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Our Motto: Home is, where our RV is.
Travel Journal June 2010
| Area of operation: Germany. More specifically: Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. |
| Travel Journal June 2010 Begins in Seestermühe near Hamburg, Germany and ends at Ramstein AFB in Germany. |
Our third month in Germany began with very pleasant weather. The sun came out and the temperature rose to a
more comfortable level. We were visiting Renée’s school mate, Karin Vierkant in Seestermühle. On the first
morning there she had invited several of her friends for a late breakfast (see photos).
Seestermühle is a delightful little village northwest of Hamburg and Karin gave us the grand tour of the nearby
sights (see photos). Her dog, Merlin was always with us. He is an unusually smart fellow and we had a lot of fun
with him. Karin and Renée played Scrabble every evening until quite late. Consequently, we slept late almost every
day.
On Jun 7th we left Karin and Merlin, driving via Hamburg and the Elbe tunnel and the harbor, then through several
extended highway construction zones via Bremen, Dortmund and Cologne until we finally reached Bonn where we
again visited Elke.
Chuck had been searching the entire time in Germany for a Zigeunerschnitzel but it was never on a menu. Elke,
upon hearing this, immediately went to the store for the ingredients and we had Zigeunerschnitzel for supper (see
photos)! We spent a few more pleasant days with Elke, her son, Martin and his girlfriend Anja. On June 10th we
left Bonn, driving along the Rhein river, across the bridge in Koblenz where we were blitzed by a traffic camera,
and past the Marksburg castle above the Rhein (see photos), and on to Heidenrod-Laufenselden in the Taunus
Mountains where we spent the next two weeks at Helga’s and Willi’s beautiful home. Helga and Renée have been
friends since they were ten years old and in the same school.
We were quite spoiled with Helga and Willi alternating as chef of the day. We really enjoyed our stay and the
strolls through the forest and countryside. From Laufenselden we also visited our former neighbors in Strinz-
Trinitatis (Hünstetten), once at a coffee klatch at Regine’s (see photos), another time with Monika and Hubert, and
the evening neighborhood fest (see photos) that Birgitta organized and all of the former neighbors attended. It
was just as nice as the annual fest in the good old times when we lived there. We spent that night (or what was
left of it) at Birgitta and Klaus Brinkmann’s in Strinz.
On June 20th we visited Inge and Günter in Walluf where we had been invited for lunch. Ellen (Günter’s mother
and Reinhard (Günter’s twin brother) were also there (see photos). It was an interesting afternoon and since
almost all of this side of the family were together, we called the one missing party, Helga (Günter’s and Reinhard’s
aunt) who lives in Pueblo, Colorado. She wasn’t able to indulge in Inge’s culinary delights but at least she was able
to participate in the chit chat.
On Monday we rode to Wiesbaden with Helga to go shopping. We split up with the intention to meet at 4 PM at the
Café Maldaner (see photos). Helga still had not shown by 5 PM so we called Willi and discovered that Helga was at
the police station since her billfold with driver’s license, credit cards, family photos and about 200 Euro had been
stolen from her purse. She had been in a shoe store and set the purse behind her while trying on a pair of shoes.
Willi managed to immediately cancel all the credit cards but the loss of family photos and the administrative details
to replace ID, driver’s license, etc. is staggering. But two days later a phone call came from a large department
store (Karstadt) that the billfold (minus the money) had been found. How about that, a thoughtful and considerate
thief who placed it where it could be found instead of in a trash barrel!
During these two weeks we also visited Nelson (Nelle) Thegemey, our exchange student who lived for a year with
us in Las Cruces, NM (1986). He is married (Tina) and has two children (Laurenz and Lucie) and lives in Idstein
(see photos). A few days later Renée visited Abbott in Wiesbaden where she worked for over five years (see
photos). We also met Karin Füllbeck and Isolde Rebscher in Kelkheim. Renée worked with them at the
Farbwerken Hoechst in the late sixties. We had supper at the Gimbacher Hof, a very nice outside restaurant in
the Taunus Mountains (see photos).
On June 25th we began packing up since we would be leaving the following day. That evening we invited Helga and
Willi to the Wambacher Mühle (see photos) where Chuck received his special wish for another Zigeunerschnitzel.
The following day at 2 PM we left Helga and Willi and a few hours later we met Dieter Köhler at the Gasthaus
“Zum Wiesengrund” in Ludwigshafen. Dieter is a distant cousin of Renée’s half sisters and someone she played with
as a child. The contact with him and the rest of the family had been lost some time ago but recently he had found
Renée’s name in an Internet search and contacted her. It was interesting and fruitful since they were able to
exchange old family photos.
