Springtime, for Mommy, in Germany

Post date: Apr 09, 2017 1:8:25 PM

Full disclosure, these pictures are not all my own. My mother loves to take photos, and since she was the one visiting, there are a lot of pictures. Moreover, she was using one of my iPhones, so it all automatically uploaded to the cloud… and so I don’t even know which ones I actually took.

My mommy came to visit! In my time in Washington I had very few visitors, but my mother came twice. So it wasn’t terribly surprising that she came to Germany (and I get the sense that this won’t be her only visit). Halle has been cold and rainy all winter, but the day Mommy showed up, and until the day she left the weather was GORGEOUS. We had dinner with my boss, we had conveyer boat sushi, we drank well, we ate well, and we explored quite a bit of Germany. Above, moments after arrival, is Mommy enjoying the view from my balcony.

First day though we relaxed in town, and took in one of the main attractions. Leipzig is a big literary town, and every year the Leipzig book fair is an epic event. Knowing most of the books would be in German, I didn’t plan to go, but when I mentioned it on the ride back from the airport, Mom was game.

I don’t think either of anticipated the size or scale of the fair. It was madness. Tons of people, halls full of books! My hunch about most of them being in German was true, but Mom got a poticia cookbook (Slovenian cake, it’s delicious) and a really gorgeous print.

Additionally, it turns out that there’s a manga portion of the fair, so I’d estimate about ⅓ of the people were in cosplay. I love the dedication of these kinds of people. Some were walking around wearing horns on their head, which seems like it would annoy me to no end. I’ve never been good at costumes, because I don’t get into the details, so I especially admire the amount of time and attention to detail that most of these people put into their outfits.

While I don’t think I’ll come back to the book fair in the future (again, there weren’t any books in English), it was a fun day and a good introduction for Mommy to Halle/Leipzig.

After the book fair we stopped at the airport to pick up a rental car for our trip over the next few days. I’m not going to go into the details, but know that Mommy and I faced adversity… and we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat!

Now onto the Harz Mountain Region!

As you may have noted from my Warsaw post, I’m a tad obsessed with World War II lately, so naturally our first stop was a German concentration camp. During the war, the Nazis intentionally built the worst camps out of Germany, and away from the front lines. So the worst killing camps (Auschwitz, Treblinka) were in Poland. But that doesn’t make what happened in these smaller camps any better. In KZ Dora Mittelbau, 20,000 people were worked to death. There were specific calculations made as to how many calories each individual needed to survive and work for ~20 days, and gave them only that while demanding the work for hours on end. They built 20 km worth of underground tunnels (which you can visit some of), which were eventually used for assembling ammunition.

The most interesting part was talking with the tour guide. Mom asked her outright how she felt about seeing these things that had been done by Germans in the not too distant past. Apparently, her guilt over the holocaust is what had driven her to become a tour guide. Her first year, she had met a survivor, and asked “Should I feel this guilt?” The survivor responded “You shouldn’t have guilt. But you have a responsibility.” Germans do not shy from their past, they don’t pretend it didn’t happen. The continue to confront it everyday. I think Americans could learn a lot from this attitude (slavery, Japanese concentration camps, treatment of Native Americans).

We pushed on, and stopped for the night in Bad Harzburg. I had picked it because it’s a spa towns (bad in German = bath). But by the time we were done walking around and eating dinner, the thermal pools were closed for the night. So we settled with the sauna in our hotel. There’s a long discussion here about whether or not one should be naked in a sauna in Germany… I’m still confused by the matter.

But we did find a gem of a restaurant for dinner (Alberto's Corner) It was in a half-timbered building, super old, super delicious, with a waiter who spoke not one word of English. We feasted on real German food!

The next morning we headed out to Goslar-”The Most Medieval Town in Germany”. I will be the judge of that! Similar to Celle it was full of half-timbered houses and old churches. It was EXTREMELY wealthy during the middle ages, as the majority of silver in Germany was mined from the Harz Mountain, of which Goslar was the capital.

It made for scenic views, and an pretty epic, and VERY well preserved castle (the wealth was obvious). Also, Mommy’s first medieval German town! And I’ll admit, it was the most medieval town I’ve seen in Germany... so far.

After Goslar, we headed to Quedlinburg, which is the most picturesque town in Germany. Where do people get these titles? I’m especially fond of those superlatives that are so specific that they have no meaning “the biggest church that isn’t a cathedral, in East Germany, besides Berlin”... but I digress.

Finally, on our way back to Halle we left the Harz Mountains, and headed to Lutherstadt Wittenberg. It’s historical! Luther was here! It’s important! He ripped the catholic church in two! I’ve been meaning to go since I arrived in Halle, but kept getting busy, so Mommy coming to visit seemed like the perfect excuse! Until I remembered that my mother is very Catholic… but still very game to check out Wittenberg.

