My last blog ended with the cliff hanger, ”I hope my next blog will say I was worried about nothing and Lufthansa totally came through for us and that they flew us to Philadelphia.” Let’s continue from there, shall we?
After I wrote that blog post Andreas and I went out for a last dinner in Lübeck. We had a nice time even though we were anxious about traveling.
Bamboozled again! That is not a plant, that is a cleverly disguised tiramisu!
On the way back to our Airbnb we were passed on the street by a group of policemen in riot gear which is not a common sight. While we were commenting about that we heard chanting around the corner and found ourselves at the beginning of an anti-Covid restriction march. Andreas stayed to watch the march, I did not.
That night Andreas became very sick. We thought it was maybe food poisoning from dinner. He didn’t sleep all night and we needed to leave early the next morning for our trains to Copenhagen. He slept all day on the trains and was feeling terrible.
We arrived at the Copenhagen airport in the early evening and spoke in person with someone at the Lufthansa ticket counter. We discovered that no planes were flying from Frankfurt to the US on our day of departure, but we could go the day after. We said, we are here now, so what about tomorrow? We were able to do that, but it included a five-hour layover in Chicago to eventually arrive in Philadelphia.
It was good that we chose the next day, Wednesday, instead delaying until Friday because on Friday Philadelphia had a snowstorm. However, we didn’t think things through.
(We stayed at Pod Hotelhttps://cityhub.com/copenhagen/. Our room was the size of the bed. The was a communal living area, kitchen and bathroom. Perfect for the single 20yr old. We are neither.)
Our hotel was an hour from the airport, we needed another Covid test and our plane left at 6am the following morning. Also, Andreas was sick and feeling nauseous, weak and feverish. After finding and walking to and from our Covid test we were able to sleep around 9:30pm. We awoke at 3am to return by subway to the airport. Poor Andreas couldn’t eat and hadn’t eaten anything since our dinner the night before we left Lübeck. He slept every chance he had all the way home. Our travels from Lübeck to our home took 31 hours. Crazy, right? We were so happy and grateful to see our brother-in-law George when he picked us up in Philadelphia.
Andreas in Chicago.
Our house has never been so appreciated. We also enjoyed the snowy weekend following to have an excuse to rest and recover.
We spent the beginning of February getting re-organized and back to work. I waited an extra two weeks before resuming my art classes because of the high Omicron numbers. It’s nice to have most of my students back now. I missed them.
I’m taking two classes this month. One is the continuing German class at the Saengerbund and the other is a photography class with my friend Ray. I want to learn how to use my digital camera. I’ve taken all of my photos over the last decade with my phone. That’s okay, but now I want to print and exhibit some of them and they can not print as large from the phone files. The Newark Arts Alliance has a show coming up featuring White Clay Creek State Park, so I have been shooting new photos there while enjoying the hikes and scenery. Ray is also showing me some editing tricks on the computer. It’s been an informative, fun class.
Before we traveled to Germany, I had begun a mural in our small bathroom of an arctic scene with icebergs. Now it is finished with the addition of Arctic animals.
I have also been creating new pieces for two Trashy Women shows. One for a Wine and Dine event in Maryland, and the other for a Gallery show that will open next month at the Oxford Arts Alliance in Oxford, PA. There was an extra challenge to incorporate donated musical instruments.
Peace and Quiet
Now that people know we are home I am becoming booked again with commissions. I can’t wait to show you some of them soon.
As we excitedly wait for spring with its warm weather and flowers here, we are also saddened by the news from the Ukraine. Andreas has an acquaintance who is reporting from the front lines for the Washington Post (Whitney Shefte). He thinks much of her as a person who reports with integrity, empathy, and compassion. Andreas keeps up with the latest news reading the Washington Post, New York Times, Spiegel Online (German), and BBC while also watching news shows on the German Public TV channel ARD. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people. We hope for peace.
Snowflakes from our garden
All photos and artwork, except for Bobby Hanson’s Duchamp sculpture (I just painted it), by Dragonfly Leathrum
We are supposed to be in Copenhagen right now. Thanks to Lufthansa’s greed or mismanagement or Covid or who knows what, those plans were changed. Lufthansa has cancelled our flight home twice. Andreas has spent hours and days on the phone with his booking agent Orbitz. Each time he is directed to a new person in India who can’t do anything to help him. I think they’ve tried. One got as far as sending and receiving emails from Lufthansa only to conclude that he couldn’t help us. Trying to contact Lufthansa in any way has proven futile.
We knew our original flight home was cancelled before we left the US. We figured we would be able to re-schedule it. We were hopeful about being able to do this until about three weeks ago.
Originally we were supposed to spend our last three weeks in Copenhagen for Andreas’ work, but then Copenhagen’s Covid numbers sky rocketed. We thought okay, we don’t have a flight home let’s stay in Germany and travel near Frankfurt and fly out of there. We should be able to change our ticket since we were originally planning to change planes in Frankfurt. Nope, no can do.
