Travelogue 1995 / Episode Eight

Travelogue Deutschland 1995 / Episode Eight

A Relaxing Day
This would be my last relaxation day before several days on the road so I wanted to make the best of it. Breakfast started the morning off right, followed by a nice walk to the old church in Zavelstein. I knew that I would probably still not understand much of the sermon in German, though I really enjoyed singing the German hymns, complete with rich, wonderful music from the old pipe organ. After church, we had some time for a visit to the Burg at Zavelstein. I also found a very detailed map of the Schwartzwald area around Zavelstein-Bad Teinach and some postcards for a few friends. Burg Zavelstein was e same as I had remembered it many stairs to climb, and a great view of the Swabisch Alps. Since 1993, there had been some restoration to one of the walls though it took several minutes for me to notice they had done a good job. After the visit to the tower of the fortress, it was back to the house dinner. I cant remember the meal that we had since all of the meals were so great the meals are now all a blur of great tastes. So, I will have to excuse myself from comment on this particular meal though you can be sure that it was great.

A Walk in the Wetlands of the Schwartzwald
After dinner, we were off to Freidhelms house again for a visit with him and a walk in the moors or wetlands of the Black Forest. Not far from Freidhelms house was a natural area, protected by the state in the form of a wetland. We parked the car and began walking along the main bike path through the forest until we arrived the entrance to the refuge. It was quite different from the black forest around Martin's house the ground was wet [what else, right?] and there were strange algae-like mosses covering parts of the forest floor. Another interesting plant there was a low-growing pine needle moss or ground cover it looked like hundreds of little pine trees growing in a small patch here and there. While we walked, we had an opportunity to learn about Freidhelms Arabic studies in Egypt as well as Martin's last few months and my preparation for the trip to Germany. It was getting near coffee and cake time back at home, so we climbed back into the Golf and began the drive back to Zavelstein. At the house, Martin, Freidhelm, Martin's parents and I sat around the patio table and had coffee and kuchen homemade of course.

A Barbecue, German-Style
After about an hour and a half, Rolf and Krista rose from the table to prepare the evenings meal a German-style barbecue party. They had a variety of meats that Rolf put on the gas grill and cooked, including weisswurst, bratwurst and chicken. The Brats were mini ones, like a breakfast sausage much different from Milwaukee-style brats to be sure. Along with dinner, Krista provided several delicious salads to compliment the meats. At nine oclock, I called Matt, my friend in Darmstadt who I had met on the internet. We finalized plans for our meeting at the main train station in Darmstadt, monday at five in the evening. Back outside, we all spent the evening relaxing and enjoying the cool, clear evening, looking at the stars twinkling above our heads. At eleven, I retired, knowing that there would be packing and a drive ahead on monday and I wanted to be rested for that.

Deadlines, Even on Vacation...
Well, as you already know, one of my activities while on this trip was writing a daily diary of my travels, for e-mailing back to readers in the US. I knew that I would be busy writing, and I was right. Because Martin needed more time to get his things in order and pack for our four day excursion, I took advantage of the time to finish my writing. I knew that in Darmstadt I would need to send the first half of my trip via Matts internet connection so I worked at finishing my last days events before packing for the trip.

Departure for Darmstadt
After lunch, Martin and I gathered our things for the trip and began packing them into the little VW Golf. We were packed and rolling at about two-thirty, a bit later than we wanted, but still within our time frame. Later, near Karlsruhe, our time schedule was thrown out the window as we waited through an Autobahn traffic jam. Right at the connection of the highway from Karlsruhe and the Autobahn, a truck had flipped on its side and the police had narrowed the traffic down to one lane! It took us nearly forty minutes to clear the intersection. Now we were *seriously* late for meeting Matt it was almost four when we cleared the other side of the wreck, and we still had at least one and a half to two hours of driving left barring any other accidents. At a rest stop along the way, I tried calling Matt at the office, but there was no answer we would just have to keep moving and hope to make it there as soon as possible.

A Meeting in Darmstadt
We arrived in the city at about five-twenty-five which was pretty good time considering the delay in Karlsruhe fortunately the road was clear all the way to Darmstadt. We rolled down the main street, following Matts directions to the main train depot, and we parked. No sooner had we closed the doors of the car than Matt came walking up and asked if I was Mike. I was surprised that things went so well with all of the variables the Lord was really watching out for us, I think.

On to Griesheim and the Henderson's Flat
Matt hopped into the car with us and directed us to their flat in a small town west of Darmstadt called Griesheim. The town looked mostly new, but still had very narrow side streets that seemed to all look the same after several turns we arrived at the apartment. It was a very nice place with a long driveway and a garden in the back of the house the style was probably late fifties or early sixties, really low, flat and wide. Matt told us that his landlord could be found in his garden immediately after work, keeping it in order. Inside it was nice to relax and sit on something other than a car seat and have a drink of apple juice and mineral water mixed [called a scholle]. Especially nice for me was the opportunity to talk with an American speaking freely in your own native tongue is something that you come to appreciate in a foreign country. Of course we talked about a variety of subjects [including mac stuff what did you expect for a couple of Mac nuts?] until Matts wife Pino came home from work.

An American and a Spainard, Living in Germany?
Yep, thats right. Matt is an engineer from Atlanta, Georgia and his wife Pino [pronounced pe-no] is from Spain and they live and work in Germany. How do you like that for multi-cultural? Anyway, when Pino arrived home, Matt introduced us to her and he began helping her with dinner [Matt is the salad and coffee expert] while Martin and I rested and talked. Dinner was great chicken made Spanish style, with a salad. After dinner, Matt moved to the espresso maker to work his magic with coffee beans. While preparing our cappucinos, he explained the correct technique for creating a great espresso drink.

A Late Night
We moved to the living room, and enjoyed our rich and expertly crafted coffees while talking over work, our trip and other numerous subjects. Of course, with two Mac nuts in the same room, the conversation soon turned to Mac stuff and eventually gravitated to Matts system in the corner of the living room for a live demonstration. Martin was quite impressed with the Macintosh PowerBook Duo system, a notebook system that uses a sub-notebook that has the potential for multiple docking stations. Matt had a dock that accepts the Duo computer like a VCR tape and turns the notebook into a full-fledged desktop computer which was really slick engineering. This is the reason that Matt and I met we both use the PowerBook Duo system, each for different purposes, so naturally we became friends as common subscribers to a common internet forum for PowerBook computers. Upon learning of my trip to Germany, he invited me to come and visit so we did! The night flew past us as we tinkered on Matts computer system, until we all became a bit tired. We all retired for the evening, this time with Martin on the couch and I in the guest room.

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