© 2000, 2024 Rex Jaeschke. All rights reserved.
[Originally, this diary was written by hand in a spiral notebook during the trip. In 2023, I transcribed and edited it. I’d glued all kinds of things into the paper version: plane and rail tickets, postcards, a weather map, town maps, admission tickets, supermarket receipts, and even a Milka chocolate bar wrapper. It’s quite likely that I hadn’t read the diary since I first wrote it, some 23 years earlier.]
A week before my departure, my 16-year-old son, Scott, left for Dortmund, Germany, with four other students from his high school German class, plus a parent. They spent 10 days there, and Scott stayed with the young man we’d hosted in September 1999. By all accounts, a good time was had, including several nights out until 4 am! (Dortmund is in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen [English: North Rhine-Westphalia].)
After Scott joined me at Frankfurt airport, we spent time in each of the six former East German states: Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia.
The primary purpose of our trip together was to give Scott practice at speaking and understanding German by interacting with the natives. He had recently finished his third year of German study and was enrolled for a fourth in September. [By the end of high school, he’d taken five years of German, and had attended a 3-week Virginia’s Governor’s School German immersion program. And four years later, he graduated university with a bachelor’s degree in German.]
From Home to Mainz via Frankfurt
Late on a July 2000 afternoon, Jenny drove me to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) where I caught a United Airlines flight to Frankfurt on a Boeing 777. As I had a window exit seat, I had plenty of legroom. Neither of the movies was to my taste, so after supper I read a bit. I managed only 1:30 hours of sleep, which is par for the course when travelling overnight across the Atlantic from west to east.
[Next day] We touched down at FRA (in the state of Hesse) half an hour early, but then it took an hour for my luggage to appear. I was travelling with a moderately full backpack, which I’d checked, and a day pack, which I’d carried on. I located the regional train station and after a number of false starts, I managed to negotiate the automatic-ticket machine to buy a ticket to Mainz, the capital of the state of Rheinland-Pfalz [English: Rhineland-Palatinate]. During the short ride, I sat next to a retired couple just returning from an extended vacation in Southeast Asia, and I got my first German workout. It was rough, but effective.
At the Mainz train station, I bought a phone card and proceeded to my second challenge of the day, negotiating with the phone system and its myriad of messages telling me—in German—I wasn't doing something right. Now, there are four ways to insert a phone card. Needless to say, the correct one was the 4th one that I tried. I phoned my host who then came to get me. Well, don’t you know, the station was under major repairs, and it was hard to find anything. While I was waiting at one exit, he was looking for me at another. Don't you just hate that when that happens! Several months in advance of my trip, I'd sent e-mail to a number of Servas International hosts and eventually I managed to arrange a two-day and night stay with Herbert and Margret. They lived in a townhouse one floor of which was occupied by Herbert 's mother. Herbert did not work on Fridays, so he was able to pick me up and get me settled.
After a big lunch of fried sausage and egg, salad, and drinks, we walked for an hour around the outskirts of the town through fruit groves and fields of cereal crops. After a 1:30-hour nap, I felt much better. Mid-afternoon, we drove to pick up Margret at her job in an adult education center. Then we all walked around town and visited the newly renovated Gutenberg Museum. [He had recently been named the “Man of the Second Millennium” for his printing press inventions.] We went to one of the many outdoor restaurants for ice cream and coffee, and to watch the world go by. Back home, Herbert cooked a pasta dinner with salad and dessert, and we talked into the evening. Lights-out at 22:00.
[Next day] Although I woke at 05:00, I eventually got back to sleep. I had a late breakfast, and the three of us did some shopping. Then we mounted bicycles for a 40-km cycling tour along a part of the Rhine Valley. It sure tested my fitness and breathing! At one point, we crossed the Rhine River on a ferry along with cyclists, pedestrians, cars, and two girls leading horses, which of course immediately felt the need to leave their mark right upwind of us. Don’t you just hate that when that happens! Apparently, this was a common event, and a ferry attendant appeared with a shovel and bucket.
