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Berlin to Lich – Friday 1st July
It turns out that the train station is an easy walk from the hotel. The blisters on my feet are improving and the day’s rest will be good for them.
The train is comfortable. The country out of Berlin is flat with a lot of agriculture.
As we travel nearer Hanau the county is undulating with forests as well as fields. It’s a gloomy day but we are travelling through the worst of the weather. There are a lot of wind farms – giant 3-blade turbines, sometimes one in a village, sometimes as many as 12 or 20.
We arrive in Hanau 15 minutes late. It is raining – drizzling. We find a taxi and the car rental company. Once again we speak a mixture of German and English.
They tell us that the car won’t be ready until 5pm, but after further investigation we find that two people with the same name of ‘Bruce’ have booked cars on the same day and ours is ready. Ours is a black BMW 318i – that’ll do.
With the help of a staff member who speaks English, we set the Satellite Navigation for Alte Klostemühle, however the rental guy gives us different directions. I have studied the maps in detail and I am confident about where we are going. I am very uncomfortable sitting on the right hand side as Bruce learns to keep to the centre of the road – surely that lamp post has my name on it…
Despite navsat telling us we have 40 km to go, we find our accommodation. It is wonderful – old and full of character.
We have come here to find the village of Nieder-Weisel where my great, great grandmother Anna Margaretha BILL was born in 1831. She and her sister migrated to Australia in the 1850s when they were in their teens.
After registering (once again mixed German/English), we drive to Burtzbach and Nieder-Weisel. It is drizzling and grey, we hope it will be better tomorrow.
On the way back we discover the Müzenberg Burguine and climb over it and up the tower. The view is spectacular, pity about the drab day.
We also drive to Lich, which is a pretty town, lots of half timber houses and a decent size brewery Licher Bräurier. The town seems to have some wealth – is that a legacy of the brewery?
We return to Alte Klostemühle and explore the cloisters. There is a cemetery dedicated to a group of people (military and civilian) who were executed during World War II. And there are swallows nesting in the rafters.
The room is fantastic. It appears that Barbara Busch has selected this room for us. It has beautiful big windows on two sides and looks out over the garden and the restaurant.
Bruce enjoys a beer after all the driving and we have dinner in their restaurant. I have wild boar and Bruce has pork – it is a wonderful meal, one of the best.
Nieder-Weisel to Heidelberg – Saturday 2nd July
The hotel is crowded for breakfast but a large group leaves by bus. A typical German breakfast – cereal, fruit, cold sliced meats and cheese, pastries and coffee, but the service is not as good as last night.
We wander around the cloister and take some photos. It is very picturesque and the sun is coming out and brightening the flowers.
It is time to meet Kristian Frank at Nieder-Weisel. He shows us the church. We climb the tower and look over the village and the surrounding countryside, Burtzbach, Müzenberg and Lich are all visible although the air is somewhat hazy. We are still in the tower when the bells chime 11am – what a racket!
The village is smaller and perhaps poorer that what we saw yesterday and it is being swallowed up by Burtzbach. Highlights are the headquarters of the order of St John and a visit to the cemetery. Sadly, graves are removed after thirty years, so although we see a lot of ‘Bill’ headstones, none are old enough to match what I know of my family.
Kristian tells me that Kelvin Williams did a lot of his research through the Church of the Latter Day Saints. When he died Alan Haintz borrowed a lot of his research material to build the web site of the The Nieder-Weisel Story http://users.bigpond.net.au/haintz/index.html, but this information has since been destroyed or lost.
Now that I have seen the village I would love to know if there are any connections to Anna Margaretha.
After our tour of Nieder-Weisel we drive to Burtzbach and have lunch. It is a pretty village, with beautifully painted half-wooden houses in the square.
Now we navigate to the freeway and this time our talking navsat directs us right to the car rental station in Heidelberg where Barbara and Harald meet us. Bruce has enjoyed the freeway drive, clocking up to 160kph and I become accustomed to my place in the left-hand drive car.
Barbara and Harald drop us off at their apartment in Heidelberg and arrange for the yellow cab (aka Ka) to pick us up at 6:30 for a 7pm dinner.
