Back Bay View: Germany

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Nuremberg and home

Dear family and friends - How is it April? This post is about things that happened nearly two months ago. There are things that happened before Christmas that I meant to get around to writing about. Here it is almost Easter. Where has the time flown? I need to slow it down.

At any rate, before I write about Lent, or the college search for our senior, or our youngest's 8th birthday on Friday, or the meaning of life, here is a pictorial review of our last couple days in Germany. I can't even remember which church is which anymore. These last few photos cover our few days with my husband's brother and his family. They have been living in Nuremberg for five plus years now. He works for a museum consortium and helps design children's museum exhibits. His career is a testimony to the fact that a college degree isn't necessary for success. He and his wife and their kids love living as expats and plan to continue for the foreseeable future. And it is easy to see why they love their life in Nuremberg.

After saying good-bye to our daughter, I had planned for us to stop in Rothenberg, a town surrounded by a medieval wall, but my husband's brother encouraged us to continue on into the city to their home. After all, what is one more tourist town compared to time with family, especially cousins you haven't seen in far too long?

The drive was uneventful this time - we had our directions, a full tank of gas, a cup of coffee and a wide open highway - the autobahn! Every so often, we'd hit a stretch of the autobahn where there was no speed limit -a thrill for my husband. The car we rented, a sporty royal blue Peugeot, actually registered the speed limit electronically somehow - so the speedometer showed the speed he was driving and the speed limit - or lack of one. He didn't really take off, but it was fun to know he could.

We met up with the cousins just in time for lunch. We picked up sandwhiches at a deli, stopped at the liquor store for a flat of beer, and then took our picnic to the cousins' schriebergarten, their garden plot with a tiny home. These gardens are popular in urban areas in Germany where many people, including our family, live in apartments. Named for the man who came up with the concept, they are plots of land individually owned, but in a collective space. The houses are really more of rooms with a loft and a toilet. Owners are not supposed to sleep over in the gardens, but many families stay all day and enjoy a break from city living. I coveted the cousins' tiny house and beautiful garden plot, even though few things were blooming in late winter. Hellebores were just showing their blossoms, in addition to the previously pictured snowdrops.

After we had eaten our sandwiches, thoroughly toured each corner of the garden, and laughed heartily over our beers, we headed back into town to pick up the kids from school, get them a snack and some transition time back at home, before heading out to take a metro into the downtown for dinner at a traditional German restaurant. We walked through the old town, stopped into a toy store for a diversion and gifts, and then enjoyed people watching as we made our way to the restaurant for plenty of kraut, schnitzel and nurembergers - the finger sized sausages the city made famous. The legend of their origin involves jail and the loss of a digit.

After strudel and the walk back to the cousins' flat, we sat up late enjoying a bottle of wine and more laughs while reminiscing and sharing news. After two years of lockdown, the cousins were thrilled to have family visit, and we were thrilled to reconnect as family does - as if no time had passed.

The next day, my brother-in-law played tour guide after we walked the kids to school. We visited the Nuremberg castle, and several kirches - St Lawrencekirche, Frauenkirche, Elizabethkirche, and another one or two. The Albrecht Durer museum was closed to my disappointment, and we opted to see more of the city rather than visit the enormous national museum of German culture. We also ran out of time to see the Nazi documentation center, which is not in the central downtown, but we saw a lot of Nuremberg, and ate well. After yogurt and granola for breakfast, lunch was had at the oldest restaurant in Nuremberg, where I had a most delicious soup that was basicly broth and a big liver dumpling. I loved it! No one in my househould will eat liver, so I savored the delicacy.

We finished lunch in time to watch the famous glockenspiel at St Lawrencekirche, and toured the interior which was almost completely rebuilt after WWII bombing. The photos of the reconstruction process testified to the miraculous recovery that took place. How much they were able to rebuild is amazing. St Lawrence may have been my favorire church, but perhaps just because we spend the most time there. We picked up a couple souvenirs and were able to duck into a cafe for coffee, pastries, and a pretzel just as it was starting to rain.

The rain didn't last long, and it left behind a glossy sheen on statuary and a fresh clean fragrance, so that our next stop, the Carousel of Marriage sculpture, was easy to visit. This large episodic sculpture was both hilarious and horrifying in its depiction of unhappily married couples at different stages of life. Some were all too familiar!

After a stop for a covid test to return home to the states and a stop at Aldi for supper ingredients and several stops for gifts to take back, we returned in time to gather the kids from their school and make paella - or rather talk over wine while my brother-in-law made paella. I was treated to listening to my 7 year old nephew read There's No Such Thing as a Dragon in German for his homework and to listen to a story my niece had written herself. After dinner we played German board games - or rather one was German - something Kuh - and one was British - something about finding a thief by traveling around London by underground, bus, or foot. After many stories and laughs, the kids were put to bed, and the grown-ups, minus my sister-in-law who stayed with the sleeping kinder, headed out on a night walk for a scenic view of the river (I'll have to look up the name) and another old church and town, alongside the river and an old mill. Th small town with its cobblestone streets, beautiful gardens, and old stone walls was storybook picturesque. You could see how if you found yourself a home there, you might never leave.

But all too soon it was time for us to leave the next morning. We got ourselves to the airport without fuss, but I did stress about leaving the car with no check in attendant on duty. We had to guess at what the sign said, although I did try to use the google Translate photo app that translates images to make sure we weren't breaking any rules.

Our week at an end, we welcomed time to sleep on the plane a bit and to watch movies and read. I tried to journal everything we saw, but this last leg of the journey got short shrift because I was so worn out on the flight home.

If I don't hurry and post this, our expat daughter will return to the states before I finish. She flies back just before Easter. Right now she says she is ready to return, but I'm sure she will experience a little culture shock - especially since she spent so little time in Texas before she left I'm sure she will look with fondness on her memories of her semester abroad; we are especially proud of her for facing some fears she had about going abroad after spending her first year of college at home.

The final photos are below - they posted in revierse order, and there are far too many, but that is the danger of dual cell phones documenting a memory.