A Journey of Touristy Spots

Fortunately I was able to get back to sleep at 7 am after initially waking up at 5:30.  I slept about another hour before hearing Mom in the shower.  I showered when she was done, we dressed and headed out to frühstuck (breakfast).  She ordered a shakshuka style dish but the eggs were scrambled into the sauce.  I had a piece of toast with 2 eggs and arugula that came with a small jar of yogurt and Museli.  There were a few pieces of fruit on the plate and the whole meal came with a small glass of orange juice.  Mom had an iced latte and I had an iced mocha.

After eating we headed right out to finish our walk of Prinzlauer Berg.  We were guided down a street we’ve now been down several times but places were mentioned in the guidebook that we had seen but not known what their story was until now.  On one side of the street there are 2 spots where buildings should be, in the style of the block, but there are no buildings.  We learned in these spots 2 of the rare bombs that fell in Prinzlauer Berg during WWII destroyed the buildings and the structures were not rebuilt.  We passed a store that carries GDR memorabilia.

As we turned the corner we were instructed to look at the side of a building where a large image had been installed of people who came to this spot on Nov. 11, 1989 when the part of the Berlin Wall here came down and people flooded out of Prinzlauer Berg in East Germany into the other side into West Berlin.  There were metal columns showing where the Wall had been that had information on them about the construction and demolition of the Wall in this spot.  We continued across the street and up to the Stadium the Soviets built for the citizens in the East, but from inside the view was blocked by a separate Wall so when they were in the stadium they’d be unable to see into the West.  There were several artists painting over what we could see was decades and layers of paint beneath.  There were large pieces of old paint on the ground that had been peeled off to allow for new layers of paint.  I took a picture of one of the artists and he turned and said something in German to me in a sharp tone.  Mom caught a little bit of it and I got the gist that he said I needed to have asked his permission before taking a picture.  I put my hands together and bent slightly and said “I’m sorry.” and he seemed satisfied, but it was a weird interaction that’s stayed with me awhile.

We walked back down to the street and took a tram to the Berlin Wall Visitor’s Center where we viewed an animated depiction of how the area of the Wall and “No Man’s Land” in the middle was enforced by barbed wires, dogs, soldiers with guns, trip wire guns that shot like 10 rounds and buried bombs.  It led into a film in German with English subtitles that showed how the Wall was constructed, how the division of land started with painting a line in the street between East and West Berlin and how soldiers were guarding the areas and that was soon covered with barbed wire across the ground until the building of the Wall began in earnest.  We saw people trying to cross in the early days, including a woman who ran right into and through the barbed wire.  It was terrifying and horrific.  The film showed the final days leading up to and included the demolition of the Wall.  It mentioned and showed Gorbachev but not Reagan.

After debriefing what we’d seen, we decided to move on to our next activity, a boat ride on the River Spree.  We took a tram to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and then transferred to the U-bahn (subway) and took it to Museum Island, which is surrounded by the River Spree.  We found a spot that we thought Rick Steves had described in his tour book as the place to meet his favorite tour boat company, but we didn’t see the name he mentioned.  We looked around and didn’t see any others, so we decided to take this boat.  What looked like a husband and wife team (she was the pilot!) were kind and welcoming.  It was a fairly small boat and the 33 passengers were all offered something to drink (for a price).  Mom and I each got a bottle of still water.

The 1 hour tour was extensive, going by ALL the sights in Berlin visible from the River Spree, Museum Island, the Reichstag (the capital building, where Congress meets), the Chancellor’s building, the financial district, the House of Culture (nicknamed the Pregnant Oyster) that was built by the Americans after the war as part of the rebuilding effort.  The day was cool and overcast with a slight breeze until about 3/4 of the way through.  Then we sailed into a part of the River where there was no cloud cover and it got hot!  It really started to feel the 86 degrees it was forecasted to be today.

After the River tour we walked across the park to St. Hedwig’s, the church Mom wants to attend on Sunday, to see if they will be offering any special concerts this week.  Indeed, there will be a visiting choral group on Sat. at 8 pm.  I think that’s in our future.  We took the U-bahn back to the Hauptbahnhof and found a WC.  Now for one of the times Mom has said all along that is one of the things she was least looking forward to about being in Europe, paying to go pee.  With that task accomplished I expressed a desire for a small snack, as it was now about 3:30 pm and we hadn’t had lunch.  She chose a veggie pita sandwich and I had a slice of cheese pizza.  We ate in the food court and enjoyed the air conditioning before heading back to the U-barn (down, down, down into the land of stale air) and took it back to the place where we had found the River Boat, but went around the corner and boarded Bus #100 and took it to its terminus at the Zoo before getting on the same bus going all the way to its terminus at the other end.  Along the way each direction we passed some of the major tourist sites in Berlin, the Reichstag, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church that was bombed during the war and has been left as a reminder of the war.  We also passed Schloss Bellevue (castle once inhabited by royalty that no longer exists), the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column that was commissioned for the Prussians prevailing in the Second Schleswig War and served to commemorate victories in the following wars.  I hope to go back on foot to the Brandenburg Gate and the Kaiser Wilhelm Church.  The area around both seems so much more built up than when I was here in 1994.  I’ll have to compare pictures when I get home.

