Heidelberg

As I've previously mentioned here, Heidelberg is extra special to me as my mum and family are from there (if you haven't already, you can read about the last time I visited Heidelberg while on this trip here). This visit was extra special as it was my auntie's first time back in Heidelberg since she left with her family at ten years of age. One of things my auntie was interested in doing while here, was to seek out the spot where her Grandparents were buried. On a previous trip a few years ago when mum and I were here together, we went to the graveyard where we know they were buried, but after almost an hour of searching, could not find the spot.

We stayed two nights in a lovely hotel that was in a perfect location we could walk everywhere from.

Our hotel in Heidelberg

One of the first things we did after arriving was to head to the Heidelberg University library to see if they could give us any information on how we might find the exact final resting place of my great grandparents. The uni staff were absolutely amazingly helpful and contributed further towards breaking down my aunties belief that Germans are cold, arrogant and not helpful people (yes I know - she said it not me!). The nice lady did suggest we confirm with the local Bureau for that sort of thing, but she also explained to us that in Germany burial sites are 're-used' after about 20 years if nobody continues to pay for their upkeep. This was news to us, I believe there's talk of doing this in Australia as land becomes more and more scarce, but the idea of it is just...well...creepy. Do they just dig the grave back up and chuck another on top? While my mind boggled, we left the University with an address for the Bureau but a little sad knowing the grave would most likely no longer exist. Another staff member also took down our details and said he would find out what he can find and email me back. I had an email the next day from him saying he'd had no luck on the 'grave-front' but he did find an old telephone book listing with my great-grandfathers' name in which he'd forwarded to me and was cool to see.

University Library Entrance

We spent the rest of the day exploring the breathtakingly beautiful old part of Heidelberg.

 

The next day we spent exploring the other side of the river, an area called Neuenheim which is where my family used to have a house, and is therefore the area where my aunty remembers best. At the end of what used to be her street, she had memories of an old church and courtyard where she used to attend a weekly market when she was a kid, and we found that they still have markets in that same spot every week.



The courtyard at the end of the street where they still have markets

Afterwards we went for an hour cruise along the Neckar...

Our vessel of choice - the 'Germania'

 
...and finished another beautiful day off with another beautiful piece of cake!

It's berry season -yummo!

Only 3 days left in Germany before I head off to the UK for almost a month where my mum, auntie and I are taking a coach tour of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (although only a snippet of each). I'm really sad to be leaving Germany and also sad that my trip is coming to an end, but I'm also looking forward to going home, so the feeling is bittersweet...

Zwickau - Clearly Still Some Catching Up To Do...

Our relos were so keen to catch up with us that they drove almost four hours just to pick us up in Frankfurt and take us back with them to Zwickau. I did suggest that we could just get the train but they insisted, which turned out good because my auntie got to have her first experience of what it's like to drive on the Autobahn (and she had the white knuckles to prove it).

In the time I've spent in Germany so far, most of it has been in what used to be West Germany, and what I have seen of the former East,has suggested the economic gap between east and west is no longer obvious. Although I have heard stories of Zwickau being a bit more 'behind the times' so I was keen to check it out, and in this respect, I was not dissapointed.

The apartment building the relos live in



An example of the sort of 'neglected' buildings we saw frequently

Even though we found this quite a shock and a bit sad and depressing I must admit (especially after just having been in the fairytale land that is Nürmberg), Zwickau also has nicer areas that have been fixed up including the town centre.


Us all in the central market area



The building my mums' dad was born in, only about a 5 min walk from central Zwickau.

My relos are elderly now and have always lived in the east so remember life in the GDR well and often talk about it. Even though building maintenance and the upkeep of Germany's beautiful building's was obviously not a priority for the socialist government, my relos say they miss some things about it, like the amazing free health care system (including dental) that has now been replaced by a system all but run by insurance companies.