There are two churches we saw here, the one where Luther nailed his 95 Theses and the one where he served as a priest/pastor/speaker (I don’t know what Lutherans call this role. Truth be told, I’m not sure what the difference between these distinctions are…). Above you get two photos of the first church. 2017 is the 500 year anniversary of the Reformation, so the whole place has been spruced up a lot. But even if it hadn’t been, I think that this would have looked pretty spiffy. It’s borderline opulent, so I can kind of see where Luther was coming from.

The doors where he nailed his theses. Although I’m pretty sure that 500 years ago they were wood, and which has since disintegrated. Pretty sure (code for: I have no idea).

The second is Luther’s church. It was noticeably less decorated, and starker. I needed to use the loo while we were there and one has been build but you can see the old walls inside the loo. 500 year old bathroom… awesome!

Mommy had read that Cranach-Hofe was a must see. I didn’t really know what she was talking about, but I was game. She was right, it was totally cool. The amazing painting of Luther that you think of when you think of Martin Luther? It was made by his patron Cranach, father and son duo that painted an housed, and supported Luther for decades. Their house, close to Luther’s church, is massive (even by today’s standards) and has original painting as well as extensive examples of their work. The image above is taller than I am.

Above is a less authentic Cranach painting. Still delightful, but decidedly modern…

Not mentioned: my discovery of Kartofflehaus, and a lovely stroll through Wittenberg. Again, we noted how this place would be SWARMED in the summer and we’re glad we’re sightseeing in the off season.

Overall Wittenberg is a really cute and pleasant town! Might be worth another day trip sometime, but given how much I want to see in Germany… we’ll see.

Oh yeah, and they had playmobil Martin Luthers. One of which now resides on my bookshelf.

On the way back to Halle I got an email from my boss. One of my labmates is coming back from fieldwork in Mexico, and needed someone to go collect her samples. In Munich (4 hour drive from Halle). On Friday, at 8pm. My first thought was, no way, Mommy is still in town. But I read the email out loud and Mom was stoked! Road trip! Now, because we’re Americans, a 4 hour road trip is nothing. I have literally taken long drives just for lunch. But in addition, as you’ll remember, we have friends in Garmisch. Which is only an hour south of Munich. A plan began to form...

So off to the Alps we went! We got up at an unholy hour to drive south, and because my mother is the World’s Worst Passenger (not a specific superlative, but an actual fact), she drove the whole way.

And we hung out with this guy! After a delightfully Bavarian lunch in restaurant on a mountain, Tom took time to show us around town. This is Ludwig Strasse, which the Romans used to march down (When you’re this far south, you start getting into former Roman Empire territory)(I can’t believe history is this old…).

We went to a local church on the hillside. These are young men who died in either World War I or World War II.

I don’t think I’d like living in Garmisch right now, as I need a bigger city and more people. But man, everywhere you look you cannot beat the view.

Cannot beat...

The view…

The view was lovely and cool, and the gentle rocking helped lull you into a deep sleep. Plus, it was located right next to the East Side Gallery and close to the S and U bahn. With an on board lounge. Would stay there again. For. Sure.

Mommy asked me to take the above photo.

Berlin is a massive city (by German standards) and there is a ton to see. We only had one day, so we had to be conservative with our time. Plus, after a week of walking around Halle Mom’s back was feeling better, but her feet still hurt easily (note: if you come visit me in Europe bring walking shoes). So I “force marched her across Berlin” (her words, not mine) to try to capture as much of the city as we could in one afternoon. She wanted to see Check Point Charlie, so off we went! My personal favorite part is on the Soviet side of the former checkpoint, there is a McDonalds. The Universal sign of americanism.

Next the most haunting and most important memorial in Germany, the Holocaust Rememberance Memorial. It is a bit of undulating ground, covered at regular intervals by concrete blocks shaped like sarcaphagous. It is harrowing to say the least.

Because they are laid out at regular intervals, you get the feeling of being trapped, heading in straight lines. I cannot imagine what life was like during World War II, but I think this monument does a good job of simultaneously being scary and stoic.

Ah, the Reistag! Seat of the German government! One of the most important stops in Berlin. Apparently you can go up to the top of the building, but only with an appointment, and only if you get there SUPER early. You think that DC has security, you ain't seen nothing yet.

It was awesome (and exhausting) having my mom in town. The best part though was that we kept talking about how she was going to come back. How this was not the last time we would be doing these adventures. Next time, Vienna and Dresdon! Stay tuned…