When I was an 8 year old kid, in 1956, my parents (at the advice of their doctor) decided to send me away for a few weeks for some "fresh air, sunshine", etc. It was a fairly common practice back then for German parents to send their kids to special sanitoriums just for that & they were called "kinderheims".
We lived in Ludwigsburg, Germany at the time and I was sent to the kinderheim located in Hirshegg, Austria...just over the border of Germany. I recall the train ride alone and being excited but also upset about being away from home for the first time. Took me a few days to adjust, but I fell in love with the area. Went hiking up into the mountain areas and enjoying the breathtaking views. Those memories never left me.
I returned for a visit in 2012. With the help, beforehand, of some folks at http://www.kleinwalsertal.com we were able to determine that "Kinderheim Hagele" (the official name of the kinderheim I was at for several weeks) no longer existed, but they gave me the old house number to help me out and I am grateful for that, as I likely would never have figured it out on my own. As it was, we ended up getting lost anyway and were turning around in someone's driveway when he came out (looking slightly annoyed) to see why we were almost getting stuck in his driveway. My German is pretty limited now, but I had some old postcards with me and he ended up being delighted to help out by explaining that we had come in the wrong way (the road ended briefly) and had to go back and come in the other way. Will always be grateful for him as well, for making it easier and having us avoid going into town to try to figure out why we couldn't find the exact address, etc.
Though so much has changed (notice the old postcards in the video), much has also remained to tug at my heart and memories of what it was. In particular, hearing the cow bells as we drove up really jogged my memory hard - I remember those so well. It was pure joy to come back after 55 years and relive some of my memories with my partner, Ed, who had heard me speak so often of this special place. He was totally captivated and charmed by the area. Kinderkurheim Hägele