The relos' apartment is a one-bedroom unit on the top floor and doesn't have much space so they kindly put us up in a hotel for the 3 nights we were there (actually we nick-named the hotel 'faulty towers' but that's another story). They also rent a small holiday unit about an hours drive out of town that they spend their Summers at and enjoy an escape from the city. On our last day in Zwickau they took us for a drive to their Summer home and we had lunch in a traditional pub on the way (that had vegie schnitzel on the menu - yum!) and headed back to faulty towers in the arvo.


The relos at their Summer home

One of many 'lovely' fake greeneries stuck to the walls in our room at faulty towers
 

One of three randomly placed antique sewing machines we passed (yes thats right I said three) on the way to our room at faulty towers - oh and look, more fake greenery 

Lonely puddy tat in the streets of Zwickau...

It was a great experience seeing Zwickau and seeing how some people there live, but my relos speak no English at all so it was also quite mentally draining trying to think and speak in German 24/7, so we were all looking forward to getting back to Frankfurt. We were also looking forward to getting back because the next day we had an early train booked to Heidelberg - yay!

Frankfurt and Nuremberg with my Mum and Aunt

After my mum and aunty arrived in Frankfurt more than two weeks ago, the time has flown as we have done so much. I was surprised when I met them at the Airport that they looked relatively refreshed and very happy, considering they had just finished a very long 22 hour journey to get here, with only a couple hours break in Abu Dhabi. I have never flown from Australia to Europe in one go, I've always had a night layover somewhere close to halfway like Singapore or Dubai,  as I believed that would make the horribly long journey more bearable and minimise jetlag. Although the flight I have booked home after this trip will be my first 'get it over as quick as possible' flight, and seeing that my family survived the same trip, with little to no jet-lag, it's very encouraging.

As I hadn't yet done many 'touristy' things in Frankfurt, the day after my family arrived we spent the day exploring the city. Frankfurt isn't exactly one of the most popular and recommended tourist destinations in Germany, it does have the third largest airport in Europe so loads of people certainly come here, but often only on their way to somewhere else. I'm here to tell you it's actually ok, sure there's a large commercial district and the city has plenty of sky-scrapers which you can see in plenty of other cities around the world, but there's also the beautiful old-town with it's traditional buildings and the huge saturday morning flea markets along the pretty river Main. Also, just recently I visited museum Städel which is one of many world class museums in Frankfurt, and was blown away by their amazing collection including renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Picasso, Monet, Boticelli, Van Gogh and Renoir.


Me and my cute family in Frankfurt

 The next day we caught the train to Nürmberg and stayed a night. I've been to Nürmberg several times now so I knew that it is like a fairytale city and would definately not dissapoint.



Albrecht Dürer's house

This strange thing seemed very out of place in front of old-mate Dürer's house,
apparently it's some artists take on Albrecht's famous sketch of a hare (?)



Actually the hotel we stayed at in Nürmberg is worth mentioning, even if only for the breakfast. The name was Hotel Keiml and when we first were trying to find it we got a bit concerned as to what we were in for due to the amount of strip clubs and sex shops on the same street. Once we found it and went upstairs though, we were not dissapointed, and breakfast the next morning (which also turned into lunch as the lovely staff instructed us to pack a roll for later) was so devine!

Cheeses and jams and fresh buns - oh my!



This is my aunty's first trip back to Germany since she left with her family as a ten year old after WWII. Although she speaks German, she is new to the idea of speaking it everywhere she goes, and sometimes forgets and starts off in English but then morphs into German before the sentence is up without even realising she`s doing so. It's quite funny to hear and luckily almost everyone she has come across speaks both German and English well so it hasn't been a problem. She is getting used to it and doing it less and less but she has said that she is finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that she is actually in Germany. My mum on the other hand, who left Germany as a baby, is a strange phenomenon as she can understand German almost perfectly, but cannot speak it. When she has to speak German it comes out as a cute mix of English words said in a sort of German accent.