Visting Relatives and Past Memories- Karlsruhe, Germany

Karlsruhe is the city in Germany that my mother is from. I have not been here to visit in over thirty years. We did not have Germany on our list when we left. But when we got to Europe, on the urging of my brother, who has visited here pretty regularly, we contacted one of my 21 German cousins. We had already visited Mechthild in Athens and she encouraged us too. It is a little weird to contact people from your family who you haven't seen in many years but it turned out really well.

I had all these child hood memories of Karlsruhe which was another reason I was hesitant to go. Like with Greece, where my 20 something year old memories were so special and important to me, I didn't want to go back and have them proved wrong or that everything had changed for the worse. As with Greece this didn't happen and I had a great time sharing what I remembered with Dave and Anika as well as reliving it myself.

We spent the first day exploring downtown Karlsruhe. Many things were exactly as I remembered. Of course there were new and different stores. The city is undergoing a huge project to put in an underground metro to replace trollies so there is a lot of construction in the center. But other than that we easily found the places I remembered.

Marketplatz flower market. Every big European city seems to have one.

Anika in front of the schloss (castle)

300 year old tree in the Schloss Garten

Schloss Garten

From the schloss and Schloss garten ( castle and castle garden)we headed to the Stadt garten (city Garden). On the way we stopped for lunch at a Thai restaurant. This is one of the things that has changed since I was last here. The city has become integrated with immigrants from many parts of the world, just like most big cities in Europe or the US. When I was here from a child you did not see African's, Asians and  Arabs walking the streets speaking German. Food is available form all kinds of places. We made sure to have some traditional German food but were happy to have all the yummy options.

Anika and I in the Stadt Garten boats. I loved these when I was a kid.

Here are the boats going under a bridge. There were lots of water birds a round and you pass close to parts of the zoo which is also in the Garden.

Little children "playing" chess. there are several big chess sets and some other games too that anyone can play throughout the gardens.

 In the late afternoon we went to visit my Tanta Roswitha. We used to stay in her house when my family visited. She lives in a different house now but in the same area. We really enjoyed our time with her and her stories of the family past and present. She liked getting to know Anika and Dave and reconnect with me, I think. She and Anika made these thin waffles she said I loved as a child. It was so cute to see them working in the kitchen together. Roswitha speaks English (like almost everyone here) but we spoke in a kind of English -German mix. It was a great afternoon

The next day Dave and I went with Roswitha in the morning to see the family home where she, my mother and the five other children of the Stark family grew up.

The first six of the Stark children. My mom is the one on the far right holding two dolls.

This house had been hit by bombs three times during WW2 and there was a bunker they used down the street. I had visited it once as a child. Dave , Anika and I have heard stories from my mother about this house. The morning turned into an tour of more than the house as Roswitha did a running commentary on everything we saw as we drove around Karsruhe. We were struck by the fact that you can see how the city was devistated by bomb during the war. Building from 1800 stand next to 1950s architecture. This city was heavily bombed because of its industries. Although it has completely recovered your sense of the effects of the war here are more real than in some other places.

Rappenwort on the Rhine

The prettiest place we stopped was RoppenWort. This is a spot along the Rhine river where there are swimming pools, parks and a water park. I came here too as a child and I remember the special swimming pool with aritficial waves. Its still there. We took a stroll and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere with swans gliding by and other water birds about.

Dave, Roswitha ,and Farida, Roswitha's friend at Rappenwort

In the afternoon we celebrated the birthday of my cousin Greti with her and her husband Volker. We went to a nice Italian restaurant and then they took us to a wonderful old part of Karlsruhe called Durlach. It was fun the walk around and compare the old architecture to what we had seen in France, Spain and other parts of Europe (or the world). There are these sculptures around Karlsruhe by a local artsit that I really liked. In the Durlach area they are mostly animals.

Froggy fountain sculpture

Durlach street

Greti and Volker at our Gellato- espresso stop

For our last adventure in the area Dave and I went to Baden Baden. This is a town with hot water springs in use for bathing since Roman times. It was fantastic. The town is full of gardens and parks. The architecture is well preserved and pretty. As with almost every European city we have been in it is pedestrian friendly with great no car streets for strolling lined with shops and cafes.

The baths themselves were elegant. It was a coed day and you do not wear bathing suits so you know we liked that. You go through a series of rooms that increase and decrease in temperature. Some are hot air, some steam, some pools. Part way through we had a soap and brush massage. You lie of a slab of marble. I thought this would be uncomfortable but its not. The brushing is really good and I hope Dave will add it to Well Within. The interior is beautiful. The steam rooms have tiles work from the 1800s painted with patterns and pictures in bright colors. The pool rooms all have domed ceilings with a sky light in the top, some have stained glass. This means there is lots of natural light. Everything was calm and quiet and very laid back. The attendants seem there to pamper you. At the end you get wrapped up in blankets in a dark quiet room. We both fell asleep for a nap. I hope we can go back here some day. We did not get to visit the ruins of the Roman baths that are in the same complex because we had to go home.

The back of the Freidrich's Bath spa

Front of the Fredrich's bath spa building

Our last day in Karlsruhe we visited more relatives. We saw my uncle Condrad and Tante Krista. They live in the same house I used to visit with my cousin Wolf,and his wife Stephie and their children. Krista speaks excellent English and we really enjoyed talking with her. The house brought back memories as we ate breakfast together in the same room I ate with them as a child. It was another really nice visit and reconnection. The whole time we were here we stayed with my cousin Mucke and his wife Caro. They live in a house in the same complex Tante Roswitha used to live in. They were very gracious hosts and made us right at home.

Wolf and Steffie

Krista Anika and Dave

Stark home on Tillsiter Strasse

Anika, Dave, Caro and Mucke

Muck and Caro's house

Only going to one city, I don't have a color for Germany. The only dogs we saw were on leashes and well behaved and cared for. No poop on the streets of Karlsruhe.  We loved Germany. We feel sure we will be back soon to visit family and explore the country more. It is good to reconnect with family. We found people easygoing and helpful. Like the rest of Europe there is history everywhere.This was one of the unexpected positive surprises of this trip.

On to Amsterdam!