We've moved to town! Yep, the Hofschen family, formerly of Hangenham, now resides in the big city, Freising. Well, okay, Freising is not exactly an enormous metropolitan area, but compared to Hangenham it's very populus. Like Hangenham, Freising has a long and well documented history. A bishop established himself in Freising in the year 720, his name was Korbinian and he is Freising's first celebrity. He built his cathedral on top of the hill and eventually a proper little walled city developed at its feet. The cathedral's double spires remain the the most prominent feature of the city.

1,282 years after Korbinian set down his roots on the cathedral hill, we've come along to settle in on the next hill over in what's called the 'Neustift' area of the city. That translates roughly to 'new foundation'. The area was set aside by one of Korbinian's most famous successors; Bishop Otto of Freising, for a new religous community. The cloister was built in 1141 a short distance outside the city walls and the neighborhoods that grew up around the cloister constitute the city section that is now called Neustift.

Our street is the Alte Poststraße, it runs along behind the cloister to what was the former eastern gate of the city. This street was part of the old mail route between the city of Landshut to Freising; thus the name 'Old Post Street'. In 1803 the Neustift cloister was closed down by the state in a process called 'Sekularization', The cloister's treasures were scattered, but many of the fine old buildings survived. These remaining buildings currently house county offices. The former Abbey church became the parish church of St. Peter and Paul and is considered a masterwork of Baroque architecture. Regular services are still held there and I love the sound of the bells.

We still pine a bit for the fine fresh air and rolling hills of Hangenham. Even the occasionally overwhelming perfume of the cows! And I miss my kitchen window full of apple blossoms and alpine vistas. But life on the Alte Poststraße is quite pleasant. We are just a few minutes walk from downtown and can get most everywhere we need to go by foot or bicycle. And best of all, we have some really wonderful neighbors!

Our apartment is built into a hillside, so we still have to climb a tall set of stairs to the front door. In the spring and summer the front terrace is a wonderful little green oasis with a wonderful climbing yellow rose. Actually there are so many beautiful roses in the little front gardens along our street that Anika has christened it the 'Rose Street'. When they bloom the whole apartment is filled with the scent; that's something special for an apartment in town!

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