Chosen Fugue

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A rocky start, to our next fugue. Our original plan was to replicate our European fugue either in South America or Europe again, so much to still see https://thechosenfugue.blogspot.com/2020/06/we-will-always-have-frankfurt.html . We still rented out our house with the goal to begin a year-long meandering trek through the US/Canada to meet up with our daughter /son-in-law/granddaughter who were relocating to Amherst, MA from Saarbrücken, Germany. Unfortunately, we are living in (hopefully the last vestiges of) a Trump America where nothing is normal. Plans just can’t exist. Sur-reality has taken over. 

 For the returning ex-pats, it was a good-bye to a great German preschool  and low Covid rates  (a final maskless walk around her block) and hello to long flight with inconsistent masked passengers, although the 3 year old had it right. And, a dog in need of a tree.

So, in June, we successfully rented out our house, put everything we owned in our converted garage, bought a car, and loaded the car with everything else for daughter 1 in Amherst and daughter 3 in Minneapolis, a stop in route. We locked the door and left a week later then planned. 

Unfortunately we did not head to the majestic vistas of Glacier National Park and Yellowstone as hoped, but to the Best Western in Salem OR.  Fortunately, since our goal was to spend the year traveling and seeing America, our first stop was  essentially was Anywhere, USA.  A Best Western Hotel in Salem, Oregon. From our hotel window, we could gaze at the Costco across the street and the Denny’s in the shared parking lot. A stone’s throw away was Walmart, where we did walk to get the oak-barrel vanilla Talente gelato (one can pretend it was being eaten elsewhere eating After a vigor’s Chlorox wipe down of every surface, and replacing their sheets with our own, we were ready for our first meal of the American Adventure; a tin of red chile flavored smoked oysters, goat cheese plus zucchini, snap peas and basil from our left-behind garden.

Why Salem, Oregon. With no history, a few days before we were to leave, Nick was hit with kidney stones. 4-5 stones that needed to be blasted away which was problematic since Nick weighs 10 stone. With our house rented out for the next year, it was Kaiser Salem for treatment and a few day stay, followed by Hillsdale (just outside of Portland) for recuperation.

After kidney blast off, we traded our Denny’s parking lot for a business center Hampton Inn for a few days and then hit the road with a lovely Oregon sendoff.

Trying to make up for lost time, and concern for exposure, we abarrled through Oregon, Washington, Idaho and half of Montana, making it to Butte the first night. We finished crossing Montana, to spend the second night in Jamestown, North Dakota, birthplace of Nick’s father. Like all of North Dakota, it was remote and sparsely populated. It’s understandable that his father never went back after leaving for college. We were graced with a nice send off- a tiny rainbow, just under the cloud to the side of the Mac sign.

 Seen from the car, Montana and North Dakota were really beautiful.

Based on our amateur sky observations we determined that North Dakota’s sky was almost as big if not equivalent to boastful Montana’s sky. As we passed towns with known names (Missoula, Billings, Butte, Bismarck) it was a bit remarkable how small they all were, and yet they all seemed to have a Walmart and a Denny’s.

We also began our train spotting as we entered Montana and we were really struck by the number of long trains in each state as we sailed across the country to Amherst. 

We rolled into Minneapolis  for 3 days to visit our youngest daughter Simona for a very enjoyable tour-break.  Our stay here was in the guest room of Simona’s building- an iconic Co-op apartment building (she rents) built in 1930 to be the fanciest apartment building in Minneapolis. It felt like a combination Del Coronado + Fountaingrove Lodge https://thechosenfugue.blogspot.com/2019/10/living-lodge.html tempered with the faded glory of Sunset Boulevard (movie not street).

She was very pleased with her recent move here especially nice as she has rarely been able to leave her apartment since she moved in on the first night of lockdown. 

The Twin Cities is in a major state of flux and recovery.  Driving around the protest signs were encouraging , yet the empty and boarded up buildings a reminder of how much needs to be done. 

Yet again, we were given a stellar send off, this time from outside of Simona’s kitchen window

After the Twin Cities, we did a marathon 14 hour drive to Erie, PA  trying to quickly get through Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana,Ohio and Pennsylvania (just a sliver), with their confusing toll roads. As Californians,  we were raised on freeways and not used to toll roads/turnpikes. Considerable amount of high anxiety resulting from toll booth confusion and a sense of imprisonment with the toll road guard towers, well maybe they were actually tollbooths, at each exit. We raked up $43 in tolls while we were road-trapped.  Although the toll roads seem to skirt the cities, we did manage a brief side glimpse of Cleveland and the baseball stadium (Progressive Field). 

