Family News

WEEKEND IN THE NORTH OCTOBER 2005

Sometimes plans just don't work out.  We had blocked off two weeks in October for a bike tour in Austria with Frank's cousin and her husband  and Anne and Ingo.  We chose these two weeks because Anne would be on school vacation then.  They were whittled down to one week when we actually decided when we were going, but then Frank's cousin had to postpone the trip to another year.  In my naive optimism I thought we could use the week to go back to Paris, which has been on our agenda for quite a while now.  However, we received an invitation to a house concert from our friends in Berlin.  Okay, we're flexible; we'll spend the weekend in Berlin and then visit our friends in Lüneburg the rest of the week.  In the meantime, Frank had accepted a court date in the north in the middle of the week and a seminar in Cologne for Thursday and Friday.  Then our friends had to postpone their concert, so we had to decide whether to make the trip at all.  In the end we did, because we hadn't been to Lüneburg since February and there were a lot of friends we wanted to see.  However, our visit had shrunk to 48 hours.

We took the train early on Saturday morning and arrived in Lüneburg just after one o'clock.  Frank decided he needed lunch before we did anything else, so we stashed our suitcases at the station , walked into town and had a not so great meal at a Chinese restaurant.  (I'm very picky about Chinese food.  I think it's too often third rate in most of the restaurants here.)  Then we returned to the station and caught a taxi to take us to Almut and Werner's house, where we would be staying.  When we got there, they had tea and coffee and a delicious home made (naturally) apple cake waiting for us.  Almut knows what a fan I am of apple cake and even though I was still quite full from lunch, I enjoyed a piece.  Soon thereafter Werner took me to Mary Ellen's house for the afternoon and then drove Frank to some friends' so that he could play music.  (It's nice to have such accommodating friends.  We tried to rent a car for the weekend, but all three rental agencies close at noon on Saturday.)

Time always flies when I am with Mary Ellen; we have so much to talk about.  She had also baked an apple cake for me, so I had another delicious piece even though I was feeling rather uncomfortable.  At least she was willing to go for a nice walk with me.  After sitting all morning on the train and eating so much I was in dire need of movement.  In the evening she drove me back to Almut and Werner's and I got ready for the evening.

Two of the first people I met in Lüneburg were Ingrid and Wilfried and in the early days of our marriage we often spent time with them.  They later moved away and then we also moved, so we only saw them very sporadically.  Now that both of them are retired they have sold their house and bought an apartment in Lüneburg.  One of the reasons we decided to go ahead and make the trip was because we had already made arrangements to visit them.  Werner loaned us his car for the evening and I drove to their brand new place and met Frank there.  They have a lovely apartment within walking distance of the center of town and although everything is still not entirely finished - they have no lawn yet, for example - they are more than happy to be back.  And we are happy it has become so much easier to visit them.

So at around midnight we returned to Almut and Werner's, where we had a nightcap with them and caught up some more on what's been going on since we last saw them.  At some point we decided on a late breakfast (nine o'clock) and I at least fell into bed and slept like a log.   The next morning I had a look out of my window and was pleased to see that the weather was still beautiful.

This looks like a lovely place to have breakfast but it was tooooo cold!

After a leisurely breakfast, which we made good use of because there was no lunch planned in our immediate future, Frank and I were off to buy a pot of flowers.  Tony's (our son-in-law's) sister and her husband had just moved onto a new house right down the street from Almut and Werner and we wanted to visit them.  We don't usually drop in on people unannounced on Sunday morning, but their phone wasn't connected yet so we took our chances.  They were very surprised to see us of course.  We had a grand tour of the house, which is very nice, and also got to meet their two little boys whom we only knew from pictures.  Adendorf is a great place to raise children.  (Both of our girls grew up there.)

We couldn't stay long because we were expecting Erika and Ingo who were going with us for a day in Hamburg.  As soon as they arrived the six of us took off, wanting to make the most of the good weather.   We stopped first though just down the street  - not far at all from our old home - to show Erika and Ingo the Johannes-kapelle, built in 1258 and the oldest church in the county.  We used to go there for concerts.

But then on to Hamburg.  We headed for the Aussen Alster, which is the large lake in the middle of town.  There were all sorts of people out enjoying the sunny Sunday, runners, joggers, Nordic walkers, bikers, skaters, and a few just having a walk like us.

                                                         

                                                         

                                             

Or was Frank dancing?

                                                         

                                                         

It was the same on the water with steamboats,

                                                          

                                                          

                                                          

rowboats,

                                                                                                                      

                                                          

pedal boats and sailboats,

and even a hot air balloon.

We had our sights set on a café and walked along deeply engrossed in conversations.  So deeply engrossed in fact that Almut, Erika and Frank didn't even notice that they had lost us and I had to call Frank on his cell phone and ask which path they had taken.  Reunited we made an attempt to have some coffee and cake but gave up because everything was so crowded.  We decided to continue instead to our next destination which was the Hamburg art museum, where there was a café.  After a refreshing cup of coffee and a nourishing piece of cake we made our was to the special exhibit, portraits by Francis Bacon (1909-1992).  We all decided Bacon had a few personality problems and was probably not a very pleasant person to be around.  However, it was still fun to view his portraits and discuss them with each other.

In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant where we all had a three course meal that was delicious and lasted several hours.  It was revealed that Ingo's birthday was the next day and they spontaneously invited all of us for brunch to celebrate.  So we showed up around 10:00 on Monday morning and had another wonderful and interesting meal.  One of Erika and Ingo's sons (and a former student of mine) is in the diplomatic service, currently stationed in Moscow.  Erika and Ingo fly there several times a year to visit Stephan and his wife, and their granddaughter in particular.  They had just recently returned and had brought all sorts of goodies with them.

They  had visited a honey market where over a hundred different kinds of honey from all over Russia were offered for sale and they had brought back six flavors.  We had a great time sampling them and discussing whether honey from the Steppes didn't have a bit of a camel taste and how it differed from the Siberian honey.  My favorite was a pure white raspberry honey (on the right).  I also sampled the caviar, thinking I wouldn't often have the chance to eat Russian caviar, and it was okay, but as I already knew, I'm not a fan.

All too soon it was time for Frank and me to be taken to the train station for our trip home.  As I mentioned at the beginning, we were only in Lüneburg for 48 hours, but I think we managed to fill the time well.

BIKING THROUGH POTSDAM - AUGUST 27, 2005

In the past it always seemed like everyone had already visited Potsdam, or maybe just everyone in Germany, or realistically just everyone we knew, but anyway it was very high on my list of must-see-soon. So when we made plans to visit Jenny and Ulf in August and Jenny asked what we wanted to do, it was a no-brainer. Luckily, Jenny and Ulf themselves had only had a cursory look at Potsdam from a car and were more that willing to delve deeper.

The Potsdam experience can be optimized with a little planning. It’s especially helpful if you have an internet savvy daughter who is willing to spend an hour or two searching for the best of all biking tours while you and your husband take a wonderful morning walk around Berlin Mitte. Tour localized, details noted, we hopped on the next S-Bahn in the direction of Griebnitz. Jenny and Ulf took their own bikes with them.

                                                          

                                                          

Ulf on the escalator in the train station.

                                                          

                                                          

After nearly an hour’s ride we arrived at the beginning of our tour a little late, but after Frank and I were fitted with bikes we quickly caught up. Griebniz (which I had never heard of) is aptly located on Griebnitzer Lake (which I likewise had never heard of) and the first part of our tour led us along the gorgeous lakeside.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining without any silliness (see my report of the bike tour of Berlin that didn’t happen).

Frank follows the guide’s discourse (not so) intently while Jenny and Ulf are exemplary students.                                 
                                           
One of the first stops we made was at the Glienicker Bridge, the famous cold war trading post for spies and other undesirables. (Francis Gary Powers, shot down in a spy plane over the Soviet Union in 1960, was the most famous.) I have to admit the atmosphere was all wrong. It should have been at dawn, or maybe dusk, on a cold and very foggy November day. It’s good we all have vivid imaginations so we could keep our lovely summer weather and still appreciate the setting.  This was taken under the bridge. I guess the sign was for boaters.

Soon after that we entered the town of Potsdam, filled with wonderful old houses  that have been, or are being restored. Einstein did some of his research proving the relativity theory while working here, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see the Einstein Tower, which is quite famous. Next time.

There are murals on the walls of the porches. Very Italian.

                                                          

                                                          

                                                          
In 1685 the French, ruled by Louis XIV, evicted the Protestant Huguenots, many of whom found refuge in Prussia. They were welcomed by the Duke Frederick William and his underpopulated country and ushered in an era of prosperity and culture. Half a century later  Frederick William I decided to do something similar, inviting the Dutch to come to Prussia to live and work. He had a whole quarter of Dutch style red brick houses built for them, 134 to be exact. The only problem was the Dutch were not interested in leaving Holland, especially not for the backwaters of Prussia. So the idea flopped, but on the other hand the Dutch quarter is a big tourist magnet today, so maybe we can say he was just ahead of his time.  Having just spent two weeks in Holland, we felt right at home here.

Highlight of any visit to Potsdam is of course Sanssouci (Without a Care"), the summer castle built by Frederick the Great in the middle of the 18th century as a (smaller) replica of Versailles, a tribute to his love of all  things French. As a great admirer and friend of Voltaire, he had a room in the palace built for him, although it’s not certain that Voltaire actually stayed there during his visits. We didn’t get to go through the palace because entrance is strictly limited to conserve the contents and you have to book a tour months in advance.

We did have time to walk around the terraced gardens with their grape vines though. I’m not sure if wine was ever actually produced here. If so, I imagine it’s pretty sour, Potsdam being pretty far north for wine. Frederick spent a lot of money on an elaborate system of pipes and fountains that never worked. Maybe he shouldn’t have built his palace on a hill.  I guess the fountain at the bottom of the hill is no problem.

                                                         

May he rest in peace.
I'm not sure of the significance of the potatoes, but the gummi bears are a nice touch, don't you agree?

                                                         

Not far from Sanssouci is the Russian Colony Alexandrowka, a village built by Frederick Wilhelm III, in memory of his deceased friend Czar Alexander I.  In the beginning Frederick Wilhelm had his Russian choir singers housed here – maybe so they wouldn’t feel so homesick? Two of the houses are still owned by descendents of the original Russians. Today it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site (as is of course Sanssouci).

Is this really what the houses in Russia looked like?

                                                                                  

At a darker time in German history the Russians played a more sinister role. The feared KGB ruled the Russian sector of Germany with an iron hand.  The building they used as a prison for suspected spies and Russian soldiers who tried to desert or were too friendly with the Germans is now a museum.

The torture chamber was in the basement. No kidding!

                                                                                                
A bike tour is not without danger. At one point our guide had us stop to have a look at the Cecilienhof Palace. We were biking downhill on a gravely path and the man in front of Frank stopped rather suddenly so that Frank had to brake sharply. He skidded to a stop but lost control of his bike and fell over sideways, landing on his hands. He insisted he was okay, but that evening Ulf convinced him that he should go to the hospital that is conveniently located right across the street from where they live. There they spent quite a while digging gravel out of his hands and x-raying his foot, which had swollen to a small balloon. There was nothing broken and he was fine two days later when the swelling went down. I of course had (horror) visions of the time when he broke both arms in a bike accident – just days before we moved to where we are now living. Fun! Luckily our guide knew how to give first aid.

The Cecilianhof (also a UNESCO World Heritage Site), built at the beginning of the last century, was the site of the Potsdam Conference at the end of World War II, where the future of Europe was decided. It’s a hotel now with a part of it set aside as a museum.

I wonder if they have signs “Stalin slept Here”.
                                                         

The last sight on our tour before we headed back was the house Truman used as his headquarters during the conference. It was here that the  decision was made to use the atom bomb in Japan after Truman cleared it with Stalin.