Early afternoon, we ate a late lunch at a restaurant that was part of a small family winery. We sat outside under a large umbrella and enjoyed the local food before riding up a steep incline to an old monastery and castle, which had recently been converted into a state government conference center. There, we walked the gardens and rested on the grass under the trees.
We followed the Rhine back to Weisbaden, the state capital of Hessen [English: Hesse], where we crossed the bridge to Mainz. [The two state capitals face each other across the Rhine River.] Along the way, we found a convenience store open at a gas station, where I devoured a liter of whole milk; the main shops closed at midday on Saturday until Monday morning.
The evening meal was chicken with yellow potatoes and green beans, and we ate outdoors in the garden. It was light until quite late; however, with the well-designed blinds it was very dark inside. Lights-out at 22:30.
A Short Stay with Anna in Berlin
Travel Day! I was up at 08:30 and in the shower. After breakfast, Herbert drove me to the train station where we said our goodbyes. It was an excellent visit; just what Servas hosting is all about.
The train to FRA took 30 minutes, and on the way, I sat next to a young Lufthansa flight attendant who’d attended university in Florida for a semester. Her English was excellent, and she even had an American accent. Her name was Jenny, a more recent adoption for a German girl’s name.
Scott’s flight from Dortmund arrived early, but we couldn’t find each other for an hour until I had him paged. After we checked-in for our 16:10 flight to Berlin, we went to the Lufthansa business lounge where we read newspapers, got hot and cold drinks, and a little food. I phoned Jenny at home, and she was still in bed at 09:00, her time. Apparently the four Danish folk dancers she was hosting were good guests. We boarded the Lufthansa flight to Berlin’s Tegel Airport (TXL). We were in Business Class on a wide-body Airbus. After 1:10 hours, we were back on the ground.
There in the luggage area, to meet us, was Anna, a 50-year old school principal who lived on the outskirts of the city, in what was previously East Berlin, and later this very month, she'd be coming to our house in Reston for 10 days with the American Host Program. She drove us to see some of the River Harvel and on a new road that was built along the path of the former Berlin Wall. We had a wonderful supper in her wildflower garden, along with her 22-year old daughter Kirstine and Kirstine's friend. Afterwards, we watched the European Cup soccer final in which France beat Italy 2 to 1.
Leipzig via Lutherstadt/Wittenberg
We slept late, and after breakfast, we said our goodbyes and rode the bus to a train station in Berlin. There, we bought tickets to Lutherstadt Wittenberg in the state of Sachsen-Anhalt [English: Saxony-Anhalt] with an hour to wait. After a 90-minute ride, we arrived, stowed our luggage in a locker, and got information at the tourist office. We stopped at a few places of interest with respect to Martin Luther, especially the church at which he nailed his theses on the door. We walked around the nicely restored town. In the old days, the town was a major center, until a new Prince moved his capital to Dresden.
After we retrieved our luggage, we boarded a train for Leipzig (in the state of Sachsen [English: Saxony]), arriving there around 18:00. After numerous attempts in previous days to locate a Servas host there, I’d given up, so we went to the tourist office’s accommodation-booking place. They had a last-minute special at an upscale hotel, The Mercure. We got a very nice room for 100 Deutsche marks per night instead of the usual 250. A full breakfast was included, and the hotel was only minutes from the heart of the city. We had a late supper at an Italian restaurant, enjoying pizza and milk coffee outdoors. We had a great waitress. Afterwards, we walked around the area.
[Next day] July 4th – US Independence Day! Our hotel served breakfast until 10:30, which was very civilized. We arrived at 09:00, and had hot tea, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cereal, and juice. Mid-morning, we headed out to St. Thomas Church to pay our respects to Johann Sebastian Bach at his graveside, which is in the floor of the choir area. Scott visited the large book and music store nearby, and bought several collections of Bach music on CD's. Afterwards, we wandered around a large department store where Scott bought an Enya CD. Back at our hotel we napped then watched the TV broadcast of the tennis at Wimbledon. For our evening meal, we finished up at the same Italian restaurant as the previous night.
