Germany 2009

“Green Grocer” by Tobias (at Dallmayer's in München)

At one point during our two-week stay with Pat’s friends in Germany, we were sitting in a drenching rain at the Seehaus in the Englischer Garten in München, one of Pat and Tobi’s favorite bier gartens. The large green tents, brightened with beer stein chandeliers and strings of beer stein lights, were crammed with people escaping the down pour. We counted a thundering crack about a second after bright lightening. A father on the lake was madly rowing his children to safety. I was sitting nearest the edge of the tent, and Libby tried to shield me with her scarf. We huddled there for an hour or more, unable to move. No one was giving up his seat under the crowded tents until finally the storm dulled to medium strength. We dined on the world’s best beer and cheese. We watched an older couple share an umbrella. “I don’t care what it does,” I said. “We’re here together, and that’s all that matters.” We looked at each other in agreement and toasted “prost.” The moment captured the mood of the trip, the high points of which were nonstop. Most were recaptured in the pictures that follow. Others bear special mention:

• My cousin Avery putting me up the night before leaving and getting me to the airport so Bob did not miss his softball game (nobody plays left field like he does). No problem even though she and her family were leaving for Israel the day after.

• Joe taking time off from work to meet us at Tegel and waiting an hour for our—actually, my--bag. Libs and Linds know how to travel light.

• Joe and Tibor giving us the biggest bedroom in their apartment, which was a half hour walk through the Tiergarten to the Reichstag. A HALF HOUR!

• Tibor shepherding us to the VIP section of the Christopher Street parade (mit free drinks und food) and explaining to the Mayor of Berlin how he had once introduced Patrick, and now he was introducing his mother. TO THE MAYOR! DER BÜRGERMEISTER! (More on this, the trip, and other Pat thoughts are in process.)

• Joe’s father hosting me in his van, at a Brück horse show, with cheese and three kinds of homemade sausage on top of dark, dense bread.

• Tibor rescheduling his singing rehearsal and Steve rushing from work to meet us at the Stanford Center for a few words for and by Pat.

• Karen bringing me to watch her ride her lovely dressage horse. Heavy Berlin traffic cut it short, and anybody who rides knows that is not good.

• Steve treating us to dinner and then staying up endless hours with Joe and Tibor to translate Pat’s German text messages, the last communications before he died.

• Joe and Tibor getting our train tickets to München and then hauling suitcases (well, maybe just mine) to get there on time.

• Tobi, surprising us by jumping on the train two stops before München then navigating the U-Bahn to get us to our pension within walking distance of everything München. EVERYTHING!

• Tobi, guiding us to everything Patrick for the next nine days. NINE!

• Dr. Heidrun Belzner, from BMW, showing us where Pat worked and explaining for several hours why he was “the best intern we ever had.”

• Wolf-Dietrich Junghanns, from the Stanford Center, putting me in touch with Heidrun.

• Tobi, renting a car and then driving us to his home town of Missen, two hours southwest of München in the Allgåu, the greenest, and most old-lady accessible and cow-covered mountains in the world. Check out my iCow movie, which doesn’t do them justice.

• Tobi’s aunt and uncle, preparing the same pork meal as Pat’s even though it wasn’t normally available that day.

• Tobi’s Neuschwanstein and hiking plans getting rained out nearly every day.

• Tobi’s Neuschwanstein plans, magnificent, even in the rain.

• Joe, Tibor, Christian, Steve, Karen, and Tobi, answering our endless questions; enduring our (my) terrible pronunciations; repeating untold directions; protecting, guiding, and hand-holding every step of the way; driving us from and to airports, train stations, rental cars; and being genuinely, overly grateful for the puny little meals we bought. Are these the greatest friends known to mankind?

• Libs and Linds hauling my embarrassingly large suitcase and my anchor weighted backpack, and most luxuriously, bringing me breakfast every morning in Bavaria. They graciously tolerated my old-lady presence every step of the way. I could not have made the trip without them.

• And most importantly, Woody taking over full-time farm management for two weeks, which involved feeding a horse who throws grain everywhere. TWO WEEKS!

I tried to cut out enough pictures to make them manageable for the blog, but there were just too many good ones. They show the high points better than words. They may look like a travelogue more than revisiting Pat places, but they felt right and fit the mood at the time. Thanks for checking them out on the site I created to accommodate all of them. Of special note are the pictures by Tobi. He’s going for an art degree, and if these pictures are any indication, he has an incredible future in that field. He has the talent, and more importantly, he has the heart. He, and everyone who knew Pat in Germany, set the standard for surviving suicide. They walked hand-in-hand with us through some tears, some laughs, some toasts, and some silence. They gave us Pat’s Germany, as he would have done had he been alive. They extended their friendship to him and gave it to his entire family. It was nothing short of life giving to Libby, Lindsay, and me.

For the Germany 2009 pics, the site is:  

file:///Users/lrimer/Dropbox/Public/Germany%202009%20site/Germany_2009/Photos.html



For great cowbell music, check out iCows, the movie.