Travelogue 1995 / Episode Three

Travelogue Deutschland 1995 / Episode Three

Preparations and Sightseeing
Today I awakened at about eight and was treated to the usual and very delicious German style Fruhstuck. Martin's mother had the week off, and told me that she really enjoyed sitting and talking with us over breakfast. Today, Martin suggested that I go with his younger brother Matthias' to Calw [pronounced as Kaalf] and have him show me around that city. Martin needed to use the time to tidy up his school belongings, which still needed organizing and storing from the friday that he picked me up. I spent about a half hour getting my bag packed for the trip to Matthias' and Christinas house in Hanau, since we would leave right after lunch. It was nice to have the option to leave a few things behind in Zavelstein, and only take what I needed for the trip to Hanau and Heidelberg.

My first drive in Germany
It was good to get away with Martin's brother Matthias', since I think he felt under some pressure to speak English at the house with parents watching. I also had my first opportunity to drive in Germany. I think that I was a bit more wary than Martin usually is I did not know the steep, winding and rainy roads as well as he does.

The Old Church at Kentheim
Along the way to Calw, Mats and I stopped at an old church in Kentheim, which sits close to the river Nagold. It was quite old built in the 13th century. It was relatively small compared to some old churches that Ive been to, but its age surely made up for any size limitations. First, Mats and I went off to the wall built to hold off high water, and I did a sketch in my sketchbook of the tower and one side of the building. Mats told me that in the spring, the church floods out, and has maybe three feet of water in the sanctuary almost covering the seats inside. I even saw photos on the announcement board. While I sketched, Mats went to get the key to the front door of the old chapel, so that we could view the interior. I was just finishing my last few pencil strokes when raindrops began falling on my drawing. We both ran to the church door and Mats let us in with the key. Inside, I could see light streaming in through windows on the wall that faced the river. On the interior walls, there were paintings of what appeared to be saints, though the details were very hard to make out. Mats told me that these wall paintings had been discovered in the 1960s when a restoration was being performed on the structure. They dated to the late 18th century.

On to Calw
After returning the key to the caretakers house, Mats and I hopped into the car and continued our drive to the city of Calw. Mats mother had a request to pick up some fruit at the food market on our way. Martin had suggested that we also check out the strawberry yogurt that was sold at this market, but unfortunately, they were all out. Returning to the car, we stowed our fruit bounty in the trunk and continued into the center of the city to look for a parking spot. It was still drizzling, which added to the atmosphere of Calw as we neared middle of town. We entered the first lot that we saw and were fortunate to pull in as someone else was just pulling out. I parked the car and we gathered our umbrellas after the rainstorm in Liebenzell I didnt want to take any chances! The city of Calw is situated in a valley, and the Nagold river flows directly through it. From what I understand, there are sometimes problems in the spring with floods in the lower portions of the city. Mats and I began by walking through the center of town, past all kinds of shops selling furniture, clothing, jewelry, food, building supplies and so on. At the top of the first small hill in town, we stopped and found some more 7mm leads for my sketching pencil.

A Visit to Matthias' School
I suggested that Mats show me his school, which is in Calw and was Martin's school before him. We began a climb up into the hills that surrounded the city, almost to the top of them before reaching the school. It was a great view from the front courtyard of the school building. After viewing Calw from above, Mats showed me the Herman Hesse High School that stood right behind the school building. Hesse was born in Calw.

The One-Hundred-and-One Steps
Matthias' then led me along a ridge that overlooked the town below where I could see row after row of orange roofed structures and small gangways and gardens occupying the narrow spaces in between the houses and shops. A few blocks along the ridge, Mats told me of the one-hundred-and-one steps [they round it off to 100 in the German name] and that we could take them if we wanted to. I agreed to that, so we began our stair-walking in earnest. It was quite interesting to walk down between the narrow gangways between the buildings and hear conversations flowing out of the windows that we were passing and seeing gardens wherever there was free space. About half way down, we passed an older woman that was hanging her wash out to dry in her mini-backyard.

