Sunday, June 6 - Trebsen, Neichen, Doeben, Grimma

Sunday is our last day in the Oelschuetz area and we don't really have a plan.  There is a hike/bike trail that passes through our village, so after our 3rd "mega-breakfast" of the week, we drove first to Trebsen for bottled water for the hike.  We drove around the midtown until I spotted a sign showing a lunch special.  I found the door into a small bar/restaurant where a couple of guys were having a beer and persuaded the barmaid to sell me a large bottle of water.  We also stopped to get photos of a stork on a nest with a couple of young. 

Then back to Neichen to park the car and start our walk.  Unfortunately, it was by now noonish and quite warm, but we managed to walk to Doeben, about 8 kilometers or 5 miles one way, which took us most of the afternoon, stopping several times to rest and once for a snack at an imbiss on the trail.

I also still wanted to see more of Wurzen, so after returning from our walk, we drove to Wurzen, stopping at Burkhartshain and Nemt on the way. 

In Burkhartshain we also found some Winklers and Buchheims in the cemetery and a sign noting that the Famile Buchheim could provide access to the church. 

Since it was getting late, we opted to go on to Wurzen.  At Wurzen, I was a bit surprised to find many of the buildings in the center of town to be pastel in color. 

We found Wurzen to be a very pretty town.  We parked near the center and walked around, finding two churches to visit, the first, Dom Marien,  and the second Wenceslaikirche.  There has been a church on this site since 961.  The current building dates from 1673, but services ended here in 1975.  Today half of the Wenceslaikirche had been restored to a church, the other half is used for concerts and exhibitions. 

We were fortunate to find a exhibit describing the end of WWII, when Germans living in Poland and Russia were expelled and returned to Germany with only what they could carry with them.  Since we were heading toward a part of Poland that had been settled by German people, this exhibit gave us background for the rest of our trip. 

After seeing this exhibit, we drove back to Grimma to the Pferdestall restaurant in Hotel Goldenes Schiff in Grimma for a fabulous dinner.  We have had quite a day and it was wonderful to relax on the patio and the meal - salmon and white asparagus, followed by chocolate sundaes - superb!

Friday, June 4 - Neichen, Nitzschka, Seelingstadt, Grimma

I heard from the Winklers living in Oelschuetz via email last week and arranged to meet them on Saturday, so we have a day to wander around and get to know the area. We started the day with a huge breakfast: several kinds of meats, cheeses, and breads, juice, coffee, fruit, sweet bread, jam and coffee. SHOULDN'T need lunch after this!

Next we took a drive to Grimma - it was the county seat at one time and I wanted to tour a museum there. We took our time and a roundabout way to see more countryside. On the way, we went through Nitzschka, where the church for Oelschuetz is located, and Seelingstadt, where we know Winkler/Kunze relatives lived around 1900. We found related names in both cemeteries, but none that we could identify as our relatives.

Then on to Grimma where we toured the Kreisheimat Museum. There we found displays that helped us understand how life was in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

After all that, we realized we WERE tired and hungry so stopped at the Rathaus restaurant for a bowl of soup, I had asparagus and Fred had mushroom. Sat outside and just enjoyed the day for a bit.

Then we headed out of town, but I had read about a grist mill museum in the area, so we drove south for a bit and found the spot - it was quite an experience. The water mill wheel was running, grinding grain into flour and they were baking bread there as well.

We finally returned home in late afternoon and walked down the road to find the Sonnenmuehle. This was a water powered grist mill built in the 1700s and operated in mid 1800s by Winkler ancestors. When the two sons left Oelschuetz, they came to Kansas and built a water powered grist mill on Fancy Creek in Riley County Kansas.

More photos from the day: