My mother, Ruth Hiller, turned 92 this July. She neither looks like it or acts like it, so I was not surprised earlier last year when she expressed the desire to have her birthday with our relatives in Germany in July of 2008. I and my sisters worried that she might not be up to it, but our worries were in vain. It was clearly something that mom wanted to do, so I decided to do it. This is a brief recounting of our trip, with some photographs. I hope that you will enjoy them.
Wednesday/Thursday 9 - 10 July 2008
I do go to work - everyone thinks that I am crazy for doing so. There is a conference call and a meeting with my boss, John. At lunch I get a plant for Lee Wood, the new VP of Compliance, and a card for the VPs to sign. Finally, I leave at 3:00 in order to go to the store for some last minute items, and to go home and finish packing. Mom is already there, Wendy having dropped her off at 7:30 in the morning prior to my meeting with Dr. Aratow. I stop in Burlingame and pick up toiletries, chocolate, getting home around 5:00. I finish packing and take a shower, and shave. Arthur is there ready to take us to the airport, so we leave early, around 6:15.
The flight is at 9:20, so check in is easy and we wait for mom's wheelchair. Security is not difficult either, especially when you have one in your party in a wheelchair, so we have a bit of dinner at Il Fornaio at the north end of the terminal. With mom in the wheel chair, we are first to board, but our seats are screwed up. I nice Swedish gentleman trades with me, and mom and I are together at 28 H and K.
The flight is uneventful, we sleep most of the time and arrive in München around 5:30. Baggage is slow and I am amazed that we both actually made it into Germany. At Passport Control, I gave the man my passport and walked through. Mom and her escort were at the station next. Suddenly I hear, "Michael, come here!" It seems that I gave my passport officer my mother's passport and she had mine! Makes one wonder.
Expensive
taxi, ¤ 70. The driver, however is delightful and my German kicks
in just in time - he speaks no English, but is great at Turkish. We drive
through the Englischer Garten and past the Haus der Kunst. "You
know what this is?" he says in German, to which I reply, "Ja,
Hitler!" He laughs.
At Herzog Wilhelm we discover that we ar the Tannenbaum and in one large room, not the suite that I thought that I had booked. Oh, well. There is dinner at Bodo's (ein Paar) and then back to the hotel, because Mom is beat. I go out for a quick walk and encounter a string quartet with an accordian (!) (continuo?) at the front of the H&M Store. St. Michael's is open and I go in and just sit. Now I'm tired - time to go to bed.
Friday, 11 July 2008
I get up
at 6:00, shower and dress and go over to Herzog Wilhelm to check on email,
but not with much success. I come back and Mom is ready for breakfast, so
we go down to the Breakfast Room. All is quiet and peaceful until several
Turkish kids arrive.
I take Mom over to Asam's Kirche, but it is closed so we walk over to the new Jewish Synagogue and from there make a slow walk through the Victuellen Markt making our way the the Rezidence. There is tea first near the Opera. My is fixed on a young couple sitting next to us - and wants to take their picture. When I get home I realize that she took the photo anyway.
I want to see the rooms in the Rezidence that I missed
last year when Arthur and I were here. Mom's not interested and elects to
shop in the store and sit in the spacious and cool lobby. So I visit the
Schatzkammer again, and this time take a few photos. 
Then I hit the rooms that
I missed including two chapels. My real goal is the Antiquarium, however
it is closed, and I keep hearing promises that it will open later in the
day. It never does.
Mom and I go into Theatinerkirche and sit for a bit. We look around a bit, and then she points to the ceiling and says, "That looks like a Luther rose up there!" Always the faithful Lutheran, never wanting to give an inch of interest to Rome. We go up Theatiner Straße and have an ice cream, and then make our way back to the hotel. Mom is tired, so I spring for a cab at Odeonsplatz.
We have lunch at Tannenbaum, and then Mom goes up for
a nap. I go back to the Rezidence, which is still not open, so I visit the
Dom, and it's bookstore where I get an Evangelische Gesangbuch. I
also visit St. Peter's and Holy Spsirit, and make another attempt at the
Rezidence, but to no avail.
I wend my
way back stopping at St. Michael's, the Burgersall, and the Damenstift.
