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Trying to get the classic photo of Neuschwanstein castle turned out to be quite an adventure. Actually it should have been simple – we knew where we wanted to be. Getting there was another matter. Slopes were steep and unstable, groves of prickly trees grew in the most inopportune places, and we discovered that ticks exist in Europe, too. Thankfully after all the clambering we found the view we were looking for and snapped a few photos before scrambling back down to civilisation. The afternoon was spent exploring the town of Fussen which has a beautiful old quarter that’s generally overlooked by the hordes of bus tours.

From there we headed east toward Stuttgart to where my mother was born. Actually it’s a bit outside Stuttgart, in a town called Stetten. Relatives are spread around a bit in different towns nearby and the names of the different areas evoke memories of previous visits or stories I’ve been told growing up. We’ve been welcomed with open arms and it’s great to be able to introduce Brett to everyone and show him where my German roots come from. Actually, his German roots aren’t from all that far away, about 60km as the crow flies. Thankfully his ancestors left Germany in the early 1800s so the chances of us being related are pretty slim. Back then 60km was a longer distance than it is now. We plan to head there at some stage and sift through the old church books for details of his family, but before we do that I have to learn some of the old German Sutterlin script. As if learning  proper German isn’t enough of a task already!

It’s been really cool catching up with people over here. The last time I was around was in 2006 and a bit has changed. My great uncle’s Parkinsons has gotten worse and it was tough to see him so debilitated. Last time I was here he was still walking around and doing OK, but now he’s confined to a wheelchair and hardly recognises anyone. On a happier note my… what is he to me… cousin? My grandmother’s sister’s grandchild… anyway he got married and now has a beautiful two year old son (and of course a beautiful wife as well). We spent some time over there last night, chatting eating and hanging out.

His parents are the ones who have been putting a roof over our heads and also making sure our days are filled with interesting activities and delicious food. Yesterday we went to an open air museum of old buildings which have been brought together from around the area. There was an old schoolhouse, a house from 1555 and a teeny tiny poor farmer’s house. We thought the single room was small already, but then we read that a family with 11 children lived there! It would have been standing room only, and sleeping in shifts. One of the buildings had a really good display of building techniques used and we saw how the fachwerk beam frame was filled with woven sticks which were then covered in clay. Roofs/floors were made with wooden beams coated with clay and straw mix which supported the floor beams on top and were plastered smooth on the roof side.

Actually one of the nicest things that I realised when we were walking around the museum was that we could still see some of the old style buildings being used in towns in the area. Of course you can’t go into the private houses but the old fachwerk houses are still being used and maintained. In a nearby village called Strumpfelbach we saw some beautiful examples along the main street and as we drive through other villages there are plenty that catch our eye. Speaking of looking after old buildings we also spent a morning at a 400 year old old winepress bu in Stetten which is being renovated to become a multipurpose hall. It lost its original function in 1931 when a new wine press was built, and over the years has served a variety of purposes – most notably a meeting hall for youth organisations during the Nazi times and as a home for refugees and displaced people after WWII. Something that’s struck me so far just in my time back in Germany is how open people are about the dark era of the Third Reich, I guess because I’ve spent so much time in Japan where their equally dark era isn’t talked about and China where nothing much at all is openly discussed. It’s good to see.

Brett was meant to go back to work yesterday but things got delayed, as things often do, and now he flies out on Saturday. It actually worked out well because he gets more time to explore the area and spend more time with my relatives. We’ve shown him around Stetten, wandered through the vineyards and forests that surround it and taken him to the “world famous” Yburg. It’s a small fortification, more just a tower, in the vineyards above town and serves as Stetten’s signature landmark. It’s nice for me to see the area in something apart from the depths of winter, which is when I’ve been here the last two times (the only times I can really remember). It’ll be nice when we live in Munich to be able to come back in different seasons, particularly grape harvest and autumn when all the leaves change colour.

When Brett heads back to work I’ll probably go back to Munich to sort out some stuff and get a bit more of a feel for the city, then some time in the Netherlands, Belgium and London. If all goes to plan we’re heading to Uzbekistan in Brett’s next break.