Meet Katharina Engelhardt, our niece. Last night was our first time meeting her face-to-face; she wasn’t here when we arrived, as Klaus and Katharina had been in Fulda for the past week, so she could go horseback riding. Katharina is in love with horses, seriously in love. Stephanie had stayed back to be able to deal with Jutta being in the hospital, her mother-in-law is in hospice, and our arrival. Katharina is now 12, with a little over a month until she reaches her teens. Getting this photo was no easy task; the girl is shy. Hopefully, we’ll have more time getting to know her after she returns from her week-long trip to England.

While family Engelhardt gets ready for Katharina’s trip and spends some time together today, Caroline and I head out to visit Jutta. With deep blue skies and the day warming quickly, it starts to feel like springtime. We even see some buds sprouting on trees and bushes. As is typical in Germany, we are taking a walk to fetch the car. It’s not uncommon to have to park relatively far away; available parking is at a premium here, and the later one hunts for a spot, the further away they’ll be.

We spent a good part of the morning into the afternoon with Jutta, with the highlight being that Jutta was getting around so well that we took her for a treat. While Jutta has made steady progress going from walking to her room door to down the hall and two days ago took her first steps on stairs, we thought she might be doing well enough to take her up two floors to the cafeteria. On the 8th floor of the hospital, we are offered a great, nearly 180-degree view of Frankfurt, and with the weather cooperating, the view is spectacular. But the best view is right here at our table, Jutta getting around and the three of us sharing a slice of warm apple strudel with ice cream on a Sunday. In some ways, it feels like we were never away from Germany.

Official frog crossing sign announcing that every year between February 14 and March 31 this path through the forest becomes an amphibian highway. We are asked to respect the frog’s walk in the woods, just as they respect ours the rest of the year. We ended up out here in the forest after driving randomly through Frankfurt with the idea of looking around for other familiar sights.

The road we wandered down is a narrow one that connects the town of Neu-Isenberg with Frankfurt. The last time I was on this stretch was about 26 years ago, after my daughter Jessica was born. Her mom and I took our first apartment in Neu-Isenberg, and this was how we would travel to Frankfurt. Caroline’s last time here was ten years before that when she went to Oberschweinstiege. This 130-year-old restaurant sits on the edge of the Jacobi pond in the Frankfurt City Forest. Caroline ate with her grandfather Christian Engelhardt some Saturday or Sunday afternoon when she was just ten years old. We make a note to return here before going back to America.

This is Henninger Turm, an old tower that will start to be torn down tomorrow. It’s a landmark for the Henninger beer maker that has been an icon on the Frankfurt skyline for decades. Sadly it is too old and would be too expensive to renovate, so down it will come. The tower is on the edge of Sachsenhausen, soon to be “was” there.

Klaus made us a special dinner tonight, homemade Grüne Sosse. Somehow, Katharina doesn’t like this Frankfurt tradition and will instead simply have a couple of eggs for dinner. Lucky for us, that means there is more for Steph, Caroline, Klaus, and me. While I now have first-hand knowledge about making Grüne Sosse, the ingredients are nearly impossible to come by in the States. Our stay with the Engelhardt family is turning out to be a great one; they have made their home ours for our stay.