Lot's of walking and I'm tired, so decide to take a nap before meeting Philip
for dinner. Mom wants to look at a shop that sells cross-stich items, but
they only take orders for others to do the work. Asam's Kirche is open so
I take her in there. "Really ornate!" she says. We have a nice
dinner with Philipp and will meet him again on Sunday evening. We crash.
Saturday, 12 July 2008
We breakfast
at the hotel and then walk over to the post to pick up stamps for Mom's
postcards. Then to a taxi so that we can get over to the Alte Pinakotech.
What a wonderful collection, and how disheartening when I find out that
the German Galleries (all the Dürer) are temporarily closed. The other
paintings were not to be sneezed at - a marvelous collection. Mom walks
through some of it and rests for other parts. She very interested in a pair
of pearl earrings in the museum shop, which she gets. Finally, she has had
enough, and we walk over to the Propylaean, Glyptotech, and
the Antike Sammlung. It's a wonderful collection of Graeco-Roman
buildings, that only the Germanic peoples seem to have been able to accomplish.
The senate in Wien, and the Neue Wache in Berlin are also examples. While
waiting for the taxi, I wonder where the 
Nazi "Ehren Temple" were, pavilion-like
buildings added to the ensemble to honor Nazi heroes. I turn around, and
there they are, the foundations for the temples, that were torn down after
the war.
We taxi over to Odeonsplatz and have lunch in a courtyard
near Theatinerkirche. It's quite delightful, in spite of the low level rain
that is beginning to make an appearance. I want to show Mom Funfhöfe,
a wonderful shopping center designed by Herzon & Meuron, that Arthur
and I discovered last year. We do a bit of shopping and then it really begins
to rain. We hoof it over to the Rezidence to buy an umbrella for Mom, and
swim back up to the Odeonsplatz taxi stand. Back at the hotel we take a
nap.
Mom is still sleeping, so I go to check out the Altkatholisches Kirche in the neighborhood, but it is closed, and there are no windows that avail themselves to peeking in. I go to the Synagogue and to their bookstore, and buy a history of the Nazi period in München.
Sunday, 13 July 2008
We again get up early and have breatkfast at 7:00, although it wasn't supposed to be open until 7:30. The attendant is very accomodating and friendly. It's nice to have the room to ourselves.
We walk through
Karlstor over to the Karstadt Department Stor where we wait for our Viator
tour bus. It is raining lightly. The bus is actually two groups, one going
to Etal and then to the Zugspitze, and the rest of us going to Linderhof,
and Oberamergau. It's not all that crowded, and so we can relax a bit. One
of the guides, Debbie, speaks German with a really horrible American accent,
while the other, Irmgaard, a Bavarian is delightful. In her eyes everything
her e is happy and natural; happy cows, happy sheep, happy farmers, happy,
happy, happy. She's actually believable. I like her because she paid special
attention to Mom, and accomodated our situation.
At Linderhof, the tour is a bit strenuous for Mom - heavy rain and treks uphill. However she does it, with little complaint. It is very crowded, in spite of the raining, regenshirmen über alles. The palace is not what I expected. Lovely, it has the taste of an Urdisneyland to it. Everything is too clean, and perfect, and, of course, "over the top." The introversion of Ludwig's rooms is almost crushing, and self-absorbtion of the mirrored study is painful.
With us are Arabs, another USA couple, who graciously
take our photograph, and a young woman from Finland. After the tour of Linderhof,
the group is to go up (funny - I always thought that it would be
down) to the Venus Grotto. Mom resists a bit and doesn't want to
do it. I convince her to give it a whirl. It is a climb for her, and we
take our time getting there. She makes it.
The Venus Grotto
was built for one person, not for the twenty or thirty that were in there
with us. Nevertheless we get a sense of the place - here it's really 19th
Century Disneyland. It is fascinating and literally fabulous. The background
Lohengrin, although appropriate, could have been dispensed with.
This is a place for the sense of sight, and the constructions of the mind.
It's odd. Ludwig was deposed for depleting the treasury of Bavaria. They're
certainly making it back now!
We go down past the Maurisches Haus, enchanting,
but built for the Parish Exhibition! There is a side to Ludwig that surprises
me. We continue down rain-drenched fields, really quite beautiful, and have
lunch at the schloß restaurant, and then head off to buy whatever
we can find in the store.