We got back on the U-barn and got off a short distance from our hotel and walked back.  It was time to do my one task for work that absolutely needed doing while I’m away, run payroll.  Since I am able to access Wi-Fi and the internet, I tested being able to access our company’s software first arrived in Berlin and today was the day to pull the switch and get ‘er done!  I did it in relatively little time and we were off again in search of dinner.  We found a small hole in the wall Chinese style restaurant and between our 2 entrees (beef/broccoli with rice and noodles with chicken & veggies) plus 3 bottles of drinks, it was less than 15 euro!  And the euro is equal to the dollar now so that was a bargain!  On our way back to the hotel was meandered slowly, scoping out a spot for dinner tomorrow, then wandering through a local grocery store in search of fun flavored potato chips to take home.

We stopped at the small drinks/smoke shop next to our hotel and bought a couple of ice creams on a stick and a bottle of cherry flavored Berliner Weisse, all to serve as our dessert.

We both wrote in our blogs and as it’s 10:45 pm and finally dark outside, I think I’ll go to bed.

My journey today was one of familiar sights and relaxed time spent with my Mommy.

A Journey With Sore Feet

I am hearing way more English than I expected to.  I wasn’t aware until I got here how strong the dollar is against the Euro.  Americans are taking advantage and are in Berlin!  I’m sad to report, however, that a lot of them don’t seem to be trying to speak German at all, at least not within my earshot.  That makes me sad.  Yes, I have a near-fluent German speaker with me, but I also try German first when interacting with the people we speak to.

Today started about 6:30 am for me.  I’m happy to report I did not hear the tram through my earplugs.  Yay!  I got up and Mom was still asleep so I sat at the desk and powered up my ipad and sent a WhatsApp to Kenji.  Hmmm… it didn’t seem to go through.  So I sent a message request through Messenger and we chatted for a bit there as he and Leo were winding down their day back home.  After rebooting my phone connectivity to WhatsApp returned. Phew!  Mom got up and showered and we both got dressed and set out to find the restaurant we decided on last night for breakfast today.  Now, which direction was it?  What side of the street was it on?  Was it down the side street?  It had an A-frame chalkboard menu.  Let’s look for that.  Let’s walk and we’ll remember it when we see it.  Fat chance.  We walked up and down all the streets we thought it was on for 30 mins.  We didn’t find the fruhstuck (breakfast) place that was the one we wanted.  So we found a suitable replacement.  After waiting a while for a table outside we settled for a shared common table inside.  We found a couple of items we agreed to share.  Mom had dark bread toast with guacamole, a poached egg and alfalfa sprouts with a salad.  I had a yogurt bowl with granola and berries.  Yum!  I seriously need to start making these at home.  I eat it frequently when I’m traveling.  Too bad berries are so expensive and leave a huge carbon footprint.  We chatted with a young couple we shared a long common table with and they had been in Berlin for 4 days and were on their way to the Czech Republic for 3 days before heading back to Saudi Arabia.  She works for Price Waterhouse and he’s in a PhD program for climate studies.  She’s a native of Saudi Arabia and he’s Ecuadorian.

Returning to the hotel to put on shorts and leave our sweaters there (it was chilly when we left for breakfast) we were on the side of the street as our hotel, about a block away, when we spotted a familiar A-frame chalkboard on the other side of the street.  Was it the right one???  We crossed the still slightly sleepy street and indeed, it was!  Ok!  Mark the spot!  What’s it called?  Why didn’t we see it earlier?  Looking at the side of the street we had been on, we both noticed a statue of an elephant that had taken our attention away from looking across the street at that moment.  *sigh*. Ok.  Tomorrow.

After changing into our clothes for the day’s walking tour around Prenzlauer Berg, the neighborhood we’re staying in, we set out.  We agreed that while we were following Rick Steves’ recommended walking tour, and he suggests it’s a 90 min. walk, we didn’t have anything else on the schedule today and we’d take our time.  6 hours later… no joke.  We saw historic architecture, water towers on a hill (berg, hence the name of the neighborhood), Germany’s oldest synagogue, home and statue of Kathë Kollwitz (a local printer and sculptor), a gargoyle water hole that apparently lots of folks parking their car in front of fail to judge how far it sticks out into the slot as there is glass on the ground as evidence, and we finally made our way to the DDR (GDR to us, East Germany) Museum.  There we were instructed on how to use the free audio guide in English on our smartphones, which we did.  

We spent 2+ hours learning about life in East German after the Soviet Union occupied it after WWII.  It was a well curated glimpse into a dismal life of near-constant food insecurity, knowing you’re being watched and listened to and not daring to speak out for fear of certain death and how the citizens managed  to exist under the scrutiny of the Soviets and how every aspect of their lives were controlled and formed around what was best for the regime.  It was especially sobering to see the videos that were shown go from black & white to color and to see the women in the stores in the 1980’s with similar hairstyles to what I was wearing then and realize that this hateful way of treating people was not all that long ago.  Those who do not learn from our history are doomed to repeat it.  I’m looking at you, Critical Race Theory fear-mongerers and book banning folks!

