Europe – Page 11 – John Wise

Day 15 – I’ll Probably Do Something Or Other

June 8, 2021 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

There are no fixed plans for the day, though there are things that will certainly be done. I’ll discover what I’m going to do as I fall into them. Now that yesterday’s writing chores are finished, I can go on with experiencing this Tuesday, June 8th, 2021.

Putting things in their place and sorting others so they may be where they need to be. Emotions and artifacts, the past and the present, all have their purpose in time, but like moments in time, they tick by, and everything moves forward. Our work is to resolve our needs to be present and learn what’s important due to the ephemeral nature of lives that are always in a state of change.

I’m feeling a sense of conflict regarding what I thought I might be doing in Germany and what I find myself doing. While I understood that my mother-in-law would enjoy my time with her, I thought I could manage with her seeing four or five times a week. Knowing that I’ll be gone in a few weeks, I feel that I’m cheating her if I don’t afford her every moment I can, as July and August might prove quite lonely for her as visitation is reduced to once a week when Stephanie makes time for her mother. The hope is that Caroline and I will be back around the middle of September, but now I’m re-evaluating our need for part of that visit to be split between vacation and family time or if we should give it all to family.

Enough has been said in my previous blog posts about my refamiliarizing myself with Frankfurt, so maybe I’m giving that a break though there’s a lot I’ve not done yet and might warrant some sharing, such as a visit to the Gallus area, Palmengarten, and some museums. Though I may not share much on that side of things doesn’t mean I’m not deeply engaged. When my senses were tuned to dropping into Germany, they are now focused on what it means to eliminate many of the traces of our lives and what ends up being important as a life heads for the exit.

So much of what’s in my mind feels like nascent fleeting sparks of potential where I can’t even see the light but sense that it’s there, kind of a quantum inspiration I hope to discover.

Am I still shocked to see cigarette vending machines on the street? I suppose I am, as they’ve been gone from America for so long now I can’t remember when streetside smokes were last available or if they ever were. But what’s really shocking is that a pack of Marlboro is just under $10. While this price is about 50% more than what Americans pay, there is no shortage of smokers; I’d venture a guess that there are comparatively far more smokers in Germany than in the U.S.

So while children could buy cigarettes on the street and the alcohol laws are pretty lax, for example, In Germany, there are three drinking ages: 13 – minors are allowed to consume beer or wine with their parents or legal guardians. Age 16 – minors are allowed to consume beer or wine without their parents or legal guardian. At 18 – adults are allowed to consume distilled alcohol. There is no dialogue currently going on about legalizing marijuana, while in America, recreational weed is starting to be available in more and more places. One problem with legal weed in Europe would be the population density as the smell would infiltrate everything, and while Germans have accepted cigarette smoke in their presence, I’m not sure how the pungent smell of grass would go over.

I had written something totally other that was meant for this image of the train tracks that just end here while about 100 feet away on the other side, the track begins, an old line no longer in use with the rest of the track already removed. That text was sliced out of here and saved in another document that is still being hammered out. In that potential post are my observations about Jutta and how someone born ten years before the end of World War II in Germany experiences adolescence in a devastated post-war environment trying to navigate a derailed national identity. Returning to momentum after you’ve been brought to a full stop requires figuring out new paths. So there, while I won’t share the entirety of my thoughts over there, I’ve not simply baited and dropped you off.

I’m experiencing a Germany that is unique at this time; everything is mine. Being vaccinated and a foreigner, while strict travel restrictions are still in place, offers me some benefits such as always being able to get a table in an uncrowded cafe, the churches, and museums are still empty, with many people working from home the trains are never filled to capacity. I don’t wait to take photos as there are no tourists jockeying for the same view. This is offering me a perspective on Germany that will likely be unique in my lifetime.

Compare this to America, where people across the country and within their own states are traveling everywhere right now. It seems to me that the only Germans who want to visit big German cities are those who live rurally; otherwise, the German people want to visit other countries to escape what they must perceive to be a lack of striking differences within their borders aside from those who travel to the German Alps and up to the Wattenmeer, the two exceptions. So Germany is mine, though my time to poke my head into all the places I might want to visit is limited.

This says everything you ever need to know about the differences between Germany and America.

Tunnels, like life, go places, but you cannot see the destination. As you enter, you are shrouded in darkness (ignorance), but along the way, you harness light (knowledge) to illuminate the way. When you arrive you might integrate with those on the other side and make bonds, discover another culture, and leave better off than you were before (wisdom). Sadly, most never seem to enter the tunnel and are happy to stay within the confines of what they know.

I’m already in a new day, on the other side of the glass, up the stairs. What I mean to say is that I look at this image from another day while also trying to write the first paragraph for Day 16 before a nice 77-year-old lady strikes up a conversation. We speak about her daughter’s love of America and her mother’s American boyfriend after the war, while she recommends Oberursel as a nice place to live should we retire here. But that’s tomorrow, and I shouldn’t be writing about the future while trying to maintain the illusion of being in the here and now about Day 15.

A walk away from Saalburgstrasse took me to Saalburgallee and over to Eissporthalle before I turned into Ostpark for a walk towards the Main River and an encounter with Skatepark Osthafen, full of skaters too!

The first bridge I crossed is called Honsellbrücke, and this bridge, which picks up where the other leaves off, is called Osthafenbrücke. I’m now on the south side of the Main River with a good idea of where I’m going compared to when I started this walk, not knowing exactly which direction I was traveling. After living in Phoenix, Arizona, for so long, it sounds strange not to know which way I’m going as I live in a grid with roads that only go east/west and north/south. While there are landmarks in Frankfurt that could act as markers of direction, they are difficult to see on the streets of a city where you are surrounded by four- and five-story buildings.