Back on the bus, we head off to Oberamergau, and huge disappointment. But what was I thinking, and indeed this was the part of the tour that was a "throwaway". A town of tourists, and woodshops, on a Sunday in Catholic Bavaria - empty! It is a village of trinkets. On the bus again, we move down the mountain to pick up the others in Garmisch - I take a nap.
Back in München, we nap, and then meet Philipp at Lamm, a restaurant near Sendlinger Tor. It's a wonderful time with Philipp, with conversations about his schooling, his service in Italy, and his dreams and hopes. He's really become quite the young man. I truly enjoy his company.
Monday, 14 July 2008
I get up early
and have breakfast at 7:00. I need to get out to the airport and pick up
a rental car, and so go get on S1 (SBahn). It's actually a bit of
a long trip, but it is fun watching those who are heading out of München,
into the suburbs for work. Once at the airport, I find the rental car place,
and marvel at how well-designed the airport is - one of the best. The transaction
goes well, and I'm soon on the Autobahn heading back into München,
desparatly trying to remember the route that the taxi driver took just three
days earlier. Soon I see the Feldfernhalle, at the end of the road,
and I know where I am.
It's raining, so the logistics around luggage, etc. is difficult, but quickly done. We are at one hotel, but need to check out at its sister just around the corner. Finally, we're ensconced in the car, and I can't figure out how to get it into reverse (something about pulling up on a little ring around the gearshift lever). Finally, I figure it out. Mom is amazed that we have a standard transmission, being used the American practice of always providing that. I'm glad. A "stick" is a lot more fun. Getting out of München is not fun. Limited access roads end, or begin at some distance from the centrum. So we travel a bit before we reach the autobahn. We're on the A8, and soon breezing our way past Augsburg.
We stop at a rest stop to have lunch, and then proceed
on past Ulm, and then Stuttgart. After Augsburg, the land changes and becomes
remarkabley like Kansas. There are lots of fields of wheat and corn. It's
absolutely lush. You can't see anything of the places that we are passing,
so we could be anywhre. At Pfortzheim we drop south, through Schwann, where
there's a new rotary right near Günter and Franziska's pharmacy, and
move on to Badherrenalb-Rotesol, where we have wonderful rooms and a view
toward the west.
We're staying at the Hotel Lamm, where Arthur and I stayed last summer when we visited Günter and Franziska. It's a lovely hotel and the owner's, Herr und Frau Schwemmle are quite wonderful. The rooms (Mom was decked out in a suite) are quite nice, and you are met with fresh fruit upon arrival. A view out the back reveals a beautiful pasture, and horses. I could spend a long time here.
Later in the afternoon
when Günter comes, I go to get Mom. Just up from a nap, she stumbles
in her room and falls, tearing the skin on one of her wrists, and banging
her head against the floor. So it's off to Neuenbürg and to the hospital
and six stitches. It's so good to have Günter there, who moves us around
the hospital, and who is known at the hospital.
With Mom all bandaged up and ready to go, we go back to Schwann and meet the family. Elisa has grown up so much that I keep mistaking her for Vera, and Henri has really grown. They're great kids - most enjoyable. We climb into our cars and go out for dinner, where I have Schwabisches Spaetzle - ah, pasta and ham and cheese. Who could ask for anything more. We all have a delightful visit, catching up on family events, whose where, and whose doing what. It's as if no time has passed at all. We sleep well that night.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
We have a wonderful breakfast in Lamm's dining room. There is an interesting article in the Fueilleton of the paper on the Lambeth Conference, and the Church of England as a political and as a religious entity. It is one of the most engaging articles that I've read on the Anglican Communion and its current difficulties. I wish our papers could be so concise and probing. There are too many sacred cows in America.
Günter
comes by and we drive through Bad Herrenalb up past Karlsrühe to Friedrichstal.
We wander through modern suburbs and the ancillary highways that surround
A5. This is in the heart of the industrial route that flanks the Rhine River.
We are wending our way to a small village in which my forebearer, Jean Terras,
lived in the 18th century. The village is not remarkable, excepting the
large Huguenot church buildings in the center of the town. The church is
closed, so we can't go in, but walk up to the half-timber house which is
marked with a 1.5 meter stone with his name and dates engraved Jean Terras,
1735 - 1803. The current owner comes out and we have a delightful conversation
with him. He talks a bit about the house, and what life is like in the town
now.
