Weisbaden (June 23rd)

Left to Right: Andreas, Thomas, Diana (mom), Matthias, Scott (dad)

It was a wonderful day where Thomas, Matthias, and Andreas showed my family around their hometown of Wiesbaden. Wiesbaden has been the site of human habitation for centuries, since before Roman times. Wiesbaden is known for its thermal springs and the city grew around this resource. Today it is a thriving city with a wealth of cultural history. Part of this history has to do with my family. Generations have been born and raised in Wiesbaden. I do not know how far back, but to my knowledge my great great grandparents.

We arrived at the family home at about noon where we met with the three brothers (cousins). We discovered that we would be accompanied by Matthias' family (Alicja, Tammy, and Matthias), Thomas with Castian and her daughter, Andreas with Pascal and Vanessa). We had a full group to see all of Wiesbaden. The family has been very gracious. We never had to pay for anything and they were very good to us. Our first stop was the Kurhaus. This is the main spa house. Today it houses many different things and is where my cousins proms were held. We then walked by the opera house which was right next door. The unique part of this experience was that Thomas had a guide book for the city and would read what the book had to say on each of the sites. It was all rather cute.

Kurhaus

Kurhaus Inside

Bandshell in back of the Kurhaus

Kurhaus

The town of Wiesbaden was before us. We saw so much of the city in such a small amount of time. My mom reminisced about walking the streets as a college student and with her mother when she was small. She has fond memories of the area.

This is the worlds largest cuckoo clock. As a teenager my mom had a picture of her standing in front of this same clock over 30 years ago. It seemed only proper to have another picture taken.

This is the place where couples come to get legally married.  My Oma was married here to her first husband before she met my Opa and travelled to America

Heraldic Eagle

This here was a Roman Bridge/Gate. It has since been restored somewhat. Thomas joked with me that the graffiti inside the tower was Roman. Clearly it was not. 

Thermal Spring

Wiesbaden is a spa town. The water supposedly has healing properties. In town they have places like the one pictured above. It is a constantly flowing fountain of spring thermal water. The water is quite warm and smells/tastes of sulfur. When we got to this fountain, Thomas pulled cups from his small backpack and told us to drink. I drank. It did not taste that great. If it would heal me I would drink more of it, but I don't think I could stomach much. The worry many of us had was that the water may not be the cleanest water and filled with bacteria, but I don't think that would be the case. The cousins just were not sure since they never drink from the well themselves. As we were leaving the fountain, a biker stopped at the fountain, drank some hefty gulps of the water then continued to fill up his canteen with this water and bike away. 

For lunch Thomas took the entire group out to Alicja's favorite place...the American Sports Bar. The Blackhawks Stanley Cup game was on the TV, the bar had burgers named after Elvis etc... To put a cherry on top, right when you walked in there was a massive poster of Randy Moss as a Viking. All the way in Germany, and this is what I find. Unbelievable.

After lunch we took this train thing up to the top of this small mountain. The train was unique. At the bottom where you board the train/tram, the train dumps the water that was pumped into it at the top of the hill. So as one car empties, another is filled and that is how the cars move up and down the mountain. It's pretty ingenious I think.

From our vantage point above the city, all was laid before us. We could see all of Wiesbaden. The view was quite spectacular. The day it was warm and beautiful. There was a large park at the top. People were drinking coffee, beer, and simply laying around like any normal person might on the most glorious of days. Just a little way from the summit is St. Elizabeth's Church. It is a Russian Church and is quite beautiful. It just appears out of the trees and stands there gleaming like a jewel endowed upon a crown. 

St. Elizabeth Kirche

At this point all of us were getting tired. We had been walking around and touring the city for at least 6 hours. It was also time for dinner. So we drove back to the family home and picked up Gerhardt and Crystal. We went to the Schutzenhaus. This place is a family tradition. Now I have the chance to become part of that tradition. One thing that was recommended to me was Apfelwein, which is exactly how it sounds. I was warned that it is quite tart and I should get it mixed with water. However I did not think that it was strong at all. It was very mild. When I got a second glass I asked for it straight. Even then the wein was not super strong. I don't know what everyone was looking at me for when I drank it no problem, and liked it. 

Schutzenhaus

Dinner was lovely. Everyone was there. I could see Gerhardt's happiness looking out at the entire family. He definetly looked like the patriarch of the family and I am sure that is how he felt. When we were leaving, the restaurant owner asked if my family was the daughter of Irma. The owner knows Gerhardt and his family, and figured that if someone was visiting and was family, it must have been Irma's family because she is the only one who has left Sonnenberg. It is a small world.