Kaufbeuren

my grandparents grave

the shop, now 222 years old

YOUR WORD IS THE TRUTH

a painting of this view used to hang over my grandfather's study

above on the wall it's the Geyrhalter family crest on the right together with the initials M.G. (click to enlarge)

some (rudely defamed) paintings of the towns landmarks by local schoolchildren in a corridor underneath the station

the family crest (a man holding a bird of prey)

some pics from the afternoon we spent in Kaufbeuren, a small-ish old town in lower Bavaria. My family name GEYRHALTER (an old name that is fairly rare and has an odd spelling that confuses even native speakers) comes from this town and the history of the family tree is very much connected to the place - one of my forebears was apparently even a mayor and wrote a 17th century history of the once important merchant town, and in the St Blasius chapel on the hill (now beautifully restored) you can find the family crest (see also right above, from my parents house) and the crest of another family painted on the wall to mark the occasion of a wedding between the families. There is a  shop by that name in town which has existed for 222 years now and is run by another branch of the family. We met some of them when my grandparents were buried there. Even though he hadn't lived there for a long time (in my grandmothers case she never lived there) my grandfather and my grandmother are buried in the same grave together with his parents and siblings, and there are family graves of the other branches right next to it, in the old cemetery in town. My grandfather used to have a painting hanging over his study in their lounge (in the flat where they lived for over 40 years) showing a view of Kaufbeuren from the old city wall right next to the chapel that features the family crest, we don't have that painting anymore but that view sticks in my mind and the view is virtually unchanged now, you can see over the town with the various churches looming over it.  

I'm not sure what all this means to me but from when I was very young there was always talk about the town, and I was glad to reconnect a little bit with it and take some pics. 

What I didn't know is that there is an old convent in town where supposedly a miracle took place, and even a three day hike to commemorate the holy Sister Crescentia . Since the area is lovely, you can already see the Alps in the not so far distance, I wouldn't mind doing it one day!