Uta’s Diary, 3rd of September 2015

In September 2013 my blogger friend Linda wrote in a comment to one of my blogs:

“As I grow up 🙂 I discover that families the world over and through the centuries have been weird. Just plain weird! It’s a good thing to know. More kids should recognize this fact so they wouldn’t feel so isolated by the facts of their families.”

And my reply was:
“Quite amazing, Linda, isn’t it? What exactly do you mean by ‘weird’? Families that are somehow ‘dysfunctional’? What about divorce? Hasn’t this been on the increase in our time? Maybe it has partly to do with the increase in life expectation? In any case I believe it is important for children to know who their parents are. Whether they stay through all their growing up years with one, two or none of their parents this is a different matter. Some parents might not be the best option for a child, but the same goes for some institutions. It all depends. I did get to know during my growing up years some very well functioning families. I am talking about our extended family and about the families of some of my friends. I also saw examples of desperately struggling war widows with for instance four children and a bone breaking job with very little money. When I was a child a lot of people seemed to blame WW II for the increase in dysfunctional families.”

I experienced my growing up years in Berlin, Germany. During my teenage years I was always dreaming of living in some other country with a different family. I feel, having lived in Australia since 1959 I grew more and more apart from Berlin. Over the years I have been back to Berlin for some family visits. But I am always glad when I am back in Australia. It is quite amazing how Berlin has changed over the years. I can understand how a lot of young people feel now

A cafe in Berlin, where we like to go to when we visit Berlin.

The cafe is right at the Gendarmen Markt.

attracted to living in Berlin. However, I definitely want to spend the last few years of my life in Australia. Even my husband Peter, who has still very strong attachments to Berlin, prefers to live in Australia for as long as he can still afford to go back to Berlin for regular visits!

My parents separated soon after WW II. Then, around 1950, my mother demanded a divorce. During 1948/49 Peter’s mother left Peter’s father and got a divorce from him. Peter and his two sisters moved along with their mother. Both our fathers, Peter’s and mine, died long before our mothers. Both fathers had suffered badly due to war experiences.

All my cousins seem to come from very stable families. The generation of my nieces and nephews is different though. Whereas Peter’s nieces and nephews seem to come from rather stable families. Of course, Germans these days have very small families. Some people point out, the increased influx of migrants to Germany could be a blessing, for there are too many old people in Germany and not enough young people. Still, this enormous influx of refugees, that is taking place right now, does cause major upheavals. I hope, all this can be settled in a humane way, and a lot of effort will be directed towards avoiding outbreaks of violence.

Uta’s Diary, 2nd of September 2015

Last Sunday turned out to be a lovely family day at our home. It was beautiful to be surrounded by children, grand-children, and great grand-children for a few hours in the afternoon. Some almond-cake was left from Gaby’s birthday. There was also freshly baked cheese-cake. Peter had baked this cake!

Our daughter Monika took a few pictures with her phone. On most pictures you can see either Lucas or Alex, Monika’s two little grandsons.
As promised, Monika let us have these pictures. So I am going to publish here some of them:

The older I get the more I seem to reflect on times past. I often felt very much out of place as a young person. Also I tended to be “zurückhaltend”, that is I was usually more the listener and observer and did not show a great deal of affection and emotion. On the other hand, I also remember times when I felt free and communicative and very talkative.

When I think of my parents, the most remarkable memory about them is, how very different they were. Here is a bit of how my father may have influenced me, and then how my mother’s influence was so very different.

My father was the most open minded and tolerant person. He liked to talk to me about a lot of things. He always treated me as though I was trustworthy and mature for my age, able to understand different points of view. Very rarely did I see him being angry with me. He only tended to be somewhat angry when, all of a sudden, I behaved in a very unpredictable way. Despite his open mindedness he was basically a very conservative man. If I showed signs of departing from his view of the world, this would upset him personally. Still, he was loving and forgiving, and eventually he was always able to accept my departure from some of his conservative views.

