5 Cents To Spare - By Motorcycle to Mannheim - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

By Motorcycle to Mannheim

On May 3, 1936 Heinz and I left Uncle Erich's house.  We did not tell Uncle Erich that we had a heavy date that night with Anneliese.  We told him that we had to go to bed early in order to be fresh for the next day's journey to Mannheim for a visit with Heinz's sister, Ursula, and her husband Gunther Saal.  This was the second time that we were to see Anneliese.  She had my vest pocket handkerchief and Heinz had her cigarette case.  We looked forward to the occasion.  Heinz had a little supper with a bottle of very good wine arranged in his room.   We were to meet Anneliese at the train station.  We had misgivings that she would not be there, but she was true to her word.

At 9:15 AM on May 4 we were ready to go but Heinz's motorcycle was not.  It refused to work.  Heinz thought it was this and that, but to no avail.  Finally the inspiration came to me that perhaps the spark plug was no good.  That proved to be the problem.  We had to push the motorcycle one kilometer before we were able to purchase the proper plug.  At 10:15 AM we finally left Berlin in a cloud of dust (mostly the dust animals leave on the streets) with grave apprehension that all would not be well.

Our first difficulty appeared in the form of a leaky valve in the rear tire.  We thought we remedied that but a little farther on it was necessary to put more air in the tire.  Then we had more bad luck.  We lost Heinz's new waterproof pants which he had strapped to the motorcycle.  It was lost someplace before Hamburg but Heinz was tired and did not wish to go back to look for it.  We reached Hamburg just as darkness was closing down - dead tired.  We secured a room at Zur Heimstatte and had dinner at the hotel.  When we were through dinner both of us fell asleep waiting for the waiter to give us our check!

The next day we arose late and found our worst fears materialized.  The rear tire of the motorcycle was flat... very flat.  Wearily we pushed the machine to a garage and had it repaired.  Meanwhile we strolled around town.  Hamburg was just another place like Berlin, only less interesting.  We had lunch at a place near the water.  It was quite a nice place.  We could not help but think of Anneliese and wondered if she was as tired as we still were.

The road between Hamburg and Wesermunde was terrible.  It was torn up by crews of workmen and being repaired every 10 KM.  We came to an unusually narrow and rough stretch.  On the side of this cobble stoned ribbon was a smooth bicycle path.  Heinz chose the bicycle path.  In the distance we could see a horse and a man.  As we came closer, it turned out to be a mounted policeman.  He spoke with Heinz in German which I did not understand.  He arrested us for riding on the bicycle path and gave Heinz a ticket... more bad luck!  I believe this was the only road officer I had seen so far in Germany, and this one had to arrest us!!

Finally we arrived in Wesermunde and Fischereihafen - the home of Anne Ripking, Heinz's girl friend.  Our coming was a total surprise for her because Heinz had said nothing.  She was very nice to me.  Later in the evening she introduced Heinz and me to her Aunt and Uncle whose last name was Hollmeir.

This is a method of piling wood in many German Villages.  The wood is about 9" long and piled from the center out so as to better shed water.  Perleberg.  May 5,1936.                                                        (E4-20)

The Hollmeirs made arrangements for Heinz and me to stay for several days in the Fisherman's home which was across the street.  It was midnight before we got to bed.  We were invited to eat all our meals with Annie at the Hollmeir's.

Never have I seen such hospitality as at this place.  In the morning at nine or ten, breakfast was waiting and Annie was there to pour our coffee.  We had soft boiled eggs, bread, butter, jam, honey, cold meats, sausage and coffee.  At 2:30 PM we had dinner of fish or meat, potatoes, vegetables of some kind, and desert.  Coffee and bread were served at 4 PM.  Supper, consisting of a variety of cold meat and cheese with bread, was served at 8 PM.  After supper we all sat around the table until midnight sipping light wine or beer and talking cheerfully about this and that.

The table setting was interesting.  In the center was a revolving centerpiece on which were placed the main dishes.  More of the same food was placed on a "dumb waiter" along side of the hostess, and she saw to it that the revolving centerpiece was always filled with food.  The plates were placed for each person as in America with the exception that the fork was placed to the left of the plate and the knife on the right.  The fork is handled by the left hand and the knife by the right hand, which is customary in Germany.

