Category: Travels for Fun
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ON TOP OF THE (GERMAN) WORLD
Last Sunday was one of those frigid, yet super clear days that only seem to come around a few times each winter. We were showing Padma’s brother’s family around and were staying with our friends Karl-Heinz and Hiltrud Linke in their little village of Illerbachen. As the sun rose on a very frosty morning, Karl-Heinz pointed to Germany’s highest peak, Zugspitze, from his kitchen window. With visibility like that we just had to head for the summit. Upon arriving at the base of the mountain in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (the site of the…
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DROP IN IF YOU’RE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Just a few weeks ago I received an email from a genealogist in Switzerland. He found a 1928 photo I posted online of some distant cousins in Wisconsin and wanted some details. I sorted out his enquiries and he was most grateful. He said ‘If you’re ever in the Bernese Alps, drop in.’ I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the ‘if you’re ever in XYZ drop in’ invitation or how many times I’ve said it. I rarely take up the offer and people rarely take up my offer. But…
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RESEMBLANCE AFTER 36 GENERATIONS?
Joseph, Padma and I travelled with our German friend, Volker, to pay our respects to our ancestor in Aachen, Germany. Charlemagne – or Charles I, the Emperor of the Romans, the King of the Lombards and the King of the Franks – was laid to rest in 814 in his imperial capital city of Aix-la-Chapell, now known as Aachen. Joseph is the 36th great grandson of Charles. It’s true. I can actually chart our ancestry to Charles via my grandmother. Charlemagne loved the spas of Aachen and spent his winters there.…
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TYROLEAN TREATS
You know, I’m not going to go into my usual long-winded essay with this post. Just going to share some pics of some of the most spectacular mountain scenery we’ve ever seen. Padma and I extended the German Reunification Day into a long weekend and set up camp at a guesthouse in the Austrian Tyrol village of Ehrwald, at the base of the Zugspitze. Some might say we had crappy weather as it rained a lot, but we thought the mountains looked even more majestic shrouded in low lying clouds.
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THE WUPPERTAL SCHWEBEBAHN
‘Whopper-what?’ I asked. My new German friend, Volker, tried to share his hometown with me. ‘Wupper-who?’ I just couldn’t pierce through his thick accent so I pulled out my phone and brought up Google Maps and let him zoom in. ‘Wuppertal!’ I finally realised. ‘Never heard of it.’ Volker explained it was one of the major cities of North Rhine Westphalia and near Düsseldorf. But I had to admit my knowledge of German geography was still limited. ‘It’s world famous for its upside down train,’ Volker said. ‘I will take you…
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WEBERT. OLBERODE. ANCESTRAL HOME.
‘What’s your mother’s maiden name’? How many times have I had to answer that question? ‘Webert,’ I answer. But for most of my life it was only a name. A name I knew nothing about. And a name my mother knew little about. A few years ago I got bitten by the genealogy bug and started researching the Weberts. I didn’t need to do much work because others – Ulrike, Dan, Lou, Jean, etc. – had already done it. I learned from them that the ancestral home of the Weberts is…
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FINDING CHRISTIAN
PERHENTIAN BESAR – 8 February 1978 Olympus OM-1 on Kodachrome 25. Roll 2. Frames 22 and 23. When you travel alone you are inclined to meet more people … and some of those people become your travel mates. I was hanging out during a Chinese New Year holiday at a guesthouse in a small village on the east coast of Malaysia. A tall, sun-tanned Swede and I were the only guests at the place. Christian was sole traveller and on a long-term Asian adventure. Christian and I decided to try to…
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ALSACE. GERMAN OR FRENCH?
One of the few things I remember from high school history is the story of Alsace-Lorraine. It’s a region in present-day eastern France that has been claimed by both France and Germany and as a result has changed hands several times over the past two centuries. Traditionally the people of the region speak a dialect of German known as Alsatian, so Germany felt it belonged to them. But France figured borders should be determined by natural features so they staked claim to the land east of the Vosges Mountains to the…
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A HOT PRAGUE IN JULY
In July of 2019, Padma and I travelled to Prague with our son, Joshua, and daughter-in-law, Shereen. I didn’t write a story or take notes and I hardly shot any photos. It was hot. And it was busy. And I vowed never again to plan a visit a European capital city in the height of the summer holidays. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time. We downloaded Rick Steves Audio Walking Tour of Prague and let him guide us through the city. It was an excellent way to visit the city at…
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