By now my feet hurt and I was eager to return to the hotel to put them up, but as we headed that way we realized we were going to pass Rick’s suggestion of the oldest Currywurst stand in Berlin, Konnopke’s Imbiss, under the U-bahn bridge.  It was definitely time for a snack!  Mom ordered 2 currywurst and 1 small pommes (fries) with a bottle of apple-rhubarb soda, just to be fun and try.  Currywurst is street food, so we stood up and ate, as is tradition.  It was yummy, but for me, it could’ve had more curry sprinkled on top.  The pommes were tasty and well fried.  Mom got both ketchup and mayo for us to dip in.  She has decided, prior to today, perhaps in Belgium on her most recent Rick Steves tour, that she’ll not use ketchup for fries anymore, that she likes mayo on them.  I decided to try it and didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would.  Perhaps German mayo is better than American mayo.

We walked back to the hotel and I got to put my feet up finally.  About an hour later we decided to head out for dinner and had already decided to go to Prager’s Biergarten, Berlin’s oldest Biergarten. It was lively and had a large seating area, as you would expect a Biergarten to.  We investigated the walk-up counter and they were only serving sausages on a roll or meatballs on a roll.  We were wanting something else, like schnitzel.  So we went to the “formal” sit down restaurant in the garden and shared a schnitzel, which came with potato salad and a cucumber salad, as well as chilled cucumber soup.  Both were schmecked lecker (pronounced sh-meck leck-ah, definition - delicious)!  We also ordered Berliner Weisse.  This time they came in individual bottles and the server told Mom that if they were too tart she could give us some syrup, which they were and she did.  She brought us each a shot glass of syrup which improved the drink a lot!

After paying we walked back to the hotel, changed into jammies and I wrote today’s blog while Mom emailed the airport hotel we’ll be staying in the night before we fly home to ask a couple of questions then she started to write her blog.

Today was a journey of learning about uncomfortable pasts, but knowing that knowing the history of what happened and why is important, as well as learning about and celebrating our present.

A Journey Of Transition

I actually managed to sleep until 6:30 am today!  Mom got up, too, and while she showered I went downstairs.  Herbert came along shortly after and when Mom was done in the shower I showered.  The shower here is about a 4x4 square, I kid you not.  It has foldable doors that stay shut unless you accidentally lean against them.  I speak from experience.  We put our toiletries in our suitcases and went downstairs for breakfast.

Anja had planned Müseli with homemade yogurt, having made the yogurt last night and putting it in the oven overnight.  However, when she took it out it had separated, telling her that the ok was spoiled.  So instead we had it with milk after Herbert returned from the store with it.  There were a couple of grains, several different nuts and as well as bananas, dried cranberries, blueberries and raspberries in it.  Ohmygosh YUM!  We are with small spoons and it really helped ensure we savored the meal.

Mom and I made sandwiches with lots of leftover items to take with us on the train to Berlin today.  I used Bröetchen and she used some black bread.  We had Remolade (a sort of herb mayonnaise) serve as mayo, lettuce, tomato and baby cucumber from the garden and Mom’s leftover steak from Sat. night.  Anja gave us Ziplocs to put the sandwiches in and I put them in my backpack.

The time had finally arrived that we needed to put on our shoes and pick up our bags and head to the train station in Wuppertal.  Naila was not pleased to be left at home in favor of our bags in the way back of the station wagon.  We drove a short while on the Autobahn and Herbert kept the speed to a level so as not to freak me out.   We arrived at the train station without spotting the hanging train that Wuppertal is famous for.  *sigh*

After confirming the platform our train would arrive on we found it easily and our train arrived quickly and goodbyes were difficult, many photos were taken and all too soon we were boarding and waving goodbye.

After walking the full length of the car to find our reserved seats we discovered there were 2 men sitting there already.  Mom pulled out her printed reservation and went and spoke with them.  They picked up their belongings and went elsewhere.  Looking at the display above our seats I saw that it incorrectly read that the seats were available and not reserved, but Mom paid extra to reserve them and had the paperwork to prove it, so we were ok.  When the Conductor came by to check our tickets all went well.  We settled in for an approx. 4 hour train ride.  Mom reports he was quite conversational and jovial.

The countryside slipped away quickly and I mean quickly!  As in speeds up to and at times exceeding 150 miles and hour.  We ate lunch and realized that not only was the train filled but there were many sitting on the floor between the cars and in the hallway of the car behind us.  I am truly grateful she made seat reservations!  Before we knew it we arrived at the Berlin Hauptbanhof, debarked and after initially going the wrong way, we found our Tram line and boarded.  We made our Tram change correctly and soon saw our hotel and we got off where we had been told to and made our way into the hotel and checked in.  We found our on on the 4th floor of the hotel but was on Floor 3.  In Europe the Ground Floor is just that, the Ground Floor.  The 1st floor is what we in the US refers to as the 2nd floor.

We unpacked, changed clothes and went out to explore our neighborhood and were in search of a place for a refreshment, specifically a Berliner Weisse, a mixture of beer and fruit juice.  I know, for those of you who are beer drinkers that sounds horrible.  But for non-beer drinkers like us, it’s really yummy!  We found it at, of all place, a Mexican Restaurant.  Our neighborhood, Prenzlauer Berg, is a former hippie artist neighborhood and is absolutely jam packed with restaurants. We found a couple of laundromats, boutique clothing stores, but mostly one after the other of restaurants.  I wondered how they can all stay in business with so many of them in the same area.