So, we made our way back to Lübeck because it’s sort of between Copenhagen and Frankfurt, we’re comfortable here and we thought we would just be working anyway. We’ve camped out in the Airbnb we started our vacation with in mid-December. The only thing we can figure out to do about getting home is to show up in the Copenhagen airport when we were originally supposed to leave and see what they can do for us. That will happen in a couple of days.
Andreas and I have spent the last two weeks feeling stressed out, anxious and maybe a little depressed. I’m a nervous traveler during the best of times even when everything is running smoothly, so this situation is making me pretty upset. Neither one of us has been able to do much work and we’ve been getting on each other’s nerves a little bit.
One particularly cold day we left the island and walked to Andreas’ mother’s old neighborhood where she lived until she was a young teen. We took photos of the house at the address she gave us and the air raid bunker that she and her family hid in during the war. She has not seen these photos yet. I can’t say if things look as she remembered them. Still, it was interesting to experience the neighborhood even if it’s been 70 odd years since she lived there. Her family of six lived on one floor of this house. (edit: Christa says that the facade of the house has changed since she lived there and it looks very modern now.)
On a happier note, we were able to visit with Andreas’ parents again in Neustadt on a rare sunny day. We enjoyed a nice walk and lunch out. Christa and Andreas rode bikes to the local Birkenstock outlet so Andreas could replace his shoes. That was a good idea because the price was less than half of what he paid online for a pair two years ago.
Andreas’ mother came to Lübeck for a day by herself and we had a wonderful coffee with her childhood friend Sieglinde. Sieglinde’s apartment is at the bottom of the island on the edge of a park with street and lake views. Very cool to watch swans fly by the window at eye level while you drink coffee and eat fancy cookies on delicate china. It was so nice to relax there and enjoy her company.
Coffee at Sieglinde’s
I’ve been keeping busy exploring museums that Andreas is not interested in, and parts of the city that I haven’t seen yet while he tries to concentrate on his work or calls the airline.
This is the Museum of Nature and the environment. (Museum für Natur und Umwelt) It’s a cute little place with tired taxidermy. Some of the exhibits are very nice. There’s a great view of the Dom (Cathedral) through the windows and some live snakes and fish. I had the museum to myself.
Museum Holstentor This museum is part of the former city wall. The sides facing away from the city have more of a battlement purpose while the back is more ornate with more windows. It has an interesting collection of weapons, kitchen implements and torture devices. I really enjoyed the scale model of medieval Lübeck and the model ships. It’s a fun museum to discover as you are always going up and down spiral steps in the two towers. What’s not apparent from the photos is how much the towers are leaning . Building something that big and heavy on swampy ground in the 1400’s wasn’t a great idea.
When I was walking back from this museum I cut through the Rathaus square and heard Andreas call my name. (Yelling DRAGONFLY! definitely rattled the two homeless guys sitting next to him.) I just happened to chose that way to walk home and he just happened to be in that square reading on a bench in the sun, so of course we had to get some coffee and cake.
You can’t throw a stone in this town without hitting a cafe with little cakes. It’s all about the afternoon Kuchen und Kaffee around here.
I’ve picked up a few books that I’ve been meaning to read. Cheery ones like The Handmaid’s Tale and Where The Crawdads Sing.. ha ha. I feel like I’ve been wasting time or not enjoying being here to the fullest, I’ve let the stress get to me too much.
Today Andreas is hiking along the Baltic while I have some quiet time to paint. He returned home saying he walked 30,000 steps today and added a few photos below. He also went to Neustadt and surprised his parents with some cake. He and his mom went out for a beer while his dad watched his Sunday TV program.
I hope that in my next blog I will say I was worried about nothing and Lufthansa totally came through for us, that they flew us to Philadelphia and not Newark, NJ and I’m back home. I hope.
Have any of you experienced travel problems like this with Lufthansa lately?
Happy New Year from Lübeck! Andreas and I returned to the city after our short stay in Magdeburg. We were able to book one of our favorite Airbnbs in the Stüwes Gang. The house is a historical landmark. I have written about this Airbnb and Lubeck before here, here and here. The house is very old has been renovated in creative ways showcasing much of the original architecture. It’s tiny, but very cool. We were able to get our favorite upstairs room and were happy to meet a friendly couple renting one of the rooms below us. Ciaran and Michele were traveling from Cologne where Ciaran, originally from Ireland, owns an Irish bar called Buskers. I enjoyed the opportunity to speak English with someone, especially someone with an Irish accent. He was also nice enough to leave me the book he was reading when he left.
We took it easy this week in the city. Andreas found the local library and we spent a few hours there following our interests and discovering new ideas.
A few library books I was reading.