Water is rarely served with the meal.  If fact, plain water is not good enough to drink.  Rather than drink plain water, Germans would have "zitronwasser" (lemonade) when wine, beer, coffee, or tea was not available.  Milk was a luxury.

On one afternoon Heinz, Annie, a girl friend of Annie's, and I stopped at a coffee house to dance.  Neither Heinz nor I should have had the nerve to try dancing since we were still in our traveling cloths.  (Our dress clothes had been shipped to Mannheim to be there when we arrived.)  My shoes had irons on both heels and toes and I slipped on the smooth steps... with great clatter, I regained my equilibrium.  Everyone looked at me and laughed.  I must have appeared both awkward and annoyed.

Early one morning a very pleasant young gentlemen friend of the Hollmeirs named Hans Dose took Heinz and me through the fish market.  First we watched the fish, packed in ice, being unloaded from the hold of the fishing vessel in to baskets.  Then the fish were sorted into varieties and placed in big boxes.  The boxes were wheeled to a huge platform and placed side by side.  What a startling sight... a ribbon of boxes 50 feet wide solid with fish as far as the eye can see, thousands of fish.  It made me wonder how so many fish could live in the ocean and why the source was not depleted.

The fish auction.  What a startling sight ... a ribbon of boxes 50 feet wide solid with fish as far as the eye can see.  Thousands of fish. Wesermunde, Germany.  May 5, 1936.                                       (E5-08)

And then, at 8 AM come the auctioneers and buyers.  The buyers are fish whole­salers and come from all parts of Germany.  The auction­eer rides in a wagon and auctions each group of fish by the box to the highest bidder.

Herr Dose took us to a place where various fish are smoked.  These fish were hung vertically from a rack within a big steel oven.  At the bottom of the oven was a wood fire.  Herring are smoked this way for three and a half hours.  In another place fish were being salted.

From here we were taken through a hugh ice plant where tons of ice were made daily for both the fishing vessels and for the trains.  The ice manufacturing plant was practically automatic, a very large plant and much too complicated to explain on paper.  At this point our tour ended.  We left with quite an increase in our knowledge of one of the important industries of Europe, thanks to Herr Dose.

On May 9, the largest German passenger vessel afloat, The Europa (49,000 tons), was landing at Bremerhafen.  The day before, the Columbus had also come to port.  Heinz was very anxious to see these ships but there was no way of passing the guard.  In order to get permission to go on board the Europa, Heinz told the official at the gate that I was expecting my brother, Ernest, from America.  Inasmuch as I was already a foreigner this sounded possible, so the guard let us through.

The Europa was a wonderful ship.  We were quite taken with the spaciousness of the first class accommodations.  We wondered aimlessly for half an hour and then went over to the Columbus.  Here we had a guide who explained everything.

We were still touring the ship when we noticed that the time had slipped by.  At 2:15 PM we were supposed to be at Fischereihafen, an hour travel, for dinner.  It was almost that time now.  Heinz and I became very fidgety for the ship was so big we could not find the way out.  But, perseverance is always rewarded and soon we were on the street car.

At the customs, the officer boarded our car.  He looked at Heinz and speaking in German asked if we came from the ship.  Heinz said "Nein."  "Did we have anything to declare?"  "Nein."  "Did we have paper money?" "Nein." (I had 20 Mark in paper but Heinz didn't know this and I didn't know at the time what the official was saying.)  On board the ship I had picked up a Saturday Evening Post and Heinz had an American Newspaper in German.  The official looked at my paper and not being able to read it showed it to someone else to read.  The person apparently said it was "O.K." because I got it back again.  Then he glanced at Heinz's paper and said "O.K."  Fortu­nately he did not see some ship baggage tags Heinz had placed inside the paper.  The official was very suspicious that we were lying and was very reluctant to let us through without further inquiry.  I shall never forget his look of apprehension.

Our stay at Wesermunde could not last forever.  At sometime we must part.  So, on April 10 we left.  Our first stop was Bremen where we saw some interesting buildings in the center of the town.

