Pete's Log: Hessen Trip
Entry #1416, (Travel)(posted when I was 28 years old.)
You know that feeling you get after a long business trip when you finally get back home? It was kind of weird that I experienced that feeling in Munich. Munich is home.
I spent the past week in Darmstadt. I was there for SPECTRUM level 3 and level 4 training at CA's German headquarters. Having passed the tests, I am now a certified SPECTRUM Solutions Engineer. It's hard to believe that I took the level 1 and 2 training nearly two years ago.
Darmstadt is about 30 miles away from Steinbach, the town in which I grew up. I had coincidentally gotten in touch with Florian, whom I had gone to grade school with, the week before, and so on Monday evening he drove down to Darmstadt to visit. I recognized him immediately, and we spent the evening reminiscing, particularly about old friends, video games we had played, and cartoons we had watched.
Wednesday evening I met up with a couple of the girls I had met at Oktoberfest, including one of the domers. We had some hot apple wine at the Darmstadt Christmas market. After they had to take off, I wandered the market some.
Tuesday and Thursday nights were spent studying for my tests, but after I was done Friday, I took a train into Frankfurt. I was supposed to take a train back to Munich, but since I had a flexible ticket, I decided to stay in Hessen an extra day. Florian picked me up at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, and we headed into the Taunus. We first wandered around Bad Homburg a little, then drove to Königstein. There we drove past the KIN headquarters where Dad had worked. There we also saw the parking lot that replaced the house I lived in for the first two years of my life.
After dinner at an Indian restaurant, we drove to Steinbach. On a whim, I had Florian drive by Hardtbergstraße, the street I lived on from 1980 to 1993. We walked by my old house, then by the Müllers. It was a quarter to ten, but lights were still on, so we rang the doorbell. Hans answered and recognized me after about five seconds. He was incredibly excited. Marita was equally excited and recognized Florian as well. We wound up talking to them for almost an hour and a half.
We then headed to Florian's place where he showed me some old picture albums that included photos of me. It was quite entertaining.
The next day we drove back into Frankfurt and checked out the Christmas market there. Nina, another old friend, met us for lunch. We had a good time. Finally that afternoon I caught a train back to Munich.
Once I have some vacation time, I will definitely have to return again and seek out some more old friends. Steinbach was a blast to see again, although definitely smaller than I remember it. I definitely appreciated that Florian humored me and drove me past the sites Steinbach had to offer.