We also revisited the Behnhaus Museum to see some local art, and for fun we made a point of trying new streets and different routes to and from the house.
While changing our route we also discovered some new artwork.
We have found a little bar that we are fond of called Kandinsky. If we happened to be in that part of the city in the afternoon, we would stop in for a glühwein. The bar is small, dark, mostly empty and a little smoky from the patrons and the candles. I like the atmosphere while Andreas likes the alcohol and local news papers and magazines. I think they are mostly known for their whiskey selection.
Andreas with his gluhwein and magazine.
My first view of Kandinsky through my rain covered, mask fogged glasses.
To celebrate on New Year’s Eve Andreas picked a fancy restaurant near us. The Schabbelhaus was originally a bakery, a museum and then hosted restaurants. It was destroyed in the war and rebuilt. His parents had celebrated the christening of his cousin Petra there in 1962. His mother remembers all of the details including the wine they bought and how much it cost. For dinner Andreas chose the full New Year’s Eve menu with four courses and dessert. I picked something smaller. The food, and ambience was perfect for the occasion. I wish we were able to dress a little nicer, but when you travel with only a backpack, extra fancy clothes are not an option.
At midnight we stood at the kitchen window in the Airbnb and watched the fireworks and drones in the sky while listening to the church bells ring.
Behold the worst photo I’ve ever taken of New Year’s Eve fireworks.
We began our new year with another visit to Andreas’ parents in Neustadt in Holstein. Christa prepared a lovely brunch for us. She also fixed the fraying straps of Andreas’ backpack while he and his father worked on Lothar’s old laptop. In the afternoon we met her younger brother Klaus and Andreas’ cousin Kirsten for coffee and cake. Andreas hadn’t seen them in 36 years. They are lovely people and I hope we are able to meet them again soon.
As I write this, we are in Diez (more about that soon) and we have learned that our flight home has been cancelled. We are working with Orbitz to figure something out and have been unable to reach our airline. We were scheduled to travel to Copenhagen next for Andreas’ work, but we have cancelled due to their crazy high Covid numbers. We will be traveling back to Lübeck to the apartment we stayed in at the beginning of our trip. We feel that it has the best work space for us and we do need to get back to work. Also, as far as Andreas can figure out with the numbers available to him, Covid cases are lower there than in the USA, Denmark and other areas in Germany.
After much discussion and weighing Covid odds and restrictions, Andreas and I chose to travel. We wrapped up our Delaware commitments, packed our backpacks, masked up and flew out.
The last art projects finished the first week of December. A stained glass window for a friend, a pet portrait for a cousin in Florida and one of my 13 year old private students with two of her finished portfolio pieces.
We arrived in Lübeck after a long, but fairly easy trip and went to our favorite pub for dinner. Andreas ordered “Sauerfleisch” (cold pork in sweet-sour jelly) that he can not find where we live. I ordered what I thought was a veggie burger that ended up being ewes’ cheese on bread. It was really nice to be back in Germany specifically in this town and at Christmas time.
We tried a new Airbnb on the other end of the island because our favorite was booked and this new one had a washer. It was a good choice.
In the kitchen at the first Airbnb.
The apartment had everything we needed including a fully stocked kitchen with teas, oil, sugar etc. left over from former tenants and or supplied by the owner. We found it really easy to cook a lot of our meals. Andreas was able to take advantage of the farmer’s market to stock up on his favorite fishes and cheese. Nice to feel like we were saving some money starting out.
Thankfully, we did not have any Christmas shopping to do and could spend our time walking around the city choosing less crowed coffee houses, shops and museums.
Works from the St. Annen Museum dating from the 1400 and 1500s.
The Christmas markets were busy and you had to show an ID and vaccination status to be allowed in. The police were also monitoring the shoppers on the main streets to make sure everyone is masked. We feel that this is why the Covid cases are lower in this state than any other of the 15 states in Germany. Restaurants and shops are also checking vaccine status and identification before you can enter. It has not been an inconvenience but, the mask wearing outside is tedious for me, because my glasses fog up so much. Half the time I ca not see where I’m going and hold onto Andreas’ arm like a blind person while muttering, “Damnit, I can’t see shit.”
As soon as we settled into town, we took a day trip to visit Andreas’ parents in Neustadt. We had a nice coffee and dinner with them and invited them to Lübeck in the following days.
It is always fun to see Lübeck through Christa and Lothar’s eyes because they spent their formative years here. The stories are good and bad. Life was not easy here during and after WWII, but they still had some fun. We enjoyed one fancy dinner out at our favorite restaurant. Andreas ordered a mystery four course dinner that ended in a very cool dessert.
Andreas’ very cool dessert.
His parents were having so much fun in Lübeck that we found them an AirbBnB to stay the night and visit through the next day.