Weimar and the Quaint Village of Tiefengruben
After breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we packed our gear and headed for the train station in light rain. We caught the 12:25 train to Weimar, and sat opposite a couple from Portland, Oregon, with whom we chatted and gave them an English-language newspaper from the day before. They'd been on a bike tour in Austria for several weeks. We had a 45-minute delay along the way due to some congestion on the line, so it was announced that free drinks would be served in the bar carriage.
Friend Astrid met us at the station. I last saw her in April of the previous year during my 2-week visit here. [I’d hosted her for 10 days in 1995 through the American Host Program.] We had a late lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant, complete with chopsticks. Afterwards, we strolled around Weimar in the sunshine. [The famous poets, Goethe and Schiller, lived there for some years.] On the way to Astrid’s home, we stopped at the supermarket in Bad Berka—the largest town near Astrid’s village, Tiefengruben—where I bought a Milka hazelnut chocolate block, whole milk, and a bottle of red wine for Astrid’s husband, Günter. In the village, neighbors Udo (the village Mayor) and Gisella provided us with two bedrooms, with me in the attic and Scott on the second floor. Lights-out at 23:00.
[Next day] After a late start, Scott and I went to Weimar with Astrid. We spent quite some time walking in a nice park along the River Ilm. We visited Goethe’s Garden House and the famous statue of Shakespeare before going on to the duke’s castle for a look in the art gallery. By then, it was mealtime, so we went to the restaurant frequented by Goethe, where I had a bowl of potato soup, Scott had two boiled bratwursts, and Astrid had a fried potato-and-vegetable dish.
Back home, we rested, and in the evening, we ate at the village restaurant in a local house run by the couple living there. While the menu was limited, the food was plentiful and quite cheap. I had a pork schnitzel with mushrooms, gravy, and vegetables. Es hat super geschmeckt! (English: It tasted great!) Lights-out at 22:00.
[Next day] It was a rainy and overcast day. As Astrid had to work, she was gone all day, so Günter was our guide. We left home at noon and arrived in Weimar at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library for our 12:30 tour. [Sadly, in 2004, “a fire destroyed 50,000 volumes of which 12,500 are considered irreplaceable,” just before they were to be moved to the new library.]
Afterwards, we all bought “Original Thüringen Bratwurst” from a street vendor in the main square. Next, we drove to Erfurt, the capital city of the state of Thüringen [English: Thuringia].
Back home, we played table tennis in the garage while it rained on and off. Afterwards, Scott gave Astrid’s electronic keyboard a musical workout. Supper consisted of a raclette grill, a great way to have a social meal. The neighbors’ son, Henry, joined us. [He had stayed with us in Virginia the previous summer.] Then we played the board game Labyrinth.
[Next day] Astrid’s sister, Antje, her husband, Lutz, and son, Mathias, arrived for the afternoon and stayed for supper. Some of us went with Henry’s mother, Inge, to a recreated historic village. Afternoon tea consisted of homemade cream cake with rum. For supper, Günter made BBQed pork, beef, and Atlantic salmon wrapped in bacon and dill. Henry’s family joined us, and we lit up a log fire to create some atmosphere. Scott and Henry went to see the movie “Mission Impossible 2” in Weimar, getting back to Bad Berka by train at 23:30, with Scott sleeping over at Henry's for the night. Meanwhile, a girls’ choir from Berlin was staying in the village community center and we watched them practice in the village church.
[Next day] Mid-morning, I was on the phone to Potsdam arranging a Servas host family. Afterwards, I helped clean up after the party and decided to do some weeding along the main path to the house. Scott and Henry went hiking in the woods near the village. Henry’s father, David, phoned and asked if we were interested in going gliding. Bad Berka had a gliding club, so I went with him and two Polish workers who were restoring a building at his house. Astrid came later to photograph it all and I convinced her to take a flight as well. She was quite hesitant, but she finally did it, and she loved it! In separate flights, we each flew over the village at about 1,000 feet (300 m), and being an avid photographer, she took many photos. The pilot sat in the back seat and the passenger even wore a parachute! (I had last ridden in a glider in 1977.) Scott declined to fly.