We really enjoyed our tour of Potsdam and even though the tour lasted four hours, we didn’t see everything. We will definitely return some day soon and see the rest.

BERLIN MITTE - AUGUST 27-30, 2005

Jenny and Ulf moved to Berlin in May, just before we all left for our family reunion in Virginia Beach. Of course the vacation was all arranged and booked long before they knew they would be moving. It made for a turbulent few weeks (if not months – they were both working full time) for them, but by the time we visited them in August they were well settled in.

Our trip began very well. We took the “Sprinter” from Frankfurt to Berlin and it was an experience in itself. It was like being on an airplane without the nervousness at the take off and landing. First we were offered our choice of newspapers and magazines. Then they came around with coffee and tea and after a while supper was served which was better than any meal I’ve had on a plane for many years. And all this while traveling at 250 km per hour. It was delightful. We were in Berlin in three and a half hours (from Frankfurt).

Jenny and Ulf picked us up with Jenny’s Jeep Wrangler. It’s a cute little car, designed for two people with luggage or four people without luggage. Ulf luckily has had a lot of experience packing cars since he has a Smart himself and he managed to get everything in and we could still breathe, although not deeply.

Although it was after ten o’clock by the time we arrived at their apartment, we decided to take a short walk around where they live. Berlin Mitte is an exciting place to be these days. The formerly Jewish quarter and then the middle of what used to be East Berlin has undergone a transformation and is now a very hip area of town. They live right around the corner from the Hackeschen Höfe which were built at the beginning of the 20th century and housed a number of elegant Jewish fashion houses. They were of course destroyed by the Nazis, but the tradition of fashion remained even in the years of the German Democratic Republic. At least clothes were designed and produced there – I guess the word fashion was seldom heard in connection with East Germany. And today the whole area is full of boutiques and fashion houses. Jenny LOVES it. A few weeks ago she was looking for a dress to wear to a wedding and found THREE that she really liked just around the corner.

The “Höfe” are a series of courtyards which is typical of Berlin. Most of the old houses are built right on the street around an inner courtyard (or two or three or more) – as is the house Jenny and Ulf now live in. So even in this very big bustling city you have thousands of islands of tranquility. Of course these courtyards were not always pleasant or well cared for, but today people seem to realize what jewels they are - and have the funds for their upkeep.

The next morning Frank and I decided to explore the area in daylight. In the street where they live is a Jewish cemetery which was destroyed by the Nazis. It’s now more of a memorial park.

The only grave remaining is that of Moses Mendelssohn, an influential German philosopher of the Enlightenment and the grandfather of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
He had TEN children. How did he manage to think so much?
Those are stones on and around the tomb - a Jewish custom.

Just around another corner is the old Jewish synagogue, built in 1866 to accommodate 3,000 worshipers. It was one of the very few to escape destruction in the Pogromnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) in 1938 due to the brave intervention of a policeman. For a while it was misused as a warehouse for men’s clothing, until British bombs practically destroyed it in 1943. Today it houses a museum of Jewish history.  When they rebuilt it actually only the facade was restored.

We were enchanted by the market that was held on Saturday morning. It was quite small by German standards but had some really interesting stands. There was one with about thirty different kinds of mustard and you could taste them. I found there is a definite limit to the amount of mustard I can eat but I managed to pick out three kinds that I liked and bought a number of jars as presents.

I’m going to skip over the rest of Saturday because I want to write a separate entry about what we did. On Sunday morning we were indecisive about what to do. The weather was beautiful so we thought about a boat ride, but the boats looked awfully full and I didn’t know if I really wanted to sit for three hours on a wooden bench in the sun. Frank decided he wanted to go to the Museum of History and Jenny, Ulf and I wandered towards the “beach” which had been created along the River Spree by dumping sand and putting out deck chairs and umbrellas. Evidently you could get a good Caipirinha there. (I had my first and up to then my only one at Jenny and Ulf’s wedding.) Since we had to walk past the museum where a Goya exhibit was taking place, we wanted to have a look at the legendary lines that form every day. To our great surprise there was hardly any line at all and when we asked we were told it would take about twenty minutes to get in. We placed a quick call to Frank to tell him come at once – he could see the history museum on another trip. (How did people manage in the ancient past without cell phones?)