After wandering back towards the hotel we found a Lebanese restaurant that interested Mom.  It was busy so we we hurried back to the hotel to changes clothes and got the last open table when we returned. We ordered lentil soup and a chicken breast plate that came with salad and rice and I wondered how that would be enough for us to share, as she wanted to do.  Let me tell you this plate was a platter.  It was huge by my standards for a single entree and i was glad we were sharing.  It had what I would consider a double serving of rice, a gorgeous salad with greens, alfalfa sprouts, cucumbers and a mild dressing, but Mom said she preferred Anja’s homemade dressings that she’s been having for the past 10 days.  Well, yeah, me, too, but this was good.  There were pickled veggies and pickles, a couple of pieces of roasted potato on top of a plain grilled chicken breast and the most divine garlic sauce.  I mean, I love Zankou’s garlic sauce but this was next level.   Unfortunately, there was a spicy relish over some of it, so I didn’t get to eat it all. We had a Mango Shake that was just like a Mango Lasse you’d get at an Indian restaurant and a bottle of “still” water, as opposed to fizzy, carbonated water.  The meal was also served with pita bread but it was the size of a small steering wheel.  Between the 2 of us we only ate 1 of the 2 brought to the table.  This place was so popular they brought out 4 long tables while we were there to accommodate the growing crowd.   Wowee!

We decided to walk off dinner and wandered in the other direction than we had gone this afternoon and found ourselves in a park with a pond with lily pads.  We sat and people watched a bit and slowly made our way back by a different direction, passing a local Evengelische Zionkirsche (Lutheran) church that was closed up tight, gates on the front door made it look like it hadn’t been used in a long time, however the bulletin board out front boasted activities for the week.

We came back to the room, watched a little CNN and went to bed.  Here’s hoping I don’t hear the trams all night through my earplugs…

My journey today was one of transition to a new chapter of this adventure with Mom.

A Journey Towards Good-bye

Jet lag is not my friend this trip.  I got out of bed at 5:30 am.  There are no curtains or blinds on any of the windows, so the morning light is pervasive and not easy to ignore.  I came downstairs and scrolled through different websites until the others got up around 7:30 am.  Mom’s first thought to me after a morning greeting was to see if I could Google where the 1966 VW Bugs were made.  After looking at several sites and blogs and articles, I am 99% sure they were only made in Germany.  She will confirm with the paperwork she has when she gets home.  Then it’ll be up to Anja to arrange to get the car from Pasadena to Wermelskirchen.

Breakfast was Bröetchen, wurst, cheese, tomato, cucumber, jam and jelly, coffee and lattes and a soft boiled egg.  Yummy!

The plan today was for me to go for a ride in Herbert’s Karman Ghia today and go to an Old Timers gathering with folks and their classic cars.  However, the light rain has put the kibosh on those plans.  Perhaps later, Herbert says.  I am starting to fade, so I took a nap.

When I awoke I didn't immediately find anyone home and not finding Naila either I surmised that they were out walking her.  But with an Achilles heel injury I knew Herbert would not be with them.  I went to the bathroom and saw the office door was ajar.  I knocked and indeed he was inside.  Shortly after, Mom, Anja & Naila returned.

We all gathered around the table for more Küchen (cake) and coffee for them and water for me.  Anja began preparing the evening meal and said she would be making “folded bread”, and she started by making an herb garlic compound butter.  I watched intently and took pictures of each step so I can recreate it at home.  She has an appliance called a Thermomix that is wundershün (voon-der-shun)!  It’s a blender plus rice cooker, plus it can cook meat and veggies and she also uses it to prepare homemade yogurt.  Tonight she used the heating element to start the dough for the bread because her brick of yeast was frozen.  I looked this machine up on Amazon to get a base price for the US.  $1,000 is better than the $1,400 she says the new version costs here that she wants, but it’s still expensive.

Herbert grilled the marinated turkey breast fillets and marinated baby back ribs we bought at the meat market yesterday AM and we finished the leftover “auf lauf”, the pasta & veggie casserole Anja made for dinner on Fri. as well as the remaining carrot salad and a green salad along with the folded bread.  It was an abundant meal!

More discussion around the VW and it seems like they talked about it themselves and it seems now they are telling her to go ahead it and sell it and keep the money for herself.  My opinion is the fact that it’s not a family car, that she’s only had it 15-20 years and possibly the expense to bring it from the US may deter them from seeing this endeavor though.  We shall see.  Once Mom gets definitive information on where it was built and what it’s value is may be determining factors.

Anja, Mom and I took Naila for her final short walk to pee before bed.

Mom and went to bed early so we could pack and prepare to leave tomorrow for Berlin.

My journey today was one of rest, final time with framily, and preparation for the next chapter of our trip.

A Journey To Meet A New Friend and Oma Treats

Jet lag be gone!  I woke up with Mom about 7:20 am.  While she showered I went downstairs and looked at some news on my iPad, tried to WhatsApp Kenji, but he didn’t respond, and greeted Herbert when he came down a few minutes later.  When Mom and Anja came down I went quickly upstairs to get dressed.  We left immediately after to go into town to the Bakeri shop where we bought several variety of Bröetchen.  I didn’t know there were different varieties!  I had only ever known the plain kind.  We bought a few different kinds.  Anja asked me if I wanted a chocolate drizzled one and I said yes, please.  I was surprised when we got home to discover that what had been purchased was instead a chocolate croissant.  We also went to local meat market (Metzger - butcher) where they had several types of wurst, salami, prosciutto and other raw and prepared meats as well as some prepared foods like potato salad, coleslaw and beet salad.  Anja bought a few different hunks of wurst as well as some marinated chicken breasts for another time.