Now, my mother was in every way the opposite of my father. On the whole she was maybe rather tolerant as far as I was concerned because she loved me. But she made it very clear, that she did not love my father anymore. She showed not the least bit of tolerance towards him, on the contrary, she showed a lot of hatred, for in her opinion he was a “Versager” who did not do anything for his children. She thought it was not up to her to look after him when he had serious health issues. Maybe she thought he was just pretending. Also, she hardly ever talked to me about things that were important to me. She tended to keep very important things from me, for she wanted ‘to protect’ me! At least, this is how I remember it. I knew she loved me very much. Still, I always felt I was not the daughter she imagined I should be. I remember she telling me, I was an “Oppositionsgeist”. So I must have been speaking up about some things that disturbed me a great deal. I felt very bad for opposing her, but I could not help it. Of course, on the outside I tried very hard to go along with what she expected of me, just to keep the peace. Alas, I think I came into inner conflict about it. In short, I often did not feel happy about myself.

But all this is in the past. Peter suggested, I could insert a few photos with my father and mother and Baby Gaby in 1958.

Last Sunday was a great day for us. The following Sunday, which is Fathers’ Day here in Australia, we are all going to meet for lunch at a Thai Restaurant.

Memories

28th August 1962, Gaby is five years old — Gaby is five years old

Monika and Martin see Gaby on her birthday.

Gaby's birthday in 1963. She loves her musical bear. — Gaby’s birthday in 1963.
She loves her musical bear.

Monika and Martin want to see Gaby on her birthday. — Monika and Martin want to see Gaby on her birthday, 28th August 1963

Sister Harford organised a birthday party for Gaby outside the ward in the built-in veranda, — Sister Harford organised a birthday party for Gaby outside the ward within the built-in veranda,

Peter with Martin and Monika on the train to Sydney to go for a visit at Prince-Henry-Hospital.

The veranda at the hospital is full of Christmas decorations. 1962

It is amazing that we all have winter coats on in the midst of summer in Australia. It must have been a very cold morning. The next pictures show it did get quite a bit warmer eventually.

This picture is taken in Belmore Park near Central Station.

On that day we had something to eat either before or after visiting Gaby at Prince-Henry-Hospital.

Another picture taken in Belmore Park. — Some pictures at the bubbler in Belmore Park.

This picture, also in Belmore Park. with Peter Martin and Monika in January 1973. — This picture, also in Belmore Park. with Peter, Martin and Monika. January 1973.

The bubbler in Belmore Park is still popular in December 1987 with Caroline and grandsons Troy and Ryan. — The bubbler in Belmore Park was still popular in December 1987. Caroline and grandsons Troy and Ryan

Faith in Spring – Frühlingsglaube

German Verse by Ludwig Uhland

In the original German with a
line-by-line prose translation in English

Frühlingsglaube	Faith in Spring
von Ludwig Uhland	Prose translation by Hyde Flippo

Die linden Lüfte sind erwacht,	The gentle winds are awakened,
Sie säuseln und wehen Tag und Nacht,	They murmur and waft day and night,
Sie schaffen an allen Enden.	They create in every corner.
O frischer Duft, o neuer Klang!	Oh fresh scent, oh new sound!
Nun, armes Herze, sei nicht bang!	Now, poor dear [heart], fear not!
Nun muss sich alles, alles wenden.	Now everything, everything must change.

Die Welt wird schöner mit jedem Tag,	The world becomes more beautiful with each day,
Man weiß nicht, was noch werden mag,	One does not know what may yet happen,
Das Blühen will nicht enden.	The blooming doesn’t want to end.
Es blüht das fernste, tiefste Tal:	The farthest, deepest valley blooms:
Nun, armes Herz, vergiss der Qual!	Now, poor dear [heart], forget the pain!
Nun muss sich alles, alles wenden.	Now everything, everything must change.

Send a greeting card with
lines from this Uhland poem.

I used to know this poem by heart. And I am still pretty familiar with it. Some of the verses come back to me whenever I experience a most beautiful early spring day. Just recently we had such a day with very “gentle winds” that “murmur and waft”. Maybe I would say gentle breezes instead of winds. The poem speaks about these feelings of hope that are awakened in spring. On a beautiful springlike day, such as we had the other day, one feels immensely uplifted.

Today is the 28th of August 2015. Our daughter Gabriele died in 2012. She would have been 58 today.

