Tuesday 16 & Wednesday 17 September, 2014 (diary)

I am having some very nice peaceful days, often happy just to sit on my balcony and absorb and feel part of this typical Black Forest rural environment which of course is so totally different from our tropical environment back in Darwin.

All the same I also did a good walk this Wednesday, a 6km hike from Bärental to Titisee, one of my favourites. The first 4km are through a densely wooded forest of enormous pine trees, gradually descending from 967 meters above sea level at the Bärental railway station to around 800 meters at the Titisee lake. The final 2km are right along the shores of the lake.

The village of Titisee is a very popular tourist place, always with lots of tourists milling around. I found a bistro where they had one of Germany's iconic lunch dishes on the menu (surprisingly most restaurants here did not) : Wienerle mit Kartoffelsalat.
I got into a lively conversation with the couple (Bruno and his wife) on the table next to mine (I keep practicing my German at every opportunity) who tried to talk me into ending my meal (Bruno had the Wienerle too) with a local (?) schnapps invention : Himbeertraum (Raspberry dream).
At first I firmly resisted, but when one glass of it was served to Bruno's wife I of course had to try one too. Never seen anything like it. The bouquet has a very strong raspberry flavour, but the drink itself is not sweet at all and quite potent with its 40+% alcohol content. I loved it and it will certainly be an incentive to come back to this place again !

The best part of this all round great day was my train trip.
From Freiburg to Seebrug runs the iconic Höllentalbahn railway line. It meanders through some stunning countryside including the Höllental (Hell valley gorge), the Titisee and the Schluchsee.
Two years ago the Höllental gorge was being cleaned up, removing some dangerous rocks, securing others and removing the Deer sculpture on top of it for cleaning and restoration. But now the deer is back, cleaned and firmly bolted onto its spectacular rock face.
Legend has it that a deer, chased by hunters, once jumped right across the gorge (then only 7 meters wide) from one side to the other.   Riding in the train one has only a few precious seconds to see and photograph the deer, so I was mightily pleased to get this picture.

Thursday 18 - Monday 22 September, 2014 (diary)

Shown above a 180° view of the place where I am staying. The main house of the Steingrubenhof is on the left with the holiday apartments in the building in the center. My apartment, called Feldbergblick (as it looks out onto that mountain) has the balcony in front from which I catch the sun (whenever there is some) throughout the day.

Thursday evening Wivica and I were invited for dinner by my landlords, Georg and Lydia (photo taken in 2012). It was an absolutely wonderful meal.
Lydia's entree, a sushi style roll of salmon, soft white cheese and finely chopped spinach (mixed with egg white to keep it togeher) was especially eye-catching and truly delicious. The Bauernbratwurst mit Brägle (pan-fried potatoes) were also like you only can eat them in Germany.

Georg sold his milk cows recently and it has done him the world of good. He looks 10 years younger and is far more happy and outgoing than I knew him 2 years ago. He used to get up every morning at 4.30am, seven days a week, without interruption for 50 years, to milk his cows.
That is all over now. They still have some other animals and fields to look after, but their lifestyle is now far more pleasant and relaxed.

Thanks goodness for e-books. These days, when bookstores are full of one-day wonders (here today, gone tomorrow), quality literature (apart from the usual Austen, Dickens, Hardy, Tolstoy novels) is nowhere to be seen.
So I am steadily building my e-book library which gives me a wonderful selection to read from.

One of the classics I read way back in the 60s or 70s was James Jones' From Here to Eternity. I enjoyed it, but doubt whether I back then really perceived the depth and power of this supreme novel.
I am in the middle of reading it again right now and am gradually being swayed to the realisation that (in time) James Jones may be regarded as one of the two most powerful literary writers of the 20th century.
The other writer of course being Ernest Hemingway.

In my view Hemingway and Jones represent the two extremes of modern literature writing :

Apart from both being American, these two writers have one life-changing experience in common : the horrors of war. Hemingway as an ambulance driver in Italy during WW1 (A Farewell to Arms), Jones as a soldier fighting the Japanese on islands in the Western Pacific (Guadalcanal !) during WW2.
Perhaps only after such continued close encounters with the most gruesome deaths is one able to fully appreciate and unambiguously write about life !

Tuesday 23 - Saturday 27 September, 2014 (diary)

Although I always try to look at and visit some new places (like the next 18 days for example), my stays in Europe are never really tourist trips. My main aim is to re-engage aspects of my identity that have little or no chance to come to the fore while living in Australia.

Firstly this consists of re-connecting with my sister Wivica, my school and university friends in the Netherlands and also with the long-time employees from our former family business Martinshof.
Secondly it gives me a chance to speak Dutch and German again, which is a great joy to me, and I take every opportunity I can to engage strangers in conversation, in Pubs, the train, etc.
Yesterday for example I had missed a train in Schluchsee (having completed walk 3a). I had to wait for an hour for the next train to arrive, but fired up by a couple of glasses of wine I struck up a great conversation with several people in the Bistro there.

