Mom and Samantha Visit

On the Morning of Tuesday March 18th, Sam Seplow took a shuttle to Frankfurt to fly home to Philadelphia. That afternoon, I drove to Frankfurt to pick up Mom and Samantha at the airport. They had taken a rather circuitous route. They had a stop in Rome before coming to Germany. Having had some time in Europe already they were more adjusted to the time zone than most of visitors. Pam was working and I took Mom and Sam to the Hauptstrasse. After walking back to the house, we all took short naps. After Pam came home from work we walked across the street to the Roten Ocksen (Red Ox). Sam had schnitzel for the first time and very much enjoyed it.
On Wednesday morning, Sam slept in and before doing some work, Mom and I went for a walk up into the hills to the Philosophers Way and into Heidelberg going across the Old Bridge and then back down the Hauptstrasse and home. The walk is pretty damn hilly and strenuous and Mom thoroughly enjoyed the walk. The view into the Rhein Valley from the top is pretty amazing and I have posted lots of pictures at different times of the year from there. That afternoon, Mom walked into Heidelberg alone. No Map, no phone, just walked out the door without any aids. She was gone for hours….walking around and shopping in town. I was beginning to get worried after a couple of hours and was contemplating looking for her, but just before I was really going to leave, the doorbell rang! Mom…excellent.
Thursday we went to Speyer. Speyer got its name because of the number of church spires that you can see as you approach town (or even from the Philosophers Walk). Speyer also had a fairly affluent Jewish community, still has a Jewish bath and has a considerable part of the old wall and one of the original gates still. Unfortunately, this was Easter week and the Cathedral was in use and the Jewish Bath was closed also.
After a quick lunch we drove over to Schwetzingen. Schwetzingen has a Schloss with extensive gardens. The Schloss used to be a simple fort but was built up into a summer home for the Elector of Wurttemberg, Carl Theodor (1724-1799). The weather was rainy cold and nasty. We walked around the grounds for about an hour and we found a Mosque, a large pink Mosque.
Pam had off for Good Friday, but that also means that everything else was closed also, except for restaurants and coffee shops. We walked Heidelberg. The weather this day was exceptionally poor. Standing near the Cathedral, we got caught in a shower that turned to hail and sleet and then to snow, all in about 15 minutes. We then took the Funicular rail to the Schloss. We walked around the Schloss for a while and then walked back down to town, where we met our friends for for cake and coffee (this is what all good Germans do on Sundays and holidays, spend time with family and friends, take a walk and end up with cake and coffee) . Sam became bored of adult conversation, I gave her the key to the house and my cell phone and she walked back on her own. The five of us sat in the coffee house for a while longer before we walking back to our house for had dinner.
Sadly, Saturday arrived and it was time to take Mom and Sam to the airport. . Before leaving for the airport, we took Mom to the Saturday market at the Tiefburg. This is a farmer’s market that happens every Saturday - markets like this are common all around Germany. We then had breakfast and then packed up the car and went drove to Frankfurt.
We parked the car at a meter in front of the terminal, the meters are 15 minutes, and went in with them. The flight was delayed, very delayed and so we stayed with them for a while, having lunch and trying to prolong the visit as much as possible.