Just as I’m repetitive in my words, I can be repetitive with my use of images too, especially when we are talking about this view of the Frankfurt skyline I’m so enchanted by.

Speaking of enchanting, these are Bembel, earthenware jugs used for serving apple wine, and are a sight and taste that delights Caroline. You should be able to guess by now what I’m about to do.

I’m taking a dinner pause after my long nine-mile (15km) walk around Frankfurt. I’d like to leave the following details to the margin, but I’ve been waiting for Fichtekränzi Restaurant to open, and now I’m here. It, like so many other restaurants that didn’t feel they could maintain their reputation and quality of food with take-out only, closed eight months ago and just reopened this week. Strangely, I’m the only person sitting inside; admittedly it’s beautiful out, but even the patio isn’t full yet. Before the pandemic, I dare you to try to get a table in less than 15 to 30 minutes.

I’m not sure that the two-mile walk back to where I’m staying is going to be possible; I’m tired here at 10:30 p.m.

My tram stop is at Dom/Römer, where the U4 will have me delivered in minutes, but of course, there’s time for a photo or two.

The words Deutsches Reich are what caught my eye; I had to take a second look to see the date 1910 and Drei Mark below, letting me know that these floor decorations were based on an old coin, not Nazis.

Minutes later, I’m onboard and zipping across town. Being in a hurry to get anywhere is a disappointment as there’s so much to take in when moving at a snail-like pace. Time to find tomorrow and be done with today.

Day 14 – Shelter

June 7, 2021 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Rain, rain, and more rain. I could run outside under the shelter of my umbrella and fetch something to eat, or I could sit here in this mostly empty apartment with the window open, listening to the rain, wishing I could have something to eat. The rain didn’t use to present such a problem back when we used to live here, but we’d have had food on hand, and if we knew it was supposed to rain in the morning, we could go to the store the day before to pick up a package of croissants. I don’t have that luxury today as I’m practicing minimalism and trying to make the best of it.

While I’m sheltered from the weather, I stare out the open window, looking for a break in the downpour, but the water just continues to fall from the sky. Checking the radar, I can predict that this storm cell should be passing in the next 15 minutes or so. Until then, I’m forced to contend with my bible (I mean my laptop) in seclusion, although this limitation creates a small amount of resentment. I sit in front of this computer day and night when I’m not on the move and have nothing else to turn to as I’m here without wife, books, synthesizer, car, or the basic amenities one might enjoy in the place they live. All I have is this screen and the wide-open window looking out on the street so I can judge how heavy the rain is; that’s it. I’m starting to get the idea I would not have made a good monk living in a monastery.

At last, I brave the great outdoors of a wet Frankfurt after learning that the storm would be here to stay through 10:00 p.m. At the bakery, I was reminded that today is the day that those of us vaccinated or recently tested for COVID are allowed to sit indoors. After these two weeks of standing outside and then sitting outside, we are now moving quickly to the old normal. Here I am, seated in a dry, warm dining area, connected to free WIFI instead of my hotspot, with access to a toilet should I need it, and I’m feeling like a fully participating member of society. Is this my reward for following the rules?

Maybe an American reading this might think, “But John, you’ve had this in America for some time now.” The difference is that I didn’t want to go to restaurants in the United States due to the angry belligerence of a vocal minority who wanted to flaunt any safety protocols. Here in Germany, the adherence to respecting others offers a sense of shared sacrifice and the protection of a dense population with vulnerable people among them. Hopefully, the next step is no more border controls that question what my purpose is in entering another country.

Funny how we all desire shelter from freezing, wet, and hot weather. We’ll voluntarily wear the clothes best suited for the environment and utilize transportation that best meets our needs. We seek out food that satisfies our hunger and strive for work that guarantees some small part of our happiness and allows us to protect ourselves in our homes. But then a pandemic strikes, and it can only have come from the evil intention of those who want to control us and steal our rights as though they also might want us to voluntarily live in homes with locked doors and windows where we pay rent, mortgages, and property taxes to wealthy landowners and banks, wear clothes that shame us for having sex organs, garments made by exploited immigrants in faraway countries, and have to buy food from an agricultural-industrial complex that serves the elites with trillions in profit. But supposedly, this one thing, the mask, was the final straw that made the charade transparent and the intentions to defraud us of liberty so very obvious to the well-informed who watched information of questionable source material unfold on the internet that offered us a Grand Truth. Whatever truth you’ve found on YouTube, keep it to yourself as I find mine in my immediate reality, the books I’ve read that span history covering science, philosophy, and sociology, and from my sense of fitting into nature as best I can.

Enough of that and on to something different. The German language is something I can’t adapt to fast enough. I obviously leaned hard on Caroline during the years I lived in Germany and while I could make my way around the country, I made do with this limited resource I had. Today, I’m suffering from this ignorance. My needs and desires are far more nuanced at this time in my life, and I have some fairly strong ideas of how I want things to be. I’m not able to easily bring these wishes across to the person I’m in front of attempting communication, especially when they are performing a service that requires them to move through those of us in line in the most expedient manner possible. So I just have to agree to almost every question and accept whatever the default options are. My rudimentary German also opens me up to others, now testing how far that knowledge of German goes; it’s not very far. As I struggle, some will offer a helping hand by bringing their limited English to the floundering foreigner, but I’m growing increasingly uncomfortable with this equation

“Noch mal einen Kaffee, bitte,” (another coffee please) followed by, “Zum Mitnehmen?” “Nein, fur hier zu trinken” (To go? No, for here). For a language I use on such rare occasions, I’m surprised that I get by, but I want more than that. Caroline will be happy to read these words because should we move back to Germany one day, I’ll need a better proficiency in this language if I’m to get a visa that will allow me to stay longer. Should you wonder why my wife doesn’t teach me German, seeing how she’s German, well, Caroline’s over-analytical mind will answer me with the most common way of saying something in German, and then like someone with Tourette’s, she has to blurt out the other four ways it could be said unless you are in Rhineland-Palatinate where it’s said these two different ways. Okay, she’s not that bad, but you get the idea.