An overnight stop in a rural NY oasis to visit Patricia’s sister + brother-in-law and enjoy a room that did not need to be Chlorox-wiped/stripped down plus a meal which included greens from the garden and grilled haloumi- a better reminder of past travels then the ice cream at Walmart.  It is a pretty idyllic spot. 

Our only tourist stop on the journey was Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes area. https://parks.ny.gov/parks/142/  (check for more pictures). A crazy naturally sculpted sandstone and limestone gorge, like a combination of Frank Lloyd Wright, Disneyland’s Swiss Family Robinson and Nirvana (the state of mind not the band, or both because it wasn’t really hard rock). 

Unfortunately, it was tainted by crowds which included many unmasked people, despite signs stating masks required and presence of park rangers (although they did not seem to be enforcing). It felt like a big open bar, so we moved quickly.

After 10 to 14 hour drives, the last day\’s 3.5 hour sprint to Amherst went quickly.  More trains, more tollbooths, then Massachusetts and more tollbooths.

We drove up to our daughter’s house, the end of the rainbow, dropped our remaining cargo  for them in their driveway and then drove off to wait for their 14 day quarantine to end. 

A very short stay in Frankfurt as we prepared to leave Europe again, hoping to come back in a few months. Arrived late to a very silent weird dorm/hotel/airbnb, very efficient with an odd cube of a bathroom in the middle of the room. Don’t know if was knowing it was the end of travels for awhile or just the disorienting nature of empty streets, but Frankfurt felt kind of surreal.  Germany believes in extending it’s Christmas holidays, so the streets remained empty.  An early morning wake up and walk through a rather cold and seemingly deserted city did nothing to dispel the Twilight Zone feel of the day.  An eerie foreshadowing of the year ahead perhaps.

What is new is old again

In the \”new\” old town, parts of the Römer city hall are 600 years old

Actually rather new

So of course, like all German cities, that brings us to Frankfurt\’s Holocaust memorial.  Another rather complex story addressing\”how do you consider the past while living in the present\”?   This is especially relevant in Germany where  many Germans felt they were victims of Nazism as well. Seems like everywhere we visited, not just in Germany, but any country that was complicit, these memorials were created only in the past 15 to 20 years amidst controversy.

Frankfurt\’s story is that the ruins of the medieval Jewish ghetto were uncovered while excavating to build a new a city services building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Neuer_B%C3%B6rneplatz
The argument discussion regarding whether to keep on building or stop and preserve was intense, with the eventual resolution of creating a Jewish museum built upon and including the ruins.  Another Jewish museum is associated with the Rothschild Palace  (home of the Rothschild family) . https://www.juedischesmuseum.de/en/visit/museum-judengasse/.
A gripping memorial wall was built along the remnants of the old Jewish cemetery next to the museum.  The wall contains names of the 11,000+ Jews forced to leave Frankfurt.

Our Frankfurt-Seattle-Portland-Santa Rosa flight had a bonus  overnight in PDX.

Leaving Frankfurt, 11 hours to Seattle, 4 hour layover in Seattle, Sleeping on the new, famous PDX carpet.

It is hard not to sound repetitive. Every place (okay, maybe not Ayia Napa, Cyprus) has us saying, this feels better than home.  Pretty much everywhere has felt safer, more livable than the US (gun control, please, please, please).

The challenge of each place while  unique,  is usually the history, and unfortunately even that sounds repetitive.  Over and over the past is inequality, capriciousness and persistent cruelty of governments tempered by people’s perseverance in seeking self-determination and maintaining culture. Germany though has had the highest highs and the lowest lows. We have loved Germany. It is stupendously beautiful; countryside and cities. Forest, hills, valleys dotted with Fantasyland villages.

Cities are clean, services plentiful, people are courteous, public transportation good.  There are walking trails and pedestrian areas everywhere, forests at the edge (or even center) of almost every city. recycle spots every few blocks.  Food is fresh and reasonably priced.  Nick would move to Freiburg im Breisgau, yesterday.  The country generally is progressive, environmentally conscientious and makes serious attempts at reconciliation with their history. 
Munich was extremely nice, seemed very livable but also underscored the frightening world we currently live in as we examined it”s not too distant past. 
Like most German cities, there was significant destruction from WWII bombing (Munich was hit particularly hard) so building styles were very inconsistent; old, new and reconstructed. 

Like most European cities, Munich had a town square that was anchored by the city hall, the Rathaus, but Munich’s  had an animated clock performing, three times a day,  that attracted a large crowd. 

Beautiful inside,

Tributes create a combination city time-line / yearbook going back hundreds of years

Rathaus anchors the main square, Marienplatz.

