Dear Home,
Today the research began. After a late wake-up (jetlag recovery time finally hit), I gathered my gear and headed to the train station for the trip to Hanau. The public transport system is interesting. Technically Mühlheim and Hanau are suburbs of Frankfurt and so it's kind of like how the Metra system works for Chicago. Except that I have yet to see a Ticket checker. Theoretically, someone could ride the S-bahn from Mühlheim to Hanau without a ticket (not that I'm going to test the theory.) On the Metra, you can only go two or three stops MAX before they come and ask for a ticket.
I just found it interesting.
So I get to Hanau around three p.m. and start walking around trying to hunt down the Altstadt. And of course I happen upon a small protestant church which (from my last five weeks of Spring term German) I can tell that it is not true Romanesque style but a recreation. A church lady saw that I was taking pictures and invited me inside to explain how her quilting group had made the the quilts which decorated the walls. As with true Protestant charm, the quilts were the only decoration in the entire church. Even the altar was extremely modest.
Then the lady and her friend kindly explained where the Altstadt was and how I could find the Rathaus (City Hall) and ask for more information at the Tourist desk about the Brothers Grimm. I appreciated their help.
I made the 2 or 3 KM trek in good time and found the Marktplatz (the square) immediately. It is surrounded by little shops and cafes and markets much like Naperville but more condensed almost and with fewer cars. It surprised me to see that no one even glanced at the magnificent statue of the Brothers Grimm. Indeed I found as I watched for a good 20 minutes that I was the only person to even stop in front of it or take a picture of it except for some children who were eating ice cream. This gave me a worried feeling but at the time I didn't know why. I went into the old city hall (AltesRathaus) and asked for some maps of the city and some information about the Brothers Grimm festival that was going on. My original plan was to visit Schloss Phillipsruhe which is where all the events take place but by the time I had finished walking around and taking pictures it was almost 5 p.m. which is when the castle and museum close. Saturday there is a Snow White musical which I plan on seeing. That should be exciting.
I stopped at a cafe for some Eiskaffee (can't have those too often as it is coffee, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream). Delicious but much too rich for a hot day. And I stopped at a Book store and found a few gifts for people whom I won't mention just yet.
While I was drinking my coffee outdoors some very nice people sat next to me and we had a conversation. I told them about my research and asked them if they knew much about the Brothers Grimm. They said no. !!!!?!!!
They continued to explain that they knew that Hanau was the Brothers Grimm city and that there were events that went on but those were mostly for tourists and children. They explained that Brothers Grimm weren't really a popular topic because the stories aren't really read much anymore because of their violence.
ACH MEIN GOTT!!! I now know why I had a pit in my stomach when no one was even looking at the monument which is right in the middle of their city. On the one hand, I understand that a topic, like the Brothers Grimm and Fairytales, can after a while become boring if you are always reminded of it. On the other hand, it is disheartening to learn that the two people who, in my opinion, were the greatest influence in shaping the modern area of Hessen and indeed that of Germany as a whole, are reduced to "Touristfare" by their own people.
I can't say yet though. It's only day 1 of the research. Perhaps I will find out more when I go to the Märchen events or to the other cities. And perhaps not. We shall see.
I left Hanau around 6 p.m. and as I got off the train and headed home, I noticed a movie theater that was showing Shrek Forever After or as it is called here "Für immer Shrek" (For always Shrek, lit." It wasn't showing until 7:45 so I went to the ice cream shop that I saw yesterday for some Hazelnut ice cream. Delicious.
The movie was dubbed and I was proud of myself because I understood all the jokes, though as it is a children's movie, the jokes aren't extremely hard to get. It did put me in the Märchen mood though.
So today taught me two things.
1. If you look confident and contemplative, people will think that you know what you are doing and ask for you help. I had a minimum of ten people throughout the course of the day ask me a question regarding the train times, the bus route, the location of a some place on a map, etc... I guess I look like I know these things. Some of them I did and was able to answer them but some I just resorted to saying "Leider hab' ich keine Ahnung." (Unfortunately I have no idea.)
2. Never assume what people will or will not do and don't be offended by their actions if they surprise you. I assumed that people would be gushing over the Brothers Grimm. I also assumed that people would be unhelpful. Both were wrong. Very wrong.
Tomorrow's another day and I can't wait to see what I find.
Tschüssi!
Emily
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