Oldenburg

Aaron may no longer be in Germany, but that doesn't mean we've completely given up visits to Oldenburg. It's just that now Oldenburg is a 3-hour drive away - as long as we're content to visit Oldenburg, Indiana.

Oldenburg is a town of 647 people, but it's as interesting as a city ten times its size, and it has a visitors' center to welcome tourists. (It' was closed, but we'll be stopping by on Sunday) It's one of those towns where people wave as you drive by - they really did. Oldeburg was first laid out by people from the German duchy, and it takes its heritage seriously. The street signs are bilingual. The arms of the city of Oldenburg are displayed everywhere (it's convenient for this "Village of Spires" that the city's crest has a castle on it). Even the gas station has Gothic-script signs, and fake painted wooden shutters around the windows. "Kitschy" does not begin to describe Oldenburg.


Even the grocery store gets into the German theme, although I never saw live bait sold at Spar or Plus. It's possible, these days, that you might see pumpkins.


I'm still finishing Heather's second sock, so it got to be the Traveling Adventure Sock in Oldenburg. Check out the fire hydrants.