If a vacation is measured by doing what you want when you want, then I live on a permanent vacation, and this trip to Germany is simply a change in geography. Here I am, two Brötchen (btw, Brötchen is the diminutive of Brot, a.k.a. bread), two coffees, and two hours into doing just what I want while the weather does what it wants. I wonder what Jutta’s doing?

I arrived at Lebenshaus and found Jutta in the dining area with her fellow residents, cutting up fruit for a champagne-based fruit punch being prepared for the afternoon’s music appreciation hour. I’ve told my mother-in-law that it’s like she’s living at the Schatzalp on the Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, except she’s not in the mountains of Davos, Switzerland, but right next to the Main River in a valley, close enough. In this kind of sanitorium where shelter is found for those who are growing weak, Jutta has adapted very well to life in her small room, and she’s just incredibly happy to see me so often.

A short visit in the morning that will be followed by a second one in the afternoon after I have lunch should put a nice spin on the day for Jutta. Maybe I can even get her out for a short walk over to the river if the weather continues to improve.

My lunch bears mentioning as it was a strange play on traditional items I’ve been eating for the past couple of weeks. Here at Leib & Seele, I tried their mashup of veal schnitzel stuffed with green sauce herbs, an egg, and Handkäse served with Bratkartoffeln. I found it to be an abomination, but it will sustain me. Continuing with a theme I plan on wearing out, it is as though the hand cheese and egg took refuge in the schnitzel as a way of finding shelter. Yeah, I went there, as why not hammer at the inane for the sake of a groan?

And, of course, I’m inside because I can be. For Germans, it’s been seven months since they could sit in a restaurant, and takeout has been their only option. It is nice outside, and under normal circumstances, I would have gladly sat streetside for the people watching but nothing is yet quite normal. Then, while I’m here considering what I might write next, a song that will become a featured track from my 2021 trip to Germany starts to play. It’s called Save Your Tears by The Weeknd. Why do the cheesy songs in heavy rotation always seem to find my ear is a mystery?

I should drink this espresso and pretend to eat the Apfelstrudel I’m not having, but if I had, I’d certainly need to get out of here for a serious walk to work that off. Should you, too, be growing bored of these food reports, I’m right there with you and realize I need to move on to something, anything else.

QR codes are everywhere and on everything as the pandemic inched us closer to a contactless society. With the opening of restaurants and shops, some QR codes are quickly being removed as menus are put back in customers’ hands, and appointments to enter certain stores are no longer needed.

What will be around for some time to come are COVID tests until the population of Europe is vaccinated to the point of herd immunity.

Churches were closed for a time, and then when they did open, they were only there for services. Now, as I walk by the wide-open door of a church in Frankfurt, I feel invited in. Every state and city has its own schedule for reopening, dependent on their infection numbers, so while I was able to visit churches in other cities, their incidence of COVID had already reached manageable numbers. This is the interior of St. Catherine’s Church (St. Katharinenkirche), which I’ve photographed a couple of times already on this trip, but only from the outside.

Walking, walking, and more walking. Added three miles as I walked from Konstablerwache to Westend and Palmengarten. I walk and look, I walk and listen, and as I walk, I realize I’ve missed so much of the city back in the day because I was always on my way somewhere instead of nowhere in particular. So, I walk some more.

Walked into St. Paul’s Church (Paulskirche) for the first time ever and found myself alone. This mural on the ground floor represents the procession of the elected German and Austrian representatives into Paulskirche, who in 1848, presented a Charter of Basic Rights and a Constitution trying to bring a unified Germany into democracy.

As I walked upstairs, the pattern from the chair legs and the cleanliness struck me, but now you know what this abstract image is.

John F. Kennedy spoke here back in June 1963, where he commemorated the “German cradle of democracy.”

During World War II, this church was mostly destroyed. In rebuilding it, the outside remained true to form, but the interior was greatly simplified.

There’s a lot of history shared on the ground floor about the democracy movement that started right here in Frankfurt for Germany, along with the Goethe Prize from the city and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

This dragon guards the Standesamt, which is the German civil registration office responsible for recording births, marriages, and deaths. Unless you’ve studied German history, you probably don’t know that the country of Germany was created in 1871 from the previous collection of German states. The Standesamt was established across the country, taking effect on January 1, 1876.

Hello again, Jutta. Another walk to the river with my mother-in-law, enjoying a short video call with Caroline and a coke. Life is good.

Back to walking with a good amount of extra walking. Walked into the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche) and then back to Bornheim-Mitte.

Time for some domestic chores so I can keep this going as I drag my laundry to a nearby laundromat that I hope I can use without too much frustration of getting change and figuring out how the soap goes in and the dryer works. Oh, you think it’s so easy? You’ve never visited a German laundromat. Though I will admit that the last time I did, I probably was mighty stoned.