Radiating from the square, the best door knobs we have seen and wonderful buildings in a mix of styles, but all ornate

We were really struck by these murals

We also really loved the popular and huge park (English Garden) with a river (Eisbach, side-arm of Isar) where you can surf (with people waiting very patiently for their turn- no supervision, no  cost).  https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3d9way/welcome-to-munich-the-mecca-of-river-surfing

The city just kept getting more interesting, The museums were amazing and varied.   We saw many favorite German artists and were introduced to some new (to us) artists- Georg Baselitz.

At the museum, the historical shadows started creeping in. It was hard to just appreciate the art, in light of the history of Nazis looting art (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_plunder), we began to feel how that period of time permeates and still resonates.
(https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/nazi-looted-art-how-many-more-masterpieces-are-out-there-8922977.html)

With the current world situation with so many populist leaders, it was difficult revisiting the origins of the Nazi party at the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, opened in 2017 on the footprint of the former Nazi headquarters
(https://www.ns-dokuzentrum-muenchen.de/en/documentation-center/historical-site/ )  The exhibit charted the beginnings of Nazism onwards through today in modern Germany and Europe.  Early Nazi propaganda and practices unfortunately mirrored our current news- it was so disheartening watching history repeat itself countless times as we wandered through Munich’s monuments and museums. The similarities were so frightening.

Munich was the epicenter of Nazism in Germany (as well as the anti-fascist resistance), so there were frequent reminders of people”s cruelty  and how it feels like we’ve learned nothing.

As we played tourist, it was encouraging  to see kids accessing historic sites;  young kids on field trips in the old city center, numerous groups of teenagers in serious sit down talks with teachers around exhibits at the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, and at Dachau, and most poignant- a group of physically handicapped young adults, who would not have been allowed to exist under Hitler, at the University’s memorial to the student run White Rose anti-facist movement  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose).

In front of the White Rose museum, flyers embedded in the ground, placed as they were when University students and siblings, Hans and Sophie Scholl threw them as they were arrested, and then executed in 1943.

A short distance away was the 1844 memorial to fallen German solders. In 1923, it was the site of the Beer Hall Putsch where Hitler first tried to take power. After this, the monument became a symbol of the Nazi party. During the Third Reich anti-fascist Germans would walk behind it so they would not have to salute it as required by law (alley is called Shirker’s Alley). In more recent times, Munich has had to balance preserving this monument and preventing Neo-nazis from celebrating it

On to Dachau, about 10 miles north of Munich. Dachau was the first concentration camp.  It opened in 1933, and was used initially for political prisoners (anti-fascists, communists, partisans from invaded countries), and then ultimately for anyone opposed to the new Nazi government including clergy, as well as “undesirables” such as Sinta/Roma, homosexuals, Jews, mentally and physically handicapped.  The camp also supplied needed free/slave labor.  Jewish prisoners weren’t the majority until the late 30’s.

The 2 mile “walk of remembrance” from the train station to the camp was eerily picturesque, this was how the prisoners got to Dachau.

We were struck by the size of Dachau, the vastness. Yet they said it was plagued by overcrowding. It was not big enough for the abuse, the lives lost. Unimaginable.
Although we all are familiar with the horrors of the concentration camps, being there just emphasized that, from our frame of reference, we can never really be familiar, never can completely comprehend the experience and inhumanity.

Unfathomable, considering the uncertainty experienced by the prisoners, especially with death everywhere. The barracks, the claustrophobic cells, the horrifying crematories but nothing more frightening than the open space, imagined crammed with people awaiting the worst.

Both Dachau and Munich’s Documentation Center admirably emphasized the absolute lack of individual accountability for the majority of Germans- soldiers, politicians, civilians.  And that was the challenge of Munich, it was where the Nazis got their start and power but how does a city acknowledge and repent?   Part of the problem is many of the buildings used by the Nazis were destroyed in the war and identifying those sites or existing buildings for educational purposes has been controversial.   Munich is stuck between pointing out Nazi sites while not honoring them and preventing Neo-Nazis from congregating and revering them.

Munich continues to struggle with competing groups; those wanting to diminish or or rewrite history,  those wanting to just move on and those wanting more public accountability. This is exemplified by Munich’s  lack of  Stolpersteine. https://thechosenfugue.blogspot.com/2019/01/they-do-make-you-stumble.html The city banned them, only allowing them on private property. Munich’s Jewish community president was not supportive of them although the German Council of Jews and many other local Jews and  Germans were.  Munich’s alternative, started in 2015, were 5×5 plaques (looks like an address nameplate) somewhere on or near the house but when we went to find some, it was difficult and we couldn’t. About 50 exist, and as with the Stolpersteine, memorializing not just Jews but all victims- people with mental illness, physically disabled, Sinti/Roma, gay, Jehovah’s Witness and the resistance.  In contrast to the Munich building plaques, the Stolpersteine seem to more accurately reflect the proportionality of the groups victimized.