We stopped over night in Muenster at the Gasthof Feldman, a very old hotel near the center of town.  It was so old that the floors were sagging everywhere.  For dinner we strolled down the delight­fully quaint streets along log arcaded sidewalks to a very old restaurant with heavily beamed ceilings and dusty old frescoes on the wall.  It was a most romantic place to have dinner.

The next morning we were on our way.  We stopped at Essen for lunch with Heinz's cousin, then onto Dusseldorf were we got soaked in a rainstorm.  We arrived in Koln at 8:30 PM coming to a very sudden stop when the motorcycle skidded on the wet street car tracks and threw us on the pavement.  It was fortunate that we were at the center of the town, that we were going slowly, and that no automobiles behind ran us over.  Neither of us were hurt, just a little skinned.  The motorcycle was not materially damaged.

A boy on the street corner told Heinz he knew a good place to stay overnight at the Pension Fundermann where there was running water for only 2.2 Marks (88 cents).  He said other places were all 4 and 8 Marks per night.  So, we let him escort us to the place.  It was on a side street.  We found no running water, but we were tired so took a room.  We ate the last of the lunch and a sausage Annie had packed for us when we left Wesermunde.  Then off to town we went.

We discovered that next door to the place we had parked the motorcycle was a hotel with rooms and running water for 2 Marks!  Heinz was furious.  Instead of having a good dinner and going to bed we went to a coffee house called the Hamburg and had beer and danced.

Returning to the Pension we tried to sleep but it was almost impossible.  Outside our window was the railroad, and the trains puffed, snorted and rumbled all night long.  In the morning we were both furious and swore that if we saw that boy we would kill him.  Fortunately for the boy he was nowhere to be found.

May 12, 1936.  We arrived in Mannheim at 9:00 PM relieved to be at journey's end.  But now, Heinz's sister, Ursula, was not home.  We managed to get into the apartment house and walked up five flights of stairs.  There we laid down in a corner and waited.  We waited three hours before Ursula and her husband, Gunther, came home.  It was swell to be in bed again!

May 17 was perhaps the most pleasant day since I arrived in Mannheim.  The only sadness was the departure of my cousin Heinz for Berlin.  In the early afternoon, Ursula, Gunther and a friend, Gudrun, and I took a train from Mannheim to Neckargemuend laden down with our swimming suits and a bite to eat.

Arriving at Neckargemuend we strolled through the quaint narrow old streets towards the other side of town to a bathing beach situated on the bank of the Neckar River.  There we basked in the sun.  I was quite careful about getting too much sunshine as it was only the day before that I had acquired a fine rose-tinted sunburn while on the beach at the Rhein River.

Hundreds of people visit these beaches, not so much to swim as to lie in the sun­shine.  I found that there is not the modesty among the German people on the beaches as there is among a similar group of American people.  There are few dressing rooms here, and when one wishes to change clothing it is done in the open without any thought of embarrassment even though there may be any number of strangers of either sex immediately adjacent.  Fortunately for the men, their shirts are longer than the American shirt for they extend well down the leg, half way between the thigh and the knee.  For me, with my American shirts, I had some difficulty but I managed somehow.

Bathing beach on the Neckar River.  After a long sunbath, a short swim, and exercise tossing a rubber ring, we dressed and found a table.  We bought coffee and ate cheese cake.  Pictured: Alfred Kramm, Ursula Saal, Gudrun Buschan.  Neckargemuend, Germany.  May 17, 1739.                                (E5-44)

The swimming suits for both men and women are in one piece and resemble the American suit in this respect.  However, it does not seem customary for the men to wear jock straps as is often done in America.

After a long sunbathe, a short swim, and exercise tossing a rubber ring, we dressed again and found a table.  We bought coffee and ate a very fine cheese cake prepared by Ursula.

Then we strolled down the Neckar River along the bank admiring the beautiful view, the quaint village on the opposite bank, and the silvery river winding through the forest-covered hillsides.  These hills, ever more blue in the distance, repeated themselves until lost in the indistinction of space.

Across from the village, we stopped at a small ferry boat.  I noticed a rather amusing sign on the bulletin board: Fare 10pf; at twilight 15pf; at night 20pf.  I wondered about the reasons for the change in price with the time of day. 

