Day 8: Obernzenn

Nick was feeling pretty awful by the time morning rolled around.  He had a fever.  We had decided to go straight to Obernzenn, where my family lived when I was born, then drive to the army base, and then take a look around Bad Windsheim where mom remembered there being a monastery. 

It was a beautiful drive in the countryside.  I tried to picture my young parents, traveling these roads in the VW bug or walking or taking public transit.  It really was so isolating.

We got to Obernzenn and no one would let us use a bathroom anywhere.  Almost everything was closed, in the first place.  Nick was feeling awful.  We found a baker that was open, but even after we bought something they didn't have a bathroom we could use.  I found a small grocery that was just about to close for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  It was probably a place my parents used to shop.  I had probably been there before.  It smelled like sauerkraut.  The grumpy lady very begrudgingly let me use the restroom after I said bathroom in about 7 languages, the first of them being German, of course. 

First we saw the two "castles' of the town, a huge red house and a huge blue one right next to it.  Then after passing the house where I lived in infancy probably 5 times, I finally figured out which one it was.  I walked around it to the cemetery.  It was a really beautiful cemetery, with families all buried in a small amount of space and flower gardens planted on the burial places.  Mom had mentioned a church, but I didn't see it there.  Here is the house where I lived when I was a baby:

When I got back in the car, I couldn't find my phone.  After about 20 minutes of searching, we finally determined that Nick was sitting on it. 

We drove to Illisheim army base, where dad was stationed.  Everything we found online said because of terrorism, guests aren't allowed.  We drove around the outside of the barbed wire fence and saw barracks and gardens and play equipment.  Then we drove to Bad Windsheim.  We couldn't seem to find any information on the Monastery and Nick was feeling awful, so we continued on our way.  As we drove out of town, I saw what might have been the monastery up on a hill to the left, but there was no sign pointing the way and I didn't want to linger with Nick being sick.

On to Nuremberg and to the apartment, on the 13th floor.  There was an elevator and our host was on time.  Nick went straight to bed.  I went out to get some food and we cooked some tortellini that night, did some laundry that we hung out on the balcony, and got some sleep.