Longest kilometer walk I’ve taken today, likely due to the sense of dread eating at me as I made my way to the Eco-Express Waschsalon, where I sensed panic awaiting me. The worst thing that was going to happen was that I’d have to Skype Caroline in to decipher what I was brain farting on, but I got through with it, and my stinking clothes are in the washer and presumably getting clean. No matter, they are being spun around in soap and water and will have to be cleaner once they are out. It wasn’t until my clothes were in the washer and I was sitting down that I noticed the British flag on the screen, signifying English instructions were available. Oh well, I’m improving my survivability in Germany this way.

I skipped picking up a Döner kebab on the way as it looked closer on the map, and I thought I might throw in my laundry and then go fetch something easy, but it’s a good way back, so I’ll hope my clothes are done before they close at 10:00, it’s 8:20 right now. I shouldn’t concern myself with my clothes being left alone as already a few people came in, stuffed their things in a machine, and took off. There are other machines where the wash is long done, but no one is here tending to it; maybe they went home for dinner? I’m so negatively conditioned by the American experience that I’m too paranoid to leave my dirty, wet laundry alone as though some underwear sniffer will come and drag all my clothes away.

The laundromat itself is immaculate, unattended, and without a bunch of sketchy freaks in the place. If you’ve ever used a public laundromat in the United States, you know exactly what I mean, and the idea of using them at night should send shivers up your spine. I’m hungry after having walked nearly 7 miles after lunch.

Nice, it’s only 8:35, and my clothes are in the Trockner trocknering. I see Döner in my future. Hmm, four levels of heat; I hope I don’t light my clothes on fire. Three minutes already passed; I’m wondering if I should check it. Four minutes, this might be the proverbial watched pot. The great thing is that my stress level has gone way down.

I was greeted by four smiling and laughing guys at Döneria at the corners of Weidenbornstraße and Seckbacher Landstraße. I thought I was over-posting about food but the Döner sandwich I had was seriously the best of the half dozen or so I’ve enjoyed while here in Germany.

The king of Döners.

Day 13 – Eat Write Repeat

June 6, 2021 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

We have closed

What things and stuff are here and there? There are the usual things such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is the threat of rain and the need to deal with stuff at my mother-in-law’s.

It’s Sunday, and while you’d hardly know it if I didn’t explicitly share it, I’ve been writing quite a bit this morning. It was during a three-hour breakfast during the course of which I had three pieces of bread, two Vollkornbrötchen (whole wheat roll plus seeds), and one croissant. For that, my blood sugar will suffer because I already know that my step count will be greatly reduced today. After breakfast, a nap seemed in order; it felt much needed as I’d not been sleeping a lot.

Then it occurred to me that maybe this would be a day without photos. For a dozen days, I was striving to capture enough visual information that anyone making a virtual visit with me on this journey into Germany would hopefully enjoy a somewhat interesting walk alongside of me.

More time passes before I have to leave again for lunch, and though I have my camera with me, I’m not inclined to use it. There are things that have been recorded to digital film today, but they are destined for other purposes. As for lunch, maybe you can guess? Handkäse mit Musik, which sits in front of me this very moment with a Schnitzel with grüne Sosse on its way. Looking to the sky, I hope I can finish my meal before the rain starts falling across this neighborhood. However, the promised rain never arrived, which makes planning stuff difficult, such as the barbecue I was supposed to have with Olaf and Sylvia this evening.

This is the first time in my life that I have eaten Handkäse so frequently. My initial thought was that this cheese was originating from the same manufacturer no matter where I ate; I was wrong. Food uniformity is taken for granted in America, but here in Germany, do not expect all Schnitzels to be cut and prepared the same way. There is a diversity to how most things are prepared; for example, fresh bread and Brötchen vary from bakery to bakery, while grilled potatoes are not mostly minor variations on a theme but have a character that will likely influence if you like a particular restaurant or not.

Something that’s not different between restaurants is the stench of cigarette smoke in your immediate proximity. If you are sitting outside, which we are all doing for the rest of this day before the rules change tomorrow, you’ll be wrapped in the ugly smell of other’s exhaled smoke. While smoking has ended at train stations, it’s still a regular thing where we eat.

I’d like to work on a task I started before lunch, but maybe I should go see Jutta. On the other hand, Caroline will make her weekly call to her mom after the dinner hour here in Germany and keep her company for a couple of hours. With that in mind, I think I’ll allow myself to remain in the neighborhood, accept the failure of not getting my 10,000 steps, and just enjoy a day off.

Arriving back at Saalburgstrasse, I find four people in Jutta’s apartment: Stephanie, Klaus, a man named Stephan, and a young lady who was not introduced. The apartment was being shown to potential renters, but this was the first I learned of it. So much for returning to writing or photos as I shuffled about opening and closing windows for each prospective renter because the street noise was so loud it might frighten off renters. Between visitors, I made slow progress, but the disruptions were unsettling. With that action over, I finally found a moment of peace to talk with Caroline, and before I knew it, dinner was calling.

I tend to eat too fast when I eat alone, but am I not contradicting myself when I say that I needed nearly 3 hours to eat breakfast this morning? Well, maybe it’s just dinner, as this is the meal that I’m most aware that I’m eating alone. Everyone else here is at least two people with many tables seating 4 to 6 friends and family while I just wolf down my meal and pull out my anti-social computer to write about my misery. Funny, but eating out by myself in America doesn’t come with a fraction of this tension. Is it me missing Caroline, or is it the genuine enthusiasm that those around me appear to be enjoying? Part of the equation has to be that I know Germans are out not only to satisfy the needs of a meal, personal laziness, or bragging rights about being at a hip new spot but are here to spend hours drinking apple wine and just chilling out in good company.

Eat, write, repeat, and repeat again. Wish Thomas Mann a happy birthday. Retire for the night. This was my day without visual hints.

