Here we were in northern Germany, and guess what? It looked like Holland! Of course, it did, since it was part of the flat country on the border of the North Sea. We had no trouble finding the little town of Jever, and the hotel was on the main drag, so we drove right up to it. The owner was there to guide us to the parking area in back of the hotel. But oh my gosh, she nor her husband spoke a word of English. Right away Jack had to use his German, which is very good, by the way. But immediately he had to think German. He had bought a handy little dictionary, and it was by his side from that time on.
We walked into the small town to find a restaurant and some schnitzel! I was looking forward to eating schnitzel and pomme frites, so we found a typical place and had a nice meal. We walked around the shopping area; everything was shut down for the evening, so we could just look into the windows.
Our hotel was a very nice one; it looked like a huge family home, with beautiful furniture and accessories. Our room was a little one in the back. It was very adequate and comfortable and we had a good night's sleep. We reported to breakfast in the morning in the dining room; this breakfast came as part of the fee. It was a big dining room, with about ten tables, so we met all of the other hotel guests. I don't think a single one of them spoke English, but they were very friendly. I couldn't imagine why people would come to stay in this small town; but I think it was just a jumping off point for more outdoor activities, like hiking or biking.
Our first assignment here in Jever was to find the small town of Sandel where the Luehrs family came from sometime in the early 1800's. Jack had visited there with his family back in the 60's when they lived in Germany. Cliff, Jack's dad, had driven up there to find his relatives' graves before they had to report to Bremerhaven and the military ship that would take them back to the States.
Jack remembered it as a wind-swept, desolate place. As we drove through the countryside, we did not see that kind of scenery. These small towns had pretty little houses, lush green countryside and very good roads. It looked like Germany was very prosperous, at least in this part of the country. There were rolling hills, filled with corn or wheat, or dairy cows munching on the grass. Everything looked so peaceful and pleasant. I have included some photos of the cows, the land full of crops, and the dozens of modern wind mills. Many of the dairy barns had solar panels installed on their roofs. At least in this part of Germany the people seemed to be well off, though they probably worked very hard in the fields.
We drove to Sandel and found the church; no Luehrs there. We found a maintenance man and asked him about the name, etc. He said he had never heard of that name. We began to study the map. Jack had remembered that his dad always said Sande, not Sandel. Sande was another small town, not far from where we were but closer to the harbor. We drove over to Sande and found another church. Lo and behold, we were in the right place. There were lots of Luehrs in the church cemetery. The name Luehrs in German is really Luhrs, with an umlaut on the "u". We spent the next several minutes taking photos of the different headstones. I was so glad that we found this church; I think Jack was glad that he was able to trace his relative, though we wandered why they moved from this beautiful country to Michigan, many years ago.
We found that the church was open. Jack remembers that his dad found a Wilhelm Luehrs name on the list of those from this parish who had died in WWII. Cliff's first name was William. Sure enough we found the plaque and the name. The fact that there was a William Luehrs fighting against a William Luehrs in the Second World War was very sad indeed, but I am sure that this example was one of millions throughout the world.
We took several more photos the spot - I even found a woman named Cornelisen buried there. My maiden name is Cornelison, so similar that I had to take a photo of that grave also.
The next couple of days we traveled the coastline of northern Germany, someplace I never expected to see. It is really like Holland, especially the windmills and the low, flat countryside. We drove to the North Sea; there were lots of people spending their last days of their holiday biking, hiking, camping and just enjoying the scenery. When we got to the sea I was shocked - there was no sea! It was mud flats everywhere. The North Sea is so tidal that it literally disappears. Then I realized how the Dutch and the Germans were able to claim so much land and hold back the sea because of the intermittant disappearance of the water.
We spent about five days in this area and then we were heading south and east to Hameln, the city of the Pied Piper fame. I spent my last hours studying the map and marking a plan to get there. I planned to get a better map as soon as we got to a bigger city.
Jack was experiencing an allergic-type problem: his nose was completely stopped up and he could not breathe. I thought he was allergic to something in the air or the cool, rainy weather, and I insisted that he take some of my allergy medicine. But none of that seemed to help. We were just in Jever for a few days, but he was really suffering and wondered if he could stay in this kind of atmosphere. He was very discouraged and wondered if we should just head back to Dallas, if he was going to be in such pain.
We decided to skip Hameln and go directly to Gottingen to see if we could find a doctor.
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