After our meeting we drove on to Ramstein and spent our first night in the hotel, hoping that we would leave the
following day for Charleston. Our 90 day limit in Germany was drawing very near (from Apr 2nd). We were not
able to catch a flight and at the end of the month we were still sitting at Ramstein.
To be continued…..
more comfortable level. We were visiting Renée’s school mate, Karin Vierkant in Seestermühle. On the first
morning there she had invited several of her friends for a late breakfast (see photos).
Seestermühle is a delightful little village northwest of Hamburg and Karin gave us the grand tour of the nearby
sights (see photos). Her dog, Merlin was always with us. He is an unusually smart fellow and we had a lot of fun
with him. Karin and Renée played Scrabble every evening until quite late. Consequently, we slept late almost every
day.
On Jun 7th we left Karin and Merlin, driving via Hamburg and the Elbe tunnel and the harbor, then through several
extended highway construction zones via Bremen, Dortmund and Cologne until we finally reached Bonn where we
again visited Elke.
Chuck had been searching the entire time in Germany for a Zigeunerschnitzel but it was never on a menu. Elke,
upon hearing this, immediately went to the store for the ingredients and we had Zigeunerschnitzel for supper (see
photos)! We spent a few more pleasant days with Elke, her son, Martin and his girlfriend Anja. On June 10th we
left Bonn, driving along the Rhein river, across the bridge in Koblenz where we were blitzed by a traffic camera,
and past the Marksburg castle above the Rhein (see photos), and on to Heidenrod-Laufenselden in the Taunus
Mountains where we spent the next two weeks at Helga’s and Willi’s beautiful home. Helga and Renée have been
friends since they were ten years old and in the same school.
We were quite spoiled with Helga and Willi alternating as chef of the day. We really enjoyed our stay and the
strolls through the forest and countryside. From Laufenselden we also visited our former neighbors in Strinz-
Trinitatis (Hünstetten), once at a coffee klatch at Regine’s (see photos), another time with Monika and Hubert, and
the evening neighborhood fest (see photos) that Birgitta organized and all of the former neighbors attended. It
was just as nice as the annual fest in the good old times when we lived there. We spent that night (or what was
left of it) at Birgitta and Klaus Brinkmann’s in Strinz.
On June 20th we visited Inge and Günter in Walluf where we had been invited for lunch. Ellen (Günter’s mother
and Reinhard (Günter’s twin brother) were also there (see photos). It was an interesting afternoon and since
almost all of this side of the family were together, we called the one missing party, Helga (Günter’s and Reinhard’s
aunt) who lives in Pueblo, Colorado. She wasn’t able to indulge in Inge’s culinary delights but at least she was able
to participate in the chit chat.
On Monday we rode to Wiesbaden with Helga to go shopping. We split up with the intention to meet at 4 PM at the
Café Maldaner (see photos). Helga still had not shown by 5 PM so we called Willi and discovered that Helga was at
the police station since her billfold with driver’s license, credit cards, family photos and about 200 Euro had been
stolen from her purse. She had been in a shoe store and set the purse behind her while trying on a pair of shoes.
Willi managed to immediately cancel all the credit cards but the loss of family photos and the administrative details
to replace ID, driver’s license, etc. is staggering. But two days later a phone call came from a large department
store (Karstadt) that the billfold (minus the money) had been found. How about that, a thoughtful and considerate
thief who placed it where it could be found instead of in a trash barrel!
During these two weeks we also visited Nelson (Nelle) Thegemey, our exchange student who lived for a year with
us in Las Cruces, NM (1986). He is married (Tina) and has two children (Laurenz and Lucie) and lives in Idstein
(see photos). A few days later Renée visited Abbott in Wiesbaden where she worked for over five years (see
photos). We also met Karin Füllbeck and Isolde Rebscher in Kelkheim. Renée worked with them at the
Farbwerken Hoechst in the late sixties. We had supper at the Gimbacher Hof, a very nice outside restaurant in
the Taunus Mountains (see photos).
On June 25th we began packing up since we would be leaving the following day. That evening we invited Helga and
Willi to the Wambacher Mühle (see photos) where Chuck received his special wish for another Zigeunerschnitzel.
The following day at 2 PM we left Helga and Willi and a few hours later we met Dieter Köhler at the Gasthaus
“Zum Wiesengrund” in Ludwigshafen. Dieter is a distant cousin of Renée’s half sisters and someone she played with
as a child. The contact with him and the rest of the family had been lost some time ago but recently he had found
Renée’s name in an Internet search and contacted her. It was interesting and fruitful since they were able to
exchange old family photos.
After our meeting we drove on to Ramstein and spent our first night in the hotel, hoping that we would leave the
following day for Charleston. Our 90 day limit in Germany was drawing very near (from Apr 2nd). We were not
able to catch a flight and at the end of the month we were still sitting at Ramstein.
To be continued…..
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