Today is a day to recover. We slept in. I did laundry, though with Brother's machine it took a while.
First was the wash, which took 2 hours. The machine played a merry tune when it was done. At least the machine is happy. Then the same machine is used to dry. When starting it announced drying would take 3.5 hours. That included more spin cycles and more sounds like a washer (though, thankfully, without flowing water). So I sat around in my pajamas and Brother and Niece walked to get our lunch at a Turkish takeout. When the dry cycle was done, now after 2:30, I found the clothes quite hot. It seems this model doesn't know about permanent press cool down. I will be championing the rumpled look this week.
No big need to go out today (other than we're in Munich!). Rain has been falling much of the day.
So while I waited I was able to finish writing these blog entries and will post them as I choose photos.
Friday, August 9
Today we headed up the Burgisher Strasse, a road with the Odenwald and its hills on one side and the Rhine River on the other. There are several picturesque towns along the route. We stopped only at Bensheim. We walked around the central city a bit, got some coffee and tea (so we could use their restrooms), and were on our way again, heading into the hills.
Another branch of my mother's family is from this region. We've left Baden behind and are now in Hesse. Three-great grandfather Johann Jacob Lück (spelled Leeak in America) was born in Starkenburg in 1801. I can't find a city of that name in modern maps, though we did pass Starkenburg Castle. See the tower up on the hill.
His wife Eva Gießmann was born in Lindenfels in 1802. They were married in Reichenbach in 1828 and traveled to America in 1831 with two small children. The trip was nearly a disaster as the ship ran aground just outside the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. Thankfully, no lives were lost.
Our first stop was Reichenbach and its church. Johann's parents were also married here, but we don't know any more than that. We scanned the churchyard. The only family name we found was Bitsch, the maiden name of Eva's mother Elizabeth. Again, that was assurance we were in the right area.
Lunch in Reichenbach was at the only place open – a little place that sold Turkish pita sandwiches.
On to Lindenfels. A city-family book (this one online) allowed me to trace Eva's family back another five generations to 1609. I have ancestors from Lindenfels as well as the surrounding villages of Ellenbach, Winkel, Schlierbach Eulsbach, and Glattbach.
Lindenfels is up on a hill. There is an old, somewhat ruined castle at point of the hill and from there one can see the other villages in the valley.
We looked in the Protestant church in Lindenfels, but there was no attached graveyard to check whether there are people with the same last names in the area.
After walking to the castle we drove through some of the other villagers. Because they're so close and so small this didn't take long. We did see the Bitsch name on such things as war memorials.
Brother asked: Why someone would want to leave a village that is as pretty as Lindenfels to go to America? I listed various forms of oppression that could force a person to leave. One of those was the failed uprising of 1848. That led to a bit of reading about that year and a spirited discussion over supper of that event and ancient and modern parallels. Niece can be quite a debater!
We spent the night in a hotel in Gadernheim, north of Lindenfels. The innkeeper came out to the parking lot to greet us and guide us through the back door to the desk that served as reception and bar. Just inside the back door was the elevator – one walked directly into the elevator from the back door and through the elevator to go into the hotel. I noticed it on the way in. Brother and Niece noticed it when we took the elevator to our rooms and had to do it in two trips because it was so small. Once upstairs we thought of taking the stairs but had a hard time finding them (though if we had come in the front door of the hotel we would have seen the stairs right there).
The innkeeper was from Budapest so had Hungarian dishes on the menu. The goulash was delicious!
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