Kansas Snapshots by Gloria Freeland - October 7, 2022

"How many professors ..."

Former colleagues and current friends Deb and Louise (Lou) have been traveling through Bavaria with us for a few days. It's new for them, but for husband Art and me, it's a chance to revisit some of the places we have come to love over the years. We women are recently-retired journalism professors. While Art left the professorial ranks about 35 years ago, for the sake of what follows, we kept him in this category - much as someone who hasn't written a book in 50 years is still introduced on a talk show as being a writer.

Thursday - our second full day in Deutschland - turned out to be a full one. We headed off in the morning to Nuremberg from our self-catering farm home in Fiegenstall - a place you have to really zoom in on to locate on a Google map. Our place was an old barn, skillfully renovated so we could see the centuries-old beams and the wood pins that hold them together.

Before we left, we thought we should do the dishes. Loading the dishwasher was a snap. Getting it started? Well, not so much.

I gave it a whirl, but couldn't dope out the various symbols and purpose of the buttons. Deb gave it the old college try, but with similar results. Art initially refused to try, stating he hated learning the secrets of a new gizmo that he doubted he�d ever encounter again. But he eventually gave it a shot ... with no better results. Three professors down and one to go. Lou took a look and within seconds, had it running. We three were impressed. It only took four professors to wash the dishes!

In contrast, the trip went smoothly. The immediate goal was the old Zeppelin Stadium where the Nazi party held its huge gatherings in the 1930s. Some historical sites, no matter how much bad is attached to them, just have to be seen and this was one of those. It was where German Chancellor Adolf Hitler addressed something like 100,000 of the faithful at night rallies while searchlights pierced the black sky. After the war, the giant swastika looking down from the top of the stands was destroyed by American Army personnel using explosives. The clear message was the Third Reich had come to an end.

Lou had read there was a related exhibition nearby we all thought sounded interesting. But it took all four professors to find it - Lou looking at information on her cell phone, Art matching it to the car�s GPS and the one on his phone, and Deb and I watching for signs and traffic.

After, in the mood for somewhat lighter fare, we headed for the old town square which is always home to a market. But since nearby parking is at a premium and so is its price, we opted for a parking garage outside the city walls and then walked in.

Art was guiding us by the seat of his pants. In past visits, we had stayed with friends G�ntor and B�rbel, but with G�ntor's passing, B�rbel had moved to the Berlin area to be near where two of her sons live. So rather than our riding the train into Nuremberg and entering from the main train station, we came from an entirely different direction.

We saw quite a number of interesting things, but those did not include the city center. So Art pulled out his phone and discovered we were well afield from our intended destination. After some significant walking, one of us observed, "So how many professors does it take to find a city center?"

A good time followed, inspecting booths and even stopping for a tide-us-over snack.

When we finished, using his phone's GPS, Art took the shortest path to the parking garage. We didn't want to waste time as the goal was Boogies BBQ, a place advertised as having American-style BBQ. Daughter Katie had visited it in 2014 and pronounced it the real deal and our appetites were ready for it.

Art had earlier marked the location on his phone map so he could transfer it to the car's GPS. But when the system's calm voice with a slight English lilt said "You have arrived at your destination," there was no eatery in sight! In fact, the area appeared to be an industrial area - mainly large warehouses. I was a tad uneasy as the area looked a bit "sketchy" to me.

Art checked the website. The address said "10 Nimrod Strasse." Could that have been more fitting! All four of us felt a bit like Nimrods!

We decided to again give it the old college try - take two! A cruise from one end of the street to the other by us four Nimrods yielded zip. The building with the "10" had a distinctly industrial flavor and was certainly not an eatery.

Frustrated, Art said he'd give it one last shot, opened his cell phone again, and looked at the website.

"It looks like it might be at the end of a little stub street opposite where we are," he said.

He turned the car around and slowly proceeded down a road that didn't really look like one we wanted to take. But after going past the building with the "10," Boogie's came into view. The scene had changed from a place you thought a car jacking might occur to one where people were standing chatting, much as they might in the parking lot of a Red Lobster or Wendy's at home.

The BBQ didn't disappoint! It tasted very much like something we Midwesterners would recognize as grade-A quality. The traditional sides of cole slaw, beans and potato salad were top-notch.

We were happy and we had acquired a mantra. Someone suggested that for the remainder of the trip, it would be - "How many professors does it take to ...."