Surrounded outside by a wintery day, there is time for reflection that often does not present itself in day to day life. This past summer I finally realized one of my greatest dreams to visit Europe and in particular to see Germany one of the homes of my father's anscestors. We started our trip in Sweden where my sister in law lives with her family and journeyed by train from there down through Denmark and all the way to Southern Germany to the city of Munich or as it is known in German, Munchen.
Yesterday as I was home passing the time, I was again reading through the book, "Seasons of Grace." It never ceases to amaze me how something that presents itself in day to day life really calls you to examine or reexamine things you have experienced with a fresh perspective. So yesterday as I read about journeys of the soul I again recalled a time during my trip to Germany with gratitude and fond memories.
As is often the case with our family vacations, I am the planner. So this Summer when we decided to finally bear with the expense and go to Europe I set about planning the logistics of the trip. I studied the routes necessary to get to Southern Germany from Stockholm by train choosing Munich because of its reputation as a safe, beautiful, historical city with traditional German Biergartens and close proximity to Saltzburg, Austria another city I had long dreamed of visiting.
My dreams of visiting Germany began years before growing up with my father who was a lover of history and proud of his German heritage. I was aware that my great, great, great, great grandmother had imigrated in the 1800s from a small town near Baden Baden Germany. I had visited the cemetery with my father in Lancaster, Ohio, where he too is now buried, and had seen her grave in the family plot. My father had long been interested in his German heritage and had introduced me to German food and music. He too yearned for a long time to visit this country and visit the historical places and take in this culture which represented his ancestoral heritage.
My father made his first trip to Europe in 1990, the year I was pregnant with my son, Will. It was several months after my mother died and I think that her death, although they were divorced, prompted him to go ahead and realize what for him had long been a dream. I felt incredible joy for my father even though I was unable to accompany him and remember looking at all the photos he brought home with him and hearing his stories as he was finally able to make what for him was the trip of a lifetime. In 1992 just about the time my daughter Emily was to be born, he made his second trip this one limited to just Germany and Austria. At the time, we were a bit annoyed that the trip was scheduled shortly after my due date and although my father had hoped that the baby would be born before he left this did not happen. Instead, Emily was born while dad was visiting a city in the newly opened East Germany. It took a day or 2 before I was able to make contact with him and talk on the phone but I was able to get a message to him through the tour group that he was travelling with that he was again a grandfather and this time had a grandaughter named Emily after his own mother. When he returned, he told me about the celebration that had taken place at the Bierhaus he visited that evening in celebration of her birth. He also returned with 2 Christmas ornaments which remind me each year of him, of Emily's birth and his trip to Germany that year.
Consequently from the moment I began planning this trip, I thought often of my father. I wished he were alive to discuss the planning and to share his vast knowledge of history with me so that I might even better appreciate this trip. As he had died in 2005 at age 76, this was something that we would never share together yet I felt his spirit was with me and knew that he would have taken great joy in my embarking on this journey just as I had years ago when he made his trip as well. As an avid reader, I read much about this trip prior to departure through books and through the internet as well.
When I finally arrived in Europe on July 2, 2010 and landed in Stockholm, Sweden, I felt as though I had realized one of my greatest dreams in my life by travelling to Europe. As I sat on the train on July 5th taking the long ride to Munich, the words to the Aerosmith song entered my head, "Don't want to close my eyes, don't want to fall asleep...cause I don't want to miss a thing." Although I was no doubt somewhat jet lagged, I was spellbound by all the new sights as we travelled through the countryside. We arrived that evening in Munich and found our way to our hotel by taking the fairly short walk from the train station.
Dinner that evening was at the Augustiner Beer Garden conveniently located just down the street from our hotel. Further gracing our trip to Europe and especially Munich was the absolutely perfect weather, warm and no rain. The Augustiner Beer Garden is a traditional biergarten serving huge mugs of beer on draft of course under outside under chestnut trees while you sit on picnic tables. Dinner is self service by visiting vendors surrounding the biergarten and ordering from traditional German fare sausage, roasted meats, and pretzels to enjoy with your beer. We returned to our hotel and looked forward to our first day touring the city in the morning.
