Hildesheim

Guten Abend my loyal readers!

What should you do with a free friday night in Germany? Stay at home and watch re-runs of the Great British Baking Show or go explore a historic city that hosts the oldest living Rose in the entire world? Um..Is that even a question?! Don't be silly, go get your train card and come along for this journey to Hildesheim!

We started by walking up a cobblestone street which eventually widened into the beautiful city center. A fountain sat in the middle of the square and around it laid a healthy mixture of old and new buildings. The more historic ones had been preserved and transformed into shops and bakeries but the one that stood out the most to me was an old timber wood house that was now a bank. Pairing a historic structure with something as modern as a Sparkasse Bank (bank chain similar to Citibank or Truist in the US) seemed ironic to me but it was good to see that as time had passed and the city had developed they still chose to preserve the beautiful architecture of the original city.

Next we took a path called the "Rose walk" which leads to...you guessed it! The oldest living Rose plant on Earth and a World Heritage site. The Rose walk is unique because if you were to follow it from start to finish you would walk through the entire city of Hildesheim. I have included a picture of one of the plaques littered throughout the trek, always pointing you in the right direction. The rose plant is called the "Thousand-Year Rose" and grows on the apse of the Hildesheim Cathedral. It is special not only due to its beauty but because it survived the Cathedral's destruction during the bombings of World War II and continues to grow almost 8 decades later. We visited Hildesheim at dusk, so the streetlights were just turning on and as we approached the Cathedral the only sound was the soft padding of our footsteps and the melodic tune of the Organ being played. It was a moment of real peace and contentment for me and I hope to encounter more of these instances this year. Exchange can be overwhelming but experiences like these bring clarity and remind me how grateful I am to be in Germany and have the opportunity to explore beautiful cities like Hildesheim.

Thanks for taking this adventure with me!

All the best,

Sabrina