The four of us enjoyed the Goya exhibit very much. It’s the most comprehensive show of his works ever in Germany and since we haven’t made it to the Prado yet this was a great opportunity. The audio equipment was very good except that I asked for English and only the introduction was actually in English – the rest was in German. It didn’t really matter and it was too much of a hassle to return it, but I wondered what American and English tourists did when confronted with a lecture on Goya in German. Ulf honed his debating skills when he returned it for me by arguing that we should get a refund. Alas, he really didn't have a very good case to work with.

On Monday Frank had to complete some work so we didn’t really do anything until noon when we met Jenny for lunch. She works at Potsdamer-Platz, as does Ulf, but he was out of town. In the afternoon we decided to revisit Dussmann, the book and music store that we liked so much last year. After an hour or so of browsing (and buying) we went to the café that I had discovered adjacent to the store. It turned out to be American in theme because, as we learned from the very nice waitress, Mrs. Dussmann is American. I tried their apple crumble and it was perfect. Next time we are in Berlin I want to have lunch there!

Frank left me for his hotel on the other side of town since he had a two-day seminar to give. After Jenny got home from work we walked to the video shop and spent quite a while looking for something that neither of us had seen AND we both wanted to watch. Not easy, but we compromised on Hitch because we both like Will Smith. I wasn’t expecting much and it was better than I thought it would be.

Tuesday I was on my own and I thought I would like to take an American bike tour of Berlin that I had heard about. I went to the meeting place and met the guide, a young man who had only been in Germany a few weeks and spoke no German. However the weather was beautiful so I didn’t give up immediately. Then when the group was all together he gave an introduction that was one joke after another and he told us we weren’t laughing enough. He said we would have lunch in a beer garden and we could drink all the beer we wanted because in Germany you could drink and ride a bike. (Absolutely NOT true – you can lose your license for drunk driving on a bike!) He promised the second half of the tour after our liquid lunch would be a lot more fun. I had already decided this wasn’t for me, so when everyone went to pick out their bikes I made a hasty and I hope unnoticed getaway. Too bad. I think I would have enjoyed biking through Berlin.

I made my way to KaDeWe, the most famous department store in Berlin or in Germany for that matter. I spent some time in the food section comparing it to Harrod’s. Actually I thought it was bigger but maybe not quite so exotic. Upstairs there was a buffet restaurant where I had a delicious lunch. I spent the afternoon shopping although I was limited because I had to pack anything I bought into my suitcase and carry it home with me. In the evening Ulf returned and the three of us went to a sidewalk café where I finally got my Caipirinha.

The Germans like to comment whenever you say that you have been to Berlin that “Berlin is worth a visit”. I’m not sure where the saying comes from but I totally agree.

A DAY IN MARBURG - JULY 2, 2005

I don’t often accompany Frank on his business trips. I don’t enjoy exploring places on my own, eating alone in restaurants, waiting for his business to be over, but once in a while I make an exception. On a recent Saturday he gave a seminar for hotel directors in Marburg and there was a program planned for the wives who tagged along. We had visited Marburg once many, many years ago for a few hours, but all I remembered about it was the very steep hill to the university. One of my very good friends studied there so I felt some interest in re-visiting the town. And it was a Saturday, so it felt more like an excursion.

Frank didn’t have to be there until 11:00 and it’s about an hour and a half from here in the middle of our state, Hessen. We arrived in plenty of time thanks to our navigation system and the lack of week day traffic and in spite of all the road construction. The weather had cooled off considerably and it sprinkled off and on a bit all day, a nice contrast to the very hot weather of the past few weeks.

The seminar was held at a five-star hotel in the middle of town set in a small park filled with flowers. It seemed like a very nice place to stay but I wondered if there were that many people who needed a hotel in Marburg. It’s really a little off the beaten path and there were numerous other hotels in the town.

