We took it fairly slowly this morning—we were scheduled to leave by car for Fürstenau, the town I grew up in, by 10, but Kai was not quite ready, so it was about 10:30 before we left. Mark drove, Imke directed him, and that worked pretty well once I stopped trying to interfere from the back seat. It‘s about an hour‘s drive (very scenic); once we were there, we took care of some banking business, and went to the local gelateria (of which I have very fond memories, all the way back to when it first opened and a (small, inch-diameter) scoop of gelato cost 10 Pfennig in Germany‘s old currency—whenever I had allowance to spare, I‘d get 5 scoops in five flavors!). Then we went to see some of our oldest friends who have stayed in town, a couple named Dieter and Sabine, who moved here in the late 70s, a bit after my parents, and were always part of their friend group. Sabine had prepared a lovely light lunch of tomato soup and bread, and we had coffee afterwards, all in their fantastic garden, truly a magical place that has nooks and crannies far beyond what you would first expect (including slides and sandboxes for their grandkids, and a „secret pathway“ between hedges right at the edge of the garden). Kai and Dieter talked about choir music, because Dieter is in a nearby mixed choir, and we had a good time all around. Then we walked to the nearby cemetery, where my dad‘s grave is (as well as my grandmother‘s and stepmom‘s), and Imke could reassure herself that the gardener who is maintaining the grave is doing a good job. No plastic flowers on German graves! They are either just stone and evergreens, or someone takes care of changing the flowers seasonally. My mother, who is a saintly woman in all respects, not only pays for the maintenance of the grave of the man she divorced in the 1990s, but has insisted that his grave has the same arrangement of plants on it as his second wife‘s (maintained by the same gardener).
We then went for a little „memory walk“ that led from the cemetery to the park and the former castle, the moat of which was made into two small c-shaped lakes that are part of the park, while the castle itself is now part city administration, part Catholic Church. There are some very old fortifications and cool tunnels, but all on a very small scale. The city jail from the 18th century, which was partly in use until the early 1970s, is supposed to be made into a hotel, but I did not see any signs of that yet. We were back by the car after an hour, and drove through my old neighborhood and past our old house, which is enormous by comparison with many other houses in the neighborhood because it has this huge addition that was built in the 30s—that struck me as funny, because everything else seems to have shrunk over time, but that big old house has not. It shows a bit of wear and needs a new roof, but I am happy that it is still lived in and looks good.
We got back at about 4 pm and took it easy that evening—had a simple early dinner of bread and cheese, and then Mark and I went for a long-ish walk through downtown, through the park by the university, and along a walkway the river Hase which leads back into the downtown area. We had something to drink at a cafe (again with VERY slow service—we‘ve had that in many places) and walked home. Since it was warm and sunny after a long-ish cold spell AND also the first day of the 6 weeks of school vacation (Schulferien) for all kids in this state, the city was just full of people basking in the sun—in the parks, in the street cafes, etc., so it was a really nice walk for people watching!