As the world began to shutdown in March we knew we would be holed up in Berlin for a while. The last few months have been new reality after new reality. We elected early on to unsubscribe from the panicked daily dose of news and fast information. Instead, we made the best of the new found time we had ben given. We created new routines, new family traditions and new ways of connecting that wouldn’t have been possible without a global shutdown. Somehow we turned 10 weeks of quarantine into some of the best times we’ve had as a family. We adopted new roles and responsibilities. We learned new things about each other and ourselves. And then all of a sudden it was unceremoniously over. While the world debates the value for the price of time paid over the past 10 weeks there is no question in our house what was gained and will never be lost.

Back in February we had grand plans for a weekend in wine country, meeting up with amazing friends in Stockholm as-well-as showing them Berlin, and traveling to a secluded part of the Greek coastline. The world didn’t end so we are confident we can reschedule all of them in due time.

A few weeks ago, when it was finally acceptable to travel again, we managed to salvage one of the trips that had been canceled due to travel restrictions. Our weekend in wine country was resurrected with a quickness. We rented a car and hopped on the autobahn headed West toward the state of Hessen. This was not the first road trip since moving to Germany. Early in our adventures we had an inadvertent road trip coming back from our holiday in Innsbruck with the Benedicts. This trip however, would expose a totally different part of the German countryside and was something we were looking forward to.

Germany is divided into 16 different states. Hessen is the third largest and situated along the Main and Rhine river encompassing the greater Frankfurt area. The scenery is reminiscent of the American Mid-West with lush rolling green hills and dark blue rivers. The people all have a down home sensibility with a socially liberal bent on life. Farms reside peacefully next to towns and you are often sharing the road with a tractor or two. Unlike Berlin, there is a vast amount of countryside within 10 minutes of the Frankfurt city line. Most people commute to the big city but live in the more quiet villages and towns that litter the landscape.

We drove at a steady 140-150 kilometers per hour (87-93 MPH) while we were passed as if we were standing still by all manner of German vehicles racing to their destination. The autobahn experience is one of a kind. Everyone follows the rules to the “T,” we have yet to see any type of accident, and the roads are pristine. And, if you want to pretend you are Louis Hamilton in the parts where there is no speed limit no one’s gonna stop you.

About 5 hours after hitting the road we arrived in Wehrheim, a small town 20 minutes outside Frankfurt and home to Doreen’s parents, Mike & Claudia. Wehrheim is a beautiful little village surrounded with rolling green hills and situated in between the farm fields of Hessen. This is where the Schlesiers settled after leaving East Germany and have remained ever since. The village feels quaint and yet modern at the same time, the people are beyond friendly (a stark contrast to the residents of Berlin), and there is an energy in the air from the continually shifting weather patterns. Doreen will tell you that it was a great place to grow up and Logan is testament to that notion as he loves coming here.

- Day 2 -

The plan was to stay a night in Wehrheim and then leave Logan with his Oma and Opa as Doreen and I ventured into wine country. Early the next morning we said our goodbyes and headed further West to Rüdesheim, a small town situated on the Rhine river. This small village is a summertime destination spot and an easy day trip from Frankfurt but one attraction really puts it on the map.

Niederwal Denkmal is a monument situated on the top of the highest hill which commemorates the unification of Germany at the end of the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. Previous to 1871 Germany was a series of nation states that were very different in both culture and people. Under Kaiser William I the nation states were united and the beginning of what we know as Germany today was formed. Historians believe Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismark purposefully instigated the war in order to drive unification forward and to see William I as the first Kaiser of Germany - the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

In order to quell any discontent regarding unification post war, William I commissioned Niederwal Denkmal as the first monument in a unified Germany. It is one of three unification monuments built throughout Germany to commensurate the victory. The other two are located in Bavaria and Berlin. These monuments might seem like relics of a distant time but 150 years ago they delivered a clear and decisive message to the communities who opposed unification with Prussia leading the way.

We took in the monument and then rode the cable car into town. We walked around for a bit and then settled on a nice little riverfront cafe for lunch so we could plan our next destination. Doreen had done her usual research and knew there was a Benedictine covenant not far away that we should see.

St. Hildegard Abbey was founded by Saint Hildegard of Bingen in 1165. Hildegard was an interesting figure in the 12th century. She saw visions for much of her life (starting at age three) and documented them starting in her teens. Her best known works, “Liber Vitae Meritorum” and “Liber Divinorum Operum” document some of these visions and are the basis for how modern Christians understand the Holy Trinities’ relationship with man and the church. She is also credited with writing the first morality play, “Ordo Virtutum,” composed in 1151. “Ordo Virtutum” survived the Middle Ages and predates Shakespeare by over 400 years.

