Jutta – Page 9 – John Wise

Frankfurt To Bad Soden

April 10, 2013 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

The day starts like our previous ones, up early with a cold gray sky peeking through the windows; when does winter end here? This will be the second time we’ve used our rather expensive rental car, although it was the cheapest we could find. A bit of warning to travelers to Europe: be sure you bring proof of international insurance coverage, add it to your policy, or just take the trains because it will cost you about $600 when you show up to pick up the car. As has been our routine, we go to see Jutta, but we’ll only visit once this day as we have a dinner date later in the day.

Having been away for so long, we have lost our ability to judge distances, and our memories tell us that Bad Soden is quite far away. Turns out that it’s really close. So close, in fact, that we arrive in town more than an hour early. No problem for us, we’ll just take a tour of the city center. Driving around to look for a starting point, we pass the old Badehaus (Bath House), and Caroline nearly yells for me to stop. Great, there’s a parking place right here in front of the park. The baths themselves appear to be gone, having been replaced with galleries. I say apparently because that half of the building is undergoing renovation, the other side is a library now. No matter, the grounds and buildings are beautiful. Not so nice is a fountain that offers some of the famous waters noted for their life-affirming qualities. Maybe others have a taste for heavily sulfured water, but my brain was having nothing to do with this idea of swallowing my small handful. Instead, instinct kicked in, forcing my mouth to disgorge the fetid-smelling, wretched-tasting stuff. I required a concerted effort to describe this without relying on vulgarities.

As we walked around, we noticed a trail going up a hillside, hoping for a view overlooking the town or even Frankfurt in the distance; we started the short hike upwards. At the top, there is an old brick tower, not of much purpose other than as a kind of monument, but to what we couldn’t figure out. We are also surrounded by trees, so there is no view to be had. Back down the hill, we passed the Badehaus on our way to the downtown area.

We never made it downtown. On the way, Caroline spots a sign pointing to a small castle. Turns out not to be much of a castle at all, but more a large home, though not without bragging rights. A sign on the building lets us know that König Wilhelm I. Von Württenberg slept here in 1852; a König is a King. Not very impressed, as we’ve both seen real castles, we head back across the park. Along the way, nearly fully surrounded by trees, I spot a small monument with a soldier on top that notes the men who died during World War I and II who had come from Bad Soden. Having spent enough time wandering about, it was time to make our date.

On the way into town, we passed the street Helga lives on, and within just a few minutes, we’re back at that corner and parking the car. Caroline’s godmother lives on the fifth floor in a building without an elevator, and she’s in her early 70’s. I was surprised how, after the first 20 minutes the conversation and rapport started to work, and the time between visits started being erased. Helga is a fiercely independent, very interesting, strong-minded woman. Back when Caroline was 16 she had told her godmother how she never wanted to be a workaholic like Helga. Almost 30 years later Caroline can easily consider this woman as one of the single greatest influences on her own life. Helga never married, but that wasn’t due to a lack of interest in this successful woman, she was busy with her career and seeing the world, which she is currently still actively doing. Our meeting had to be sooner than later, as this weekend she is heading to Spain for a week away from it all, and then in July, she’s off to Rome. Over a fantastic dinner of roast duck breast with mixed veggies and potatoes, we toasted our reunion and talked until it was close to midnight. During the night, we learned much about Helga we didn’t know, such as her 40th birthday, where she rented an entire riverboat, invited 150 of her closest friends, hired a band, and cruised the Main River as she danced into the beginnings of her 40s. With recommendations of which art exhibits to pay attention to during our visit to Frankfurt and her request that we try and meet another time before we return to the States, we wished each other good night. Walking down the five flights of stairs, Caroline and I were all smiles as we felt that Helga could still be a great role model and mentor to not only her goddaughter but to me, too.

Angel Hearts

April 8, 2013 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Oh my, this morning came on fast. Everyone was awake by 5:00 a.m., as Katharina had to be at school by 5:30 for a 6:00 departure for the 12 to 14-hour drive across Germany and France before getting on a ferry for the trip between Calais and Dover across the North Sea. Later today, she’ll be settling in with her host family in Eastbourne in the south of England.

Spent the better part of the day with family, the first half with Jutta. Stephanie was able to join us today, as Mondays are her day to work for family needs. First up, though, we had to go to Jutta’s apartment to collect some clean clothes and pick up her laundry that needed washing. The reason for the fresh change is that Jutta is moving to a rehabilitation facility tomorrow morning. But before Caroline and I joined Stephanie for chores, we went over to Bergerstrasse to a small meat market (Metzgerei Zeiss) where, a couple of days prior, I had discovered the tasty joy of the Schweinebauch Brot (pork belly sandwich) and I needed another. Back at the apartment, we sorted some things we were considering bringing back to the States with us and then helped Stephanie fill Jutta’s bags. When the three of us finally arrived at the hospital, one could see that Jutta’s smile was reaching new heights of happiness. It has been more than 18 years since Jutta has seen her two girls together, and this is the first photo of the three of them together since her daughters were little girls.

After spending some hours with my mother-in-law, it was time to go visit Stephanie’s mother-in-law. Christa is Stephanie’s husband, Klaus’s mother; she is in hospice. Christa has heard much about Caroline and me from Jutta due to all of her adventures with us in the United States and wanted to meet us. In celebration of being in hospice, Christa has thrown away caution and embraced some old bad habits that are making this life transition a little easier, so we brought cigarettes. A small bottle of wine was sitting by the door to her balcony. I loved this woman’s smile and her attitude that lets her have a bit of smoke and drink, followed by a shot of oxygen. We didn’t get to spend much time with Christa, but I’m happy to have had to opportunity to meet my brother-in-law’s mother.

After this visit, it was back to Bürger Hospital to see Jutta once more. By dinner time, we asked for a restaurant recommendation, and Jutta suggested Zum Gemalten Haus – The Painted House. We drove over to Sachsenhausen to find the place closed on Mondays; bummer. Just a few doors down was another restaurant, and it was offering Apfelwein (Apple Wine). This is usually a good sign that the place will be serving traditional German fare. We checked out the menu that, like all German restaurants, is posted outside and thought the menu looked appealing enough that we decided on eating at Adolf Wagner’s seemed like it would be a good choice. Sure enough, it was. Time to get back to Stephanie’s place to let Caroline try and get some work done before going to sleep far too late.

Another Day In Germany

April 7, 2013 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

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.

Verde Railroad With Jutta

February 15, 2012 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona

Well, here we are witnessing incredible southwestern beauty, but it has sat on a hard drive for ten years, languishing as its bits grew dusty. In my race to excavate things lost and buried from our world of experiences, I grab these memories from our past and bring them forward onto my blog, where they have a better chance of seeing the light of day or beaming their light into our eyeballs at some random time in the future. I’m writing this on February 26, 2022, with absolutely no notes to stoke the memory about particular details, but no matter, as better that something’s here instead of nothing.

Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona

At first glance at these old photos, I couldn’t figure out the logic of heading up to Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon, although seeing the landscape covered in snow is a serious great reason how’d we fit this in before the train ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarkdale?

Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona

I figured it out by visiting their website, which shows that here in the winter, the train doesn’t depart until 1:00 in the afternoon. That set things up perfectly to drive a little further north for some snowy tourism in our Red Rock Canyon area.

Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona

True that my mother-in-law visits Arizona from Germany at this time of year to avoid the bitter cold of Frankfurt, not that it’s all that bitter there, but escaping the grey days is a luxury. Seeing snow in this area of Arizona is also a luxury because that certainly doesn’t occur every year.