After spending good portion of day in Dachau, we went towards the border with Austria. Just before leaving the family in Prague, we made an agreement with Alexey and Anna, that we will try to meet later. So after looking at our route, we realized that the evening of the 21st would be the perfect time to have dinner together. And we found small, family owned restaurant with high ratings somewhere near Austria that was pretty equally close to both our families.
The food was really good, the company even better, and time flies really fast when you have fun. With a blink of an eye evening had gone and we had to say last goodbye and wish safe travels to each other. Sigh… It was a really great to see everyone that summer, a lot of fun moments and warm memories. And we are going to repeat this in the future too.
But our journey continues, and 22nd brought us another very warm meeting. I have relatives in Germany, my cousins live in Augsburg and Aunt and Uncle in Stuttgart – and this is where we headed. I didn’t see my cousins for a good decade or even longer, and our kids were so little that they even don’t remember the last time cousins visited us in Russia. Pity that we couldn’t stay there longer, I would love to spend some more time with cousins, and we were so thrilled by the reunion that no one even remembered about taking a picture together. Another thing to do next time for sure.
After several hours in Augsburg, Uncle and we drove to Stuttgard to spend some time with Aunt. We were going to spend part of the 23rd there, and by the evening we were planned to arrive to Frankfurt-On-Maine, since my mom’s plane was on 24th. Pretty tight schedule, but we managed to have a good walk in the morning of 23rd and Aunt told us a very interesting story from the past. One of that kind when you understand how tight the past of several countries is tied together.
When they first came to Stuttgart many years ago, she was amazed by the fact that many buildings and squares in the city has two Russian women names assign to them. Vera and Olga. Very unusual, so she started the search and this is what she found.
Olga was third child of the Emperor of Russia, Nicholas I, and married Crown Prince Charles of Württemberg. They moved to Stuttgard after the marriage and spend most of their life here. As the couple didn’t have their own children, they adopted Olga’s niece named Vera – the youngest daughter of Olga’s younger brother Konstantin.
Vera was a very difficult child, her nervous condition made her behavior weird, and sometimes dangerous. Once she was told to dress pretty because there will be guests visiting her. Instead of dressing she removed all her clothes and was absolutely naked when guests had arrived. Very embarrassing for the Emperor’s family to have such a member, so adoption was a win-win for all – except Vera. She was extremely homesick for a long period after the adoption, but time and good care helped her with the nervous condition too, so at a mature age, nothing reminded from Vera’s wild childhood.
Olga, and later Vera, made a lot of changes in the life of the people. They dedicated themselves to social causes – girls education, charity homes for single mothers and veterans, children’s hospital and many-many more.
While listening the story we walked past the Schillerplatz;
Neues Schloss – the 18th-century Baroque palace;
Here was the military academy, Hohe Karlschule – building was destroyed during World War II;
The Staatstheater Stuttgart – Performing Arts Theater;
Schicksalsbrunnen – Fountain of Fate, with allegories of Joy (right) and Sorrow (left);
The remains of Opera House and Court Theater – the only staircase that’s left. The original building was built somewhere in the 1590s, and survived several reconstructions, but finally was destroyed by fire in 1902. To save the remains they were moved to the Park, now they are surrounded by scaffolding, but one day the restoration work will reinforce the structure in order to remove the scaffolding;
Down the wonderful central park’s sycamore tree alley.
It was a very nice walk in the beautiful city, and company was great too. I’m so thankful for that opportunity to see all my relatives! We started to miss them the moment we sat in the car to continue our way to Frankfurt..