We have enough time to walk into town and get ourselves oriented. It is ‘nearly drizzling’, but not cold. We find the high street and walk its length, exploring shops and noting the huge crowds of people, many tourists, mostly speaking German.
Rebecca and Ben Criddle pick us up. It is good to see Ben, he is on an internship in Bremen as part of his aeronautical studies. It is evident that Ben’s German is very good, he is relaxed as he chats and laughs and probably even jokes in German.
We have a great night, lots of champagne, wine and a wicked punch. We eat beef baked on the barbeque, and Rebecca’s potato salad, followed by a cheese platter and ice cream and fruit. We sit at the table all night, enjoying the fabulous company of Barbara and Harold, Michael & Angelika and the ‘kids’ – Rebecca and Felix, Pascal, Ben and Katharina. I think the dining table is my favourite place!
Pascal is designated driver and drives us home through the forest.
It has been lovely to meet Katharina’s parents Angelica and Michael and Rebecca’s boyfriend Felix.
Heidelberg and Bammental – Sunday 3rd July
Pick up today at 3:30pm. The head is thick and the body slow, however Bruce finds croissants at a local bakery and tames the coffee machine. Then we head into town.
Down the main street – it is quieter, Sunday morning. We take the Bergbahn (mountain train) to Kloster. It is beautiful, great views iver the countryside now that the weather has cleared. We treat ourselves to Kaffee and Kücher – half a pear cheesecake each.
Rebecca and Ben pick us up again. Yesterday they drove along the river to Bammental, today we go over the mountains.
We arrive at the Kütemeyer’s and are taken for a walk around the village. Michael has lived here all his life, his father was a doctor here, as he is now. He shows us the oldest house in the village, the forest, the cemetery, the church which has no clock on the side facing the cemetery, the river and the town hall.
The days in Germany are as long as in England, perhaps not as early dawn, but certainly a late twilight.
After our walk we sit down to a huge meal – antipasta outside in the garden. Beef olives and spätzler inside. We return outside for cake and chees, mountains of it. After yesterday’s over indulgence, I struggle to do justice to everything Angelika has prepared. It is fantastic.
At 10:00pm – still light, we say our good byes to the wokring adults and Pascal and Rebecca taxi us back town. We are exhausted, but indulge in a cleansing beer before bed.
Heidelberg and a boat ride – Monday 4th July
The “kids”, Pascal, Katharina, Rebecca and Felix, have been summonsed into tour guides and meet us at the apartment at 10:00am.
we walk up Philosopher’s Way, overlooking Heidelberg old town. Then down the steps to the Old Bridge. Across the Old Bridge to see the rat face and the mice. We find a Japanese brass band playing German omp-pah music in University Square – what a giggle.
Then it is up the hill to the Schloss (castle) and a view of all the sights. We visit the pharmacy museum and learn that control came early to the German pharmaceutical world.
The gardens of the castle are lovely, but poos old Neptune is somewhat out of proportion.
We hear claps of thunder and the sunshine has changed to haze, but we are not phased. Down the hill to have lunch – pork schnitzel (good) and fries (unnecessary), then to the river to buy tickets for a cruise. We have a half hour to wait, so walk back to town in time for the rain to start. It buckets down.
After sheltering from the rain, we go down to the river for the boat ride. The kids are exhausted and a little bored by the boat rider. We go up the Neckar, through two locks to a village with 4 castle ruins. It is wet and cold, however very pretty. We pass camp sites and the kids decide they don’t want to grow old, like the campers we see!
We say our goodbyes, then Bruce and I wander into town to find him a book, us an internet café and dinner. We do find t-shirts for Bruce and gummy bears for Hayden and Evan. Dinner is more challenging – plenty of Italian, varieties of Asia, but not much German. Furthermore at 8:30pm the streets are empty.
At the Two Swans I have roast pork and spätzler , Bruce has a weißwurst (sausage) and boiled potatoes. After Angelika’s wonderful cooking, the spätzler is a little bland.
Next page: Heidelberg to Paris