                                                                              
                                                                              
The hotel looks a little cheesy in this picture but it was really very nice.
                                                                              
I met up with the group of women there who were going to visit the Elisabeth Church. We spent the next hour touring the church and learning all about Saint Elisabeth who turned out to be a fascinating person. She lived in the 12th century, the daughter of a Hungarian king and was married at the ripe old age of 14 to a duke of Thüringen. She soon came under the influence of the Franciscans and began to reject the pomp and luxury that surrounded her. This caused a lot of problems with the royal court, especially her mother-in-law, Sophie. For example, Sophie was not happy when Elisabeth let a leper sleep in her bed. She called Elisabeth’s husband to show him how badly Elisabeth was misbehaving, but when they went to view the evidence they found a portrait of Jesus nailed to the cross in her bed, the ultimate mother-in-law put down! She spent most of her adult life caring for the sick, feeding and clothing the poor, trying to give away her fortune to those who had nothing.

                                                                              
                                                                              
These are the ruins of the hospital that Elisabeth founded in the 12th century.
                                                                              
After her death at the age of 24, her in-laws retaliated for all the pain Elisabeth had caused them during her short life by burying her in a wildly expensive gold casket, studded with precious stones, the complete opposite of all that Elisabeth stood for.

                                                                              
This must have cost her family a pretty penny.
                                                                              
However, in the end Elisabeth escaped from this casket when her bones were “stolen” by the Protestants during the Reformation and hidden. They were later returned to the Order of Teutonic Knights and a receipt was made out and signed, but the bones have disappeared. So now she lies in the anonymous grave she would have preferred.

She was sanctified within four years of her death and the Elisabeth Church was built in her honor, the first and probably only purely Gothic church in Germany. Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor) came all the way from Italy to be present when her bones were raised and put in their place of honor in the church. It soon became the fourth most revered place of pilgrimage in the world after Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Campostello. Who knew that Marburg was once a major center in the world?

                                                                              
Elisabeth Church. This was taken during my loooong climb to the castle.
                                                                              
                                                                              
After the tour of the church the group of ladies broke up and I was on my own. So much for the “Ladies’ Program”.

So I set off to have a closer look at the town. It’s full of half-timbered houses from as early as the 14th century.

                                                                              

I decided to have a look at the castle which is perched on top of the hill the town is built on.
There was small castle here as early as the end of the 9th century, but the existing castle was constructed primarily in the 13th century with additions dating to the 15th century.

                                                                              
Isn't this cute? They had several models from different periods.
                                                                              

Today the castle houses a museum (and photos are allowed!) and since its origins are in the Middle Ages it’s only fitting that there should be an exhibit of medieval armour.

                                                                              
This wasn't for sale or I might have bought it for Max and Alex.

There were some rooms furnished from different periods.
                                                                              
Have a seat. The maid will serve tea in just a minute.

                                                                              
This bed looked very comfy, but if you're over 5' forget it! (I think I could squeeze in.)

                                                                              
But most of all I liked the doll’s houses. I’ve always been fascinated by doll’s houses, especially after seeing Queen Anne’s Doll House in London quite a few years ago after having read an article in National Geographic about it. These weren’t as big or elaborate as Queen Anne’s, but they were very nice nonetheless.

                                                                              

Isn't this the perfect little kitchen?

                                                                              
                                                                              
I love the stairs and the little mirrors.

                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
The rest of my time in Marburg I spent wandering through the town, which is bigger than it appears at first sight, admiring the old houses and happy that I was now on the way down and no longer up.

MUSICAL WEEKEND IN HITZACKER - FEBRUARY 24-27, 2005

(Old age is fast creeping up on me and usually I can live with it but sometimes I get really angry at myself, such as two weeks ago when I went off for the weekend WITHOUT MY CAMERA!!! The few pictures you see here were taken off the internet just so I could show you something. I'm sure you are as sad as I am about the 50 or so pictures that are missing.)

One of the very nice things Frank received last year for his 60th birthday (from Almut and Werner and Anne and Ingo) was a weekend in Hitzacker during the winter music festival with tickets to two concerts - TWO tickets to two concerts, which meant I could tag along. So it was as much a present to me as to him and I didn't even have to become older to get it.