Two things have improved for me in regards to traveling over here. One, I have been walking a lot with my friends at home over the past two years and I am in much better shape to keep up with Andreas. Two, even though I am still terrible at it, I do understand more and can speak more German which makes life a little less frustrating.
Annemarie, die Schwester meiner Mutter, hatte einen kleinen Garten recht nah am West-Ufer der Wakenitz. Eine kleine Hu¨tte hatte eine Ku¨che, Wohnzimmer, und Esszimmer alles in einem Raum. Das Wasser kam von einer Handpumpe draussen im Garten. Im Sommer lebte sie dort mit meinem Onkel Fritz, meinem Cousin Olaf, und meiner Cusine Petra etwa 2.5 km von ihrer Wohnung in der Paradiesgarten Strasse. Bei Besuchen im Sommer waren wir Kinder meist draussen um auch durch die umliegenden Naturschutzgebiete zu stromern. Dies sind meine ersten Erinnerungen an eine grossartige, selbstlose, und elegante Frau: Annemarie Gu¨smer starb vor 2 Wochen in Lu¨beck 86 Jahre nach ihrer Geburt.
Familien Photo vom 7. Mai 1960. Von links nach rechts: meinem Vater Lothar Mu¨nchow, meiner Mutter Christa Nagewitz, meine Tante Annemarie Gu¨smer, meine Grosseltern Luise und Hans Nagewitz, und mein Onkel Fritz Gu¨smer.
Meine Grossmutter Luise Nagewitz gebar Annemarie als drittes von fu¨nf Kindern am 20. Ma¨rz 1935 in Lu¨beck. Annemarie’s 4-ja¨hrige Schwester Ingrid starb 4 Wochen vor ihrer Geburt. Dies war ein schwerer Anfang sowohl fu¨r die Eltern Luise und Hans als auch fu¨r das neugeborene Kind. Meine Mutter Christa folgte 1936, ein kleiner Bruder 1937, und der Zweite Weltkrieg begann 1939. Annemarie war 4 Jahre jung als Deutsche und Russische Armeen Polen angriffen, 9 Jahre als ihr grosser Bruder der Deutschen Wehrmacht bei-getreten wurde, und 10 Jahre alt als die Britisch Armee Lu¨beck von den Nazis befreite.
Die Feuerstu¨rme und Bomben des Luftangriffes am Palmsonntag 1942 brannten sich fru¨h in die Errinnerungen der zwei kleinen Ma¨dchen Anne (7) und Christa (5) ein. Anders als meine Mutter, welche bis heute jeden Donner, jeden Blitz, und jedes Feuer fu¨rchtet ohne richtig zu wissen warum, hat meine Tante Anne perso¨nliche Gefuehle, erlebte Geschichte, und gewu¨nschte Politik analytisch bedacht, gelesen, und ensprechend gewa¨hlt und gehandelt. Sehr fru¨h hat sie Verantwortung in der Familie u¨bernehmen mu¨ssen, was nicht immer ihrer eigenen Bildung half, obwohl sie bei weitem die Klu¨gste in der Familie war.
Sie graduierte 1949 von der Volksschule gleichzeitig mit der Gru¨ndung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Das war ein unglu¨ckliches Jahr, in dem sie keinen Ausbildungsplatz fand, da die Arbeitslosigkeit in Lu¨beck 1949 bei 28.7% lag. Etwa 300 junge Frauen aus Lu¨beck und Schleswig-Holstein wanderten dieses Jahr nach Island aus, weil dort Frauenmangel herrschte. So begann Annemarie, 15 Jahren jung, in einer Fabrik zu arbeiten und teilte sich auch weiterhin ein Zimmer mit ihrer kleinen Schwester bei den Eltern erst in der Stitenstrasse und ab 1951 am Buniamshof, wo ihr Vater der Platzwart war. Zusammen sind wir dort in 2018 und 2019 auch am Kra¨henteich und in der Altstadt spazieren gegangen um spa¨ter im “Kartoffelspeicher” und bei “Schlumacher’s” zusammen zu Feiern und zu Essen.
Annemarie (links) und Christa (rechts) mit einer Schulfreundin.
Die zwei Schwestern Annemarie und Christa an Kra¨henteich.
Olaf Gu¨smer (links) mit seiner Mutter Annemarie und der Author mit seinen Eltern (rechts) Ende Dezember 2018.