When we got home with our treasures Herbert had the table laid out with cheeses of a few varieties, the homemade jam and jelly from yesterday as well tomatoes and sliced cucumbers.  Anja laid the wursts out on a plate for our selection and put all the breads in a basket.  We sat down to a sumptuous feast along with cappuccinos and lattes from their machine.

After breakfast was cleared, Anja offered to do some laundry for us.  We gathered what needed washing and when it was done we hung it on a portable, foldable, multi-strand stand in the backyard.  It’s not sunny today.  I’ll be curious to see how long it takes to dry.  My guess it won’t be dry by the time we need to leave to go to their friend Irma’s house at 3:30 pm.  I took advantage of nothing going on for a bit and wrote my blog for yesterday and started today’s.  Lunch was simply sliced strawberries as I get the feeling dinner will be an event since we are going to a nice restaurant with Irma later.  

Anja, Mom and I went to the cemetery in Remscheid to see the family plot and tend to the flowers there.  The cemetery was amazing!  It was in a lush garden setting, with lots of trees and winding paths, not at all like the cemeteries in the US that I’m accustomed to seeing, large areas of flat space and headstones laying flat in the ground. The plots were typically about 4 feet wide and 6-8 feet long.  They all had headstones that noted the Family name and then there were individual stones with the people’s names.  Some had dates of birth and death on them, many did not. Mom told me that most people are cremated and their ashes are buried here.  We watered the flowers on Eva’s family area and Anja picked a few weeds and dead leaves.  We then made our way out by a different route, viewing all the plots and noting the different ways people listed family members and decorated the plots.  There were 2 sections for soldiers, one from World War 1 and one for soldiers from World War 2.  These areas were laid out more like American cemeteries, all in rows and not grouped with their families, with simple crosses, but the area between all the crosses told me that their ashes were buried here, not their whole body in a casket.

We had a piece of homemade Kuüchen (cake) that Herbert had made a few days ago.  It was a vanilla/chocolate swirl cake with the chocolate being a layer of melted/hardened chocolate and a chocolate shell on top.  It wasn’t super sweet and was delicious! Anja transplanted some baby lettuce she bought previously into small pots to await room in her garden to transplant and allow time to grow fully before picking for some meal in the future.  It was laid back late morning-early afternoon and soon it was time to get ready to leave and sure enough most of the laundry was dry!  We brought the drying racks inside to finish drying while we’d be gone.

Just moments before we were to leave the house at 3:30 a massive downpour of rain moved in. I went back upstairs to get my umbrella and honestly, truly I tell you, as soon as we opened the door to step outside the rain stopped and started again as soon as we got in the car.  It reminded me of the time I was at the Easter Service at the Vatican in Rome and it was raining until the Pope emerged from St. Peter’s and it stopped while he was walking to the covered area in the square where he was conducting the service and as soon as he was safely under cover it started raining again.  I knew we were going to be in the car for about an hour, which meant we’d be going on the Autobahn, which scares the bejeezus out of me.  If you aren’t familiar with the Autobahn, it’s a freeway with NO speed limit.  Seriously.  I’ve seen Herbert go 160 km, which is just under 100 mph. While I think it would be thrilling to do so, the other cars make it a terrifying experience for me. One false move by either and the unspeakable would happen.  They all also change lanes within inches of each other’s bumpers which scares me.  So I sit in the back seat so I don’t have to watch.  Unfortunately for me, I sat behind Anja and had a prime view of the speedometer. I prayed, indeed I did. And it was raining, and not just sprinkles, this was a full on downpour.  At least he slowed it down a bit to 130 km (80 mph) for the slick roads.  Yikes!

We arrived at Irma’s unscathed and I did truly thank the Lord.  Oh!  I forgot to mention that we brought Naila along.  Irma apparently loves to spoil Naila and Anja says Irma is Nadia’s Oma (grandmother) in that way.  When she got out of the car and realized where we were, she got very excited and was pulling on her leash excitedly, eager to get to Irma and whatever doggy treat her Oma had for her.

Irma is Eva’s (Mom’s German sister) best friend, so she’s Mom’s age.  Greetings were exchanged and Naila began to wonder where her Oma treats were.  She hadn’t yet been given a wurst and she’d been there a full minute already!  We moved to the sitting area of Irma’s 2 room apartment and she offered us some chips and some candied nuts.  Herbert got a bottle of what looked like pink champagne out of the bag they brought along and poured us each a glass and we skoll’d to our time together.  We sat at Irma’s chatting, Mom translating along the way, me assuring her that I really did follow what it was they were talking about without knowing the specifics. After we emptied the 1st bottle another appeared and we all received refills.

After a little more than an hour there we began to make our way out and to the restaurant.  It wasn’t far and they had a lovely outdoor seating area and I was wondering if my light sweater was going to be enough, assuming with Naila along we’d be sitting outside. That was not the case, apparently.  We strolled up to the hostess desk and and we’re shown a table inside. Naila laid down by Anja’s side and stayed there the rest of the night, except when Anja took her out for a potty/smoke break. I decided to have some fun and try out a little German and asked the server if he had a menu in English. Kenji and I have a fun story about doing that when we were in Tokyo, so I thought I’d try it here.  The man told me, in English (!) no, but he’d be happy to help by translating whatever I’d like to know about. They truly had everything on this menu, pizza, pasta, fish, lamb, chicken, with extensive sections for beverages of all varieties. Somehow small glasses of champagne appeared for each of us and again we skoll’d, looking each other in the eye when doing so as is the custom.

