Back to the past - Part 2, May 18

Headed further north to Iffezheim which is where we lived for the first 10 months in Germany.
From the car the base/airport was now on my right and I could get some pictures as we drove past.
It looked like the same fence was there.

 And could now see the golf course behind it.

One of the things the place is famous for is the horse racing which we never attended but we did drive past the buildings and pastures today.

And past the center of town although I must admit there were many more shops and restaurants but liked this square.

Driving through town we could not locate the house we had lived in and not even a house that was situated the same.  The one end of the house was at a right angel to the street and right along the sidewalk.  A fence completely enclosed the grounds that had a garden area at the rear.  The front door was halfway along the house so you had to go through the gates to reach it.

We did find one house that had a paint job that Andrea really liked.

Yes, it is green with grey accents.  Can identify it easily when giving directions I am sure.

Also on one of the back roads we found a farming place that had signs out and a large parking lot with quite a few cars so we decided to check it out and I am so glad that we did.

 This was Huber of Restaurant & (?). (Did find it on Google map on Spitzenweg to the left of Iffezheim the town)  There were more areas inside the building where you could eat and you can purchase fresh produce in the last building seen above.  And below was the view to my left

 This was my lunch and it was so tasty!  A lovely cold salad of white asparagus, fresh baby peas, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, radish and fresh herb flavorings in a white dressing.  Unbelievably good.

 Andrea wasn't hungry so she ordered the small size of wiener schnitzel with French fries and a salad.  For some reason she ate the salad much later that day.

 And we shared our dessert.  The glass bowl is much higher at the back so the display was lovely.  The strawberries were fresh grown there and full of color and taste.

 There was another patio area in front of the house to our left and I am sure that many children have enjoyed the strawberry table and chairs.

 This one did!

And she made a new friend but I didn't think it was nice to sit on him.

 And a playground area.

 Bikes were parked in slots cut into a large log.

When we got back to the car, this was a view of the house where the bikes were parked and that backed onto the eating area which is tucked away at the left end of the building.

 How they marked a corner of the driveway.

And as a new memory, the rear of the car showing the car model.

 And to prove this was the one she got to drive.  I think the smile says it all.

 

This is the sign at the north entrance to Iffezheim.  Would be the south-east corner.

 

And at the south-west corner.

Drove home through Rastatt which was the nearest city along their highway 3 enroute to Karlsruhe.  Plainly remember going there sometimes for the market and buying myself flowers.  Will never forget one time taking a VW van there with the husband of the couple upstairs at that time in Leiberstung.  He was a big tall man and we had car problems which meant he had to open the back of the van and crank the motor to start it while I stood alongside to "supervise".  This was enough to cause glances but then in the rear window were the faces of 6 children stepped down in ages from 9 to 3 probably.  The first 3 looked very much alike with red hair and then there were my 3.  Caused a few double takes.



 Some city views:

 

Of course, we did get hungry later in the day and had to have our supper after getting back to Karlsruhe.

Recognize the gold circle in the center right of the picture?

Would the picture below help?

Yes, we are sitting in the hotel restaurant at the edge of the Zoo.  And don't you love the boundary between the two -- that thin piece of wire going across just above the back of the chair.

I choose a menu of soup and the entrée below which is cod and vegetables.

 Andrea choose this meat in pastry with salad -- sorry but I forget the full and proper description of her meal.

 Again we shared the dessert so it was gone before the camera was picked up.  Warm apple strudel with ice cream and a chocolate drizzle on top.

 The door into the restaurant.  The name is Lowe am Tiergarten.  It was very interesting to see the pictures on their Booking .com site.

 This covered sidewalk continued completely along the sidewalk for the full block.  To the right would be the hotel, just to the left the zoo store and entrance and then a three story building that had a small grocery store and some empty storefronts that had been a butcher and another store and there were signs for doctors in the suites above.  At the end of the block to the left you crossed the road and were at our hotel. 
The building you see through the arches is the train station.

Finished the shawl with the wool I had brought with me.  The wool in the picture is what I had bought for myself in Basel.  Started another shawl the same shape but doing different stitch patterns for each colour change.  The stitch in the last color, the purple, will be the same as the last stitch pattern in the yellow shawl -- a plain yarn over, knit 2 together across the row.  Thought I would like this connection for the two shawls.