Monarch Cafe

https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Monarch+Cakes/@-37.8681082,144.9795341,3a,75y,335.86h,84.72t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sTQ6DtMc2Ga5fLnHPyzglTQ!2e0!3e2!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x16310decdadc11d!6m1!1e1

TRAM ROUTE MAP EAST BRUNSWICK – ST KILDA BEACH:

On Monday, the 17th of August, 2015, we were still in Melbourne.

https://auntyuta.com/2015/08/22/last-cab-to-darwin/

After Peter and I had seen the movie “Last Cab to Darwin” in the KINO in Melbourne, it was our plan to get to the Monarch Cafe. We knew that TRAM 96 would take us there to ST KILDA.

Somewhere in the city we got unto the 96 tram. We soon found out it was not going to St Kilda but to Brunswick. This meant we had to get off the tram and catch a tram into the other direction. The trams come along every six or seven minutes. So we were soon on our way towards ST KILDA. There are several stops within ST KILDA. We were not sure where to get off. Somehow the Canterbury Road stop looked to us like the right stop. Wasn’t that the corner where Acland Street was with the Monash Cafe just around the corner. we thought. It turned out we were wrong. There was no Acland Street. It took us quite a while and a lot of walking before we found Acland Street and the way to our chosen cafe. When we finally made it, we had some yummy cake and coffee. Next time we know we have to get off at Belford Street, just one stop before the terminal.

In April 2013 we were in Melbourne. Martin and his daughter Lauren went with us to ST KILDA.

In April 2013 Peter and I went with Lauren and Martin to the MONARCH CAFE.

This is a picture from inside the Monarch Cafe.

The Fuggerei is the world’s oldest social housing complex still in use.

Fuggerei

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuggerei

The Fuggerei is the world’s oldest social housing complex still in use. It is a walled enclave within the city ofAugsburg, Bavaria. It takes it name from the Fugger family and was founded in 1516 by Jakob Fugger the Younger (known as “Jakob Fugger the Rich”) as a place where the needy citizens of Augsburg could be housed. By 1523, 52 houses had been built, and in the coming years the area expanded with various streets, small squares and a church. The gates were locked at night, so the Fuggerei was, in its own right, very similar to a small independent medieval town. It is still inhabited today, affording it the status of being the oldest social housing project in the world.

Description

The rent was and is still one Rheinischer Gulden per year (equivalent to 0.88 euros), as well as three daily prayers for the current owners of the Fuggerei — the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Nicene Creed. The conditions to live there remain the same as they were 480 years ago: one must have lived at least two years in Augsburg, be of the Catholic faith and have become indigent without debt. The five gates are still locked every day at 10 PM.

Housing units in the area consist of 45 to 65 square meter (500–700 square foot) apartments, but because each unit has its own street entrance it simulates living in a house. There is no shared accommodation; each family has its own apartment, which includes a kitchen, a parlour, a bedroom and a tiny spare room, altogether totaling about 60 square metres. Ground-floor apartments all have a small garden and garden shed, while upper-floor apartments have an attic. All apartments have modern conveniences such as television and running water. One ground-floor apartment is uninhabited, serving as a museum open to the public. The doorbells have elaborate shapes, each being unique, dating back to before the installation of streetlights when residents could identify their unit by feeling the handle in the dark.

History

The Fugger family initially established their wealth in weaving and merchandising. Jakob the Rich expanded their interests into silver mining and trading with Venice. Additionally he was a financier and counted the Vatican as a notable client. The family became financial backers of the Habsburg family and he financed the successful election of Charles V as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1519.^[1]

The Fuggerei was first built between 1514 and 1523 under the supervision of the architect Thomas Krebs, and in 1582 Hans Holl added St. Mark’s Church to the settlement. Expanded further in 1880 and 1938, the Fuggerei today comprises 67 houses with 147 apartments, a well, and an administrative building.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s great-grandfather, the mason Franz Mozart, lived in the Fuggerei between 1681 and 1694, and is commemorated today by a stone plaque.

The Fuggerei was heavily damaged by the bombings of Augsburg during World War II, but has been rebuilt in its original style.

Upkeep

The Fuggerei is supported by a charitable trust established in 1520 which Jakob Fugger funded with an initial deposit of 10,000 guilders.^[1 According to the Wall Street Journal the trust has been carefully managed with most of its income coming from forestry holdings, which the Fugger family favored since the 17th century after losing money on higher yielding investments. The annual return on the trust has ranged from an after inflation rate of 0.5% to 2%. Currently the trust is administered by Wolf-Dietrich Graf von Hundt.