I wanted to try some fish and Herbert showed me one item that he translated to salmon, so I ordered that.  First, though, the appetizers arrived.  Herbert had ordered bruschetta for himself, me & Irma and sautéed mushrooms for Mom.  She remarked when it arrived that it could easily serve as her whole meal!  For an entree he had a mixed grill with chicken, beef and turkey with a Bernaise type sauce and rice, Anja had what looked and tasted like New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp in a Cajun sauce, Irma had lamb kebob and Mom had the steak, which was huge!  We all laughed when the largest plate arrived in front of the smallest person at the table! My fish turned out to be sand dabs in a lemon aioli-type tartar sauce.  It was very good, but definitely not salmon.  All the entrees came with a mixture of cooked tomatoes, red bell peppers and potatoes that was simple but yummy!

The time passed quickly as we chatted, translated, laughed at funny misinterpretations and stories of our lives.  We inevitably got around to politics as Irma was curious about our thoughts of what’s happening in the US these days.  We shared frankly that we are angry at the way the country seems to have taken a turn away from the path we’d been on of protecting individual rights with topics like abortion while expanding rights to owning guns and limiting protections for the climate, all of it going in directions we don’t agree with.  Mom states she is sad to return home to a very changed America than the one she left almost 4 weeks ago. We live in a bubble in California of protected rights we share values with, but feel we must do more to expand those rights to all in the US, not just the few who live in California. Our work is cut out for us…

Irma looked at me when it came time to possibly order dessert. I was so full but always have room for a bite of something sweet, so I encouraged her to order what she’d like and I’d like to taste it.  She told me the items that were available and 1 of them, appfelstruedel, caught my attention.  When in Germany, one must have appfelstruedel, which I love anyway.  Herbert translated puff pastry for me but pronounced it “poof” and after I told him how to pronounce puff we had a short discussion about how “puff” means prostitute in German and we ended up laughing about that until Mom said I was turning as usually happens when I get to laughing so very hard. It felt good to to laugh like that!  The appfelstruedel came with a crème anglaise and Anja thought it was funny that I asked the server for enough forks for us all to have to share the dessert. It was wam and melted in my mouth and the crème anglaise was creamy and smooth, just as it should be and it had full, plump raisins in the strudel.  Anja ordered a peach schnapps for herself and 1 for Mom, who objected, but I said I’d share it with her. She liked it, but I easily drank half of it.

I’m not sure how the topic came up, but before I knew it, Mom was saying she wanted to give her VW Bug to Anja and how could we accomplish that.  Herbert did a quick internet search about transferring cars from the US and talks quickly escalated until I finally had to let Anja know that this is NOT an historical family car, that Mom only bought it like 15-20 years ago. The major item Mom needs to research is where was the car built, Germany or Mexico.  That will help Anja decide if she wants to pursue trying to get the car from the US to Germany.  We shall see what happens…

After we left and heartily thanked Irma for her generosity for the meal (when Mom expressed to Anja that she would like to pay for the meal Anja explained that the custom is when someone invites you out, they pay, and Irma had invited us, so it would be impolite to try and pay) we went back to Irma’s place and sat on the glass window enclosed patio and talked for a little bit before coming home.  She is a warm, kind person and I understand why Eva was liked her so.

I sat behind Herbert on the way home so as to not be able to see the speedometer while we were on the Autobahn and we made it home safely.  After a long 7.5 hours trip away, we all fell into bed quickly.

My journey today was a slow day of waiting to meet Irma, who was a most beloved person to Eva, who was a most beloved person to our family.

A Journey To Find A New Routine

My day started at 3 am, thank you Jet Lag.  I came downstairs and wrote my 1st blog post and WhatsApp’d with Kenji as it was 6 pm back home.  I finally was tired enough by 5:30 am to back to bed and slept well until 7:30 am.  The home we are staying in has no curtains or blinds on the windows, only pull up blinds for halfway up from the floor so Naila can’t see cats or other animals crossing through the yard to prevent unnecessary barking and scratching at the doors.  It makes for bright and early mornings with the sun rising around 5 am.  We are so far north that it doesn’t start to get dark until 10:30 pm.

I had been asked prior to arriving what I would like for my 1st breakfast, Broetchen (a German crusty bread roll that is pillowy soft inside) or Museli with homemade yogurt and fruit.  I LOVE Bröetchen especially when it’s served traditionally with meats like salami and wurst, cheeses, tomato and sliced cucumber.  Bröetchen was my answer and the toppings offered were cream cheese and homemade strawberry/rhubarb jam as well as homemade elderberry jelly, but I wished later I had known Bröetchen was their tradition for Sat. breakfast and I’d be having it then, for I would’ve chosen Museli.  Mom had Museli and I tried a bite and it delicious!  They have an espresso type machine and I had a cappuccino. Anja says she has 8 coffees a day!  I was surprised until I realized they were all cappuccino sized.