Day 12 – Boris In Heidelberg

June 5, 2021 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Up at 5:30 to catch a train at 6:56 to Heidelberg, and still, I was nearly late. Why Germany, are the trains less frequent on weekends? I know the answer it’s because Germans are moving slowly, and before anything else, they’ll have a late breakfast. If I lived here, that would be seared into my head, but I reach the weekend, and it might as well be Monday, and I’d think for retirees, it would be much the same. I’m on my train, in my seat, and ready to go with minutes to spare.

The ICE to Mannheim, where I’ll switch trains to Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof, arrived down south much faster than I thought it would. Sure, I knew how many minutes it would take, but time, in my perception, operates at a different level. Ten minutes after arriving at my first stop, I was on another train and should have connected with a third, but decided that I could use the steps. Plus, it was a 20-minute wait for the next train, and Google was telling me it would be only a 28-minute walk to Boris’s.

It was only yesterday that I decided I’d alter my plans and visit this old friend I’d not seen in 27 years because he gave me a heads-up that he’d be in the hospital from the 8th until the 23rd. I had known he’d be out of town for part of my visit, but I didn’t know why today, I learned that he was heading to Mannheim for surgery that was going to remove his cancerous bladder. I had to see him as soon as possible.

I was hoping to finish writing yesterday’s blog entry on the way down, but I ended up working on it later this day as with so many photos, I was going to need to keep on squawking about what that stuff was, because in less than two years I’ll be 60, and I’d imagine that I’ll need all the help I can get to remember such things in my old age.

I walked down Main Street in Heidelberg, imagining which German restaurant I’d eat lunch at, and occasionally, I felt that I could remember the look of things as I strolled along. I kept looking for the castle that I knew was somewhere on my right, but it turned out that it was further on than I could remember. Thinking I’d walk back mostly along the Neckar River, I didn’t bother taking a left for a short walk over there, but oops, I didn’t expect I’d get out of Heidelberg so late that I’d take the Old City train stop to save the half an hour walking back.

Heidelberg is in the German state of Baden-Württemberg just south of Hessen, so food is definitely on my mind, especially because a couple of years ago, I finally tried cooking from the Thuringia region and I’m now interested in trying the local cuisines from all 16 states found in Germany. Besides my culinary curiosity, I’m also equally intrigued about who Boris has become over the intervening quarter century.

Arriving at Boris’s front door, I was all smiles as I was astonished that this was the exact same place I’d last visited him. It feels so rare that anyone should live at an address for more than 30 years that I’m left a bit speechless. In front of a table loaded with food (Boris had made us breakfast), it took us forever to sit down and finally eat. While social media has kept us loosely connected, we’ve not exchanged a lot there, so we had some serious ground to cover, and of course, that would have to be politics and manipulation/management of information for the masses.

Some things never change, such as this sign over Boris’s toilet, though he informs me it is, in fact, a new one. All the same, I remember something quite similar from my visits years before. It always struck me as peculiar this idea of men sitting down to pee, but then again, I’m not sticking around to clean the toilet or wash the floor, so I suppose I need to respect these wishes.

This apartment contains a series of time capsules that document the period from 1976 to 1999. I think the shift in the collection of artifacts must have begun with the arrival of the internet when much of what was to be referenced was now in digital format. Similar to Torsten Kuehne is the sense of the space serving a purpose as a home beyond what I see in the US. These are places to find oneself and share with visitors a part of your character that is removed from pure consumption of perfection, these abodes are magical dwellings where living takes place, not just existence.

On that note, Boris and I went out for a walk, but first a drive up the mountain on the other side of the Neckar River. We are visiting Heiligenberg.

High up on the mountain is the Thingstätte, built during the Third Reich for the Nazis as part of the Thingspiel movement. Hitler never ended up speaking here, which I’d imagine was a good thing, as I think it would have been blown off the mountain if he had.

Until recently, it was used as a party place for Walpurgis Night. Saint Walpurgis had a feast day held in her honor back in the 8th century that coincides with May Day. To nearly 20,000 bonfire-worshipping revelers, it seemed this was an ideal location to revive the feast day, and with no small amount of drugs and peaceful action, this celebration happened for years without incident until the local authorities decided to shut it down. I like Boris’s explanation of what passed, “The authorities wanted mayhem and violence to give cause to shut down the yearly event as so many people assembling peacefully might give them ideas that personal freedom was something worth cherishing.”

Friedrich von Hirsau, according to this slab, died in 1070, but the internet, which is never wrong, says his death was in 1071.

The Michaels Cloister lays in ruins these days, but back about 1,100 years ago, in 890, this monastery was built to ward off the pagan energy of the dragon spirit as prior to Christianity moving in, the Celts were sitting up here watching the earth from high above and deep below. This is according to Boris, but it sounds plausible to me, so I’m going with it.

The site of the cloister is a beautiful one that seriously kicks at the imagination to fill in the blanks. The buildings fell into ruin over 500 years ago, but enough remains to enchant visitors, such as this overgrown moss-and-lichen-covered cistern.

The longer I’m in Germany and the more I’ve visited over the past years, the more I’d like to know about what life was like, from about 800 to 1,400. It goes without saying I’d like to go further back but the amount of time required to begin understanding any period takes a serious investment in time.

While Boris has been here many a time and has even played a key role during many of the Walpurgis Nights, this is my first time here with not much of the day available to learn more.

Ten’s of thousands have by now walked through this archway, some before modernity and many who came out of curiosity as they sought out a sense of the past that I often find myself searching for in churches and cathedrals.

I don’t know if I’ve ever witnessed snail sex; maybe this is the essence of Celtic practices atop the Holy Mountain.