Inge had us over to her place for a late afternoon meal of roast lamb with mint sauce, and lots of vegetables. Afterwards, we all took a long walk on the outskirts of the village, stopping to pick cherries. Some boys came from Bad Berka, and a basketball game followed.
[Next day] We packed our gear and had a light breakfast. I went with Astrid to buy some Australian wine, and I gave one bottle to Günter and Astrid and the other to Udo and Gisela, along with a bottle of Glenfiddich malt whiskey—Udo’s favorite—thanking them for our accommodations. We had a late lunch of BBQ salmon with wild rice and curry sauce. Scott and Henry played table tennis while the rest of us talked.
On to Jena
At 17:00, Astrid drove us to Jena along the back roads through the beautiful countryside. [Jena was home of the world-famous Jena Glass Company and Zeiss Optics, the latter founded by the guy who invented many optical gizmos. Because of this plant, the city was a strategic target in WWII, and quite a bit of the city was destroyed.] From the station, I phoned our next Servas host, Berkhard, and he picked us up and took us to his office, which housed the small apartment where we’d stay. His wife had prepared a supper of cold cuts, and we all talked for quite some time. Afterwards, Scott and I walked to the city center where we visited the Goethe Gallery, a glassed-in shopping center, which had a most interesting moving sculpture display. At the main Plaza, we came across a large choir singing on the steps of an old church.
[Next day] After a late start and breakfast on our own, we visited the optical museum, which was most interesting. After lunch at the local Nordsee fish restaurant, it was on to the town museum to see wood sculptures and modern art, and then the Botanic Gardens. We were home by mid-afternoon where we played cards.
Our hosts arrived at 19:00, and the four of us walked to a local German pub called the “Red Deer,” where we had some local traditional food before going to an ice cream parlor. Along the way, we stopped to listen to an Italian singer giving an outdoor concert downtown.
Potsdam and Surrounds
[Next day] After an early start, our hosts arrived with breakfast: fresh bread rolls, juice, tea, and cold cuts. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes, and we settled down to read for an hour. Then at 09:30, we loaded up and strolled downhill to the train station, which was quite run down. [Deutsche Bahn had cut 200,000 jobs from an all-time high of 450,000.] We departed on a regional train and after a 40-minute wait along the way, we transferred to an interregional train to Berlin. We shared a compartment with a very nice grandmother on her way from Erfurt to Berlin. She spoke slowly, so that we could understand, and was most friendly.
In Berlin, we changed from Deutsche Bahn to an S-Bahn streetcar that took us to the main train station in Potsdam, the capital of the state of Brannenborg [English: Brandenburg]. After waiting sometime at the wrong platform, our new Servas host, Uwe, finally found us. He was a meteorologist for a TV station. We rode a tram downtown and went up to the apartment he shared with his wife, Anke, and their young son, in which they were temporarily living while their main house was being renovated.
After a pasta supper, Uwe drove me to their house to pick up some bedding, and then the two of us had a Grand Tour of all of the old Berlin Wall areas, and he gave me a most interesting history lesson regarding its exclaves, one of which was reachable only by helicopter.
[Next day] Our host’s apartment was only 500 meters from the city center and the city gate that led to Sanssouci Park, which surrounds Frederick the Great’s palace. We headed over there and walked around in overcast and windy weather, visiting the Dragon House and the Chinese Tea House, plus the main palace and gardens. We ate lunch in the main pedestrian-only mall nearby. Afterwards, we walked home, and had a very long nap to charge our batteries. For supper, we went back out on the streets, where we sat and watched the world go. We spent the evening talking with our hosts.
