Day Sixty-One

I was too exhausted last night to post this, so I am posting it now.

This morning I woke up at six to catch a train to Salmunster. When I got there I was supposed to catch a bus to get to Mernes, but after waiting for half an hour it never showed up. I ended up taking a taxi to get to Mernes. When I got there the taxi pulled up in front of a restaurant and some of my German family was standing there waiting for me. There was Jennifer Eich my second cousin, her brother Florian, Kerstin Bachmann their aunt, and their Oma who I apparently can't remember the name of.

The first thing we did was walk to the site where Oma's house used to be. It is now a garden with a trampoline in it and from what I understand it has only been that way for around five years. After that we walked around Mernes for a little bit and then went to the house of Margot Schmidt, Oma's niece. We sat around her dining table and tried to communicate, but only Jennifer could speak a bit of English. Luckily Florian, had a translator on his phone. We also looked at some pictures of my American family that Margot had in an envelope from Dave.

After chatting and looking at pictures, we walked to the cemetery. I find it really nice that the people of Mernes keep little gardens on the graves of their loved ones. We also went into St. Peter's church and I took a couple pictures.

We walked to Kerstin house where I met my great-uncle Heinz who is also my Oma's brother. Jennifer told him I was American and couldn't really speak German, but he continued to try and talk to me in German anyway. Apparently Kerstin has a dog named Sammy as well, although hers it way bigger than the cute, little, white fluffy Sammy I am used to.

For lunch we went to Burgoss and I had some chicken schnitzel. It was delicious, but it was a lot of food and I wasn't able to finish it all. Since I wasn't able to finish all of my schnitzel Jennifer and Florian's Oma wrapped it up in a napkin to give to her "hund".

After lunch we drove to Salmunster to walk around. We went into a couple little stores and Kerstin bought a gift for me that was from her, Jennifer, and Florian. It was a little teddy bear with a "good luck" sweater on because I had told them I was going to Berlin this weekend. We then walked around the town some more before driving over to Bad Soden. In Bad Soden we climbed a hill where there was a castle-type tower. The stairs to get to the top of the tower were horrible. They were just grates and you could see all the way up and all the way down when you were walking on them. I really hate walking over grates and I avoid walking on them whenever I can, but I really wanted to climb to the top of this tower to see the view. From the top I could see both Salmunster and Bad Soden and it was a really amazing view.

When we got down from the tower it was nearly time for me to catch my train back to Frankfurt, so they took me the train station and they waited with me until the train showed up.

I had a really great day in Mernes and I am really glad I got to meet some of my German family. They were all so nice and the area around Mernes was beautiful. I hope that I get to back some day.

The site where Oma's house used to be

The small river in Mernes

A street in Mernes

The garden on what I believe is Oma's sister's grave

Inside St. Peter's church

A street in Burgoss

Jennifer's Oma, Jennifer, Me, Heinz, and Kerstin

A church in Salmunster

Inside the church in Salmunster

There were so many trees everywhere!

The river in Bad Soden

The tower on Bad Soden

The view from the tower