To bed before another train trip in the morning.

 

Read more...

Back to the past - Part 1, May 18

An important part of choosing and planning to do this trip was to take a trip down memory lane.  Our posting in Germany for 2 months shy of 5 years was a very important time in our family's life even though the children were not old enough to appreciate or understand all of it.  In addition to one child being born there, I have lots of good memories and a curiosity about what it is all like now.

We had arranged to have a car for the one day but didn't find their office that we thought was in the train station so we went with another company called Sixt.  They may have been taking advantage of our tourist status but they appeared very friendly, had someone who spoke excellent English after a few years in the States, and had an automatic car with GPS available so we went with them.  Not too sure that Andrea approved but it was a 2015 Z2000 Mercedes Benz so she didn't argue too hard.  I did suggest getting a taxi for the 40 plus kms one way I wanted to cover but she controlled her fears and drove.  Once we got the radio off so we could hear the GPS and she had some time on the autobahn, she became very comfortable driving.

It was a warm, sunny day and an easy drive to the Baden-Baden Airport which is the old 4 Wing Base called Baden-Soellingen.  There is a golf course there now besides the airport but some buildings of the base remained.  Did find a building that from the road looks identical to the mess hall - the one on the left with the loading docks.

Some of the additional buildings we could see easily.  We did not go onto the airport property as wasn't sure how much was public areas and didn't want to have to do any explaining.

 Some of the apartments that were probably part of the housing on base.

 A view of the car poor Andrea had to drive.

 Cross at the corner where you make the turn east to head to where we spent 4 years.  The white stripes are the plastic covered rows where they are growing white asparagus.

 The view as we headed east off the main north-south highway in this region.  Black Forest mountains in the distance.  Road went past the end of the runways and through a forested area of about 100' then opens up again.

 When the picture below is enlarged you can just make out the steeple and another building.  In our day there certainly was not as much mature trees and growth.

 The town name.

 The street now has a name and sign.

 The west side of the house.  The roof above covers their balcony where I loved to spend New Years Eve to see all the fireworks going off in the mountains.  The window below was our bedroom window.  It was made of cement blocks and added to the house after the original building.  There was a full window from the bathroom into the bedroom and the doorway was off the kitchen.  The balcony on the front is all additional construction and fills in below what used to be a grape arbor covering the driveway directly in front of the kitchens.  On the other side of the house were a long series of garage doors and lofts and the one closest to the house was our balcony.  I hung my wash out there and it served as the children's playground.

 Directly across the roadway was this house which has had a new coat of stucco (as should be expected after all these years), new windows in the roof area and a new patio area in the front.  I remember the woman who lived there and her son who was just a bit older than my eldest.  Have no memory of her husband at all.

 Didn't take a picture of the front of the house as it seemed strange to me with all the changes including a sloped driveway to a lower garage below where our balcony had been.  Did take a picture of this sign as the last name is the same as the family who owner the building in our time.  One time I wish I had enough German to have gone and knocked on the door.

 This is the view from the sign looking west.  In our time, there was nothing at all here but open fields.  The car we were driving is the one you see.

 We got past the corner and I spotted this and had to have a picture.  That is a cigarette machine and someone's wood supply.  Easy to tell from the windows that this would be a much newer home.

 Considered very good luck to have a stork in your village.

 The cemetery marker my two eldest loved to go over to and drink the water from the small chapel that was there.

 A view of the church coming from the north.

Lots of lovely memories.
Found some answers on Google including a YouTube video that seemed so out of place with my memories.

And then we retraced our drive back through Hugelsheim.  Few memories of it other than to drive through of course  Could always explore it another time.  Did stay at a motel there our last night before coming back to Canada on December 13, 1969 - a Friday of course.  Day started off well when the rental car didn't start and when they towed it back to the base then the front bumper fell off.  Our flight from Lahr was delayed due to weather for its arrival and due to a mechanical problem for its departure.  Did land safely for which I am truly thankful -- even if I couldn't hear anything for three days because of my ears ringing from 10 hours over the wings of a turbo jet military plane.

Realized this post is getting long and have lots more pictures so going to continue in another post.

Read more...