but I didn’t go in.

All the little hitches that could have been problems just smoothed themselves out very quickly. Our Lufthansa flight was piloted by two female pilots and their landing was smooth as glass. I slept not a wink though. On to our other adventures coming up.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”– St. Augustine

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself

In Search of Reasons to Celebrate

Labor Day falls on September 2 this year. The whole country gets a day off to rest or run; the choice is theirs. It was a labor day of a different kind 65 years ago in a tiny village in Germany. It’s still a tiny village, by the way. My mother labored a long time to give birth to a 13 pound girl (yes, you read that right) at home, with no anesthesia. She remembered nothing of that day and it took me awhile to understand why. Mom was a 2 pound baby, incubated in the oven at home and was never supposed to be able to have children. The four of us sure made a liar out of the doctor who told her that.

Main street. You can see beginning to end.

No motel or grocery, just a bar and convenience market. They sure are a friendly bunch though.

Why celebrate turning 65? That’s just getting old. Well after my birthday, I get Medicare. I have had no health coverage since my divorce a couple of years ago. Not that I need it, but it’s like car insurance, nice to have just in case. The other reason I celebrate is that I’m still here among the living and loving. My first husband only made it to 42. I’m grateful for each and every minute of pain and pleasure. I plan to celebrate big time…for me.

My daughter is taking me to my favorite German restaurant, Gustav’s, where after months and months of a very strict diet, I’m going to indulge in a good German beer, pretzel and cheese fondue, followed with a dinner I will probably end up taking home and topped off with their famous apple strudel. That’s MY idea of celebrating.

Is your mouth watering?

I have other reasons to celebrate. I’ve exceeded my weight loss goal by more than enough to indulge one day. It’s not easy by any means but I’m feeling sooo much better everyday as well. I think the Bells Palsy is improving as I’m needing the cane less and less for balance.

Another reason to celebrate is that this is my 100th post. I mainly post once a week unless fatigue overtakes me. Life is pretty simple for me and I want to keep my posts remotely interesting. As healing progresses, so will the variety of my writing. I’m still two months shy of my two-year blogiversary. Every time I get a bit discouraged, someone comes for a visit to my site and leaves an encouraging comment. Thank you all for reading and adding so much to my life. Each of you are treasures.

How and what are you celebrating this fine day of no labor?

If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend.~ Doug Larson

From my heart to yours,
Marlene Herself.

In Search of a Cheery Halloween

Wow! It’s hard to believe that I started this blog one year ago on Halloween. I was lamenting back then on how it just wasn’t my favorite holiday for many reasons. I didn’t grow up with Halloween. I was 11 on the first one and 13 on the last one. Now my kids, they made Halloween fun for me. They had homemade costumes, trick or treating for candy. We didn’t have decorations but loved seeing them everywhere.

Growing up I remember my parents celebrating the German version of Halloween but it was for adults. Kids got a babysitter. That was usually me. At least my parent’s version of it went that way. It was called Fasching which is like Karnaval or Mardi Gras. A lot of dressing up and partying. It starts November 11 at 11:11 a.m. and ends at midnight on Shroud Tuesday. Different parts of Germany celebrate it differently. It’s no longer the holiday it was originally but then, none are.

Much later in life when I was married to my last husband, I started taking decorative painting classes because the things being painted were just too cute for words. He had grandchildren that I adored so we still did a bit of Halloween. I put these out each year when possible. I’ve decorated my new apartment even though the children apparently don’t trick or treat around here. It seems the few children who live here, go to functions for their tricking and treating. It puts me in a festive mood when I come in the door. What do you think?

Here are the characters I painted.

I gave up filling it with candy since I ended up eating it.

Smily pumpkin face at each end

Witchy Poo now spends most of her time at my daughter’s house.

Frankie now has flowers instead of candy backing him up.

Come in if you dare. The pumpkins are organic 🙂

Adding a touch of class by the door

Scary has never worked for me. I go for cute since I’m a fraidy cat. I don’t do scary movies either. Wouldn’t you just know it. Decorations by the front door were given to me or from the thrift store. There is a sewing project on my table that may make it for Halloween, just not for my post.

Happy Halloween everyone.
From my heart to yours,
Marlene