As Bill and I are early risers, we awoke early ready to head out. The girls are night owls and were still a bit jet lagged so Katie elected to stay asleep in the room while Emily was ready to join us for a bit of sightseeing. We walked out of our hotel to the nearby S Bahn stop which would allow us to take public transportation to the center of the old city. Here as we opened our tour book, "Germany for Dummies," we began what would become one of my fondest memories of our trip as we attempted to deciper the routes to we needed to take to our destination. An elderly gentleman upon realizing that we were lost Americans spoke to us in English and explained the route we needed to take. Much to our surprise, he offered to accompany us and show us the way. As I looked at his face, I saw a face that was strikingly similar to my fathers and was struck by the realization that my father's features must have been very characteristic of those who like him were of German heritage.
We rode the S Bahn a short distance with Walter who was eager to point out many of the sights along the way and explain to us in English what was what along the way. When we reached our stop, Walter led us walking along the street toward our destination. Walter like my father was very friendly and seemingly quite knowledgeable of much of the history of his city and country. He pointed out to us the city architecture which consistent with the Catholic heritage of Southern Germany had images of of the Virgin Mary not just on churches but carved into ordinary buildings as well. He stopped and pointed out one of the 5 remaining city gates built in the 1300s. Here we asked our new companion if we could take a picture of him and I snapped a photo of him with Bill and Emily to memorialize this adventure. Next Walter pointed out a smaller but very ornate church and led us inside. This had not been on my to do list of places to visit but here tucked between a few homes was a church known as Asamkirche http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/munich-asamkirche It hard to believe upon looking at the lavish and ornate decorations inside that this was a private church built by 2 brothers in the mid 1700s. It was breathtakingly beautiful and I felt as though I had discovered a rare treasure. As I see and visit churches wherever I go, I always am in awe of how God inspires people to take the time to create something so magnificant. It is a reminder to me of how great and good is the God that we serve.
Upon leaving the church, we journeyed just a short distance further to the Marienplaz which is a pedestrian only area in the heart of old Munich. The Glockenspiel or clock tower is a famous visited sight and is sort of large cuckoo clock complete with elaborately carved mechanical figures that go into motion playing music and dancing upon certain hours although we had not arrived at a time when this was occurring. This clock is located atop the Neues Rathaus or new town hall. Just inside the town hall is an outside dining area for the Ratskellar restaurant where people can enjoy casual dining during the warmer months. Walter directed our attention to a plaque in one of the archways en route to the courtyard of this building written in German and memorializing the American and Allied liberation of this city in 1945. As I said, Walter reminded me in an uncanny way of my own father and if I had to guess he was probably very close to how old my father would have been. It was a reminder in an age where Americans have become a target and our tradition of protecting freedom put into question of a time and a generation that greatly appreciated our country and its willingness to step onto a foreign soil to help others. It is also a sentiment that my father, a retired major in the US Army who served for many years instilled in me and would have shared.
At this point, having arrived at our destination but having been enriched by the company of a friendly stranger, we offered to buy Walter lunch or even to join us for a drink. He politely declined as he was ready to go onto his original destination. We parted with friendly handshakes but we were extremely grateful to this kind stranger who had taken some of his time to share with us his beautiful city and enabled us to see and appreciate a number of sights that without his guidance we would have been oblivious to seeing or appreciating. Bill, Emily and myself in particular were also struck by how much Walter reminded us of my father someone who if he had been with us would have likewise been able to enrich our experience with his knowledge and appreciation for German culture and history. It was one of those moments when you sense that someone whom you deeply loved but who has died is looking down upon you and somehow reaching toward you in a special way. I intended to write down this experience during my visit to Germany but never seemed to find the time to compose my thoughts however as I look back on this experience now months past, I feel a sense of joy and gratitude. For the rest of my trip, I felt the presence of my dad especially when I did some of the things that I know he would have loved like drinking beer in the Biergarten each night. I imagined as I visited certain sights that he too had journeyed along these same paths earlier also with a sense of joy and appreciation much like I was feeling throughout my travels. I felt that even though we had never been able to and never would be able to take this journey together physically a certain shared experience one that I will remember forever. It is strange and wonderful to think that God sends us people and experiences from time to time that give you a sense that he and those we love and have loved are reaching toward us in an almost divine or supernatural way. Thank you Lord for the kindness of strangers who are known intimately by you and for the angels who cross our paths during our lives.
