Day 11: on the road "home"

It was a no alarm wake up which means we barely made breakfast!  It is hard to believe our trip is winding down.  I have thought about extending my stay and sending Colin back but decided it is just too much trouble.  The train from Munich to Nuremberg were pretty full so we decided to take a taxi to the hauptbahnhof (train station) instead of walking.  It’s a good thing we did because we arrived at the train platform 4 minutes before departure.  This also meant I did not have time to reserve a seat which had Colin a bit upset with me.  The seats on the train have an electronic sign showing what route they are reserved.  I told him it would be fine. We found two seats that were reserved for another leg of the trip so we had seats.  It was only an hour train trip so it wasn’t a big deal.  The train from Munich to Nuremberg is pretty and traveling at 165 km/hour.  It is pretty to see the countryside fly by and all the farmers working in their fields.  I absolutely love this part of Germany.

We quickly picked up a rental car which was a pretty sweet ride.  If you zoom in you can see Colin in the passenger seat eating because like I said before we can't go anywhere without him having to eat!

It’s been a long time since I drove in Germany.  Colin is doubting my abilities which has me nervous too.  Once I got out of the Nuremberg city traffic, it was nothing but wide open autobahn!  I was a little turned around but once I hit 299 I remembered my directions. Our first stop was Kaltenbrunn.  

Kaltenbrunn is a super small town where we lived for 4.5 years.  I loved it!  Our neighbors were German families.  Across the street was a cemetery which was the view from my bedroom.  I know many thought it was weird that we lived across from a cemetery but it was so beautiful and the locals tended to it everyday of the week!

We drove around a bit before stopping by Freihunger 11 . . .

Oh how things have changed since we brought this little guy home from the hospital!

On a trip to Malta in December 2001, I bought this house number and put it on the fence . . .

. . . and every time I visit I say that I am going to take it off and bring it back to Texas.  I just can't seem to bring myself to do it.  We saw what we came to see and were on our way.  And here’s where I totally had a change of heart.  I left Germany under very difficult circumstances.  I have always felt cheated having to leave.  I wanted to go see the school where I taught and drive around post but as we were leaving the town where we lived, I decided that I was good.  I did not want to go to Vilseck to go on post.  I had a wave of emotions and for that one moment I was content.  It was as if I was finally saying good-bye to my long ago home and that part of my life.  A home and life that I loved.  The life I lived from August 2000 to November 2004 was just a distant memory yet so vivid.  I often say that Germany was the best and worst years of my life.  As I drove away, I had the overwhelming feeling of finally being content as if that chapter in my life was over, and I was okay.  So we headed to Weiden.  Weiden is the town where we shopped, ate, lived life, and Colin was born there.  It was Saturday afternoon and nothing was open!  Our hotel is in the city center without parking so I had to find a parking garage to park overnight.  And this is where we had a moment between us.  My driving was apparently painful in the parking garage and I was tired and hungry.  If you have ever driven in German parking garages you know what I am talking about!  We managed to find an open parkhaus and called it a day even if we had to walk farther to the hotel.  By the way our hotel, Das Brunner is absolutely delightful!  Instead of chocolate on the bed they had mini packages of Haribo gummies.

Weiden is very small so we were able to walk around the city center quickly!

I did not take many photos because I was just remembering and soaking it all in.  We stopped for dinner at Brau Wirt.  It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the evening breeze until someone sits down next to us and started smoking.  Yep, that is still a thing but the first time it has happened this trip.  We tried the light and dark beer from their home brewed Zoila beer. The dark beer (helles) for the win.  I am not a beer drinker but man it was very good.  

Beer is cheaper than water.  Most of the time you buy water by the bottle.  We always asked for still water (no gas) but sometimes it just had that taste.  This was one of those times.  You get used to it but Colin just could not as it really is an acquired taste.  So our food arrived and it wasn’t what we thought we were getting. However it was delicious!  Colin has weißwurst (white sausage) in broth which he said were really good.  I had the ofenfrisches schauferle . . .

I totally branched out and wow was I glad that I did.  This was a pork shoulder with dark beer sauce that had cracklings (they look like popcorn kernels or molars) that melted in your mouth.  Colin tasted one and then we were fighting over them. Of course I loved the dumpling and kraut too.  So far this has been my favorite meal!  We walked around a bit to earn some ice cream and oh wow it was the best!  My favorite is heisse himbeer, vanilla ice cream with hot raspberry topping.   

It was just as good as I remembered.  The first time Sean and I came to Weiden in 2000 we ate this same ice cream dish and I was hooked.  We called it a day!

Steps:  10,036

Miles:  4.38