June 24, 2018

 What an awesome day we had cycling down memory lane. We had been told from other people who had returned to Lahr not to come back, it has changed so much, remember it how it was. We were hoping that it hadn’t changed too much and we wouldn’t be too disappointed.

Although the base and Kaserne area are barely recognizable. We were able to spot the odd building that still had Canadian markings on, 1RCHA Building and the old Centennial Club (NCO building).

Most of the airfield has new buildings used primarily for warehouses or as we were told a large online shopping warehouse – similar to Amazon, only the German version. They ship throughout Germany, France, and Spain.

Downtown Lahr is still very much the same. Yes, there are more Doner Kebab shops than Imbiss but I still recognized some of the shops that were still in business from 28 years ago.

The main challenge for today was to find the three apartments that we lived in when we lived in the Lahr area.

After breakfast and getting the first load of washing done and hung out, we headed out the Hugsweier “gate” towards Friesenheim. We cycled through the small Town of Schuttern.  I remembered the lady in the window from last time.  The Kug Fu Panda would never have been allowed \”in our day\”.

We crossed the railway the bridge to the last house we lived in when we were in Germany. We couldn’t quite remember which number it was (81 or 79) so we took pictures of both.

We headed to the main intersection of Friesenhiem. We were trying to decide which way to go when a lady approached us. She used to rent to Canadians on the same street we lived, her house number was 75. It would have been too much of a coincidence for it to be our old land-lady. We had a nice chat about the changes to Lahr and Germany. She told us that the young Germans were not so keen to keep everything as clean as the old Germans – “it was old fashioned to be so strict”. The “new” Germans from East Germany were not as clean either, and then of course you have all the refugees. Forty percent of the population of Lahr and area are not from Germany (she included East Germans/Russians) in that number.

She wished us a safe holiday and hoped we enjoyed our visit to the area.

Although we didn’t spend a lot of time in Friesenheim at the restaurants when we lived here, we did spend some time cycling the field paths. One time we discovered an old Roman Street in a field, the farmer had found it while ploughing his field. Archaeologist were bought in and discovered it to be a Roman station, a place to stop briefly on their road north or south back to Rome.  There are now road signs to direct you to the area. There are new signs with the history of the old Roman Station. “Alle wege fuhren nach Rome” – All paths lead to Rome. I am not sure we could follow this path to Rome!

We met a lovely couple with their baby who had cycled from Offenburg. We told them we had been here 28 years ago. However, the new signs were not here then. They told us that it had recently been upgraded and had been in their local paper informing people that it was open to the public.

We headed back to our room to hang the next load of washing. It was a good job we got back when we did, the cleaning staff were about to lock the room.

We cycled back into Lahr, via the “jolly green giant” our second apartment. This one was easier to recognize. We lived on the 7^th Floor. The area was still very clean.

When we lived here there were Married Quarters down the road that were hexagonal. We had been offered one of these “cheeses” but decided to move into the private apartment in the green building.

After the Jolly Green giant we headed to Geroldsecker Vorstadt, via the StadtPark.

Again the first apartment was an easy one to find. There used to be a gas station below and a small bier stube. The bier stube is still there as is the gas station, although it no longer sells gas, it is now a 2^nd hand car store.  We were not allowed to have anything hanging from the building – no satellite dishes in our day.

Finally, we headed to the Kaserne. The Canadian Youth Centre where I first worked, was still recognizable. Although it is now an art gallery. I also recognized the main Canex Office building. The rest of the Kaserne area has been converted to housing and some commercial buildings. The old officers mess is now a building for psychotherapy.

After finding our old apartments we headed into the lovely downtown which is Lahr.

We got a little turned around, but followed the Einbahnstrasse and we found the Storchturm.

Sorry Nikki I couldn’t resist that. When my sister visited us in Lahr they parked in an underground car park on Schiller Strasse (the bank Street). She proudly told me that they had parked on Einbahnstrasse and then they had followed the arrows that directed them to Einbahnstrasse and found the car park. Einbahnstrasse means one-way street. Ralf and I still have no idea how they found the car park following the one way street signs!

There were storks on the top of the storkturm and we were allowed to go up the tower.

We then sat and had flammenkuchen and a beer, a great way to spend the afternoon, relaxing and watching people. We also had a wonderful ice-cream from a new gelato place. It was very busy, the ice-creams were cheap – a large scoop for E1.50.

Sorry Nikki we didn’t go to the Schutterzell Muhle, we had forgotten how far from Lahr it was (15 kms). As we had already cycle 35 kms on a rest day, we decided not to cycle another 30 kms. The flammenkuchen at the bar was definitely not as good as the Schutterzell Muhle.

We really enjoyed the day down memory lane. Lahr has changed, it is bigger and not as squeaky clean as it used to be. However, Lahr still has a rest day on Sunday. All the stores are closed except the bars and cafes. Sunday is a day to relax and we certainly did that.