The weekend began for me on Thursday morning when Almut and Werner picked me up on their way from Freiburg where they had been visiting Editha. They had said they would be here around 9:00 and at the stroke of nine the doorbell rang. I accused them of having sat outside and waited until nine to impress me with their punctuality. (I don't think I will hurt their feelings when I mention that this is not a characteristic that springs to mind when they are mentioned.)

The trip to Lüneburg was unusual in that there was almost no traffic once we got beyond Frankfurt. Maybe it was the time of day or the threat of snow that kept everyone off the roads, but whatever it was it was very pleasant. And the weather was beautiful, sunny without a cloud in the sky, at least until we reached Soltau (just south of Lüneburg) when it clouded over and even snowed a little - or maybe it was just the snow falling from the trees. Actually the stretch of forest we drove through looked magical. (Did I mention I didn't have my camera?)

We were in Lüneburg just after 3 pm and Almut and Werner dropped me off at Mary Ellen's so I could spend the first part of the weekend with her. Actually it wasn't really the weekend yet but since she has no school on Fridays this half year, it might as well have been. Mary Ellen is an excellent cook and the meal she prepared Thursday evening was wonderful. We first had salad greens with prunes that had been wrapped in bacon and baked in the oven, it all sprinkled with chopped walnuts and a delicious vinaigrette. The main course was sliced eggplant baked with goat's cheese on top and a spicy tomato sauce to go with it. (I have to remember to try that myself this weekend.) Dessert was luscious but I don't really know what to call it. It had buttermilk and Philadelphia cheese with gelatin and a sauce made of raspberries. Divine! And I might add that she baked blueberry muffins for breakfast. I can still taste them!

Friday was our shopping day. This time we decided to go into Lüneburg and not make the trip to Hamburg. It had been a while since I was in Lüneburg (where we lived for about 20 years) and it's always interesting to see how things have changed.

                                                                                                               
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                
                                                                                                               
The old town hasn't changed.
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                               
Our shopping spree wasn't very successful, but I did buy a pair of boots and a pair of shoes. And realistically I didn't have room in my suitcase for anything more.

Friday afternoon Mary Ellen dropped me off at Almut and Werner's in time for coffee. Anne was already there, but without Ingo who had to forego the whole weekend because of a concert rehearsal that he had to take part in. He was very unhappy about it and we missed him, but some things can't be changed. Almut had invited Sylvia and Henning for dinner so that our Poland biking group was together again, or almost anyway (no Ingo). And she also invited Erika and Ingo, with whom Frank and I have gone on two biking vacations in Italy. So we at least had an Ingo to replace the Ingo who couldn't come! Alas, Erika couldn't come either because she had suddenly fallen ill. What a shame, I was looking forward to seeing her. And then finally at about 11:30 pm Frank arrived. He had been in Munich until 5 pm and then caught a train to Lüneburg. We were very relieved when he called to say he had managed to catch it because the next one would have put him in Lüneburg at 1:30 am! He missed most of the delicious dinner that Almut prepared for us under the motto of "America meets Old Europe", America represented by the main course which included the ingredients peanut butter and corn and was called American in one of Almut's cookbooks. It wasn't anything I had ever eaten before but it was very nice and I even thought the peanuts in the crunchy peanut butter she used were pine nuts.

Hitzacker is about 45 minutes from Lüneburg by car and of course we had been there before, many years ago when we still lived in the area. Then it was at the very edge of the known universe, directly on the Elbe River which separated East from West. I guess the Elbe was the Iron Curtain. Practically surrounded on three sides by the German Democratic Republic the area was not a tourist Mecca in spite of its beauty, but the lack of industry and tourism lasting almost 50 years meant that it remained a nature reserve that is unusual in modern Germany.

