SUNDAY MEMORIES
Judy Wills
While we did most of our shopping – whether clothing or groceries – at the military facilities while in Germany,
Credit Google Search and Military One Source
there were times when we enjoyed shopping on the German economy. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the Germans were adamant about closing early on Saturdays (usually 5:00 p.m.) and either not opening on Sundays, or having shortened hours. I appreciated that.
I remember that I had learned to make the German Springerle Christmas cookies from Fred’s mother. She also gave me a Military Wives Cookbook that had a great recipe for those cookies in it. But I really didn’t have any of the “forms” until we went to Heidelberg. I must have had some type of forms – perhaps Fred’s mother gave me hers, I just don’t remember – because I did make those cookies each Christmas.
When I went into a German store to see if they had the forms, I had a rather difficult time telling the sales ladies just what I wanted. I thought I had the proper pronunciation for the forms, but I think one lady finally realized what I was asking for – in my halting German! She brought out a few forms, and they were exactly what I wanted! Just what I was looking for!
In another situation, down the road from our housing area was a type of “mall” that we frequented. It was called Famila. Some called it Familia, but it was the same place. It had everything from grocery stores to yarn shops, movie theaters to shoe stores. You get the picture – just like one of our shopping malls in the U.S. It was all indoor, like most of the malls in this country, so it was a nice place to walk and window-shop, no matter what the weather.
There was one event that really surprised us while we were there. The girls and I were outside our building one day, when we saw a HUGE number of bicycles coming furiously down Römerstrasse – the main street outside our housing area. There were probably a couple of hundred cyclists in the group. It could have even been the Tour de France, but in Germany. We were amazed – all those bicycles at once! But what took us by surprise was that ALL the cars – from both directions – just……STOPPED! No one told them to stop, they just stopped on their own, and pulled over to the curb. It was the race going by, which was fascinating by itself. And, after the last bicycle had cleared the area, the traffic started up again. Amazing!
Credit Google Search and Velo News
~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Old Things R New 
The cookies forms look interesting. I don’t think I have ever seen them.
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good memories
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