Southern Germany

 

July 25th

Leaving Germany gave me a strange sense of relieve which surprised me when passing the „border“ back over the Rhine and this time into France: the weight (I wasn’t even aware of until then) came off my shoulders. If I try to explain it, I can only say that it must be something like: feeling responsible……for……something Germans do that I find ridiculous or embarrassing ….I am digging to find an answer…

But for what, exactly? I don’t know…

What I know is that I enjoy NOT understanding/speaking the language for the most part. It’s still Europe, but the exposure to different cultures, habits, characters…..is the “spice in the soup” for me as a traveler. My initial ecstatic moment on the bridge from Switzerland to Germany lasted as long as the bridge over the Rhine and then I was in “my home zone” (maybe a bit numb…it has been a while…) and I didn’t notice it until leaving Germany again over the next bridge that I felt free from something like discomfort……

But first: In Germany, the Black Forest where my mother lives: What a beautiful country: summer!….like it will never end. Stunning fields, mountains, hills, rivers and valleys to sit and dream, little villages with an abundance of wild flowers and homes so lovingly taken care of, so lush. Planter boxes with matching colors and trinkets, bells and dwarfs in the gardens and on pathways. Just like in Switzerland (though that country feels to me like “Germany on steroids”) people give a f….

We enjoyed a thunder, lighting and rain show one evening after a week of scolding hot temperature, the timing was perfect. We sat with my mom, playing board games (Halma!) after dinner. A little lost family together again. Lost because it had been 4 years and not all important members were present. Still, my mom was happy!

We stayed for 10 days in an empty apartment across the hall from her. It helped to give each other space. 

We found the lake she swam in 37 years ago with her late husband when she was 10 years younger than I am right now. Those were wonderful years for her and she screeched blissfully wading through the water with her tender, old feet hurting like hell on the rocky bottom. 

We also had a “field trip” to the famous Bodensee for a little late birthday

celebration where we ate a scrumptious lunch in Meersburg because Konstanz was too crowded for us. The ferry took the car and us right across the lake. What a delighted mommy! 

Another wish she needed me to respect was to help her find a final resting place. Niedereschach where she first landed after changing her life drastically (moving south from her home town Berlin with a new man, building a house and a new life) was her destination, but the cemetery wasn’t to her liking anymore and we drove one evening to a place near where she lives now in Bad Dürrheim. 

Leaving her to her senses on a bench between the trees, soaking in the peaceful atmosphere on a warm summer’s night, she was resolved and announced that this is the right place!

A few days prior we were entertained by a sparrow family. One of the youngsters had fallen out of the nest and had landed on my mother’s balcony on the top floor. Incapable of flying over the high side walls to freedom the little fluffy, tiny thing chirped out to its parents every waking minute. 

Here the wall it had to fly over…sorry…Chirpy is not in this picture.

First we thought it was abandoned, but soon we learned that the parents were not far and fed Chirpy when ever they didn’t feel threatened by us. So we gave space and watched behind glass doors to witness nature at its finest. 

On day three both parents lured their baby - food in beak -to give it all it got and fly, hop and fly to land on one of the flower pots and from there to the top of the wall. Trial and error, it kept trying…even landing on one of those wobbly high stemmed flowers, swaying until it gave up and fell back to the ground. It was exhausting to see a little being with such efforts only to fall back and start again and again. All three of us were mesmerized for as long as it took when finally on day four it took flight. First I thought is was one of the parents, but when I saw the fluff ball I knew it was the little Chirpy baby sparrow with all its might and my heart took a leap with it over the railing into the world it would soon learn to live a sparrow life.

The reason I am telling this story is, that my mom - having picked a spot for her urn at the cemetery mentioned earlier- wants me to place a grave stone in the shape of an open book with her name, an angle and a little sparrow on her her urn spot said: 

“I can’t wait, I am already excited”

When I looked at her a bit astonished, she cracked up and we both had a good laugh. Humor runs in the family…even in moments like this.

Seems as if this time I did everything right (for a change) and we departed shortly after she announced smiling: “It’s time for you to leave and continue your tour.”

Ready, get set, go!!