                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
             Hitzacker
                                                                              
Anyway the next morning the five of us piled into Almut and Werner's new (well, pretty new - they've had it for less than a year) VW Touran and headed for Hitzacker in order to go to the Gala Concert at 11 am. We were very lucky, for although it had snowed quite a bit the roads were clear and we made good time. The concert was part of the Hitzacker Music Week that is held every winter (this was the 19th time) as a supplement to the Music Festival held every summer. The organizer is Ludwig Güttler, a very well known trumpet player, and tickets sell out weeks, if not months in advance.

The concert was very nice but I'm not going to try to critique it and inadvertently show my almost complete ignorance in things musical. I can tell you what was played: Johann Sebastian Bach's Overture Nr. 1 in C-major, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Concert for Flute and Orchestra in D-minor and Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony Nr. 2 in D-minor Opus 36. Yes, I can hear all of you humming the pieces already!

Directly after the concert we hopped back into the car because Werner had scheduled a tour of a palace for us, "Ludwigslust", and during the winter season there is only one tour a week at 2 pm on Saturday. It was built at the beginning of the 18th century as a summer residence, mainly for hunting, but later was added on to and used as the main residence of a Grand Duke. It was not kept up at all by the East German government and was in fact used for offices for the local bureaucrats. Shortly after the fall of the iron curtain Frank and I drove there with our English friend Jane to have a look at it. It wasn't officially open but we managed to sneak in and look around a little before someone came and threw us out. It was in terrible shape and the contrast to its present condition is astounding.

                                      Now just imagine a lot of snow on the ground.
                                                                              
We had a very good guided tour of the rooms that are open to the public, not at all dry or overly laden with historical facts about noble families I have never heard of, but I really don't remember much detail to report here. (Too bad for you. I know you are disconsolate.) What I do remember is that the nobility here, just as in Schwerin where I was first introduced to these devices, was short of cash and had to take some short cuts when decorating their palaces. For example, what might look like Italian marble may be a really good paint job or a statue may be made of papier-mâché.
After the tour we went in search of the café, which had moved from the palace itself to the "Schweizerhaus" in the park. (Another example of cost cutting - build a house that looks like what you think a Swiss chalet probably looks like and scratch all those skiing trips to Switzerland.) The park was beautiful in all the snow and there I stood without my camera. (O.K. I won't mention it again, but it was really painful.) It was also large enough to get lost in, which we promptly did.

                                                                                                               
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                            
Finally, a snow picture! We actually walked along this canal but unfortunately it was the wrong direction.
                                                                                                               
The café when we finally found it was lovely, warm and cozy, especially when it started snowing outside, big puffy snowflakes that make winter so magical until you actually have to go outside. But then the snow stopped just as we left, reinforcing my impression that nothing could go wrong this wonderful weekend.
We headed back to Hitzacker to check in at our hotel and arranged to meet for dinner, which lasted until none of us could pretend any longer that we weren't tired.

                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
Parkhotel, Hitzacker

                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
Actually, I think the empty table was the one assigned to us.
                                                                            
On Sunday morning after a looong breakfast we walked into town for our second concert at one of the local churches. It was Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata "Ein fester Burg ist unser Gott" and Güttler gave an introduction to it before they played (and sang) it. I always like concerts with introductions to the music, although I have to admit that some of it was over my head. It always reminds me of the concert series that the Savannah Symphony Orchestra played for students six times a year when I was still in school. It really helps me to appreciate what I hear although I'm sure it would be boring to a lot of the music-knowledgeable Germans.
After the concert we went for a walk through Hitzacker, a lovely little town but very, very cold that day. However, we were being looked after because we found an English café that had just opened the week before and sat there with our English tea watching once again huge snowflakes falling from above.

                                                                              
One last time, imagine the snow. It's another form of brain-jogging.
                                                                              
We left for Lüneburg and were back in time to enjoy some of the leftovers from our Friday evening meal (Did I mention the fantastic cheese platter? Or the delicious Brussels sprouts soup?) before Almut and Werner drove Anne and me to the train station for the trip home. (Frank stayed in Adendorf to play music since he had to be in Hameln the next day anyway.) It really shortened the trip for me to have Anne next to me for the first part, even if it wasn't very far to Celle. But then the weekend was officially over with lots of wonderful memories for more quiet times.