Ein Jahr spa¨ter lernte sie als junge 17-ja¨hrige Frau den gelernten Schlosser Fritz Gu¨smer kennen: sie verlobten sich 2.5 Jahre spa¨ter und heirateten 1957. Das junge Ehepaar wohnte immer noch bei den Eltern, da Wohnraum und Geld in Lu¨beck auch 12 Jahre nach Kriegsende immer noch knapp war. Meine Mutter zog eine Woche nach der Hochzeit in die Schweiz, so dass Annemarie und ihr Ehemann ein eigenes Zimmer hatten. Nach zwei Jahren gebar sie Olaf 1959. Jetzt fand die junge Familie auch ihre erste Miet-Wohnung, bekam den Schrebergarten an der Wagnitz, und am 6. Januar 1962 gebar Annemarie Tochter Petra. Hier ist Annemarie’s Schrebergarten im Sommer 1962, wo ihr Vater einen seiner Enkel schaukelt:
Kleinkind in Annemarie’s Schrebergarten an der Waknitz etwa 1962 mit Grossvater.
Sowohl Olaf (1959), Petra (1962), als auch ich (1961) und meine zwei Geschwister Burkhard (1963) und Christina (1964) sind alle in Lu¨beck geboren. Meine Mutter bestand darauf, dass ihre Kinder nicht an ihrem Wohnort in Leck, Nordfriesland hinter dem Deich der Nordsee auf die Welt kommen; nein, Christa entschied, dass ihre Kinder in der grossen Stadt mit der Unterstu¨tzung ihrer Schwester Annemarie zur Welt kamen. Annemarie sorgte sich auch um ihre etwa 18 Monate junge Nichte Christina fu¨r 2-3 Wochen, damit ihre Schwester Christa mit Mann und So¨hnen in einen Urlaub fahren konnten. Hier ist Annemarie’s Tochter Petra bei uns in Nordfriesland 1965 zu Besuch. Das war der Kinder-Tisch separat von dem Erwachsenen-Tisch.
Burkhard, Andreas, Cousine Petra, und Christina in Leck, Nordfriesland, Wikinger Str. 46 Anfang 1965.
Und so ging es auch die na¨chsten 15 Jahre weiter. Wir Mu¨nchow’s aus Nordfriesland oder Hessen waren jedes Jahr bestimmt 3-4 mal auch bei Tante Anne zu Besuch. Zusammen verbrachten wir Kinder viel Zeit miteinander und hatten nicht una¨hnliche Probleme als Teenager mit Eltern, Musik, Sex, Drogen, Schule, und dem allgemeinen Zustand von Gesellschaft und Politik. Das hatte allerdings auch Vorteile, da wir Kinder uns bestens gegen unsere Eltern unterstu¨tzten. Diese erschienen uns sehr alt, konservativ, langweilig, und von Musik hatten die wirklich keine Ahnung. [Die Ironie hier ist, dass wir “Teenager” heute 10 Jahre a¨lter sind, als unser Eltern es in den spa¨ten 70er waren.]
Petra Gu¨smer (Tochter von Annemarie) und Burkhard Mu¨nchow (Sohn von Christa) in Walldorf, Hessen, etwa 1978.
Tante Anne sagte selten etwas – stille Wasser sind tief – aber wenn wir als rebellische Teenager zu weit gingen, dann bescha¨mte sie uns mit ihrer Ruhe und Toleranz, mit ihrer Logik und Wissen, und ganz besonders mit weisem Humor, welcher uns zum Lachen brachte. Da wir ihr oft vertrauten, folgten wir dann gerne ihrem Rat. Keiner in unser Familie besass Annemarie’s Emphatie und Einfu¨hlung fu¨r junge Leute. Sie war nicht nur der “Bu¨cherwurm” in unserer Familie sondern auch die “Weisheit” und der “gesunde Menschenverstand.” Aber sie war immer im Hintergrund, immer leise, immer am Arbeiten, und hat sich immer selbstlos um das Wohl anderer geku¨mmert. Diese Selbstlosigkeit kam dann spa¨ter auch ihren Enkelkinder Christoph (1982), Maya (1984), und Titus (1990) in grossem Masse zu Gute.
Etwa 4 Jahre nach der Geburt von Titus reiste Annemarie ohne Ehemann, Kinder, oder Enkelkinder aber mit meinen Eltern fu¨r 3-4 Wochen in die USA. Der Flug 1994 von Hamburg nach Denver in Colorado war wohl ihr erster. Sie besuchte ihre Nichte Christina, welche dort mit ihrer jungen Familie lebte. In einem Miet-Auto fuhren sie dann ganz “langsam” durch die Rocky Mountains und die Wu¨sten von New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, um mich am Pazifischen Ozean in San Diego, Kalifornien zu besuchen. Das sind fast 2000 km. Diese Reise wurde sowohl von ihren Tochter Petra von Lu¨beck aus, als auch von meiner Schwester Christina und mir u¨ber einen Zeitraum von etwa 2 Jahren vorbereitet. Hier ist ein Photo, wo sie bei meiner Schwester in Boulder, Colorado ankommt:
Annemarie Gu¨smer (rechts) mit ihrer Nichte Christina Parsons, Schwager Lothar und Schwester Christa (links) in Colorado 1994.