Apparently, if my rudimentary translation skills are functional at all, there is an ancient wall here that has grown over but is still detectable. It was erected 400 years before Christ by Celts to hold back Germanic tribes. What a different time when villages would battle tribes instead of nations attacking other countries. It was this level of warfare that necessitated walled cities such as Frankfurt so many years ago.

Not my favorite photo of me I’ve ever taken, but Boris’s smile was priceless so I had to swallow a bit of pride and go with this one. I probably look more or less like this all the time, but as we are all apt to do, I see things out of place that bother me. I know, who cares? If you should care to understand why Boris has played such an important role in my life, you simply need to look at the theme I list at the top of my blog that spells it out but you will have to decipher the puzzle.

A castle in one form or another has stood here since at least 1214, but more than one was destroyed before another took its place or it was rebuilt. While the castle may look amazing in appearance from the opposite mountain, it is actually in ruin. General Tilly, during the Thirty Years War, took Heidelberg and, a few days later, the castle. I mention this because Caroline and I read this tremendous book about that war, and General Tilly featured prominently. However, while the castle was damaged and only narrowly escaped total destruction during the Thirty Years War, French soldiers dynamited it in 1693 in the course of the War of Grand Alliance (yet another war to read about), and it has been a ruin ever since. Victor Hugo visited in 1840 and fell in love with the city, so much so that he wrote a book titled, “Heidelberg: You would have to live here!” I would have ordered the book as I write this, but I cannot find it in English! Come on, this is the same author who penned Les Misérables…

This deep, as in 180 feet deep “Heathen Hole” is called Heidenloch. Nobody really knows its real purpose, but some have speculated it was a cistern or a well; Boris and I are in agreement that this seems silly as our intuition suggests it was a place from which to watch the evening stars, to note their location in a small, consistent spot so as to be able to interpret the movements of celestial bodies.

Back in Heidelberg, Boris decides to get the first COVID test he’s ever had in order for him to join me for a bite to eat. While he waited to get the test and the 15 minutes before the results were done, I walked over to a bridge to have a look over the Neckar River.

Maybe not as broad and elegant as the massively famous bridge in Prague, this is still a wonderful place to visit that, for the first time during all of my trips down here, is quite empty. Who says there’s not an upside to pandemics?

This is the Heidelberg Castle, not where we were going to have a late lunch, but the place we wanted to eat at closed during mid-day. How, in a city seen by so many tourists, could a restaurant offering regional cooking close for 2 or 3 hours in the middle of the day? Well, Boris knew of another small place he thought might meet our needs, and he was right. For another 90 minutes, we talked about the beauty of life and our precious time here on Earth.

Having talked about as much as two people who’ve not seen each other in so many decades could talk, combined with my knowledge that by late afternoon, Boris found himself exhausted, it was time for us to part ways. Boris walked me to the Old City Train Station I was supposed to arrive at earlier in the day before I’d opted to walk to his place.

On Tuesday, Boris Hiesserer, a.k.a. Pyromania Arts, will enter the hospital where he’ll spend 15 days, as I said above. I wish him all the best and an effective and speedy recovery. Cancer always changes people; I just hope he can escape with a smile, just as I’m doing as I leave Heidelberg.

We are likely doing something close to the speed of light as we careened into a universe of smeared green and yellow; that’s how fast we were going.

My 1st class seating arrangement on the InterCity Express (ICE) back to Frankfurt, the entire car was mine alone.

While I love the incredible ride on these fast trains, I also love watching them speed by at 185 miles per hour.

Back in the city, I walked over to Olaf’s and buzzed his door to see if he’d like to join me for a coffee; he was up for it. Over to the small Imbiss across the street we went. He opted for a Pellegrino with blood orange and I for a coffee to help me keep going. As for the pizza we shared, I don’t think it was all that helpful for wakefulness. Parting company, we agreed that the high chance of rain should push us to delay the barbecue we had planned for Sunday night.

Day 11 – What To Do?

June 4, 2021 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

I see the moment coming when I have little more to say about what will become routine here in Frankfurt. I’m yet to visit the west side of the city or test how far I can walk along the Main River before I’ll want to catch a train back, so there are options. There are also pending dates with family and friends on the calendar and visits to cities well outside of Frankfurt, but I need to get a few nights of proper sleep so I can wake up at 5:00 a.m. or so in order to get an early start. Then there’s the weather to contend with because if there’s a downpour, there is nowhere to dip into other than underground train stations, but those are not always nearby.

Regarding the weather, this is the one obstacle I’m not really prepared to contend with. Sure, I have my rain jacket and an umbrella, but if I decide to stay in, I have very little to entertain me. I do not have unlimited bandwidth, nor do I even have a kitchen. The forecast shows rain and thunderstorms for the next five days, and I’m paying attention to travel restrictions within the EU. As of early June, a visit to France may not be in the cards. Speaking of weather, places to go, and things to do, I need to get out before the rain starts again.

Finding bakeries are offering tables outside again so that we can sit down and enjoy breakfast is a welcome relief. The tables and chairs had been stacked and locked with cables running through them, letting people know that they were not welcome to sit there, and so that’s just what I’m doing this morning. Not having to grab something to go and eating it underway is far more civilized in addition to allowing me to spend another small part of the day not trapped inside an apartment.

This brings me to the question I hear a lot, “Why isn’t Caroline with you?” This is not a vacation, and as much as I was hoping prior to leaving the United States that I could carve out some of that, it just isn’t possible yet. Vacations are times when we move away from routines to assume temporary new ones while we are out traveling. The key, though, is that we are allowed a broad amount of spontaneity, spontaneity that is difficult to come by during a pandemic, as enforced in Germany at least. Some of the inconveniences look awkward to me, such as waiting in line to enter a department or electronics store or maybe even having to make an appointment first. I hope I don’t need an article of clothing or a USB cable while I’m here.