As of 2011, the fee for a tour into the Fuggerei is 4.00 euro — over four times the annual rent.

Street Views
St. Mark’s Church and Herrengasse
Herrengasse from South
Mittlere Gasse
All the above is taken from Wikipedia! This story about the Fuggerei reminds me of our visit to Augsburg.

In 1977 Peter and I visited my cousin Renate and her family in Munich. From Munich we did a day trip to visit my uncle Edmund and his wife Flora in Augsburg. Among other things we visited with them the Augsburg Fuggerei. For lunch they invited us to the close by FUGGEREI STUBE.

Neptunbrunnen and Entrance to the Fuggerei

Before and after the Fall of the Wall (Memories)

Sunday, the 16th of September, 2012.

On that day we were travelling by public transport to Borgsdorf visiting Ingrid and Erhard at their summer place. Ingrid is related to Peter’s family. Over the years we were always happy to visit Ingrid and Erhard whenever we happened to be in Berlin. On the phone Ingrid wanted to make sure we would come on Sunday. When I mentioned I still had a bit of a cold she said, not to worry, it was going to be a lovely, sunny day. I could just sit outside in the sun and this would do me good. I didn’t have to do anything. She was going to cook lunch for us, she said.

She did serve us a wonderful lunch. She loves to cook with healthy ingredients and lots of herbs and vegetables from her garden. I really felt all right sitting in the autumn sun for hours and hours, being served a lovely meal and later on coffee and cakes. Before the coffee break we all went for a walk to the close by river. Borgsdorf is a very secluded little village. In people’s gardens we could see fruit trees with hundreds of red apples on them.

This is an extract from a blog I wrote after our visit to Berlin in 2012:

Visiting People’s Gardens on the Fringes of Berlin

My brother Peter Uwe had dropped us off at Berlin Tegel Airport. It was already afternoon, so he wanted to drive back straight away to his place in Mecklenburg/Vorpommern, where we had stayed with him and Astrid for the last few days of our holiday.

We checked in and then had plenty of time to have a drink with the six family members who had come to see us off:
Peter’s cousin Ingrid, Peter’s nephew Daniel, Peter’s sister Ilse, and all their partners, all had come to farewell us.

It turned out, the flight to Amsterdam was delayed. Because of this, we got into trouble with our connecting flight in Amsterdam. We had in Amsterdam actually less than one hour to get to our connecting flight. When I pointed this out to a cabin crew member he inquired about my age and whether I could walk all right. I told him I couldn’t walk as fast as younger people. Voila, a drive on a buggy was arranged for Peter and me.

Being driven through the immense airport with passengers roaming about and making way for the buggy, we felt like in a movie. It was a long, long drive to the departure point for our connecting flight. I doubt I could have made it in time by walking. We were extremely grateful for the lift and were able to board on time on the long stretch to Kuala Lumpur.

At Kuala Lumpur Airport we had a seven hour rest. From there we took off on a seven hour flight to Sydney. The longest non-stop stretch was from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, namely eleven hours! During this long flight Peter got sick. After that he had hardly anything to eat anymore.

I got distracted again. Searching for some pictures of Ingrid and Erhard, I finally found the departure pictures that Peter took at Berlin Tegel Airport. You can look at them here:

Resting at Kuala Lumpur Airport

All the above happened in 2012. The wall had come down already in 1989. We were still thinking about it and all the changes it had brought. Berlin was an undivided city again, East- and West-Germany were one country. But we could still remember what it was like before the Fall of the Wall.

BACK IN AUSTRALIA

I wrote the following on the 19th of November 2012:

Peter and I landed safely back in Australia. Yesterday morning our daughter Caroline picked us up from Sydney airport and drove us to our home (100 km south of Sydney). So we’ve been back home now for nearly thirty hours and are gradually getting rid of our jet legs. Everything is fine at our place. Our lovely daughter is going to stay with us till tomorrow (Tuesday).

Six people had come to Berlin Tegel airport on Friday to see us off. We found the perfect place to have a drink with them. This was very relaxing for us. We knew already that our plane to Amsterdam was going to leave somewhat later than originally planned. My brother had driven us to the airport from his place in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He had only dropped us off, for he wanted to be back home before it got too dark.

