It’s been so nice to be resting and taking it slow–even though it’s a big adjustment for me! Also, I had a big chunk of work on an article that I needed to get done, so while it was gray and intermittently raining this morning, I did that and sent it off to my colleagues before their day had even started (a nice trick when you are seven hours ahead). Mark worked on a new circuit board in preparation for one of his fall courses, so he kept himself busy as well. But when I was done about noon, we set out with my mother for the downtown area, because she wanted to take us out for Chinese food in a restaurant I thought had long ago closed its doors. It is in the busy outdoor shopping mall/pedestrian zone that comprises much of downtown Osnabrück, and it is memorable because it is on the top floor of a 5-story office building, with a view of the cathedral and the theater. This is why I so clearly remember going there with my parents as a pre-teen in the late 1970s, and once all by myself in the early 1980s, at age 15 or 16, feeling very grown up very proud to be going to a very fancy restaurant. Restaurants rarely last that long in any city, and although it was all white linen and semi-elegant, it wasn’t even that expensive. Most sit-down meals these days start at around 20 Euro, and the various chicken dishes we had were 15.50, so that’s quite modest. They served the sauces separately from the stir-fried vegetables and crispy baked chicken breast, which I don’t recall seeing elsewhere. The food was quite good and we really enjoyed the Sunday quiet, too.
Afterwards, we walked a bit more–my mom came with us for a little bit, but then veered off to go home, and we wandered through a few more Osnabrück streets we hadn’t revisited, as well as along the river Hase, which flows through downtown and then forms part of the former city moat and defensive ramparts. But we had to take a quick detour for coffee and ice cream, because we desperately needed to find a bathroom and none of the public buildings that usually have them were open, and the small train station near downtown had no bathrooms at all. Not that we were super sad to have another chance to try our favorite ice cream, but I would also appreciate more free public restrooms. The chronic complaint of ALL tourists in Europe! (We later saw on a city map that almost all the big city parking garages that surround the downtown area DO have them, so we’ll try that out during the next bathroom emergency.)
Once we had a bathroom, caffeine and lactose/fructose break, we walked a bit more, past several remnants of the old defense walls and towers that used to ring the city, and eventually ended up looking down from rebuilt 19th-century city gate, the Waterloo Gate, another mandatory activity while here, and thus a repeat shot from other years:
From that point, it’s only about 10 more minutes to my mom’s house. Of course, once we got there, she offered us more coffee. I had some (but no cake! just coffee!) while she and I chatted about old friends and her grand kids and great-grandkids far away in the US. Then Mark and I had some bread and cheese with apples for dinner, and because it was only 7 pm, went for another walk (as he likes to point out, we mostly walk, eat, and sleep here). This time, we picked the “Schloss” for our destination–formerly a Renaissance-style palace for a bishop who was also the local mini state’s ruler (“Fürstbischof”), it is now the university, and the park behind it makes for a lovely campus setting for students and everyone else to hang out. Reading some plaques today, I realized that it was almost completely destroyed during WWII–all but the façades–so most of the buildings are actually new except for the “look.” But it’s a pretty building anyway.
The one new thing we found on our walk is another one of the old towers that used to be part of the city defense system, the so-called Plümersturm. Maybe we’ll find some more. I should really figure out how many there still are today.
Then we went home for good, thankful that the temperatures were lovely (in the 70s rather than near 90), but that the skies had also lightened up after a mostly gray day, and that we never got rained on this afternoon. Mostly, I just love the many hours of daylight and being out and about in it! We are so close to midsummer that it is light very late and very early, and it never really feels like the day ends (current sunset: 9:51 pm; tomorrow’s sunrise: 5:05 am!). Something I’ve always loved about Northern Europe (but don’t get me started on the downside in midwinter).
P.S. I had just finished writing this when my social media past proved to me and all of you that I am unspeakably boring and repetitive. Note the date. 7 years = no difference, down to the urge to provide you with the all-important EXACT sunset and sunrise times.
