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SEEKING OUR GERMAN ROOTS

Chapter VIII

May 31-June 2, 2003

LEAVING DEUTSCHLAND

Frankfort

Monday, June 2

Frankfort

We decided to boycott the Fifteen-Euro per person breakfast at the hotel. At this point, we were trying to make our money come out even. We checked out of the hotel about 9:30 a.m., and took the shuttle back to the airport, hoping to find breakfast there. It was surprisingly difficult to find a reasonable restaurant at this huge airport, but finally, I spotted the Golden Arches and Karen submitted peacefully to a cheap McMeal there.

We then managed to use up almost all of our Euros in the duty-free shops. After picking up some egg liqueur for a friend, we blew the balance on "Mozart Balls," a marzipan candy, and a couple of those very good chocolate bars similar to ones we had purchased earlier in the trip. That left us with only about E 1.80--not too bad after 3 weeks. The airport had thoughtfully provided a receptacle for those left-over currencies that wouldn't buy much in the home countries of all the international fliers. We added our E. 1.80 and were glad to read that the contents of the container would be donated to a worthy cause.

Our flight back to Portland left right on time, at 1:10 p.m. and through the miracle of jet flight (and the fact that Frankfurt is nine hours ahead of Portland time) we touched down at PDX at 2:30 p.m. Amazing!

Boarding our Lufthansa flight back to Portland

A last look at the Frankfurt airport

Again, we had two seats together by the window and again, the flight was jam-packed full. Somehow, I had expected that the Germans wouldn't be all that keen to come to "Amerika" at this time, what with the rather strained relations between the Bush administration and Germany over the Iraq invasion. But, no, I guess they could separate Americans from official American policy. Anyway, I heard lots of German spoken on the plane, but also, what a novelty! lots of American was being heard as well. We seldom heard English spoken during the past three weeks--until arriving at our departure gate in Frankfurt. Obviously, we were off the tourist routes on our trip.

The plane showed two movies, including "Chicago" and that was distracting enough to make us partly forget the cramped seats. Neither of us slept and Karen's developing cold certainly didn't make her feel any more comfortable, but the time passed relatively quickly. More good dining provided by Lufthansa. We had no complaints about this airline--except for the minimal space allotted to our bodies. But, that is a universal complaint with all airlines. I kept wistfully remembering how it was to fly FIRST CLASS to Europe with Glenn in 2001 and would look longingly at those nice, wide seats and ample legroom every time I went forward to use the bathroom. But when I calculated the difference in cost between our bargain "early bird" coach fares and first class, my seat didn't seem quite so cramped!

On arrival at the Portland airport we breezed through customs--no one was the least bit interested in our rocks or other purchases. The warm weather came right along with us to Oregon--but without the humidity. It was very pleasant sitting on the bench outside the airport, waiting for the Salem shuttle which left PDX at 4 p.m.

Oregon looked beautiful--and not all that different than the scenery we saw in Germany just ten hours prior. Glenn was right there to meet us and he, and Oregon looked very good to us.

Sometimes a trip does not live up to your prior expectations, but this one exceeded them. Karen and I went hoping to find German roots, and maybe, just maybe, fill in some blanks in what we knew about those relatives who stayed behind when our ancestors left for "Amerika." Well, many of those blanks DID get filled and we learned a great deal about what impelled those emigrants to leave such a beautiful land for an uncertain future on a new continent.

Thanks to Karen's interest in seeing Germany's wildlife, especially the birds, we visited many natural areas and parks where we saw another side of the country that probably escapes many tourists. And, most of all, we were warmly greeted by relatives--many of whom didn't know we existed until we arrived in their village. They included us in events of their daily lives and so we had a glimpse into the "real" Germany--not the one of hotel clerks, restaurant waiters and tour guides.

What made this entree into non-tourist Germany possible was Karen's ability to speak to the local people wherever we went. Other than our overnight stays in the big cities, we were in small towns and villages--where few if any of the local people spoke English. Language differences make a terrible barrier, but Karen was able to overcome that.

For me this was the culmination of a lot of genealogy research and it was truly a trip of a lifetime. Now, the names of long-gone German ancestors and the places where they were born and married and died are not remote for me--it was a very special privilege to be able to see where they lived their lives.

Vielen Dank, Karen,
und auf Wiedersehen.

Barbara Halliday

Salem, Oregon
Sept. 18, 2003

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