In the last few days, museums started opening for those willing to make a reservation first, and while this is possible due to falling infection numbers, they are going up in Frankfurt again, which could bring new restrictions. How does one vacation under these conditions? So, Caroline is at home, and it is looking less and less likely that maybe I could bring her over before the end of June. When Europe opens for travel, it will be for the people of Europe first, and those travelers will have to provide proof of their vaccination or having had COVID. America is nowhere close to offering our citizens certification of proof. This means that while Europe may want U.S. tourists to return, they will have to resolve the issue of our belligerence regarding the issuing of certification that meets any security requirements against forgery. On the other hand, my CDC card has been accepted everywhere without much friction at all.

There’s nothing like the arrogance of youth and the angst that comes with it to blind a person to the importance of being present in their space and not just their head. I lived in Frankfurt and the surrounding area for ten years and somehow, I missed that the former wall that surrounded the city here had mostly been turned into parks and green areas. Back then, I could have been reading in a cave and been as happy and aware of what was around me as a hermit who spent his life under a bridge.

Now, here I am in the later stages of life, and I kick myself for not being more aware of my surroundings, but maybe I’m fooling myself, and the necessary awareness was there while the mind needed more attention due to neglect suffered early on, inflicted by those who didn’t themselves possess the intelligence to know how to guide a child. Flowers, in this regard, are lucky; they pass on genetics, pollinating insects are naturally drawn to their vibrance, and the human eye takes delight. We, on the other hand, are difficult and messy; we are certainly not flowers in any sense of the idea.

No matter what we build, will people ever construct a building that can cast shadows as beautiful as this display in the park as the sun spills through the leaves? I do admit that stained glass can have an equally appealing nature, but that’s the exception until I find something else to contradict me.

I’ve been walking through Bethmann Park, part of which is a Chinese Garden, and I already might have to change my mind about human construction, as light traveling through a pagoda does hold a lot of intrigue.

It was just a few days ago that Caroline was serenading me with a ukulele and her sweet voice from so many thousands of miles away with her own rendition of “You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine.” Seeing this put a smile on my face as it felt nicely serendipitous.

Masks, baseball caps, hijabs, branded clothing, makeup, hairstyles, types of clothing, and preferred methods of travel are all masks for the masses. The only difference is which cultural hegemon is dictating what will be stylistically acceptable. Here in Europe, there’s no small uproar regarding Islamic headdresses for women. Some in the West look at it as oppression of women’s free will, and yet when a major bank or corporation dictates that their workers conform to particular styles of uniform, be it shirt and tie or a smock, we’ve deluded ourselves into believing that this is still freedom. Cultural style is fluid; if it weren’t the average peasant would own a single pair of clothes, only the wealthy would be the only ones allowed to wear purple, and strict rules would govern how much hair is to be seen. When we pander to the angry who don’t like what they see, we empower them to ask for more intolerance.

It’s now two minutes past the time that severe thunderstorms were supposed to arrive. I’ll blame their delay on the train service because Deutsche Bahn is probably behind everything that’s broken here in Germany. What’s not broken though, at least from my view, are the plentiful green areas. There’s a serious need for housing in Frankfurt, and yet the green areas have not been sold off to build another billion Euros worth of highrise apartments and shopping. There are areas such as Gallusviertel that have been dramatically renovated due to reclaimed land previously used by the freight train system, and while I’ve not been over there to explore it, I’d wager that quiet green spaces have been included in order to improve the quality of life.

This is in comparison to where I live in Phoenix, Arizona. In the desert, our money-grubbing money lords only see green when it is available in the form of cash. Every bit of desert that can be covered with profit is used. If you want nature, you have your car to jump into and go find it somewhere else. Our neighborhoods are dead zones not meant to be livable unless you consider staying in your backyard and not being able to walk anywhere else, living. Tourism is not happening right now in Germany, and yet the streets are full of people walking around at 11:00 in the morning, seemingly just meandering. There’s time to stop and look at fountains, smell the flowers, or have a beer at a nearby park bench.

My eye is on the sky, looking for the approach of dark clouds so I can make my way over to the Historical Museum of Frankfurt, but I think my stomach is starting to hint at having an early lunch. Meanwhile, my brain is asking, what’s wrong with sitting right here next to the fountain at Bockenheimer Anlage? I’ll tell you what’s wrong: I’m still an American and haven’t deconditioned myself yet to accept that I can just sit here doing next to nothing. I say next to nothing because here I am with my laptop in said lap, and I’m writing, though, at the same time, I’ve been watching a family of swans traverse the pond while nearby birds sing to me. I think my stomach will win this one.

Even at midnight, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen the Alte Oper (Old Opera) with so few people here. If you look at many of the photos I’ve already shot on this journey through the pandemic in Germany, you might notice how deserted everything feels.

This is the Paulskirche (St. Paul’s Church). It played host to the 1848 legislative body, which was the first time in German history that government leaders were freely elected.

I have a bad feeling about my choice for lunch here at Haus Wertheym at Romer, but I’m just around the corner from Jutta’s, and so if rain arrives during my meal, I’ll have but a short walk to get out of the potential downpour. I’m having five different sausages on sauerkraut with Bratkartoffeln. I’m also next to the Historical Museum which is open until 6:00, so maybe I’ll make it in there today. Eating out three times a day is becoming tiresome.

