Home Again, Home Again; or, Guten Morgen, Prüm

Prüm, Germany 

July 18, 2016

We bid Köln and its gorgeous Dom goodbye early in the morning, and by mid-day, we had made our way to Prüm, Germany, my husband's home for a few years in his early childhood.

Why Prüm? 
Prüm is where my husband spent a few years in the early to mid 1970s as an Air Force Brat. He has some great memories of his childhood there, but has never managed to make the trip back to Europe after leaving his 4th grade year, so while in Germany, why not visit, right?

When we first married, I was excited to be working on a military base where I taught students from all over the world. We had staff members and students who had lived in Germany. Many of my students were half-German, and this was a conversation I repeated several times those two years:

"Oh, you've lived [or were raised] in Germany! My husband has wonderful memories of his childhood from there."
"Where did he live?"
"In Prüm."
"Where??"
"Prüm." Then I'd spell it out, umlaut and all.

"Never heard of it."

Then I'd go into where it's located (in Western Germany, close to Luxembourg and Belgium), and again, "Never heard of it."
Then I'd talk about how it is close to Bitburg.
"Never heard of it."


I had the same with my next door neighbor, who was German.  And then the same with students in Washington and Texas. Also with my friends who spent semesters abroad in Germany, several foreign exchange students from Germany, and my friend's husband who is German.

Dear god, has ANYONE heard of Prüm? And this went on and on since 1993. I knew he hadn't made it up, but I couldn't believe that NOBODY German or who had spent years in Germany had heard of the town.

Then I found ONE person who knew exactly where I was talking about. A lady I worked with briefly in GTMO lived for a while on the Prüm river. She didn't actually live in the town of Prüm, but she had passed through it a few times.

It only took 20+ years and a move to Cuba, but I finally have found someone (an American, incidentally) who has heard of Prüm!

Showing the trip from Vilseck to Prüm.
Our morning trip from Cologne to Prüm was only 1 1/2 hours.

Getting there
Your best bet (at least from the Köln area) is the Autobahn. This section of the Autobahn was MUCH slower. Because of the cold and snowy winters, Germany does most of its road work in the summer, creating Staus, or traffic jams. So you think it's great driving on the Autobahn until you realize that you're going to go through 4-5 one-lane traffic construction areas. Once we got out of Bavaria, we didn't get to enjoy 220 kph (about 140 mph) speeds (while Porsches whizzed by like we were standing still).

The Air Station at Prüm closed in the 90s, and shortly after that, all train service to the area ceased. There are some buses that can travel from nearby towns to Prüm, but car travel is your best bet.


What to do and see
Prüm is a small down---there are only about 5500 people living there---and you exit the Autobahn and go down a twisty road in the forest to get to the town. You go down what seems to be a mini-mountain to reach Prüm in a valley.

sign outside the church

The main attraction and landmark in the town is the beautiful church. You can't miss it, with its unusual salmon color and location right in the middle of town.  The Abbey was built in 720 in the time of Charlemagne, and the church was completed in 1721.

outside the church

In 1801, Prüm and the surrounding area become part of France and the Abbey was secularized and given to the town. Today, the Abbey serves as a school.

Parts of the building complex have been torn down and restored, renovated, and during WWII, destroyed and rebuilt. It is is beautiful condition. The grounds are small but immaculately manicured.

entrance to church

Once inside, you don't find the ornate wood and stone structures like the Medieval marvel of the Dom, or jaw dropping stained glass windows or religious artifacts (even though Jesus' supposed sandals are there somewhere----I read they were there, but we somehow missed them). Instead, you find simple, clean lines, with a small alter at the front, a gorgeous and immense pipe organ in the back, and a very inviting place to sit and rest your weary traveler's feet. 

You can also light a candle, go to confession, and do all those other Catholic things that really confuse me. There are saints, but not as prominent as the Köln Dom. For all that the Dom is in opulence and visual overload, the Prüm church was a nice diversion, with its simple elegance and quiet interior. 

the chapel, a beautiful tapestry in the alter area, and the massive pipe organ in the rear of the building

The other attraction we had to hit was Hotel Zum Goldenen Stern, my husband's family's temporary home for 2 months when they first moved to Germany. My military friends understand the whole "temporary housing" issue when you first PCS to a new location. They were lucky enough to stay in a hotel right in the middle of town with a bar and restaurant downstairs. We sat under an umbrella and ate spaghettieis (of course) while people watching, my all-time favorite European diversion. 

We did attempt to get more information from the Prüm tourism center, which was right across the street from the hotel. There were lots of nice brochures and booklets, but alas, the lady didn't speak a word of English and I've mentioned countless times now that I definitely don't speak German. We didn't get directions to the old base, but you cannot access it, anyway---it's been abandoned and sadly left with derelict buildings. 

Instead, we walked around and noticed that for a small town and for a Monday morning, there were quite a few tourists and people walking about. It was a beautiful day and some people come in the summer as part of a religious pilgrimage to visit the church.

I am sure there are probably other things to do in Prüm; I was just along for the ride while my husband took a walk down memory lane. It is a pretty little village and has been maintained beautifully---there were flowers and parks, with every store on the main drag open for business. If you speak German, I'm sure the tourist enter can tell you even more; otherwise, just a little drive through the town (and a stop at the Goldenen Stern for ice cream) isn't a bad way to spend an hour or so. 

We spent a few hours walking around and reminiscing, and then headed to Metz, France for the evening.

What I learned
I learned that you never forget places you consider home, no matter how small a part of your life you live there, and you never forget the things you love. My husband was telling the kids stories and showing them places he remembered---it's like stories were coming back to him as we were walking the streets. Over there is the park I lost a tooth (ironically, H lost a tooth in the car a few hours later). They found an unexploded WWII bomb under the road right here and had to dig it up and divert traffic for several weeks. 

But this was the best---and my favorite----story of Prüm. I came here in 2012 with my friends---we just drove up and down the main street and stopped to eat ice cream at the Goldenen Stern---and it just didn't feel right being in my husband's town without him. I wanted him there next to me telling me these sorts of stories, so I wasn't really up for walking around. It was just another anonymous village to me. With his narration, it came alive. The funniest thing he did when I returned from Europe in 2012 was ask if I saw his favorite toy store in Prüm. Seriously, dude, we just drove through town, ate ice cream, and spent less than an hour there. I didn't know where to look or to even look for it.

But walking down the streets again, he's telling our sons the story about his favorite toy store. We actually still have legos and little matchbox type cars from there. Our youngest spoke up and said, "Dad, can you show me where it used to be?" And that thing happened---you've probably had this experience before----where your internal radar turns on and you find yourself walking exactly to somewhere you haven't been in many years (40, in his case).

And guess what?

It was still there, although closed for the day, and looked exactly as he remembered it.