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Published: September 25th 2014
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Day 6: Saturday 20
thSeptember
Senftenburg – Nuremburg
Louis and I started the day with a run. It was cool but not wet and so pleasant conditions to run in. Monika made us breakfast again – a filling continental breakfast like yesterday. We eventually got sorted and loaded up again and then had to say goodbye to Monika. It was a great ‘meet the parents’ opportunity for both sides and it went really well. I think that Monika enjoyed us staying and she was a generous and welcoming host. It was quite difficult for Mandy and Louis as well as of course we spoke no German and Monika spoke no English. But we got by with them translating and each of us guessing and pantomiming.
Our trip to Nuremburg was to be punctuated with two ‘meet the grandparents’ stops. Mandy’s maternal grandmother lives in an apartment complex about 10K from Senftenburg. She was a lovely elderly woman who was happy to welcome her into her home. She lives about 3 story’s up in her apartment and there are no lifts so every day she walks up and down those stairs. Through Mandy I
was able to talk to her about what it is like to live in an upstairs apartment and how she managed in general. She was widowed 3 months ago and she described to me how she and her daughter’s cared for her husband at home until he died. They received some community nursing support and some home care type services. It sounded like there was some palliative care process in place towards the end as well. She shops and cooks and remains independent in her on home. Monika lives close by and another sister lives in a unit underneath her. A third sister is in the next village so there are lots of good supports for her in her old age.
We then went on to visit the paternal grandparents who live in a rural village about 50km away. Imagine Mimma and Joe only German. The arrangements were for a quick stop off just for a meet and greet but of course when we got there, there was food and drink and we just had to stay for a bit. It was lovely.
Like Mimma and Joe they had vegetables preserved from their garden laid out
to eat. They too are getting older and are unable to keep up the big vege garden they once had. It s interesting talking to them about their future and they are concerned about what will happen as none of their sons want to live in the house and they have far less support into their future. All of these elderly people live in houses with stairs and you have to wonder how long they can be sustained in their own homes and what options are available for them into the future. But that’s just the aged care nurse in me talking.
Once we left we headed south to Nuremburg to the home of a friend of Franks. Danny worked with Frank at CSL prior to us moving to Griffith and then after that Danny met his wife Margot, who is German, trekking in Nepal. Once they got together Danny moved to Nuremburg and has lived there now for 20 years. They have a 17 year old son Christopher who is completing year 12. To Danny’s credit he has kept in contact with Frank over all these years and has visited us in Griffith. So it was
a no brainer when we were going to Germany that we visit him. Danny’s wife is a senior manager for a health insurance company and Danny is a stay at home parent and househusband. He does a fantastic job.
Mandy and Louis went on to Bumberg to stay with friends for two nights while we were with Danny, Margot and Christopher. The family live just on the outskirts of Nuremburg in a 500 year old apartment that has had the most amazing internal renovation. It has two main living stories, 3 huge bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, state of the art kitchen, and underneath a washing and drying room and then underneath that is a cellar. It was seriously impressive. We had out own room and bathroom, which is always a bonus. Their views are of houses that are equally old nested along cobble stone streets. It was a unique experience for us. The apartment block houses 5 other apartments and it is owned by this guy who lives across the street in a mini castle – we naturally called him the King
For dinner they took us to a specialty restaurant a pork bake house complete with large pork pictures on the walls. Dinner consisted of a slab of perfectly cooked pork on the bone , a klösse and a huge hunk of crackling. Now for the record I don’t usually eat crackling mainly because it’s too fatty but also because I don’t like the taste and texture very much. Well this crackling was amazing! So was the pork. It still amazes me how the Germans can eat like this and still not be the size of barns but when I think it through they do a lot of cycling and walking as part of their everyday life and that must have some positive effect.
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Simone
non-member comment
Pork
I am so meant to be German!!!! I love pork!!!!!