Lunch was quite okay while the humidity was becoming oppressive. I’m overhearing conservations about how restaurants will open their dining rooms to those with vaccines or current COVID tests and that outside seating will be open to all this coming Monday. Yet another iteration of normal is on its way.

Another day, another photo of Jutta. That’s the face of someone happy to have just been the recipient of hugs.

The rain started falling, and those earlier forecasts of severe thunderstorms had me on guard, so now was the time to visit the Historical Museum of Frankfurt.

Caroline saw this as I populated this post with photos; she made a few guesses but was wrong about its exact purpose, though she knew what its relative purpose was. So, to correct her, it is not a butthole dilator. But that’s close: it was used for helping a pregnant woman dilate the birth canal while in labor. To be honest, I don’t know why these aren’t sold at sex shops for hanky panky.

The father of a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart effectively scratched into the window where he and his children were staying in Frankfurt, “Mozart slept here.” If you think this is hard to see, you should have tried finding it among the eight panes of glass that make up the window that was saved. Leopold Mozart carved this using a diamond ring back on 12 August 1763.

There’s no denying among the intelligent that a holocaust happened here in Germany and the surrounding countries that the Nazis occupied. The attempted mass extinction of Jews was the primary aggression, but many, many others were being swept up for the cause of slavery and the “cleansing” of society. A dark chapter for sure, but one I’m happy to see Germany putting on display to acknowledge the savagery.

The Allied bombing of Frankfurt destroyed much of the city; the ensuing fires destroyed even more. One family donated to the Historical Museum a lump of glass that was once their dishes which melted in their cupboard during one such firestorm. Strangely enough, a teacup and sugar bowl remained intact, though locked in what remains of their dishes.

Zyklon B, the notorious “Gift” gas used to kill 100’s of thousands if not millions. “Gift” in German is poison, so there’s no cheeky nonsense from me regarding what this was. It was death in a can, and it came from right here in Frankfurt. The name of the company that made this product was Degesch, part of the industrial conglomerate known as I.G. Farben.

This soldier is celebrating Victory in Europe Day on the 8th of May 1945 in front of the I.G. Farben headquarters building. At the end of the war, it became the Command Headquarters of U.S. Forces Europe for the duration of the occupation

This guy stood outside some building on Kaiserstrasse, and if it weren’t for all the time I spent in the redlight district of Frankfurt in front of the Hauptbahnhof, I may have never seen him

I’ll likely be heading back to the Historical Museum of Frankfurt as there’s much to see, and a few hours wasn’t enough to truly see the 2nd and 3rd floor of the new part of the museum, and consequently, I didn’t get to visit the older side of the museum.

The stack of books in the back of the photo represents the German National Library, and the five books standing up is the old I.G. Farben building, now a branch of Goethe University.

I wasn’t a graffiti artist before I left Germany in 1995, but today, I leave my mark on Frankfurt.

Is this the sign that the dreaded severe storm of the century is approaching?

This photo is only here because it represents a distant part of our past from a club we used to visit called the Batschkapp. In front of that club was a smaller bar and music venue. Elfer Club is now located in Sachsenhausen and even if it were open, there’s no chance we’ll ever see a need to visit, but isn’t that the nature of memories that are better left behind us?

In my ongoing journey into Grüne Sosse and Handkäse mit Musik, Caroline directed me down a series of small streets to some places popular with the apple wine crowd, which automatically suggests traditional Frankfurt food. The first place I came to was Frau Rauscher and they made space for me. Five German lads sitting near the entry acted as the welcoming committee and spent about 15 minutes talking with me. While they played their dice game we talked about what brought me here and life during the pandemic.

This is the spitting Frau Rauscher, which Caroline should tell you more about as she asked that I be sure and snap a photo of her, so here’s her contribution: “Rauscher” is the name for apple cider as it is in the process of fermenting into apple wine. Frau Rauscher refers to a legendary drunk female who was known for stealing punters’ drinks and, when challenged, would spit the drink back into people’s faces instead of returning the glass. A popular ballad in the local dialect describes how one day, she was seen with a big bump on her head, and police were called to figure out whether she had knocked her head while drunk or whether her husband had hit her. The fountain was erected in 1961.

I could have a dozen photos of Frankfurt’s skyline before I leave Germany, and I don’t think I’d ever grow tired of enjoying it.

This monument to Caroline and I has been here for a number of years, but who wants to brag that they’ve had a monument built for them in their lifetimes? Yeah, Frankfurt loves us, and we love Frankfurt.

Day 10 – To Kuehne

June 3, 2021 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Frankfurt, Germany

The streets feel strangely quiet as I head out at 6:30 to fetch breakfast and coffee. What the heck? Eifler Bakery is dark without a sign of life. Oh well, the bakery across the street is open.

Frankfurt, Germany

This place is a self-service spot that I’ve avoided as I couldn’t be sure that I wouldn’t violate COVID mitigation rules I may not be aware of. Good thing others are in here so I can take cues from them. With an egg and bacon sandwich and medium coffee, I returned to this peculiarly quiet neighborhood. At this time of day, Caroline is still awake but will soon be asleep. I used the opportunity to not only let her know I was awake and still missing her but also asked if she knew if there was a holiday here in the first week of June on a Thursday. It is the Feast of Corpus Christi in English, but in German, it is Fronleichnam (which, to naughty school children, translates to Happy Cadaver Day). While a day of recognition for Catholics, the Protestants and Lutherans simply enjoy the extra day off.

My day is going to unfold slowly without much to share about Frankfurt or the surrounding area as I’m spending some time with Stephanie here at Jutta’s til 10:15 when I will leave to meet an old friend, but until then, we are sorting things and determining what remains and what joins the dustbin.