Sadly the order was disestablished in 1804. The land and abbey fell into the hands of Frederick William, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg, when he purchased it in 1831. In 1904 Charles, 6th Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg and first president of the Catholic Society of Germany, reestablished the order in the same location and rebuilt the abbey we see today. Although the buildings are new the landscape Saint Hildegard saw as she wrote her famous works almost 900 years ago is still present. It’s easy to see how this area would inspire her and why the original covenant was settled on this hill.

After we took in the views, and smelled the beautiful roses in the perfectly manicured garden, we headed to our hotel. As we were only a few weeks into the travel restrictions being lifted, we basically had the place to ourselves. Näglers is a fairly new property built on the river’s edge with all kinds of modern amenities. In normal times they are known for their spa and wellness packages as well as having a glass of local Riesling on the roof deck while you take in the views.

- Day 3 -

For our second day in wine country Doreen had a wonderful adventure planed to start the day. Wine tasting in this region isn’t what we have been used to back in The States. It’s hard to find local vintners with tasting rooms. Tasting is done in wine bars and restaurants for the most part. The vineyards with tasting rooms tend to be abbeys or other manors with historical significance. One of the most famous is Kloster Eberbach, an Augustine monastery dating back to 1116.

This monastery is especially cool because a lot of the teachings and learnings here undoubtedly influenced St. Ignatius of Loyola who founded the Jesuit order in 1534. Ignatius based his first work, “Spiritual Exercises” written in 1522-1524, on two references given to him by his sister-in-law. One of those references, De Vita Christi of Ludolph of Saxony, was constructed in part at Kloster Eberbach. In addition to making great wine the monks were also experts in crafting biblical literature and ensuring it was distributed to other monasteries. “Spiritual Exercises” became the basis of the Jesuit order and something that I read more then once while attending LMU.

There are many interesting historical facts and stories about this abbey. In its nearly 700 years of operation it played a huge part in the history and shaping of Hessen. In 1803 it was finally dissolved after years of decline following the French Revolution. After much back and forth it was finally given over to the state of Hessen in 1945 and has been run as a historical site ever since.

Today, Kloster Eberbach has returned to a working vineyard and makes some of the regions most well known wines. The popular varietal in the area is Riesling and like many Americans I believed this was a sweet wine best served with/as a desert. Of course you can find sweet wine in the area to go with any number of wonderful baked goods sold in the cafes but that’s not considered ‘good’ Riesling. A good Riesling is more akin to either a light buttery chardonnay or a crisp pinot gris. After touring this beautiful property we were delighted to meet a few of the vintners in the tasting room and learn more about the property and the wines grown at Kloster Eberbach and in the Rhine region. It opened us up to an entirely new set of other varietals grown in this area that we intend to explore further.

With a fresh perspective on the area we traveled to the next village down river to visit Eltville Burg and see their stunning rose gardens. It was prime season for roses, a staple in the area. Roses are often paired with grape vines but rarely are they as well kept and manicured as this garden. It seemed like we were in a fairytale as we meandered through the garden smelling roses, that in some cases were over 90 years old.

A normal June would see shoulder to shoulder tourists and a rose season that would have been at it’s peak weeks before. We were lucky that the roses were peaking late this year and to have the garden and town largely to ourselves. We took the opportunity to have a late lunch and enjoy some local wine at a cafe just down the street.

After a relaxing afternoon at the hotel, we ventured out again, this time heading up stream back towards Rüdesheim. Since wine tasting at the actual vineyards is hard to come by, we ran across a neat little self-serve wine bar that represented the lesser known vintners of the Rhine region. You decide if you’ll spend ten or twenty euros and get a corresponding bag of coins. There are eight rooms with various amounts of different wines to try. On the walls you can read about the vineyard, the specific wine and see where the blocks are grown on the map in relation to the river and hills (topography makes a huge difference). Put in your coin and try the wine you find interesting. While this is not a new concept it fit perfectly for this type of situation. We learned more about different wines, areas of the Rhine, and other varietals in an hour than we could have if we were going from vineyard to vineyard all day long. We even picked up a few bottles to take home with us.

Satisfied with our tasting experience we continued up river to the next village of Assmannshausen. One of the oldest hotels in all of Germany sits on the river and the town continues up a little hill that provides a wonderful view of the river and surrounding area. We found a little cafe serving some local and seasonal fare so we sat down and just enjoyed the church bells and quietness of the town as we ate another delicious meal along the Rhine.

- Day 4 -

We had two glorious days and nights in wine country. We got to sample some wonderful wines, enjoy the local fare and learn about an area that most Americans don’t get to explore. Most importantly, we got some quiet time away from all the chaos that has been consuming the world. Feeling refreshed, we continued the adventure back to Wehrheim with a pit stop to see some of Doreen’s old stomping grounds in Frankfurt. I’ve been to Frankfurt several times but never felt like I had really seen it. The truth is, there isn’t a lot to experience in Frankfurt these days. Of course there are all the classic sites like the main square, the walking bridge, the opera house, old town and the famed financial district, but there’s still a missing sense of city atmosphere.