Thirdly it is of course the food, typical of the countries' culture. Dishes you rarely come across (if at all) in Australia.

Dutch : Bitterballen and also Bruine bonen met Spek (brown beans with bacon and onions), Loempias (huge spring rolls) and Bami Goreng the Dutch/Indonesian way, with flat noodles and many extras.

German :Königsberger Klopse, Mainzer Handkäse mit Musik, Pfifferlinge, etc.

French : Pate de Fois Gras, Grenouilles.


But fourthly I have a need for something of a much deeper origin, tucked away in an obscure area of my DNA, passed on by ancestors for five centuries or more.
My surname gives a clue to what I am talking about : Furstner is derived from Förster, meaning "forester" in English.
My parental ancestors from the early 1600s came from Austria and Southern Germany with (as our name reveals) a close connection to and love for the forests.

This is why I always take long walks through the forests here. I enjoy the forests in the Netherlands and around Altenahr which I recently visited again. But it is on the narrow walking trails through the Black Forest where I feel an affinity like nowhere else.
I do not belong there any longer myself (I belong in Australia). But I do perceive the strong sense of belonging my ancient ancestors must have felt for this wonderful environment, with its huge trees, the mosses, toadstools, berries, ferns, the bubbling clear springs and the mysterious darkness that prevails.

But the love for these forests is not the only characteristic my ancient ancestors passed on to me and my family. It is a sense of restlessness, of searching for a new place to live, for a "new identity" which has been a constant feature throughout our parental line.

My father traced back from the early 1600s a sustained urgency of our ancestors to move to a new place to live, not two generations ever lived at the same place.
They traveled from Austria, west through Southern Germany until they reachd the Rhine.
Then every successive generation moved northward along the Rhine until they finally arrived in the Netherlands in the 18th century, then a country of great enlightenment.
After restlessly shifting for several generations to different places in Holland (my father purchasing land within a forest and building our home Martinshof there), it was I (followed shortly after by my brother Claus) who made the jump to Australia, the ultimate country of freedom on this planet.

It was only on my previous visit to Europe two years ago in 2012 that I suddenly woke up to this overwhelming truth : I had completed the journey which my early ancestors had started at least 500 years ago (or perhaps much earlier).
Tears were streaming from my eyes and I had an enormous sense of satisfaction of having achieved our mutual goal. Because of this I now feel a much stronger connection and bond with all those gnerations who have preceded me.

Interestingly, my sister Wivica (perhaps because of her strong spirituality) was attracted by the original environment of our early ancestors, and has lived now in the Black Forest for many years.
Therefore between the two of us we mark the beginning as well as the end of our ancestral journey on this planet : a meaningful conclusion.

Sunday 28 - Tuesday 30 September, 2014 (diary)

Flying within Europe are a breeze. I was hardly through my second G&T (with Bombay Saphire of course) when we landed in a rainy and miserable Palma de Mallorca. The city has a rather disorganised appearance, bu the old inner part with may ancient buildings does have its charm.
Luckily I guessed the bus right first time and arrived dry at my hotel, Hotel Almudaina. A really nice room with enormous modern paintings and all the modcons.

Underneath the hotel and next to its entry is a kind of Bistro MDQ (no idea what these letters stand for) which is hugely popular.
It serves pies, pastries, ice cream, tapas, pizzas and other dishes as well as a range of drinks. I do spend much time there, observing the very effective staff of 4-5 racing round, making jokes mongst themselves.
On my second day there (making a few occasional comments) they started to take special note of me with the odd free glass of wine, double size cognacs, peanuts etc.   They serve Spanish cognac Terri here, with its bottle (as I remember from 55 years ago) still in its unique yellow knitted stocking. For me a real nostalgia drink.

Another item which brings back fond memories is a popular tapa : Pimientos de Padron (those shown here are from Bistro Forn des Teatre), small, sweet peppers fried in olive oil and sprinkled with course sea salt.
In the old days there usually lurked the odd really hot pepper within the dish which always caused laughter and knowing smiles from the locals when you struck one.

The formation of the EU has had its benefits but also its negatives for Southern European countries, especially the areas right around the Mediterranean sea.
The huge influx of North European tourists has boosted the local economies, but at the same time destroyed much it the original culture. Shoeshine boys and night-watchmen (called cerenas, who could provide you with a room at any hour of the night) are no more. The tourist shops sell T-shirts, and espadrilles without strings, but no longer the typical clay water bottles, glass perons or botas (leather sheepskin wine sacs).