Waren Muritz via Berlin
We slept late and had a light breakfast, after which I went out to buy some small pizzas for lunch. Uwe came home from work after lunch, and drove us to the train station where we boarded a train to Berlin, and then on to a interregional train to Waren Muritz, a city in the north of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern [English: Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania]. As Friday afternoons were busy travel times, we had reserved seats, which was just as well as the train was absolutely full. As two interlopers were sitting in our seats, in our best German, we politely asked them to move. Then we read and snacked, and chatted with a nice, elderly lady who was going to visit her daughter.
Our friend Belinda was on the platform at Waren Station to meet us, and it was good to see her after two years. [We’d hosted her for 10 days in 1998 through the American Host Program.] We drove back to her place where she had prepared some appetizers. Then we had a long walk along the shore of the large lake and into the town where we visited a festival. Back home, we made up beds on the floor of the lounge room.
[Next day] Although it was overcast and threatening rain, once Belinda's teacher friend Ute joined us, we set off for the Ostsee (English: Baltic Sea) and the island of Usedom near the Polish border. There was rain and heavy traffic. The narrow roads made it slow going, and it took us three hours. However, once we got to the coast, the weather improved greatly. We drove to Peenemünde, a strategic place for Germany in WWII (and later, East Germany). There, we visited a Russian submarine (Juliette U461) built in 1961 and decommissioned in 1991. Then it was on to the cafe nearby for coffee and a rest from the cold and wind. Afterwards, we toured the research and development facility for Hitler's rocket program which led to the V1 and V2 buzz bombs that were sent over London and Antwerp. Twenty thousand of them were fired from places around Europe and 6,000 alone to the City of London. It was quite a place, and Wernher von Braun was the chief scientist there. After the war ended, the US grabbed him, and he was instrumental in getting NASA operational in the US. So, the US space effort was greatly boosted by Germany’s work!
Further south along the coast there is a tourist town and there we just caught the end of an accordion concert with 100 high-school kids playing their instruments. It was most enjoyable! Then we found a nice restaurant and settled into a schnitzel with mushrooms and gravy for Scott and me, and we treated Belinda and Ute to their meal for being such great guides and for giving us German language lessons. We had an easy drive back home, arriving at 23:30.
[Next day] We slept late. As it was a sunny day, we packed a picnic, and headed out for the lake where we rented a canoe. Scott and Belinda paddled off while I sat in the sun and guarded the food and drink while reading a large book of German facts and history especially up until 1945. We had a very nice day, and back home I had a nap on the couch in the sun. It's a hard life being a tourist, but someone has to do it, right!
For supper, Belinda cooked a stir-fried meal, and then we drove to Ute’s hometown, Neustrelitz, to attend a gospel-music concert sung in English by three German choirs. It was held in the large town church. It was quite a toe-tapping event. Afterwards, Ute treated us to coffee at a nice restaurant overlooking the lake. Lights-out by 23:00 after another great day with old and new friends.
[Next day] Scott was up at 07:00, and Belinda took him to her high school to sit-in on her English lessons. As he was excited to go, he had no trouble getting up early. Meanwhile, I showered, ate breakfast, did the dishes, and started packing. Then I read more German history, especially details of the current 16 states.
Belinda and Scott came home around 14:00, and we had lunch together. An hour later, we said our goodbyes on the platform at the train station. The 15:08 train arrived on time, and we set off for Berlin—capital of its own state—some two hours away. Scott studied our Berlin guidebook and highlighted some sights before taking a nap. I started reading an Agatha Christie book, occasionally looking out the window at the lush green farmland of pastures, corn, sunflowers, lakes, and rivers.
Das Kapital: Berlin, Host #1
We arrived at the Zoologischer Garten (zoo garden) railway station where we put our luggage into lockers. Then we stopped at McDonald's for a small snack. We visited Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church), or at least what's left of it after it took some direct hits in WWII. We walked along the Kurfürstendamm (shortened to Ku’damm), one of the most famous avenues in the city. From there, it was a short walk to the equally famous Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) department store. [If you have visited Harrods in London, KaDeWe is as good as!] The 6th floor food and produce department was quite a spectacle!