Die Drei fuhren dann auf der Ku¨stenstrasse dem Pazifischen Ozean entlang nach San Francisco, gingen dort 2-3 Tage spazieren, essen, und trinken, und fuhren dann die 2000 km zuru¨ck nach Denver in einer no¨rdlichen Route. In den na¨chsten 20 Jahren habe ich dann den Kontakt nach Deutschland fast verloren: meine Grosseltern starben, es wurde geheiratet, Kinder wurden geboren oder adoptiert, Ehen wurden geschieden, neue Partnerschaften wurden gegru¨ndet, und aus Kindern wurden Erwachsene sowohl in Deutschland als auch in den USA.
Im Sommer 2015 lebte Tante Anne mit ihrem Ehemann bei ihrer Tochter Petra, Schwiegersohn Stefan, und deren Familie. Dort besuchte ich Annemarie und Petra an einem Samstag Nachmittag auf einem Arbeitsweg von den USA nach Schweden. Warum Petra auf der Wiese hinter dem Haus mit 4-5 Mo¨psen in einem Camper lebte, war mir nicht so ganz klar, aber Petra und ich haben gemein, dass wir uns oft etwas exentrische verhalten und uns meist spontan entscheiden was manchmal chaotische Konsquenzen hat. Meine Mutter hat diese Erbmasse auch, Annemarie allerdings nicht. Dafu¨r hat Annemarie aber die no¨tige Gedult, Ruhe, und Empathie um dieses andere Leben zu tolerieren. Hier ist Tante Anne mit Onkel Fritz und auch Petra etwa 2015 in ihrem Garten.
Ganz besonders mein in Deutschland verbliebener Bruder Burkhard hat immer den Kontakt zu Tante Anne und Onkel Fritz, ihren Kindern Olaf und Petra, und auch Enkelkindern Maya und Titus u¨ber all die Jahrzehnte behalten. Burkhard erza¨hlte mir von traurigen Beerdigungen, frohen Hochzeiten, und einsichtigen Geschichten von Annemarie und Fritz. Diese kurzen Einblicke, welche Annemarie Burkhard und spa¨ter auch mir im Privatem erkla¨rte, warfen neues Licht auf alter Ereignisse und Perso¨nlichkeiten in unserer Familie. Stille Wasser sind tief – und Annemarie’s Beobachtungen, Erinnerungen, und Analysen waren scharf und trafen wunde Punkte ohne zu verletzen.
Burkhard gab mir diese Bilder von Annemarie, Petra, und Fritz an der Ostsee, in Hameln, in Neustadt, in Kiel, und auch auf der Burg Runkel an der Lahn wo Tante Anne und Petra ihn und seine Frau Carina 2016 besuchten:
Meine Wissenschaft und Ozeanographie Forschungsreisen brachten mich jetzt jedes Jahr zur “Durchreise” nach Deutschland. Gerne flog ich u¨ber Kopenhagen nach Europa und dann per Zug und Ostsee-Fa¨hre nach Lu¨beck um sowohl meine Eltern als auch Tante Anne zu besuchen. Kurz vor Weihnachten 2017 lud ich mich zu Kaffee und Kuchen in ihre Wohnung ein. Hier ihre schnelle Antwort per e-mail:
Annemarie und Fritz Gu¨smer am 23. Dezember 2017 in ihrem Wohnzimmer mit dem Author. [Photo von Dragonfly Leathrum.]
Annemarie ging mit der Zeit und konnte mit digitalen Medien gut umgehen, was in Deutschland fu¨r Frauen u¨ber 80 ungewo¨hnlich ist. Ganz begeistert zeigte sie uns ein grosses Album von der Hochzeit ihrer Enkeltochter Maya auf ihrem iPad. So funktionierte dann auch die Kommunikation mit Dragonfly, welche noch wenig Deutsch sprach, aber von den Familienfotos – wie auch ich – ganz begeistert war. Auch Annemarie’s ju¨ngsten Enkel Titus traf ich ein erstes Mal als erwachsenen Menschen. Als ehemaliger Seemann spricht er ausgezeichnetes Englisch. Am Abend fuhren wir wohl gena¨hrt und gesta¨rkt die 30 Minuten Busfahrt zu unser AirBnB in der Lu¨bschen Altstadt im Malerwinkel zuru¨eck.
Ein Jahr spa¨ter kam Tante Anne uns in diesem AirBnB besuchen, nachdem wir lange in der Altstadt zu Fuss mit meinen Eltern unterwegs waren. Die zwei Schwestern und mein Vater erinnerten sich an vielen Ecken an Ereignisse und Geschichten welche 30 oder 50 oder 70 Jahre zuru¨ck lagen. Schulen, Friseure, Cafe’s, La¨den, Kneipen, Kinos, und auch Gescha¨ften. Annemarie arbeitete viel in der Altstadt im Schuhverkauf bei Salamander und im Kleiderverkauf bei Herder um ihrer Familie auch finanzielle zu unterstu¨tzen. Sie kommentierte in 2018, dass die 300-400 Jahre alten und malerischen (“picturesque”) Ha¨user der Lu¨becker Altstadt nicht immer so schick waren, wie sie es heute sind. Nach dem Wein vor unserem AirBnB hinter dem Dom an der Obertrave sind wir abends noch scho¨n und vornehm Essen gegangen. Das war der letzte Abend, welchen Tante Anne und ich zusammen verbrachten.
