rimbach...ach, so sehr schoen

this is definitely the longest entry into our blog.  i apologize but this has been an amazing 3 days.  in 1959 my ginny graduated from st. olaf college and as a graduating senior was chosen to  spend a year in rimbach germany as a guest teacher at the martin luther schule (school).  over the past 4 and a half years i have heard dozens of stories about "her village".  the farewell tour stop in germany has been incredible.  it has been fascinating to meet the "loved ones" and see the sights.  

on sunday evening we were met at the train station by our hosts gina and hans-jurgen schmidt. hans-jurgen is the former director of the martin luther schule (mls).   we were treated to a very traditional german meal and enjoyed an evening with the schmidts.

on tuesday morning we hit the streets of rimbach...a quick stop in the sqaure...here ginny poses for a picture in front of the fountain as she has many times before...

during her year in rimbach as a Rimbach Ole...ginny lived with the schmitts (there are schmidts and schmitts everywhere).  elsa schmitt is the daughter of ginny's 1959 landlord-lady.  elsa was the first of the many visits.  i enjoyed the visit very much.  although i was unable to understand the conversation, elsa won my heart with chocolate.  it was wonderful to watch ginny and to experience "remembering"even if only as an observer.  the schmitt house was a kind of boarding house in the 50s.  in its hay day there were renters from all over the world.  today elsa lives in the house alone.  she occupies only a few of the 27 rooms.  we were able to visit ginny's room.

ginny and elsa

our second stop was land lady erika.  ginny lived with erika on her return visit to rimbach in 1970.  i was looking forward to meeting erika.  she calls ginny and i often answer the phone.  erika and i have this awkward conversation in german...this is entertaining because i of course do not speak german...you can imagine how effective the conversation...

during the visit erika asked if i wanted to pick some cherries...YES YES YES...i love cherries and had never seen a cherry tree until this point...although i have eaten thousands i am sure...

 i had no idea that my YES YES YES would lead to sawing off a limb from the top of the tree with a saw  attached to the end of a 12 foot pole...it was great fun...

 in the end we had 4 pounds of cherries...YUM!

 when we returned to the schmidts' we were met by friend helmut hartmann, a newly retired teacher at the ml schula and friend of ginny...we were taken to the hartmanns' residence for lunch.  helmut and his wife marion had a wonderful meal for us and as is our way we were sure to photograph the turkish delights purchased for our meal...

a meal is not a meal without wine or beer...we were very impressed with the head on this beer served...

 ginny is not one to waste and in this case was not one to wait for the foam to subside...i do believe that this is the first time i have seen someone eat the foam off the top of a beer with a gabel (fork)....

we were joined at the hartmanns by the kremers.  lois kremer was also a guest teacher the year following her graduating year at st. olaf (1967).  as it turns out, the timing of our trip was perfect.  monday evening was the retirement celebration for 6 martin luther schule teachers, including helmut hartmann.  we were invited to attend the celebration as were the kremers and lawrence and daniela guntner (lawrence was a guest teacher/rimbach ole in 1963.  at the event ginny was asked to speak...she stole the show...quite the entertainer :)

after the celebration we took a tour of the school...the photo below is taken in the same spot as a photo that ginny has kept from 1959-60...

 tuesday morning the rimbach oles and their spouses gathered at gina and has-jurgen's for breakfast...

lawrence, me, ginny, lois and hans-jurgen

lawrence, daniela, ginny, lois and hans-jurgen

lois and ginny

ginny and ulrich kremer (lois's husband)... 

tuesday afternoon hans-jurgen took ginny and me to see a few sights including lindenfels (the pearl of the odenwald).  it is a village high up on the hillside overlooking the odenwald...beautiful...

there is a castle ruin above the village... 

incredible 

we are marking our spot...hans-jurgen's crocs are happy to join in.... 

 a stop for ice cream...and wonderful conversation

 we returned to rimbcah in time to visit thea jakob...thea is the widow of willie jakob (a teacher at the MLS during the years that ginny, lawrence and lois were guest teachers).  when we arrived we were greeted with coffee and kuchen (cake - unlike any cake i have EVER eaten before)...

this one was my favorite 

i was quick to ask for recipes...we will see what happens when i make the attempt... 

ginny and thea

hans-jurgen, ginny and helmut

this evening we were invited to the martin luther schula for a band/music concert...it was wonderful...although a little strange for my culturally...the high school bands are playing and in the back of the school yard is the bbq and beer stand... 

the current st. olaf guest teacher is michael lenz....

 at one point during the concert a group of young men sang thriller acapella....yep that is right i said thriller, as in michael jackson...the picture below is not great but i had to document the event...oh and they sang it in german...

it is late on tuesday evening and we are getting ourselves packed for the next part of the journey tomorrow (heidelberg).  i realized as i started choosing pics for the blog that i have yet to take a picture of gina and so will post the schmidts' goodbye photo tomorrow evening...

i feel like there is so much that i am not sharing...so many things seen and heard...but this gives you glimpse...

a few thoughts/wishes for "the loved ones" and friends...

thank you gina and hans-jurgen for hosting us...danke schoen hemut and marion...it was so lovely to meet you lois and ulrich...lawrence and daniella - i so enjoyed time spent with you...thank you for cherries erika...linda and mick it was a pleasure...enjoy china michael...jutta-much thanks...i look forward to seeing you ALL again!

and to ginny....thank you for the gift of this trip...thank you for sharing this marvelous part of your life with me...i do...(love her that is)...