If you're ever in the neighborhood, here's the cutest little town you'd pass by

[DFW]

Our neighbors are the most wonderful couple. She is from an industrial town in the Ruhr valley, and he is from rural Austria. When we are away (which is a LOT), they look after our house, feed the fish in the pond, and take care of EVERYTHING.

We wanted to do more this year than just take them out to dinner to show our appreciation. My wife asked if they had ever been to Osnabrück, a town at the southern edge of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). They had not. We knew the town because we had friends there, and I had played at folk music festivals there in the 1970s. It has a beautifully restored city center with houses and churches dating back over 500 years and more. It is one of those wonderful old towns not on the beaten path of guided tours of Germany. It has great scenery, friendly people and amazing food (if you're on a diet, do NOT stop, just keep on driving!!).

Our neighbors, familiar with Japan, the USA, most of Europe and Australia, had never been to Osnabrück. So we invited them to a night in Osnabrück. It's just short of a two hour drive north of here (Düsseldorf). We got a nice hotel at the edge of the old town, went walking, shopping, met friends on the street (Osnabrück is not big), and had sort of a German Tapas dinner at a small place my wife found.

We were gone maybe 36 hours, had a great time. Being a smaller town, it didn't even cost me a fortune. Like in the USA, smaller towns are just less expensive.

It's nice to know that we can still show people who have seen more of the world than we have a few things practically on their doorstep that they have never seen before. I'll bet THAT happens a LOT more than anyone thinks.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. What a wonderful story!

So many of us never do the tourist things we ought to where we live or nearby. I'm trying to get better at it. I recently made a stop in Deming, NM, on my way to Tucson and spent several hours in a local museum. I covered maybe half of it, and there are some other small points of interest there that I want to see. I think I need to do a weekend there soon.

[panader0]

2. Pictures!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osnabr%C3%BCck

[flygal]

3. Yes, beautiful town! We went there every Dec for the gymnastics show

Feuerwerk der Turnkunst - go if you get a chance and like Cirque du Soleil type thing. We lived in Germany many years and saw so many towns I was thinking "this is the cutest ever". My heart is still in Stolberg in the Harz though. sigh.

[flygal]

4. I'm thinking of Oldenburg for the show! But yes, Osnabruck is charming.

[DFW]

5. My wife's parents lived in Oldenburg for many years

Her dad, originally a farmer, learned banking after getting his leg blown off by a Soviet artillery shell at Stalingrad at age 18. Since farm work was out of the question after that, he became a loan officer at the Oldenburgische Landesbank, and helped thousands of farmers get back on their feet after the war. When he died 20 years ago, we were expecting 50 people to show up for the service. Extended family, friends and the like. Instead 400 people showed up, mostly people whose financial existence he had saved over the coure of his career.

I always liked Oldenburg, though it was almost ALWAYS raining when I was there. I almost thought I was like that character out of Li'l Abner who had that tiny rain cloud follow him around.

We have never checked out Stolberg in the Harz. I always pass through Stolberg in the Rheinland on the way between Köln and Brussels every week.

[flygal]

6. Great story - amazing he survived that. And yeah, rain and N. Germany, I got used to it.

[DFW]

7. I never get used to the rain

Her dad was drafted off his farm for cannon fodder at the Russian front. He was 17. The rest of his unit was all city boys who froze to death. He was used to working outside in the winter, and so survived until a retreating unit noticed he was still alive and took him along. At age 18 and with one leg, he was of no use on a farm any more, so he found out another way to help out. He hated anything to do with the military or war, and his biggest wish was that all his grandchildren would be girls, so they wouldn't have to serve in the military (still compulsory in his day). It was a wish fate was to grant him.

My wife hasn't had a cake walk with her two heavy rounds of cancer, but she never forgets what her dad went through, and figures if he survived THAT, then the least she can do is put up a fight. So far, she has won both times. We are both only too aware that it can come back again at any time.