bjregan

As if knowing it was time this morning to turn the calendar page from September to October, the weather turned from sunny, crisp autumn days to gray, chilly overcast skies. The timing couldn’t have been better for the activities that we had planned. Yesterday we enjoyed perfect weather for more walking and sightseeing in the hills and villages around Manebach. My aunt and her husband had driven from Leipzig the day before and were able to join the four of us on this day’s outing.

Breakfast with Leo, Gabrielle, Helga and Uli.

The plan was to ride the train from Manebach to Rennsteig where we could walk on the forest trails in that area. We walked to the Manebach train station, stopping on the way to look at the street where my grandfather had been born and spent his childhood. The original house has been torn down and replaced with a modern home. The current owners happened to be outside and when they learned why we had stopped there they invited us inside to look at a painting in the hallway that showed the original house.

The 2-story gray house on the hillside is where my Grandfather Schwesinger was born.

Modern house but same street and address: 51 Schleusinger Str., Manebach.

The train from Manebach had a different schedule from what we had thought. We realized when we got to the station that there was still an hour before departure. Instead of sitting and waiting we decided to get on the train that was ready to leave for Ilmenau. It would be the same train that would turn around in Ilmenau, stopping at Manebach on the way to Rennsteig. It was a short, but scenic ride to Ilmenau where we had time to get off the train and look around before departure to Manebach and Rennsteig.

Lee found a Bucherbox (Book Box) to investigate in Ilmenau.

Today it was time to drive to Leipzig where we will stay with Leo and Gabrielle. They needed to get back for work, but Helga and Uli were kind enough to spend time with us this morning looking at some of the historical places in Manebach. We then drove back to Leipzig with them. The cloudy, drizzly October morning wasn’t a problem, since we weren’t going to be doing outdoor activities.

School in Manebach that my grandfather attended.

My great-grandfather worked at this factory where they made carnival masks.

Some items that were made at the mask factory.

The only church in Manebach. It was built in 1682 and is still being used today.

Friday was another day spent making the connections to get on the several trains that would take us from Zurich, Switzerland, to Ilmenau, Germany. All went well and we arrived on time at Ilmenau station where we were greeted by my uncle and his wife. It was dark when we got there so we had to wait until the next morning to get a look at the area around the village of Manebach where my uncle had made reservations for us at a small hotel on the outskirts of the village.

Our hotel in Manebach. “Teichmuhle” in German means “Pond Mill”.

Although Germany has many attractive villages, Manebach is special to our family. It is where my mother’s father was born and raised. My mother shared memories of the vacations she enjoyed as a child when her family would come from the city of Leipzig to visit her grandparents at their house in Manebach.

Manebach is in Thuringia Wald (“Wald” in German means “Forest”) and it is a popular destination for hiking. So, of course, our first day there was spent hiking one of the nearby trails.

The hike started by walking through the woods behind the hotel on a path to the village. In the middle of the village some stairs led up into the woods where we continued to climb the trail to the summit of Kickelhahn Mountain. There we found Kickelhahnturm (means Kickelhahn Tower), which required more climbing up the stairs inside the tower. It was all well worth it for the views and then for the refreshments that awaited us at the small cafe next to the tower.