Ihr Leben war nicht ganz so lang, wie ich es mir gewu¨nscht ha¨tte. Covid-19 verhinderte den Plan sie letzten Sommer oder Weihnachten noch einmal zu besuchen. Annemarie’s Leben war sicher nicht immer einfach, aber sie hat anderen viel Freude, Mut, Stabilita¨t, Essen, Trinken, und auch viel Liebe gegeben. Sie war und ist fu¨r mich eine Person, welche all Das representiert, was Gut in Deutschland und in meiner Heimat ist und war.
As my year in Bremerhaven Germany comes to an end, I want to remember some unusual experiences.
Never have I ever lived three blocks from chimpanzees.
My neighbor from the Zoo Am Meer in Bremerhaven. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Also, the rest of the zoo, but the chimpanzees have a lookout area above the zoo fence so I see them most days hanging out looking at the human zoo that is Bremerhaven.
Never have I ever lived somewhere that didn’t have air conditioning in the summer or screens on the windows. Oh my God, y’all, so happy there are not a lot of mosquitoes.
In Lubeck during one of 2018’s heatwaves. Photo by Andreas Muenchow
Never have I ever had my haircut by people who didn’t speak my language.
A nice haircut, but not what I was expecting. Ha ha. Selfie by Dragonfly Leathrum
Never have I ever seen artwork from my favorite artist Hundertwasser in person.
Being in the spaces Hundertwasser created and touching the walls instead of looking at photos in a book was an incredible experience. Vienna Austria. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Never have I ever eaten smoked eel. It looks horrible, but is actually very good. I’ve also never eaten so many potatoes in my life. Andreas likes to cook and his repertoire is slightly limited.
Christmas food shopping from the farmer’s and fish markets for visiting family. The eel is the black object in the fish box. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Never have I ever eaten peanut butter flavored Cheetos. Yum, addicted to them. I was introduced in the bar on the research ship which brings me to..
Why do I like these? I really don’t know.
Never have I ever seen snow on Labor Day, an iceberg or a glacier. Also,
In the Arctic Sea aboard the FS Maria S. Merian. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Never have I ever consumed so much Pilsner and Riesling. Not in copious amounts, it’s the only type of beer and wine Andreas likes to buy here.
It doesn’t get more local that looking at the vineyard through the wine glass. Lunch in front of St. Joseph’s Church in Beilstein on the Moselle River. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Never have I ever had this much time to focus on my artwork. I’ve had a few months here and there in my life when I’ve attended workshops or been between jobs, but never a whole year to slow down and focus.
My little studio desk with the portable art supplies. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Never have I ever exhibited my paintings abroad! Wow, that was cool.
Watercolor and colored pencil works ready to go to the gallery. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Never have I ever eaten gooseberry (Stachelbeere) or rhubarb (Rhabarber) pancakes.
Andreas cooks pancakes every Sunday. This is his first rhubarb pancake. Yum! Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Never have I ever traveled by train so much or been without a car for so long.
Almost home after a long trip by train. Our adventures with German rail have been frustrating at times, but I appreciate being able to travel almost anywhere without a car. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Never have I ever had a “destination wedding” back to my house.
Home in the states for a week to get married. Andreas calculated that we need to plant approximately 50 trees to offset our carbon footprint from that trip. Photo by Glenn Davies
Never have I ever spent hours in an immigration visa office. Thank God Andreas can speak German. I feel really bad for all of the others there who didn’t have a native speaker with them.
Not a bad neighborhood to live in. Bremerhaven, Germany. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
All in all, a wonderful experience. I accomplished most of the goals I set for myself and I think Andreas did too. We’re looking forward to visiting again soon.
I think we checked off most of the steps in the book.
Andreas and I were not back in Bremerhaven more than a couple of hours from our last trip when we realized this week’s early July weather was going to be very cool. We decided to take advantage and travel again before the next heat wave. We set out to my favorite city Lübeck to say goodbye to Andreas’ parents and Aunt; our third trip to Lübeck this year. (Last summer 2018) (Christmas 2018)
The town of Lubeck created in marzipan in the window of Niederegger. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
At our favorite Airbnb. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Andreas working in the Airbnb. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Wine in the Gang in front of our Airbnb with the old school Lubeck gang. From left to right: Christa, Lothar, Andreas and Annemarie. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
In two days, we visited all of the familiar places. We stayed at our usual Airbnb in the tiny passage or Gang. (I looked up these passages and learned that two scenes from Nosferatu were filmed in Lübeck), we ate at our favorite restaurants and walked around the beautiful, old city. Since we’ve recently become step-grandparents toy stores are newly interesting and as always, time and money were spent in bookstores.