We're off
to lunch in B________, where my mother absolutely delights in Günter's
presence. The restaurant is in a back patio, and is soon filled with happy
Germans, and happy food as well. We note that their doing a "Tapas
Night" on the weekend. What fun! It would be a delight seeing Germans
doing Tapas.
We make a giant
loop back ending up behind Neuenbürg, and above Badherrenalb. We stop
at a mountain stream, where we sample the water, which was delicious. Then
it's back to Rötensol for a deserved nap. I find that I'm emotionally
tired. Mom's fall, and all the arrangements that Günter made, and then
the family dinner for this evening are a huge on-going loop in my mind.
At seven
all the family comes: Günter, Franziska, Vera and Simon, Elisa, and
Henri - all are there. Frau Schwemmele has done a wonderful job decorating
the table and coming up with a wonderful menu. There is sek waiting
for everyone, and soon comes laughter and stories. We keep it up until eleven,
and then we all crash. Delightful evening and delightful people. Mom's birthday
celebration has been properly begun.
Wednesday, 16 July
We have to go to the hospital and have Mom's stiches looked at. So we have breakfast (today's Feuilleton is on Bp. Gene Robinson - again, very well written) and then go and pick up Günter and go to the hospital in Neuenbürg. All seems well, Mom healing nicely, so we take Günter home, and continue on our way - to France!
There is a
quick trip down the A5 to Baden-Baden, and then over the Rhine to Hallen
to see the Ligne Maginot. The last time I was here, Arthur was bemused
over the fact that all the buildings and churches in the towns were new
- and then we came on the Maginot Line. "Ah!" We stop for a photograph
and then move on to Betchdort for pottery and lunch (I hope). Everything
seems closed, including places to have lunch. We do find one place, where
Mom picks up a couple of items. I have confused Betchdorf with Soufflenheim,
and so everything is off in my mind. Getting lost, multiple times, we finally
race back across the river to Rotensol by way of Bad Herrenalb.
We change
clothes and race down the hill to Schwann, where we are warmly greeted by
the family. I keep mistaking Elise for Vera. She has grown up so much and
looks completely different. Mom had the same problem. There are gifts and
flowers waiting for Mom, and Maria, Günter's mother. Two cakes are
sitting on the table. A Schwartzwälder Kirschtorte and another
creation, from Franziska's hand and oven, a Chocolate Cake with mascarpone,
raspberries, and blueberries. Delicious, especially accompanied by a toast
with Cremánt, and small quiches. Later there is a light dinner
with shrimps, chicken wings with dipping sauces, guacamole, and a wonderful
Spanish white wine. All of this is followed by a white and mil chocolate
pudding with rotegrütze and cream, washed down with espressi.
Mom is entranced,
and she actually speaks some German with Maria. It is a wonderful time sharing
news, stories, and renewing our friendships. Maria and the children leave,
and we do so as well. We've once again been treated so well by the Ortliebs
- such wonderful people. I think Mom is relishing here delightful birthday
evening.
Thursday, 17 July
We get up early, have breakfast and check out from the wonderful Hotel Lamm, and then drop by Günter and Franziska's for a quick goodbuy. I follow Günter's carefully devised route through Karlsruhe, Lanter, and Koblenz on our way to Aachen. It's a bit of a drive, and there is a great deal of construction. Mom is fascinated with the license plates and indications of which country they are from. Just judging from the traffic, it appears that European business is vital and bustling. Every other truck seems proclaim that its company is dealing with: logistic, logistick, logistique, lojistik, or logistica. We pass over tal after tal, valley after valley, and when we pass over Maria Laach, I very much want to get off the road and visit this wonderful monastery.
We
stop for a light lunch around Koblenz, and get to Aachen around 1:30 or
so. The hotel is easily found and we park and check in. Mom is tired, so
there is a nap.
Finally
we get up. I want to see the Dom. It is the whole purpose of this portion
of the trip - my one little request. We walk toward the Dom, and Mom is
walking very slowly. Then there are delaying tactics: flowers, cards,
ice cream, sitting down, pointing out mundane things, and all this while
the Dom is waiting. Finally we do make it there, and Mom is totally unengaged.
