ngeapk.blogspot.com - Wednesday, 13 May, was Karren’s Day!
In my last journal I left you as I was boarding a train from Nürnberg to Bamberg on the last leg of my journey. I was met at the train station by my great friends, Hilde and Adi. They were our landlords when my husband was stationed in the Army there twenty some-odd years ago. I’ve kept in touch ever since and they are always my magnificent hosts when I visit each year.
Though the train stop was Bamberg, Hilde and Adi actually live in a very small village about 15 minutes away called Weipelsdorf. It’s like going home when I go there - most people in the village are related to Hilde somehow and they all know me. I spent my last four days in Europe there. I am always sad during my last week in Europe and life in Weipelsdorf is on the opposite end of the excitement spectrum, to say the least. So I have lots of time to brood.
I used the time helping Hilde (when she lets me) and generally just being fed with writing in between. Hilde teaches me German cooking, I write it down and photograph it, then we all eat it. Pretty great hookup, really.
I also watch German TV with them at night, which is a wonderful experience. Wer Wird Millionär, the German version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, is a staple, and Hilde has some soap she’s addicted to. Only one, though, thank goodness. And then there are the ubiquitous German variety shows, like German Lawrence Welk shows.
However, I was to have a slightly more exciting day that week. Many of you have seen my Nativity set that I’ve been collecting for about six years now. The pieces are from a line by LEPI and are handcarved in Northern Italy. In fact, I wrote an article about them on one of my freelance sites.
The place I buy these beautiful pieces is a shop owned by Georg Ramspeck in Bamberg, an acquaintance of Hilde’s. In fact, she’s the one who steered me there in 2003 when I bought the first pieces. Herr Ramspeck knows me now, and I’m sure he loves to see me coming. I always tell myself I’ll just buy one piece, but I always leave his shop with more than that. I also got my cuckoo clock there and several other wood-carved items and gifts.
Anyway, Thursday 13 May was my day to visit Herr Ramspeck. Hilde called him to let him know I was coming (she always does that), and Adi dropped us off downtown for our day out. We arrived early because I told them I wanted to shoot some digital pix of the city.
The first stop was Klein Venedig, or Little Venice, a row of houses on the river that formerly served as housing for local fishermen. Though I love this little scene, it cracks me up that every row of houses on a river north of Italy is called Little Venice, no matter where it is. Or Venice of the North, like Amsterdam.
The next thing we saw was the new statue of Apollo that had been installed near where we began our trek through the city. The sculpture had caused quite a stir locally and was apparently very expensive - I’ve heard 150,000 Euros (about $215,000). Here it is:
While I appreciated the time and technique the artist put into it, I didn’t like it. There’s no way I would have ever known it was supposed to be Apollo and the colors were strange, not to mention the weird blue eyes. But there it was! Hilde didn’t like it, either.
It was installed as part of Bamberg’s Sculpture Path (Skulpturenweg), an ongoing project that has installed about six large, outdoor sculptures so far in the town. I’ve seen some of the other artworks and they are all very modern like this one. Such a contrast to the backdrop of historical buildings. But that’s Germany. Mixing old and new and not thinking twice about it.
It was about 8:00 a.m. and the service people were preparing the town for the day. My favorite part of the day is early morning and it’s my favorite time to be wandering around a European town, too.
The first person we saw was a chimney sweep, which is very good luck, indeed!
Then I had to dodge a trash truck:
Next I saw the postman on his appointed rounds:
It’s where they brew and serve smoke beer in a former Dominican monastery. The beer is wonderfully tasty - like a smoky Guinness. Click here to see the article I wrote about it.
In Europe, there are sculptures on corners of buildings for no apparent reason:
The trash men showed up again - I though for sure the truck would get stuck in that narrow alley, but it didn’t.
A local brewery getting ready for the Biergarten. Hilde told me she spent a lot of time at this place growing up because her parents were friends of the family that own it.
Bamberg’s famous Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus). It’s built in the middle of the river, so the foundation had to be shaped like a boat.
Since it was built on a bridge, there had to be a pass-through. Here’s the approach from the left:
While Hilde, who shops like a maniac, was looking for bargains in her favorite dress shop, I shot this picture that has the Bamberg Cathedral (Bamberger Dom) in the background. Click here to see the article I wrote about it on one of my freelance sites.
Finally it was time to visit Herr Ramspeck. His shop is very near where we were walking, but it didn’t open until 10:00.
Let me show you how beautiful these pieces are. Here is Mary and Baby Jesus from the set I chose for myself:
Aside from the first purchase I made back in 2003, which was the Holy Family plus Three Kings and a camel, it has always been difficult to choose what I would buy on my visits to Herr Ramspeck. There are over 100 pieces in the set and I get overwhelmed looking at the shelf. However, after an hour or so picking up each piece and salivating, I saw this guy. Can you tell who he is?
I made up my mind immediately because, first of all, his body language tells you he’s the no-room-at-the-innkeeper. Secondly, though, he looks so German. The apron, vest and towel are all things you might see on a modern-day German pub owner. I also bought a dog to help my shepherd with his flock; he was a German shepherd, of course!
After a nice visit with Herr Ramspeck - I’m sure he keeps my credit card on file - we trekked several more places that Hilde wanted to go. As she shopped, I photographed. Here is a scene that I almost missed in front of an ice-cream shop - life imitates art, I guess.
And here was a sentry for a clothes shop:
For lunch we stopped at the Tivoli Italian restaurant owned by the father of Hilde’s nephew’s fiancé. The food was great and, being family and all, the service was stellar:
Tivoli’s courtyard where Hilde’s nephew wed the owner’s daughter last June:
And the view from the courtyard overlooking the Regnitz River:
The food was simply delicious. It was not heavy like some Italian places have. We had wine and an excellent bruschetta appetizer followed by a family-style dish with three types of pasta: spaghetti with a light cream sauce, penne in a tomato-olive sauce, and tortellini in a vodka cream sauce. There was SO MUCH food! We couldn’t possibly have finished it all, though Hilde tried to shame me into eating more, saying they would think we didn’t like it.
The deal was that I would pay for lunch, but I had to end up forcing money on Hilde because she paid, saying that they might not give me a discount since they didn’t know me. Hello! I’m with YOU! Anyway, it was an attempt to get me not to pay, but at 20 Euros (about $30), we got off cheap for that spread. And you don’t have to tip in Europe!
We waddled back to the meeting place where Adi picked us up. The day had been so fun that I couldn’t imagine it getting better. But it did. The last stop of the day was at the Mini dealership in Bamberg.
Hilde and Adi’s tenant manages the local Mini dealership and she invited me to visit her there. Her name is Michaela and she is such a card! She had much Mini swag to give to me when I got there and we had a nice visit, although we were wiped out from walking all over Bamberg that day.
Here’s me in my new car - or the car I will someday own (Michaela says it is hers, but I bet if I offered her enough money I’d drive away in it):
We dragged ourselves back home after that, exhausted but definitely happy. It had been such a long time that just Hilde and I spent time together like that. What a wonderful treat at the end of my trip!
Two days later I was on a train to Frankfurt then boarding a plane to come home. The trip was only a month long. I know, I know - a whole month! However, I’ve been used to two- and three-month trips in the past and this one was just too short. You might not realize it because it’s taken me so long to finish the journals. Just blame the iPod for taking up precious writing time during the journey!
I hope you’ve enjoyed the journals, nonetheless. I’m already saving and planning an even longer trip for spring 2010, so I’m sure you’ll hear about it.
Stay tuned for a couple of domestic adventures I’ve had during the intervening seven months!
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