Time Travel / Germany 1983 (Part 1)

25 March 2026: A grey, wet and windy day outdoors, and nothing special I "need to" do. So a good day to have a look at old slides I recently had digitised, compare them to printed photos and notes in my old album, and go time travelling...

In the summer of 1983, I had been studying German at university for a year (and before that, back in the mid 1970s, German "business language" at secretary school). But while I was good at the written language and grammar, I felt I had one huge disadvantage: I had never actually been to Germany, and had had very little practice in speaking German with Germans. 

So before I started on my third and final term of university German, I decided to do something about that - and arranged to spend one week at a German bible school / holiday centre (Klostermühle) in the small village of Obernhof an der Lahn in Germany; and after that also a few days touristing on my own (in Trier an der Mosel). 

Tag tåget = Take the train

 Mind you, this was in the days before the internet, so "arranging" meant writing letters and waiting for answers by post - and sometimes just hoping for the best...

I knew about Klostermühle as it belonged (and still belongs) to an international and interdenominational* Christian organisation called the Torchbearers ('Fackelträger' in German), first founded in England in 1947; which still has similar centres in 20+ countries around the world. I had attended and enjoyed holiday courses at their school in Sweden, so was familiar with the organisation and their general concept.
*(interdenominational = not connected to a specific church or denomination) 

 
I started my journey on August 19 - ten days before my 28th birthday - by taking a train from Karlstad (where I lived back then) to Göteborg (Gothenburg). There, I got aboard a night train, which took me to Hamburg. There I had a couple of hours for breakfast and a short walk before getting on the next train down to Koblenz; and from there yet another train to Obernhof-an-der-Lahn. (See the map.)

Obernhof, the railway station

 

Kloster Arnstein and Klostermühle

The photo above is not my own, but a postcard glued into my photo album. Up on the hill you see an old monastery, Kloster Arnstein. Its history dates back to the 11th century. In 1983, there were monks living there. Wikipedia now informs me that since 2019 it has been taken over by orthodox nuns (so I suppose should now be called a convent instead).

Down below is Klostermühle. From the name, I suppose once upon a time a working mill  run by the monks. In 1983 and still,  a Bible School and "Freizeitzentrum" (holiday centre). 

 

Alte Mühle

My room (shared with another girl or two) was in "Alte Mühle" - the Old Mill.

 

 To be continued (on some other rainy day)...