Some Memories of Germany, Wiesbaden, Part 5

I first published this in late 2014; updated slightly 8/27/16

About 20 miles from Frankfurt is the beautiful city of Wiesbaden, a sort of health resort city, with natural hot water springs for bathing as a therapeutic treatment, or "cure" (German: "Kur," cure/Kur are derived from Latin). The city is also known for casinos and it is the capital of the state of Hessen. The first time I went there, in the mid 1980s, I stayed at the Hotel Klemm, a nice place in a very peaceful location and with a great breakfast (Frühstück). I returned there on later visits. The hotel is still there, but with different owners. I had no relatives in Wiesbaden until about 1993.

I did a previous article about Wiesbaden in 2010, where I mentioned the "Sir Winston Churchill Restaurant." I'm including the link to that article here, but I have since found out that the restaurant is no longer in business. That's a real shame, as it was a great place. This is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/02/wiesbaden-germany.html

 This is the "Kurhaus" ("Cure House"), where you can go to bathe in the natural hot water spring. This picture is from from a postcard I bought there, rather than try to get such a great picture myself.

 This is the city hall of Wiesbaden. (Postcard picture)

 This is the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) in Wiesbaden. (Postcard picture)

 This is the old city hall. (Postcard picture)

 This is the Marktplatz (Market Plaza), known in modern times as "Schloßplatz" (Palace Square), with city hall and the Marktkirche (Market Church), a Protestant Church. (Postcard picture)

 This is the pedestrian zone (Fußgängerzone, ß=double 's') My own picture.

 This is the casino (Spielbank) and it is my own picture.

 Yes, that's a Burger King, and they sold beer and wine, pretty much a requirement in Germany. My own picture.

Germans love to sit outside in good weather to eat, to drink a beer or to sip a cup of coffee. My own picture, and I don't recall the name of the place. All of the pictures were from the mid and late 1980s.

 Hotel Klemm brochure, part 1 (from the 1980s)

 Hotel Klemm brochure, part 2 (from the 1980s)

A small matchbox from the restaurant, which was located at Taunusstraße 23 in Wiesbaden. (1980s)

WORD HISTORY:
Gore (2)-This is both a noun and a verb, with different, although related, meanings, and both have the same origin.^ The noun meaning, "a triangular or pointed piece of cloth or land," goes back to Indo European "ghaizo," which meant, "spear, staff." This gave Old Germanic "gaizo," meaning "pointed, triangular in shape." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "gar," which meant "spear." Just a note, it is "possible" that the word "German" came from the Germanic word for spear, which may well have been their main weapon; thus they would have been "spear men." The pointed spear tip gave rise to the use of "gar" for other pointed objects and led to its use, first as "gara," then later in the altered spelling as "gore," with the "pointed piece of land" (the point formed by waterways or roads), and "triangular piece of cloth" meanings. The same word led to the verb form "gore" in the 1400s, meaning "to stab with a sharp point," often applied when the action was carried out by an animal with horns. Forms of the noun were once common in the other Germanic languages, but most have now died out, except that German has "Ger," meaning "spear used by the Germanic tribes."

^ For the other noun "gore," meaning "drying, thickened blood," see the "Word History" at this link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2014/12/some-memories-of-germany-part-4.html

Wiesbaden, Germany

Wiesbaden is the capital city of the German state (Land, in German) of Hessen, often rendered as Hesse in English. It is not far west from Frankfurt-am-Main, and it lies at the confluence of the Main River and the Rhine River, and is essentially directly across this confluence from the city of Mainz, which interestingly is the capital of the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz;* so, you have two state capitals right across from one another.** Mainz was absolutely devastated by Allied bombing during World War Two, but Wiesbaden was spared, and while I don’t know the actual truth, I’ve heard it said in Germany that NO bombs ever fell on Wiesbaden during the war. Assuming that to be correct, the city is very quaint, and it undoubtedly was spared damage as it was not a key military or industrial city, but rather it has long been a place for people to go for rest and invigoration (a spa city). The second half of the city’s name “baden,” means “baths,” and it is indeed related to the English word (see Word History below). These baths were even mentioned in Roman writings from the time when the Romans occupied this area. The baths are naturally heated springs and have a high salt content, and all sorts of medicinal claims have been made about them.

The difference between nearby bustling Frankfurt and Wiesbaden is striking, and it is basically quiet and pleasant, and since there was no damage from the war, all of the old buildings are original. I’ve been to Wiesbaden numerous times over the years, and I always loved awakening in the early morning and looking out the window to see the sun rise over the church tops. I suppose because of the nearby rivers, there was always a bit of haze in the early morning hours hovering over the city.

My favorite place in Wiesbaden was the “Sir Winston Churchill” Restaurant (hereafter as SWC)*** Yes, that’s the name. Whether the place still is in business, I don’t know, but they had good food, and there always seemed to be a good crowd there. It is very common in Germany to permit dogs to enter business establishments, including restaurants, and this was definitely true of the “SWC.” (Hey…they let me in, didn’t they? The only part I hated was using the fire hydrant outside. Darn!) I’ve heard it said that with Germans and Englishmen, if you are walking your dog in the middle of the street and a car comes buzzing along, YOU’D better be careful, because neither a German nor an Englishman will hit the dog!

Germans can be very polite (I’m not saying EVERYONE), and one time at the SWC, this couple was seated right across the narrow aisle from me. I take it they were married, as they were having a bit of an argument and I tried ever so hard to avoid looking over at them. The “debate” went on for quite some time, and after only barely touching their food, they abruptly left, with a comment to me about how sorry they were. When I finished my dinner and asked for the check, I found that they had paid for my entire dinner! Whenever I went back, I always looked for those two again, but…NO LUCK!

Until the end of the Cold War, and the subsequent withdrawal of many American troops, Wiesbaden had a large American military presence, and we still have a major military hospital there, where many casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan are sent, or at least that is my understanding.

* Usually rendered as “Rhineland-Palatinate” in English.

** Many an American can trace their roots to one or both of these German states. It should be noted, however, that the boundaries of these states have changed many times over the centuries, and in fact, Mainz was once part of Hessen.

*** Just as English, German uses the French word “restaurant,” but it is pronounced in the French manner in German.

WORD HISTORY:
Bath-This word seems to go back to the Indo European root "bhe," which had the notion of "heat," not water, in those times, and indeed, we still say "steam bath," which continues the notion of "heat," rather than water. This gave Old Germanic "batham," which in time gave Old English "baeth," and by that time, the various Germanic dialects had essentially given the term the meaning of "immersing in (heated) water," and further the meaning extended to "water used for such purposes." Modern German has "bad" (and in German it is not pronounced like our word "bad," but rather as "baht," which is similar to our "bought." "Baden" is the plural form in German), and other Germanic languages like Norwegian, Dutch, Danish and Swedish all have "bad."