I showered after breakfast and then Anja (I realized I didn’t clarify the pronunciation of her name yesterday.  It’s An-ya). Mom and I went to the city center to shop the Farmer’s Market for ingredients for dinner.  We were in search of zucchini and bell peppers.  We did not find any bell peppers, but we did pick up some sugar snap peas, almond stuffed green olives, tomatoes and fennel.  We walked by a drug store and I told Mom I wanted to go in and find an eye pencil and lipstick as I had left mine at home.  After testing several colors on my hand I found a shade I liked as well as an eye pencil that was similar to one I left at home. We made our purchase and I was extremely grateful to have Mom’s German-speaking ability along!

We went home and relaxed a little before a light lunch of more Bröetchen along with the anticipated tomato, cucumber and cheese.  After lunch Mom and I went to Remscheid, the neighboring town where Mom lived with her German AFS family (Anja’s mother is Mom’s AFS German sister) in the summer of 1956 and where Anja and Herbert (pronounced Hair-bear-t)lived in the family home until Anja’s mother, Eva, died 3 years ago.  Mom and I explored the city center while Anja was at her PT appt.  Our only task was to find bell peppers at the small Farmer’s Market, which we did and we picked up some strawberries, too.  We walked a Santa Monica Promenade-esque street with clothing stores, street food type stalls with hot dogs, frites (pronounced fry-ts in Germany) and currywurst as well as pizza and ice cream and coffees.

We found a stationary store and Mom expressed a desire to buy a birthday card for a friend as well as thank you cards for Anja and Herbert.  We spent some time perusing the cards and finding the best ones, Mom translating them for me.  I was surprised to see how many cards said “Happy Birthday” in English on the front of the card.  Inside the message was in German.  We wandered through the Allee Center, the local mall, and went to City Hall, where Anja and Herbert were married.  Mom and I did a whirlwind 4 day trip in May 2002 to come to their wedding, 6 months before Kenji & I were married.  There was a celebration in front today that looked to be a post-wedding one as well.  It is common in Germany to have the legal ceremony take place at City Hall and have the reception later elsewhere, as we did with Anja & Herbert 20 years ago.

We found our way back to the car park and reunited with Anja and went home.  We got Naila into the car and went for an hour long walk in the nearby forest that surrounds the local reservoir.  It’s a chance for Naila to get out for an extended period of time and for Anja to continue Naila’s training, always training, she says.  A ouch off dog treat is reached into often when proper behavior is exhibited.  We pass many people in the forest and Anja keeps Naila on a short leash right next to her at the times and allows and much longer leash when we are alone.  Naila is prompted to jump up on tree stumps on wood benches along the way and she eagerly does so and receives a treat as a reward.  The forest was so lush and quiet, beautiful, peaceful and unlike anything near our home in Pasadena.  I am envious of the deep green I see everywhere here and no need to be careful with water spenditure.  The temperatures are low-mid 70’s.

When we got home from our walk it was time for a piece of cake that Herbert had made a few days ago and a coffee.  I passed on the coffee and after sitting still for a bit and not being on the go, jet lag caught up with me and I decided to take a nap.  Mom woke me at 6 pm and said dinner would be at 7, that Anja was preparing it now and I got up to go see how she was going to put all the ingredients together.  When I got downstairs I saw she had already put some macaroni-type pasta in the bottom of a roasting pan and was slicing up the zucchini and yellow squash to put on top.  The red bell peppers were added as well as carrots, the sugar snap peas and fennel that had been blanched.  Sliced tomato was scattered around and the almond stuffed olives were tucked in here and there.  Dried herbs were shaken all around and Emmental cheese was grated over the top.  Anja made a crème fraishe, egg and corn starch mixture and poured it all around to bind the casserole type dish all together.  It was baked for 30 mins and then fennel fronds were sprinkled all over and it was served.  Delicious!  The 4 of us ate almost a whole pan of it, leaving only 2 small servings for possible lunch tomorrow.

Herbert seems pleased that I drink wine.  :) I had red wine with dinner last night and 3 small glasses of a sweet white wine tonight.  He drinks wine while Anja is a beer drinker.  We sat outside for serval hours talking around their fire pit.  It is simple, small and square, very heavy and Mom wants one.  I have my marching orders for Christmas!

Herbert was interested in the 2nd half of the German/Denmark Women’s soccer match taking place as part of the European Football Competition taking place in England.  Mom wandered inside every so often for a score update.  I am eternally grateful Anja’s English is as good as it is.  My German is nowhere near as good.  I can understand a topic being discussed but not any details.  She shared what’s been going on with her the last few years and her struggles with work and mental anguish after her mother’s death.  She does not currently work and Herbert is retired.  His health issues have forced him to not be able to be active anymore and she is sad for their loss of bike riding together and being outdoors doing sports together.  She says she needs sport in her life to keep busy and not overthink things and life.  Being home during the pandemic has been most difficult but necessary.  She is annoyed at people here who are not wearing masks indoors anymore.

We are farther north than I am at home and it really didn’t start to get dark until 10:30 pm here.  We sat at the fire pit til late and after brushing our teeth, Mom and I crawled into bed at 11:30 pm.  Here’s hoping I don’t wake up too early tomorrow and am able to go a full day without a jet lag nap and am fully acclimated to the time change!