Almost a Second Sketch
When we arrived that the last stair, Mats asked what I might like to do next I suggested that we return to the small chapel built on a bridge over the Nagold river. He agreed and we began walking through the narrow streets to the bridge. We arrived there in only a few minutes and I sat down, preparing to make a sketch of the small and quite old chapel on the bridge. I took a look at my watch and realized that it was already noon! We had promised to be back by about noon for a lunch before leaving for Hanau. We got back to the car as quickly as we could and began the drive back to Zavelstein. This time it would be I, who would drive on the narrow roads through the Black Forest. Mats was a great guide and even taught me a new phrase in German Gerahde aus or Straight Ahead in English. Within fifteen minutes, we were back home at number thirty-three, Schulstrasse.

Preparations and Departure
Lunch was served not long after fish, Swabian style, among with other food items. I was still a bit full from the large breakfast that we had, so I only had small portions of fish, salad and potatoes. After dinner, Martin packed his things and I made sure that I did not forget anything and began writing more of my entries into the Travelogue. Soon Martin knocked on my door and said that it was time to go it was two oclock. Martin was a bit concerned that we would not arrive in Hanau at five, as we had promised Matthias' and Christina on the phone. Time would only tell. Everything was loaded into the car and I brought my powerbook along to do some writing on the Autobahn we were also well stocked with some food and water in a cooler, for possible rest stops along the way. We followed a different road than I had come in on to the Autobahn that would bring us to Hanau. Within about thirty minutes, we were rolling along at one-hundred-and-forty kilometers per hour towards Hanau. I was able to get a good amount of writing done, which amazed Martin he wondered how I could write anything with all of the noise and vibration that the car made.

Arrival in Hanau
We arrived in Hanau exactly at five which is the time that Mats wanted us to arrive. We were *very* surprised that we were on time. Many times the Autobahn can jam up quite badly and then you may sit for several minutes to maybe hours if the jam is bad enough. Later, Mats told me of a really terrible traffic jam that happened this year where a huge group of Bavarians on vacation had a standstill that continued for one-hundred-and-sixty Kilometers in 90 degree weather one of the hottest days of the summer! We did encounter a short jam-up on the exit and first two circular exits on the way into Hanau but other than that it was really clear sailing all the way. To go from Zavelstein to Hanau in two-and-a-half hours is really great time on the Autobahn. We arrived at Mats and Chris apartment just as Chris was returning from work. we helped bring in some of her things and sat in the livingroom talking and having some juice and water together. At about five-fifteen or so, Mats came home and joined us after changing into some shorts and a t-shirt. We talked about the trip, their jobs and the nice, large apartment that they had moved into since our last visit in 1993.

A Visit to the Hanau Marktplatz and some Pizza
Mats and Chris suggested some pizza at a favorite little italian restaurant in Hanau, so we all got up and took a short drive to the center of Hanau. After Mats found a nice parking spot, we began walking through the city towards the market place or Marktplatz. The market place is usually very busy on the weekends, with all kinds of sellers crowding the large courtyard with hundreds of booths with fruits, vegetables and other kinds of goods. It was monday evening, so the place where the market normally sits was totally empty except for a few people walking or biking on it. At one end of the marketplace there is a large bronze statue of the Grimm brothers, famous for such stories as Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and hundreds of other stories. As you may know, many of the stories are told to kids but are really not kids stories. We continued through the streets of Hanau and ran into Mike, a friend of Mats and Chris from their church. He was surprised to hear that I was from America, and spoke in English for a bit. Then they all switched to German, which I said was okay since I had been doing fairly well at picking up the drift of the conversations by grabbing words here and there and by guessing at the expressions that each person made.

Italian Pizza in Germany
Mike had to leave not long after we met so we continued on to the Italian restaurant and ordered out pizzas [they were 8 or 9 inches round]. I attempted to order in German, but goofed on the numbering they say the small single numbers before the tenths so that sixty-six is spoken as Sects und sechtsichs or Six and sixty very different from sixty-six. The pizzas all came and were really good I thought that they were very similar to pizza from the US, though Mats said that someone else mentioned that the pizza in Germany was different. I didnt think so. Mike dropped in again and sat with us until the end of the meal, talking in German and English. It was a nice dinner. Afterwards, we walked back to the car and drove to the apartment not far away. Inside, we talked for another hour or so until eleven oclock [or 23:00 German time] before retiring to bed. With Mats and Chris larger flat, Martin had a room of his own for his sleeping bag and I took the couch. Tomorrow we are planning to visit the city of Marburg an old and beautiful one.

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