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You are here: Home Life in Blogs & photos My portable home is based in Heidelberg

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22/04/2011My portable home is based in Heidelberg

My portable home is based in Heidelberg Annabelle Baptista has a fresh take on ‘home is where the heart is' and isn't someone who ticks off landmarks and monuments as they go.

As Heidelberg wakes up to spring, we begin to leave the house more often to rediscover the city.  Last Sunday we walked the Philosophenweg. The first Narcissus blooms had begun to appear, and people walked coats slung over their arms along the path.  I took my 50th picture of the Heidelberger Schloss (castle), but for some reason I never seem to tire of it.  Last week when I was talking to my husband about our vacation this year, I mentioned going back to the U.S.  My husband flicked his nose and nonchalantly said, "I want to go somewhere else; I've done the U.S."

We continued to descend the narrow path down to the Neckar, and I thought about my husband's remark. I heard an English-speaking woman, who was wondering aloud to her husband how far they had to go, as they took the stairs up to the Philosopenweg.  We had taken the inclined path, and walked down the stairs. She was obviously tired. I wonder, was she ticking off sites, or had the city worked itself into her heart?

I know people who return to the same place every year, because they feel connected to the place, whereas others want to go somewhere different.  Is it the mindset of some to collect experience, while others try to relive it? I know I am never really done with a place. Like looking through a prism, I see myself there and imagine my many lives.   I think that may be the difference between people who relive places like me and those who wander through other lands, soaking up the sights, and ticking off the monuments as they go.

Photo Wikimedia Commons

They travel wearing their loyalties like a sarong you wear nearly every day on vacation, but whip off as soon as you arrive home.  Some arrive enamoured with foreign countries, their people, and their climate. They are home, wherever they are. They extricate themselves painfully when they must say goodbye and hope they will be able to return; for them, they have given their hearts away, and their love is lasting. They adapt the food, the clothes, and traditions, to their lives.

We finished our walk at a beer garden; we sat soaking up the sun, listening to touristy prattle about travel expenses and itineraries, happy we were home. I will return to the U.S. and wander its streets, smitten with all that it has to offer. When I return to Germany, I will love it with the same fervour.  Home for some has no fixed location on a map. It is not a place, but another life, and it lives within you.

 


African American Annabelle Baptista-Baumann lives in Dilsberg, Germany,  with her German husband.


1 reaction to this article

Mischa Doyel posted: 2011-04-28 04:50:24

Hi Annabelle, nice article. I lived in Heidelberg (I am German) for 30 years before I met my American Husband who "brought" me to Las Vegas where we lived for 6 years. Since 1,5 years we are traveling through the States full time in our motor home. I love Dilsberg, a very nice place to live. When ever I had guest during my time in Heidelberg, I introduced them to Dilsberg, Ladenburg, Weinheim, and Bergstrasse. Are you on facebook?

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1 reaction to this article

Mischa Doyel posted: 2011-04-28 04:50:24

Hi Annabelle, nice article. I lived in Heidelberg (I am German) for 30 years before I met my American Husband who "brought" me to Las Vegas where we lived for 6 years. Since 1,5 years we are traveling through the States full time in our motor home. I love Dilsberg, a very nice place to live. When ever I had guest during my time in Heidelberg, I introduced them to Dilsberg, Ladenburg, Weinheim, and Bergstrasse. Are you on facebook?

Add a comment
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