Each day after being  overwhelmed by the contradictions of history and this striking city, we returned to be rejuvenated by our hotel in the very ethnically diverse upbeat Little Istanbul area of Munich, very much appreciating our Turkish/German hybrid Hotel Goethe and the surrounding neighborhood.

So, Munich kind of encapsulates our (thus far) European experience; contemplating it’s  tragic and violent history against the backdrop of wondrous natural beauty, inspiring art and and persistent resistance, unfortunately often futile. We will try to ride the wave of optimism.

Last minute stop in Budapest as we traveled from Romania back to Germany.
Typically, we are able to speed see all a city’s sites in a day or so as they are often within blocks of the town square where we try to stay. Considering we don’t shop and rarely restaurant, this is not usually a problembut our sprinter mentality failed us here due to the sprawl of Budapest.   Our day and a half in Budapest was a long distance affair as we walked a marathon plus (12.5 miles the first day and 14.3 the second). 

Most of the famous landmarks are on the Pest side where we stayed, and we saw them all, even Ronald Reagan.

We went for the big ones and along the way saw the small ones. The biggest was the Parliament, so big it needed a bunch of pictures (with Nick included for comparison)

Kossuth square in front of the Parliament was the main site for Hungary’s attempt at revolution in 1956.  Equally bloody as Romania’s (2500 died), but ultimately (after 19 days) unsuccessful.   https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/timisoara-the-revolution-will-not-be-televised/

Hungary had to wait another 33 years before the removal of its totalitarian government, although unfortunately it seems to be back again. Their memorial museum was built in tunnels beneath Kossuth square, the square where the worse violence occurred. Here we were again, within our first few miles of walking through Budapest, seeing the bullet holes, visiting the memorial museums, contemplating how governments can attack their own people and feeling the futility.  

As also seen in Romania, some of the memorials are truly heart felt, many are overwhelming. Shoes on the Danube, another memorial to people murdered by their own military. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoes_on_the_Danube_Bank

To provide a contrast to the Shoes on the Danube memorial to people killed by their own government just solely for existing, in 2014 the new Far Right government tried to add to the Budapest travelers “must see list” with it’s own monument to “victims of the German Occupation”. Unfortunately, the victim in this case (Hungary) was one of the perpetrators of the “occupation” since they invited Germany in and willingly implemented their policies (see the Shoes on the Danube above).  Despite rather large and loud protests from their people, the government installed the monument in the middle of the night.  

The Hungarians, again, decided to take things into their own hands, and a spontaneous memorial to the actual victims of the German occupation- Jews, Roma, Catholics, gays, disabled and anti-fascists- was created, right in front of the Government’s atrocity.   The memorial contained personal stories and possessions placed by survivors and victim’s families and friends; sprinkled with rocks- left by people paying their respects. 

As with other DYI memorials, this one was incredibly touching, one of the most impactful memorials we have experienced, it was not just seen, it was experienced. 
Because of these two polarizing memorials, Liberty Square, which also contains the Reagan statue, is the most police-protected spot in Budapest. 

Budapest seems to do everything big; monuments and beautiful buildings. Since Budapest was a center of the Austro-Hungarian empire, there were a lot of beautiful buildings and monuments to the empire’s history. The monuments all seemed to be named after Budapest streets.

Unlike many other European cities of similar vintage, Budapest is not an old walled city but around mile 20 we did hit the (proverbial and literal) wall when we tried to visit the famous Szechenyi public baths in the massive City Park.  We thought the baths were open-air allowing us see them without going in, but it was completely enclosed in a lovely building.  We were able to partially peek thru a window, but weren’t terribly interested in sitting in hot water anyway as it was 90 plus degrees out, not appealing.  

Also in the City park with  Vajdahunyad castle, built in 1896 to celebrate 1000 years since the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian basin. The castle was built out of cardboard and wood to showcase Hungarian castles built in different styles- Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. It became so popular that it was rebuilt from stone and brick between 1904 and 1908.

By the end of the marathon everyone’s legs felt like stone

After we hit the main sights during the day,  we uncharacteristically ventured out at night. First stop was the former Jewish quarter, and it  was truly a quarter as  25% of Budapest was Jewish (in early1900’s Budapest was nicknamed Judapest). It is now reformed as block after block of “ruin” bars, hip clubs and bars filled with hen and stag parties on weekends.

Considering Budapest’s  history of a large Jewish population plus the miles covered it was not surprising to have added to the Stolpersteines we have stumbled upon https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2019/01/07/they-do-make-you-stumble/

We just kept walking,

crossing the bridge from Pest and ending the night in Buda. 

It was easy to feel very old world leaving our Air BnB

riding away from our Budapest Marathon.