In Amsterdam we had scarce time to catch the connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. We made sure we’d get some help by the airport people. Just as well! It turned out we had to go right to the other end of the airport. This would have meant a tremendous walk for us. We were very grateful for being driven to our departure point. I doubt that we could have made it on time by walking.

In Kuala Lumpur we had close to seven hours to catch our Malaysian connecting flight to Sydney. This meant we had no problem with being on time for boarding at the departure gate. It also gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs a bit and then take a break in a beautifully furnished cafe with French songs playing in the background. The toilet facilities were also very welcome. We couldn’t take a walk through the airport’s beautiful open air jungle walk since it was closed for renovations. What a pity!

Near our departure gate we found some stretch-out chairs. To be able to stretch out on these chairs we welcomed very much.

Some pictures of these stretch out chairs you can actually find in this blog:

Resting at Kuala Lumpur Airport

I wrote in this blog further on:

We were grateful for the long break at Kuala Lumpur Airport. It gave us ample time to recover a bit from the previous eleven hour non-stop flight. In Kuala Lumpur Peter even enjoyed the coffee and cake we had at one of the airport’s coffee-shops. At some other establishment we had a large glass of iced Chi tea. This tasted very good and was very refreshing. On the next seven hour stretch to Sydney Peter refused food again. However he had lots of drinks all the time: Mainly water, but also some juice and coffee. He just didn’t feel like eating.

My main purpose of looking up all these posts was actually that I wanted to be reminded what experiences we had on previous visits to Berlin when the city was divided by that Wall. There was a lot of confusion going on about currencies in East and West, lifestyle changes dividing East and West, crippling shortages in the East. a lot of spying going on in the East, West-Berliners making nasty remarks about the “poor” East-Berliners and so on.

And after the Fall of the Wall? To this day these parts of Germany that had previously been GDR territory are still a bit less prosperous than their cousins in the other parts of Germany. Yes, it is one country again, but you do find differences. People in the East seem to be somewhat different from people in the West. The unemployment rate is much higher in the eastern parts of Germany. West-German companies seem to prefer to go to a neighbouring Eastern country where they can pay lower wages.

For some time low cost housing was available in East-Germany. In areas where there is work or tourism, housing prices are on the up. In some remote areas, where there is no work, low cost housing is of no use to the people. It is unbelievable, but people who cannot afford any more to pay for housing and live on the streets for most of the year, these people are on the increase, while other people gentrify their places, and they invest in places they can let for more and more rent. How about this attitude that “the Market” regulates all?

Memories: A Job at last

I started my first job on the 2nd of January 1953. I very much dreaded the upcoming exams at Commercial College (Höhere Wirtschaftsschule). This is why I was overjoyed when I managed to land a job. It gave me the opportunity to leave school without having to do any exams. I wrote about it in November 2009 and copy it here:

Meeting with Granddaughters in Melbourne Two Years ago

I copy here a blog that I published two years ago. At the time we had spent a lovely evening with Justine and Lauren. Both their birthdays are in June. They are six years apart. Justine lives in Melbourne and Lauren lives in Newcastle. Because it is their birthday this month, I thought I republish this blog which has a few lovely pictures with the birthday girls.

Out and about in Melbourne

Famous sculpture at the Yarra River in Melbourne.

Peter, granddaughter Lauren and I had been waiting at Flinders Street Station for granddaughter Justine who was going to meet us there after work. It was a happy meeting after not having seen each other for sooo long!

Uta and granddaughters at the Yarra River

Dinner at Il PRIMO POSTO, Italian Restaurant

After dinner we strolled to a Gelato shop that was still open. We each had a little tub of this delicious gelato and sat down at a large table with a terrific view of the Yarra.

This was a lovely night out with the granddaughters. Justine caught the train back home from Flinders Street Station. Peter and I went with Lauren by train back to Essendon where our son Martin was waiting with the car to take us home.

A visit to Australia’s Wonderland in Sept. 1988 and another Visit to Canberra in Jan1989

Caroline with friend Amy in Australia's Wonderland, Sept.1988 — Caroline with friend Amy in Australia’s Wonderland, Sept.1988

In January 1989, during the summer school holidays, we went with Caroline, Troy and Ryan to Canberra. Previously we had stayed in Canberra only for the day, driving back home on the same day. During the kids’ summer holidays and Peter having a few days rostered off, we took the chance to book into a Canberra motel to stay there for a couple of nights.