Both of my (Clint’s) mother’s parents immigrated to America from Germany in the early 1950’s. My Grandfather (Opa) came from Ispringen, a village near Stuttgart, while my Grandmother (Oma) arrived from Sonderriet, an even smaller village near Wertheim. As a result, the majority of my family actually lives in Germany.
As another result, any visit to Germany necessarily involves a lot of visiting – this trip was no exception. After leaving India, we spent the first part of our journey through Europe seeing as much extended family as we could.
This visit was special in several ways. First, it was Kaitlin’s first trip to Germany (Clint’s 4th) and her first chance to experience the “family heritage tour.” Second, my parents and my aunt met up with us for this part of the trip – the first we’d seen them since we started our travels 10 months before. Finally, Opa – at age 90 – came along for the trip.
Ispringen
We landed in Frankfurt, and spent our first few days with Gerd – one of my mother’s cousins – and his family in Darmstadt, a neighboring city.
After enjoying this hospitality, we hopped a train to Stuttgart to meet my parents, aunt, and Opa. From there, we all piled into their rental van like sardines and went to Ispringen.
View from the 3rd row…seriously like sardines
We stayed at the Lamm Gasthof:
Right across the street from the site of Opa’s childhood home (it was burned down during WW2), but was located here:
While in Ispringen we visited some of Opa’s relatives (including his brother), saw some of his oldest friends, and met some of my mother’s cousins (and my 2nd cousins):
We also got the incredible chance to visit Opa’s long lost girlfriend, Irmgart – they actually had a child together before he emigrated; and this was their first moment seeing each other since 1951:
The story is very long, and honestly could fill a book – but suffice it to say my mother and aunt have spent a lot of time and effort reconnecting with this part of the family over the past 5 years, all leading to the moment above. Opa was happily married for 70 years in the US; and agreed to come on this trip about a year after Oma passed away following a long battle against Alzheimers. His decision to come to Germany and see Irmgart again after all those years couldn’t have been easy, but it seemed like a positive experience for everyone involved. I also got to meet 2 new 2nd cousins!
Sonderriet
From Ispringen, we packed into the van and headed to Oma’s hometown of Sonderriet. This is a small village outside of Wertheim, a very picturesque city on the Main River –
– where I have a ton of extended family. Oma was one of 9 children, all of whom had families of their own, so there are dozens of cousins and second cousins. We even had a family reunion while in Sonderriet (thanks to Gerd for organizing!):
Complete with a family tree dating back to 1790 (pen marks show new kids/marriages learned of at the reunion):
Lots of old photos circulating around:
As well as an extreme amount of cake:
While in Sonderriet, we also got a chance to visit Oma’s childhood home:
And spent time visiting several of my mother’s cousins in the area – complete with lots and lots of coffee, cake, beer, and vesper:
Nürnberg
Last on the Germany tour was the city of Nürnberg, to visit some of our “chosen” family – longtime family friends spanning 3 generations. Oma and Opa lived next door to Racy and her husband for some time in the USA, and became good friends back then. My mother also became close childhood friends with their daughter, Mickey. The tradition continues with me; I am good friends with Mickey’s children Vicky and Kai. Here’s everyone in the same photo!
My parents spent the last few days of their trip in Nürnberg with us, and we spent another week in the city before continuing our journey.
While definitely not the most touristy part of our world travel, this was an unforgettable part of the journey, an an experience we wouldn’t trade for anything. Already looking forward to our next visit to Germany!
Jealous cousin. Can’t wait to go back to Germany too