In any given year a few American relatives travel to Germany to visit the country or to visit relatives or – best -to do both. In 2019 the number of American visitors has been bigger than usual. The following American relatives (in alphabetical order) went to see Gudrun and Hellmut Wilde in Munich:
Deborah and Dennis Barrett (table 19)
Alyssa and Karl Bomba (table 22)
Lisandra and Rick Brink (table 22)
Judy and Carl Miller (table 22)
Robert C. Peithman (table 22)
We took Debbie and Dennis Barrett to Füssen where the famous castles of Ludwig II are situated, especially Neuschwanstein which Walt Disney copied as his Cinderella castle. Unfortunately the weather in May was quite lousy so that the poor tourists could not even see the mountains behind the castles. We were able, however, to visit picturesque Füssen and to talk to each other a lot.
Alyssa and Karl Bomba only had one day to spend with us. They had been to Berlin, Nuremburg and Augsburg as well as to the castles near Füssen with Karl’s aunt. So I took them on a little tour of Munich which included the terrain of the Olympic Games of 1972. The photo shows the young couple there with the BMW World in the background.
Lisandra and Rick Brink came to Munich in the finest weather, and we had a good time with them walking through the park of the Palace of Nymphenburg. After lunch this photo was taken on a bridge over the canal to the palace.
Judy and Carl Miller arrived in Munich after a sunny river cruise down the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam. We took them to Dingolfing where we visited the BMW Group Work, the biggest BMW plant in Europe. We saw the production process from the press shop, to the body shop, the assembly line, etc. to the final check of the cars. Every 57 minutes a newly finished BMW car rolls off the assembly line. In the afternoon we visited the old part of the city of Munich. The next morning we took them to Füssen to visit the castles. Clouds and sun changed that day and we saw some very special things like members of a band of French horns in special uniforms celebrating the 30th anniversary of their band with a concert of hunting music. This took place in a pilgrimage chapel near the castles. All the other people in the chapel wore local dress: Lederhosen and Dirndl.
Robert C. Peithman spent another trimester at the Goethe Institute in Freiburg/Breisgau where he had started to learn German two years ago. Robert did the next course studying as best as he could in spite of poor health. The weather at the beginning 0f 2019 was not very nice: snowfall without end and lots of humidity in the air. So Robert caught one cold after the other. He was glad to go to visit us in Munich again and to recover a little for 10 days before his flight left for the USA. He is planning to be back in Germany for the family reunion in Münster in September 2019.