She simply does not want to be there, which makes me quite sad. Between
the rain, which is beginning, Mom's reaction, and the really bad book stores,
I am in a dark mood inspite of seeing this wonderful church.
Mom sits while I take pictures. Modeled on San Vitale, in Ravenna, this was Charlemagne's claim to legitimacy and kinship to the Roman Imperium. It's such an important building. The mosaics are quite wonderful, and after I buy a license to photograph, I spend some time attempting to capture it. It's late in the afternoon, and the light is not the best. We go to the museum, and Mom is not interested in that either - it's her own little protest. I take it all in, however - there's so much to see. When I have reached my comfortable limit, realizing that she's there just waiting, we walk back to the hotel.
Later we have dinner at an Argentinian restaurant - lots of meat - Mom will like this. There's a gay couple behind us who are having a lovefest/fight. The blond smiles at me...
Friday, 18 July
We get up early (odd, this seems to be the pattern this trip) and have brakfast. I load up the car and we check out and leave. Mom first has to take a picture of a building that she finds interesting (19th Century and clean).
We get back on the
A4 and head toward Köln, first stopping at Düren to see the Rudolf
Schwartz church their, Annakirche. I looked it up the evening prior
just to make certain that we could find it - thinking that is was just a
parish church in some non-descript city. And here it is in the Zentrum,
a huge Pilgerkirche, a pilgrimage site that has drawn faithful Christians
for centuries. Destroyed in the Second World War, it was rebuilt in the
early sixties by Rudolf Schwartz with wonderfully golden stones. When we
drive up to park down town, and I see the chancel façade looming
in the distance, I have the same reaction as when I first was the Nike of
Samothrace at the Louvre - I cried. The tears were about the reality of
the beauty, that I had only seen in black and white photographs. It was
real! The "rose window" faces on the street and it is this aspect
that greets the visitor. There is a mass going on, and Mom is waiting in
the car, so I take some out door photos, especially of details, and then
briefly go inside. It is well beyond what I thought it would be. I am spell
bound.
There is a bookstore
across the street, so I go there to buy some books, and have a Lutherische-katolische
Besuch with the sales lady. She's still quite the ecumenicist, a happy
remnant of a time that is unfortunately lost on Benedict XVI, and his lot.
We have a nice talk and I buy books about the church.
We swing around
Köln, (I can't even see the Dom in the distance) and go east a bit
and then drop down south on our way to Ulm. All goes well until Wurzburg,
where traffic is at an absolute stand still for about an hour. We make it
to Ulm, late in the afternoon, and go to our hotel, which is part of the
Bahnhof - lots of surly looking kids, drunks, and commuters.
Mom is pooped, so
I walk over to the cathedral (Lutheran) and take a peek. It's in the evening
and the picture taking is not so good. There are Bern-like liturgical solutions,
although the altars are clearly altars - not tables. There are several altars:
one below the pulpit in the nave (this was also seen in Bern), one at the
chord of the apse, and another in the choir at the predellum, and then a
high altar. There are lots of new windows, and not all are interesting.
There's a wonderful statue of Our Lady next the Sacrament House, graced
with flowers. My battery runs out - no more photos.
Ulm seems a bit rough and it is a Friday night (remember, München was like this the first time we came into it). We walk to an italian place for dinner. I think we've both, had it!
Saturday, 19 July
We arise and
have breakfast with a bunch of Danes (I think), and then check out of the
hotel and drive over to the Cathedral. I park close so that Mom doesn't
have to walk to far. The garage is beautifully placed under and ancient
town hall. We walk over to the cathedral and come at the front from the
south side. Mom is distressed at all the weeds growing at the base. There
are sculpture troves along the side and we take our time to look at them.
Mom has been here before, so once we get inside she sits down to take it
all in. I go off for light and better pictures than last evening. The side
chapels are beautiful and functional. There are prayer lights in the area
to the left of the nave, but there is very little evidence of the pastoral
staff that serves here. Unfortunate.
I've had my fill,
so we go out to find a market spread at our feet at the portal of the cathedral.
We buy some cherries, go back to the car, and head toward München -
We've got a 1:30 flight to catch. And we do catch it, following lunch at
the Biergarten in the airport.
I'm glad I did this. I hope that Mom enjoyed it. I'm tired.