We phoned our next host at 19:00, but she was not yet home, so we strolled some more, retrieved our luggage from the lockers, and figured out how to use the subway automatic ticket machine.
We arrived at Servas-host Gesa’s house at 20:15 to find her there. She had recently returned from living in San Francisco in the US for six months, and had sublet her flat, so she hadn't had much time to get it organized. It was a typical student place, and soon she would get an Australian woman student in as a tenant. We all headed out to eat and we talked the night away until 23:30. [Gesa was 31 years old, was nearly finished her medical doctor residency, both her parents were doctors, and she was fluent in four languages and could get by in another two!]
[Next day] I bought breakfast supplies at a nearby supermarket and bakery, and once we’d eaten, we headed to the city where we bought a day ticket for the U-Bahn/S-Bahn system. At the Brandenburg Gate we came across very heavy duty security and a large crowd. Well, don't you know, Queen Elizabeth II was in town to open the new British embassy built nearby after the capital had been moved back to Berlin from Bonn. We toured the wonderfully restored Reichstag (parliament building) from which we saw QEII’s motorcade pass. We got back to the Brandenburg Gate just in time to see Her Majesty and husband, Prince Phillip, get into their Rolls Royce only 15 meters away.
Next up was a walk along the famous street Unter den Linden—named for the linden trees along it—to Museumsinsel (Museum Island) where we checked out the magnificent church Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral). We then walked to the famous square Alexanderplatz.
Back home, we went out to supper with Gesa, after which she gave Scott a very solid workout in German, covering many topics late into the night.
[Next day] I got up early and ate breakfast with Gesa, with Scott joining us at 09:30. Gesa came with us to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum where we spent 1½ hours taking in all the exhibits. Then Scott and I headed off to Potsdammer Platz to take in an IMAX movie of the Grand Canyon. Afterwards, we checked out all the latest audio and video electronics at the Sony Center.
Das Kapital: Berlin, Host #2
At 17:30, we went back at Gesa’s where we packed our gear and came back into the city to go on to our next hosts, Christian, a journalist, and his partner Giesbert, an architect. After we got acquainted with them, we hopped in their Mercedes and drove to the 370-meter tall TV tower, Fernsehturm, built in the Russian sector quite some years ago to look down over the Berlin Wall to the decadent West. We went to the revolving restaurant at the top where we had a great dinner. The restaurant turned once every 30 minutes. We spent three hours eating and talking.
[Next day] We had an easy morning. Scott played the hosts’ piano after which we went out on a local walking tour, and bought food home for lunch. In the evening, Giesbert cooked a wonderful dinner of pork and vegetables, and then we headed out for a long walk to Bebelplatz, to the plaza near part of the Humboldt University. [I’d read about it, and wanted to show our hosts as well as to see it for myself.] At night, a bright light shines from underground up into the plaza through a window. When one looks down through it, one sees a room of empty bookshelves; basically, it’s the world without books, and is called The Empty Library. This is a memorial to one of the Nazi’s book-burning campaigns that took place on that spot in 1933.
Heading for Home
After breakfast, we said our goodbyes and were out the door by 09:00, and on the U-Bahn headed for the zoo station from where we transferred to a bus to Tegel Airport, one of three airports then serving Berlin. The airport was very busy, and our flight was delayed quite a bit, but we were assured that our connecting flight in Frankfurt would be held for us. Then in Frankfurt we had to change terminals, running all the way, and finally boarding Lufthansa Flight 418 to Washington Dulles. Then we sat and waited for more delayed passengers, taking off an hour late. It was a good flight, and we were served a nice lunch, and we watched two movies: Erin Brockovich and Music of the Heart.
Jenny picked us up at Dulles Airport, and back at home we unpacked and crashed. By then it was 01:00 the next morning, Berlin time.
We had a good trip, and Scott got a lot of practice listening to and speaking with native German speakers and immigrants from all over the country.