Now I Am Here - I Decided to Stay in Bavaria

 From Berlin... 

... to Bavaria:

Dear You, 

I hope you missed me a bit. I missed you.  

Moving from Berlin to Bavaria gave me a very hard time - sometimes I thought that it was too much and I would never make it, going over the top. 

For FOUR weeks I packed - all by myself - can you imagine that? 

I packed 124 removal crates. And (really!) lost my sense of time. 

Felt like King Barbarossa who sat banished in The Kyffhäuser Mountains - or like Rip van Winkle, who fell asleep for 20 years in the Catskill Mountains.  

My huge apartment in Berlin had 175 square meters. 

My "tiny" secondary home in Bavaria has about 80 square meters. 

Both homes were fully furnished by me...   

The worst was the choice what to keep and what should go to another place, that's why I had to do the packing all by myself. Of course I had hired (very expensive) movers - but they should not decide which Berlin books would accompany me to Bavaria. 

I felt like Hamlet - but instead of "To be or not to be?" you heard me mutter "To keep or not to keep?" 

My self-image became some deep dents. 

"Am I a hoarder? A pack-rat?" I spoke under my breath. 

In Berlin there were so many THINGS. Well: 175 square meters gave me widths and place. 

I packed for three destinations: 64 removal crates for my new home in Bavaria. Many many crates for my house in Hildesheim - the attic was my rescue. 

Here you see only a tiny part. 

(And I am no fool: deep down I know that what is there presumably will not be touched by me ...for a long time.. forever?) 

One day while packing I decided that 7 huge crates, filled with all the diaries of my life, should go to the attic in Hildesheim too. Was that wise? I don't know - but it too gives me a feeling of freedom. (And I can always carry them back 😊)

Many crates (mostly books and DVDs) went to my son & daughter-in-law in Bavaria. 

And many, many things I just gave away to people who wanted them. 

The worst beside packing was the horrible pressure: to know I had to be "ready", come what may, on the 12th of November. The day the movers would come with two very huge removal vans, so the flat had to be empty (and cleaned - have you ever cast an ashamed glimpse at the kitchen floor behind a stove or refrigerator had been moved after 15 years?) 

OH! Those beautiful tiles from 1902! Boo-hoo! 

Come on, Britta - get a hold of yourself! You were not forced to move - there was no other reason than your own decision to move - because it became a little bit tiring to run to and fro between Bavaria and Berlin! And YES: you pondered a long time, choosing between the capital of Germany, your DREAM-CITY since you were 14 - and your dear, dear triplet-grandchildren. 

Heart won. Reason too. 

I can rent a suite in the best hotel in Berlin for the money I will save now. And even I am not getting younger! I love my family. I can... Here I stop, don't want to bore you. 

I am happy. Exhausted, but happy. 

And that is a very good feeling. 

  

Yes, Nuremberg has decidedly a cheerful atmosphere...

 

... if one opens up to perceive it.  

I confess that maybe something "from a former life" (😄) hindered me to see that cheerful feature. Too much Middle Age atmosphere -  not for nothing also called the "dark age" - and while other people enjoyed the picturesque views and half-timber houses, I read the name of a beautiful bridge: "hangman's bridge", and that name was taken from real life...

 

So: I was biased and prejudiced. 

For a while - 

but I am still capable of learning. 

And thus I made a plan: 

To learn more about the city in my neighbourhood I took the list of 14 ice cream parlours and went on the last  beautiful and sunny Sunday of August to the number one "best ice cream"- winner of 2025: 

"Ice cream parlour" just as an aim to discover a part of Nuremberg that was unknown to me. 

It was lovely! And the surroundings so beautiful! Old houses from the time around 1902 - the quarter is called "Gärten hinter der Veste", which means Gardens behind the fortress - so: the Imperial castle. I talked with a couple enjoying their ice-cream - and learned a lot.  

Here you see an especially fine house there: 

So I am very eager to visit the other 13 ice cream parlours - widely scattered over unbeknownst (to me) Nuremberg. 

The tested ice cream was very good!