Germany

Going to Germany was something I hadn’t done in at least 5 years. Despite having family there, I always find that I don’t visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins often enough.  While I was in Peru, I decided that I wanted to take a path through Germany while I was still in Europe and had free reign over my time.  I booked a train ticket for the end of my stay in Paris and started on my journey to visit family and friends in the beautiful country in the middle of winter.

I hopped on a train with my backpack on my back and a croissant in my hand and began my journey early in the morning. My first stop was in Hamburg where I spent nearly a week with some friends Carla and Lotti whom I had met in Peru at the Hogar.  We bonded so much during our time in Peru and had been separated for about a month and a half that we thought a reunion was long overdue.  These two ladies were gracious enough to introduce me to their very generous families and let me stay with them during my time in Hamburg.

Hamburg was and is a city full of history and revival.  Many of the buildings in the main city and its outskirt suburbs were destroyed once during the bombings of Germany during WWII and again years later from buildings catching on fire.  The architecture of Hamburg is one that I have never witnessed before as the old and new landscapes are woven seamlessly together.  The city was under lots of construction during my time there, which is constantly the case.  Dark red and brown brick buildings with sea green rooftops lined the Elbe river while further inland there were newer large white brick office buildings that still held the essence of pre-war Hamburg.  Despite the fact that I could tell which buildings were from which era, it never felt to me like there were two different parts of the city.

Carla took me to the Elphilmharmonie, home of many philharmonic concerts.  This enormous glass building sat on the edge of the river surrounded by passing cargo ships on one side and old brick housing and offices on the other.  It was a masterful feat in the time it was erected, costing millions of dollars that, I think, were well worth it.  Each entrance, stairwell, ceiling, window, and wall somehow lacked a straight edge or corner.  When you walk through the building, it seemed to be as fluid as the ice-cold body of water beside.  Each floor to ceiling glass window curved until running into a hallway where the ceiling seemed to arch for miles until finally you came to the flat escalator transporting people up and down a white cement tube with blue glass décor.  At the top, you could see the entire surrounding city, from the tips of all of the church towers down to central Hamburg where we were off to next.  We walked around the bustling square, into the city hall, and through streets with any type of shop you could think of.  We finally settled at a waterfront restaurant for a cappuccino and some delicious dessert.

I spent time with Lotti and Carla’s friends as well, going to the infamous Raperbahn one weekend which I later learned is known for its prostitutes, drinking, and nightlife.  After many laughs, delicious meals, and good company, it was finally time to see my family.

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Another early morning with my backpack strapped and a sugary-almond croissant in my hand, I hopped on another train to Stuttgart where I met my Aunt Sheryl, Uncle Henry, and Thomas.  They walked me around Stuttgart and showed me all of the sights I had probably seen 10-15 years earlier but was too young to remember.  We talked about all of my travels over lunch and finally made our way back to their home in Pforzheim, a 30-minute train ride away.

Almost the second that I stepped into the Baren, their restaurant and B&B, I was overcome with a sense of belonging.  Somehow after years of time away, this home was just as familiar as my own in the way it looked and, most remarkably, smelled.  It has always had this woodsy scent which I surprisingly remembered.  Walking past the bar in the middle of the first floor brought back memories of my cousin Shannon standing behind it wishing to one day tend over that same bar.  Taking steps down the marble floors and holding on to the wrought iron rail all the way to the hotel rooms at the bottom felt as memorable as me sleeping in my own bed.  Without knowing it, I had literally stepped into a time capsule that brought me back nearly a decade. 

My cousin Thomas took me on adventures around the surrounding Black Forest.  We adventured through acres of beautifully snowy and dense forest and viewed this southern landscape from amazing viewpoints.  As he showed me around the Black Forest and Pforzheim, all I could think about was how times had changed for the two of us.  We had become adults and had grown up into real people with jobs, lives, and aspirations.  We graduated from being driven around by our parents to going on our own adventures and taking care of ourselves.