Leaving the Kartoffelkeller restaurant. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Dinner at the Alte Zolln where Andreas’ grandfather used to drink. The woman with the blue shirt and watch is local and was sitting alone. The other three are visiting Lubeck from Scotland and were seated at her table because seats were available. She immediately asked about their thoughts on Brexit. They replied that they absolutely didn’t want to talk about politics. within ten minutes they were talking about politics. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Bookstore in Lubeck. Photo by Andreas Muenchow
Thankfully, Andreas’ parents, Aunt Annemarie and his mother’s friend from school, Sieglinde were able to join us for dinner with just a few days’ notice. It’s always fun to walk around the city with them because they have so many memories of being young there.
Sisters. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Sieglinde and Christa. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Annemarie, Sieglinde and Christa at Schlumachers. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Our new find was the Europäisches Hansemuseum. The museum site was originally a castle built in 1100, which turned into a Friary, which turned into an almshouse, which turned into a law court and prison which became the museum. Thus.. a really cool collection of buildings with remnants of all of these periods can be viewed.
Andreas in the old court room. Hansemuseum. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Angels in the architecture from the original castle and friary. Hansemuseum. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Stained glass from around 1400 that survived the bombings in WWII. Hansemuseum. Photo by Dragonfly Leathrum
Just a couple of weeks are left in Andreas’ sabbatical, I hope this cool spell lasts and we can travel a little more.
Walking towards Marienkiche. It was built between 1250-1350 on the highest point of the island. After WWII Andreas’ Uncle helped to rebuild the wooden structures of the steeples and his father ran the new telephone wires. Photo by Andreas Muenchow
A blind date over coffee in Newark, Delaware leads to birthday cake in Lübeck Germany 363 days later.
Lübeck is a pretty great place for birthday cake (and dates), let me tell you. I love the town. It’s on an island so I can’t get lost, the architecture is so different and full of history, the people are friendly and I feel very comfortable there.
We left on a Sunday morning and took trains to Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck and then chose to go a little farther to visit Andreas’ parents in Neustadt. After coffee with Christa and Lothar we returned to Lübeck in time to check into our Airbnb and then found Purgatory (Fegefeuer) Lane which led us to the Dom for a pipe organ concert that Andreas was curious about.
Caught editing photos in the Dom waiting for the organ concert. photo by Andreas MuenchowThe Dom
Our Airbnb was created in an old brewery built in 1290. The “room” we rented turned out to be a small apartment with a little kitchen. Along with our personal space there was a large indoor living room open to all guests and an outdoor garden. Our place was only as wide as our arm span with every convenience and was very clean and comfortable. The only thing missing from this American’s stay was a fan or air-conditioning. A luxury around here saved for grocery stores.
This is our Airbnb. Our room was the open window on the first floor.photo by Andreas MuenchowAndreas climbing the ladder to the tiny sleeping loft.
Northern Germany has been experiencing a heat wave this past week or so. Temperatures have been unusually high in the 90’s and there is no cooling in the houses, shops or restaurants. In Lübeck everyone was outside hoping to catch a breeze of any kind to cool down. Restaurants and cafés had their tables on the sidewalks and streets and people were out very late enjoying the slight drop in temperature after the sun went down.
Newer stained glass in the Dom. The original was lost during WWII.Our street.
My birthday was Monday and Andreas and I had a fun day revolving around food and family. We went out for a light breakfast then later met his parents and his mother’s middle school friend for coffee and cake mid-afternoon. After coffee we all had a nice walk through the city where the older folks, who are all locals, remembered bits of their shared youth 70 years ago walking past different buildings and streets. We gave the grand, short tour of our tiny digs and had drinks in the garden, then Andreas took us to a wonderful restaurant for a fancy birthday dinner. I couldn’t have wished for a better birthday. Actually, that’s not true, it would have been awesome if it was 20 degrees cooler. Ha-ha
Christa and Sieglinde enjoying the garden.
The next day Andreas and I explored Lübeck some more. There is always something new to find there. Mid-day, after just 13 or 14,000 steps the heat started to get to us and we joined the kids in the public fountain to cool off. Unlike the kids, we kept our clothes on.
Yesterday we celebrated the anniversary of our serendipitous meeting with dinner on a tall ship dating from 1919 in Bremerhaven’s old harbor. Here’s to many more steps and cups of coffee together.
The Dom
photo by Andreas Muenchow
Andreas climbing the ladder to the tiny sleeping loft.
Our street.
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