For several decades there’s been a mass migration out of the city to live in the countryside. This has left a huge hole in the fabric of the city. High paid financial industry business men and women have been forgoing apartment living in lieu of single family homes on the outskirts for a while now and the city has suffered because of it. There are very few parks or little communities within the city. Schools are now on the decline because they aren’t supported with a multi-cultural, financially diverse community. In short, Frankfurt is a city where people go to work and immigrants have to live because they can’t afford to live elsewhere. The balance is gone and seems to be past the tipping point any gentrification could help. A young diverse and financially strong generation have simply given up on living in the city and it shows.

When you ask people in Hessen what they think of Frankfurt many tend to have a negative view of the city. Which is a shame because it’s a nice city that could be a great place to live if it just had more of a feeling of home. It’s far cleaner then Berlin and very modern. The river provides for some nice open spaces and there’s plenty of growth opportunity for many business sectors in the area. In many ways it reminds me of a safer version of San Jose 20 years ago. It just needs some hipsters to come in and make it cool.

We took our time walking around and eventually made our way back to Mike and Claudia’s in time for a rest and then out for dinner. They made reservations at the Greek place down the street and we had a wonderful meal. The food was delicious and it was nice to be back in Wehrheim.

- Day 5 -

In the 1850’s there was a discovery made on one of the hills surrounding Wehrheim. The newly formed Imperial Commission for the Roman borders [Reichs-Limes-Kommission] discovered Saalburg Roman Fort.

For almost 2,000 years we’ve known the Romans fought the various Germanic tribes in what is now modern day Austria. Marcus Aurelius wrote detailed accounts of his battles during the Marcomannic Wars (there would be three over ~20 years). Aurelius would push the Marcomanni and the Victuali tribes out of Italy and back to what is modern day Vienna. There are Roman ruins that still stand in Vienna to this day.

What wasn’t widely known until the mid 19th century was just how far North the Romans had been established in Germany. From 90AD till around 260AD Romans had many forts and encampments in the Rhine region of Germany. Once Saalburg had been excavated in 1862 it became something of great fascination to Wilhelm II (grandson to Wilhelm I). In 1897 he decreed that the site be rebuilt as it would have been in the third century and used as an open air museum. As a result Saalburg became the most important excavation dedicated to the study of the German Limes during the Roman rule. Without its discovery two centuries of intermingling between Germanic tribes and Romans would have been lost.

After the museum we had a relaxing afternoon. Doreen took me around and showed me her old haunts, schools and places where she lived. We got to see Alex & Peter and have a great dinner and a good night of catching up and hanging out. During the lockdown Peter made the best of it by setting up a shooting range in the barn so he could practice his marksmanship with some air rifles. He’s been actively studying to receive his firearm license and needed a place to practice. We had a lot of fun listening to music and shooting targets. And then as the day came to an end so did our trip. The next morning we packed up the car and returned to Berlin.

On the first trip we ever took together, I remember finding out that Doreen grew up in East Germany when we visited the mountains in Colorado - the juxtaposition stuck with me. Her childhood experience seamed so vastly different that I couldn’t comprehend it. I have spent much of our time abroad engulfed in Eastern Germany, contemplating what it was like for children of our generation to grow-up in the communist DDR.

I felt that same juxtaposition on this trip that I felt back in Colorado all those years ago. As you leave Berlin you drive past the massive checkpoints and detention centers that were used to separate Germany during the DDR days. Although deteriorated, these buildings still stand offering a stark reminder of what tyranny looks like.

By the end of the trip we would see beautiful villages, massive war monuments, Augustine vineyards, Roman ruins, and old hometown stomping grounds. For me, our time in Germany is a series of contrasting experiences that have forced the concepts of foreignness I’ve acquired over my lifetime to break down. Perhaps more for me than for Doreen or Logan, living in Europe seems otherworldly.

As I went back through the pictures from the trip, I got stuck on several from the restaurant where we had lunch on that last day. Hanging on the walls of this little cafe in Wehrhiem were collectables, old ads, historical images - basically a tame version of a TGI Friday’s. Here I was in a village, halfway around the world, and they had the same Coke ads, beach images, pictures of Elvis (he was stationed in the area during the Korean war) and general “American” memorabilia I grew up with. Perhaps when you peel back all the different layers of history, culture, and general way of life it’s less a juxtaposition and more a nuanced reflection to find meaning in the chaos. The differences aren’t really vast they’re just a variation of meaning on a the shared experience of life.

Until Next Time,

The McNeills