Solo trip to Germany into the past

It’s already been a week since I got back from a quick solo trip to Germany. A couple of months ago it was announced that there was a 30 year highschool reunion in the works. This year the timing actually worked in my favor and so I headed on a little Germany trip by myself. To make good use of my time I squeezed in a couple of “side trips”.

I started by meeting up with my dad near Munich to visit my sister and her husband. Even though it was already end of August it felt like summer and we spend the evenings hanging out in the beer garden at our hotel. There was lots of good food there. Since it was too hot to spend much time outside we went on one outing to the Bucheim Museum. It’s right at the edge of Lake Starnberg in a park-like setting and it was a lot of fun.

Besides the collection of expressionist paintings it also had an exhibition about Paul Maar. He is an illustrator of children’s books and almost everyone in Germany knows his drawings. His most famous one is the book about the Sams. It’s a character that shows up one day at the house of Mr. Taschenbier (Bag Beer – don’t even ask). It has red hair and blue dots on his face. For every dot (seven) Mr. Taschenbier can make a wish… Sorry, I am getting off topic a little.

On another day we went on a walk near the lake early in the morning to skip the heat, visiting the spot where Ludwig II of Bavaria was found dead. He is pretty famous because he had the Neuschwanstein Castle build, the one that Disney used as inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle.

On my 4th day in Germany I got on the plane to Hannover in Northern Germany. Germany is not that big but it would have taken me all day to take the train there. The German train system is also not the most reliable these days so this was the safer bet. My parents in law were nice enough to let me borrow a car from the so I could drive to Nienburg where the high school reunion happened.

I stayed with a good friend from school I lost touch with over the years. It was really nice hanging out with her after so many years. Life sometimes is a weird thing. We could not even remember why exactly we lost touch or how it happened but I think it was partly we moved to different places after school and I was in a new relationship and our interests and friends groups drifted apart. She’s a school teacher now and volunteers at a printing museum where they also have classes for kids. It sounds like she enjoys it a lot and the place is awesome. She gave me a little tour before I headed off to the high school meet-up.

The re-union itself started out with us going on a dragon boat outing on the river that flows through Nienburg, the Weser. I had never done that before and it was really fun. One of my friends who I usually see when I visit Germany also came and it was good to catch up but most of the others I had not seen for 25 years. I talked with some I had almost never talked to in school. We all grew up in the years since I suppose. There were no major surprises. Many became lawyers, teachers or doctors. We will see if it takes 25 years again before I get to ho next time. My aunt and uncle still live in the area but other then that I don’t have any ties to the place anymore other then my memories since my dad sold the house. It still oddly feels like home – especially the wide open fields in the area but I also realized in the past years that I would not want to move back there. Visiting feels good though.

Before getting on the train to Frankfurt (where my brother and dad live and from where I was leaving), I hung out with my parents in law a bit. The time felt so short on this visit that I did not even get in touch with anyone else. I hope to see my other friends the next time around. The train ride went smoothly luckily even with a 40 minutes delay but it was fine. I kind of like riding the train. It’s more comfortable then the plane or the car and you can read while the scenery passes you by.

Visiting my brother now is almost like visiting a second childhood home. His family always has room for us and we usually pick up where we left of even if there is a year in between. My dad lives really close and he came over to hang out with us in the backyard.

All in all it was a really relaxing trip despite all the going back and forth. It still feels foreign to travel by myself and not have the kids with me but it make things so much easier if you only have to take care of your own needs and plans. Luckily they are at an age now where they can clearly state what they need/want and my husband took care of the rest. There were also no schedule change surprises this year what made the start of the school year way more pleasant.

Does your high school have re-unions? Would you go? I was talking with my colleagues and most of them said they did not know about this custom. Lots of years at my school do it every 5 years and the school invites back after 25 and 40 years I think. Granted that our grades are much smaller than here. My graduating class had about 60 students whereas my daughter’s will have about 350. Another thing I am curious about: are you still friends with people from school? I have one friend I talk to throughout the year and we stay in touch but most of my other friends are from later in life.