Upon reaching the opposite bank I stood up ready to disembark.  Suddenly the little boat lurched and I unceremoniously stepped backward on one of the lady passenger's toe.  It must have been her "pet corn" for she very painfully said, "Oow."  I hastened to beg my apologies, but could think of nothing to say in German so I spoke English.  Thinking I was foreigner (as I truly was) she felt much better about it all, until she heard my companions speak in German to each other.  Then she was angry for she believed that I, too, was a German and that I spoke English only to avoid the storm of indignation that she surely would have let loose for my clumsi­ness.  She preceded us up the street through the village limping slightly, and we, cruel creatures, at a safe distance behind, spoke a jargon of English and German about her sad fate, imitating her cry of pain, and all of us limping too, only much more perceptibly.

Through the village we went and onto the hillside into a beautiful forest.  It was lovely... those tall beech trees all with fresh green leaves.  And so many trees... so thick was their foliage that scarcely a ray of sunshine strayed through!  There was something so fresh, invigorating, and inspiring about it all.  We had just left an ancient little village teeming with people and abounding in a wealth of history... and here we were, quite as by magic, in the silence and solemnity of a great forest.  The transition stole from us our merriment and we spoke in almost whispers.

Up and up we climbed following well defined trails until finally it seemed that we must reach the top.  Suddenly there was an opening in the forest and far below us coursed, between verdant hillsides, the beautiful Neckar.  In miniature at our feet was the pretty little town of Neckargemuend which we had only so recently left.  It looked so quiet and peaceful, so poised in its centuries old location.  The little church whose small spire quite vainly sought the heavens was poised in the midst of a multitude of red-roofed, stone, brick, and plastered buildings all mellow and ripe with the weathering of the ages.  Far away on the opposite bank of the Neckar perched serenely on the top of a low hill, touched by the glints of golden sunlight, was the town of Dielsberg.  I was told that the people of Dielsberg are so intermarried that they suffer from mental deficiency.  Neighboring towns' people call this town "Dipperberg."

We hurried on following the sun as it now and then shot long slanting beams of golden light through the denseness of the trees.  Without warning we came to another vista, Heidel­berg.  Here was a bird's eye view of that enchanting old city renowned in all lands.  In the near were the ruins of the old Gothic and Renaissance castle very much the part of a distant age.  Beyond this was the less impressive spire of the ancient church surrounded by the older section of Heidelberg.  Among these old buildings was the compara­tively new white building of the university apart in style from the otherwise picturesque environs.  And, then there was the newer section.  Oh, it was beautiful with the Neckar winding gracefully through it all into the  distance!  Far off were the faint outlines of Mannheim and the gray indistinct hills and mountains to the West of the Rhine.  The sun had gone behind the hills and already the landscape was graying.

We hurried down the tortuous hillside trails and came to the castle.  It was old, very old.  The build­ing was started sometime in 1400 AD and it was not until 1700 AD that is was completed.  At its completion, during the occupancy of Karl Theodor, the French General, Melack, (in the reign of the French King Louis 14th), without cause or provocation, visited the Rheinland and burned and destroyed the towns of Speier, Worms, Nierstein, Oppenheim and Heidelberg.  The castle was cannonaded and burned.  Most of it is still in ruin although one portion has been restored.  We walked through its interesting entrance, its courtyard, its vaulted passageways.  What a wealth of romance could be told if only it could speak.

We walked down the steep fortressed passageway into the town, past the old church and down the narrow streets teeming with students and people.  We stopped at an "automat" restaurant where were displayed various types of sandwiches on circular tables under glass.  One merely has to place 10pf in the slot and a sandwich will automatically turn on the disc until it is adjacent an opening where it may be taken.  Cold drinks are obtained in the same way.  I was told this "automat" idea had originally come from America.  It seemed strange indeed these modern devices would find a place in the midst of this venerable environment.  The old buildings should raise their heads in horror.

Our supper finished, we hurried - ran - to see the burning of the castle, a demonstration that takes place every four months in memory of the ruthless French General, Melack.  Sky rockets were set off in a brilliant display.  The windows were illuminated in red to represent the raging fire within the castle walls.  The people dislike the name of Melack and I was told they often call stray dogs by that name.

We returned home to Mannheim in a crowded train... and oh, so tired.  Our feet had blisters from walking; we were dirty, and sleepy, but it was a very fine day.