My text for the lesson today is taken from the Book of Inquiry . It reads,
“My husband has a conference in Heidelberg in September and we are planning on staying an extra week to do some sightseeing. When you were there, did you use the train or did you have a rental car? Did you take any guided tours, or just explore on your own? Did you speak German or need to speak German fluently?”
(From a John Broyles and Ursula Ruop descendant.)
I like train travel, but nothing beats the flexibility of a car. Car rental rates are reasonable. We had a VW Golf with automatic drive and A/C from Eurocar (both of these characteristics are rare). The drivers in Germany are not overly aggressive, except for the left lane on the autobahn. For the traveling you will be doing, you will hardly need the autobahn. All of the roads are good, at least in the sense that they are all-weather, and you will get there sooner than you expect.
We split the driving up. My wife drove and I read the maps. It has something to do with specialization where each person does what he knows best. It also has something to do with my wife saying that I look around too much. A good detailed map is essential. If you get lost, and you will, a good map will enable you to recover, and have some fun while doing so. A major key to success and enjoying your visit is learning to relax.
When you hit the big cities, park the car and forget it for a while. It is no fun driving around in a large, strange city. And the maps will hardly help you to find your way back to where you are staying. We like to have reservations for a room in the big cities, e.g., Heidelberg. Down in Ötisheim where the Broyles lived, it is a different story. We took what chance brought to us, and, once or twice in several weeks, we had to go to the next town. As you drive around, plan some routes that take you to new territory.
Make a list of the villages you would like to visit. From Heidelberg, you can go to:
Neuenbürg (Blankenbakers, Fleshmans, Scheibles, Thomases),
Sulzfeld (Zimmerman, Kabler),
Zaberfeld (Kaifers),
Schwaigern (Willheits, Cooks, Reiners),
Gemmingen (Smiths, Clores, Weavers),
etc.
Take in some castles. Act as if your ancestor did own a castle and your are coming back to reclaim it. In Heidelberg, visit the castle and go to the top of the hill to Königstuhl (Kings Chair, Kings Seat). You will see the Neckar River in Heidelberg, but take in the Rhine also. If time permits, take a day trip on it. From Heidelberg, it is about ten miles northwesterly to Ladenburg, a very old village (the Romans were there).
Learn at least some polite German phrases. Can you say “thank you” and “please”? Most of all enjoy yourselves.
(22 Aug 02)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.