A Journey to Germany

My journey to be reunited with Mom began, as many of you who have flown out of LAX recently can attest to, frustratingly.  The amazingly, horrifically long lines at check-in were overwhelming.  It took me an hour 20 to get to the front counter.  While I was in line it was suggested to me that perhaps because I wasn’t checking a bag (my plan was to take my small suitcase as my carry-on and my backpack as my personal item) and that I had already printed my boarding pass that perhaps I didn’t need to be in this long line.  So I went to ask. It turns out everyone had to be in this line for passport check anyway, but the  airline rep told me that “things had changed” and I wouldn’t be allowed to take my suitcase on with me after all and I’d have to check it.  So back to the line I went, and the kind gentlemen in line behind me let me have my place back.  When I got to the counter I hurriedly filled out several luggage tags as I hadn't put any on the suitcase, thinking I didn’t need them as I was planning to keep the bag with me.  I told him that my TSA Pre-check # didn’t print on my boarding pass.  He tried to add it but was ultimately unsuccessful.  :( He weighed my bag (8 kg on the dot for their limit for a carry-on, according to their website, thankyouverymuch) and said it was fine to keep it with me.  Ha!  Take that other rep who chad caused me much anguish and distress!

So, off to TSA I went.  The line could’ve been worse.  It wasn’t as great as Pre-check, but I was just happy to keep my suitcase with me that I didn’t mind the line.  Off came the shoes, the iPad came out of my backpack and I sailed through with no mention of the hair gel, hair spray or any other toilets in my carry-on.  I had gone to great lengths to make sure I met all the requirements.

The rest of the trip was uneventful.  My seat was the 1st row behind 1st class, a bulkhead type row with no built-in screen because there was no row in front of us.  Instead our screens were tucked into the armrest between us.  I read a bit and dinner was served shortly after take-off.  An unobjectionable penne pasta with red bell peppers and mushrooms (gross) with a small salad, roll and butter and some brownie/fudge hybrid that was not to my liking so I didn’t finish it.

The woman next to me was on her way to India as her father-in-law had just passed away and she was going to be with her husband.  She had only purchased to ticket the day before!  She would be traveling for 29 hours, she said.  Yikes! The man on the aisle was going to meet his brother in Barcelona for a couple of weeks as he does every summer.

I had put my allergy med  (which knocks me out) in a Ziploc along with earplugs so I could try and go to sleep earlier than usual.  I took it about 7:30 pm PST and tried unsuccessfully for the next 3 hours to go to sleep.  In the end I estimate I got, less than 2,5 hours sleep before I was aware I was awake and too uncomfortable sitting upright to get back to sleep.  After going to the loo the cabin lights came on and “breakfast” of an egg salad sandwich on bagel thins with fruit salad arrived shortly after.

After landing and debarking I ended up in the wrong passport control line, found the right one, waited an immense amount of time (2 reps working was certainly not sufficient), found the train ticket machine and bought a ticket, got to the train station and had 90-ish minutes to wait.  When I realized I was getting sleepy and needed to make sure I didn’t fall asleep or I’d miss my train, I went to the nearby snack shop and got a croissant-like sweet and a banana.  Shortly after it was time to go to the platform and get my train!

A woman spoke to me in German and when she saw the incomprehensive look on my face and before I could stammer out Ich nicht sprecken Deutsch she spoke in English and asked if my flight had been cancelled, too. I said no and we had a nice conversation until our train arrived shortly after.  Finally on my final leg of the journey to be reunited with Mom!  The countryside was gorgeous and green and the high speed train took only 51 minutes to go the 110 miles.

I saw Mom shortly after getting off the train and it was so amazing to hug her again after 3.5 weeks! Anja and Herbert (her husband) came shortly behind.  She is the daughter of Mom’s German AFS sister, who passed away about 4 years ago.  At the car I was asked if I wanted to sit in front or in back with Mom. Fearing we’d be taking the Autobahn, and having previously been in a car with Herbert driving on the Autobahn I chose to sit in back. It turns out we were taking a back way back because it was rush hour and the Autobahn was too crowded.  Phew!  seeing the sights of the city of Koln (Cologne) was nice but we eventually did get on the Autobahn once we had passed the slow section.  Herbert got the car up to 160km but evened out at 130km.  Yikes!  I closed my eyes and prayed.

We arrived safely at their new home (they’ve been here 3 years after leaving Anja’s childhood home following her mother’s death. I was immediately introduced to Naila, their Belgian Shepherd, who barked furiously at me until reassured by Anja that I was ok and welcome by them.  Anja prepared dinner of chicken breast, sausages and a lulu-like mixture in a kebob form.  The meats all went on the grill and I was shown their induction cooktop and they explained how it works. We also had roasted potatoes and a salad with items from their garden along with a carrot salad.  It was so very fresh and delicious!

I went with Anja to take Naila for her final walk of the night and we afterwards got a tour of the backyard and garden.  I finally went to bed at 10:30 pm, hopeful for a long night’s rest.  However, I was not surprised to wake up at 3 am, unable to get back to sleep, so I decided to come downstairs and write my 1st blog post about this journey25+ hour journey.

My journey today has been one of excitement, trepidation at not having traveled alone since 1994, relief to have this part behind me, and as every Mom is familiar with, a lack of sleep. How I’ll recover remains to be seen.  Perhaps a journey into a nap later today…