Wolfgang Naumann was a man of great accomplishments. Growing up in Salzburg, Austria he lived a good life with his parents and two older sisters. His father had been a wealthy business man, so sure enough he followed proudly in his footsteps, taking over when his father passed. His passion for travel and the knowledge of other cultures grew as he did, beginning with a trip to China in his late 30s. While there, he purchased two small antiques. The first; a small ceramic jug, originally used for oil incense, and the second; an old age quartz name stamp. These purchases were what began his love for collecting and researching antiques, and learning about the cultures they originated from.
When Wolfgang was young he fell in love with a beautiful woman named Isabelle. They were happily married for forty years, and when she passed, he decided to take the trip around the world that they had always dreamed about. So with nothing but a small leather wallet filled with a few Euro and a pouch filled with clothes, he was off.
A long time dream of Wolfgang and Isabelle’s was to voyage the Mississippi river by canoe, beginning to end. In early June he began his 2320 mile journey in Itasca, MN, passing through many cities along the way down including Minneapolis, MN, Davenport, IA and one of the most memorable, St. Louis, MO.
While traveling the smooth St. Louis waters, Wolfgang passed an old retirement home along its banks. A few ladies invited him for dinner, and while they shared stories he began to recall childhood memories of the chatty old women that would swoon over him and his sisters, pinching their chilly little cheeks as the munched on Wolfgang’s favorite snack, roasted chestnuts. In the winter, you could always find vendors on the street corners, toasting up the scrumptious little treats on their large round stoves.
The next morning he was off again, but with a new item in his bag; an old blanket the ladies gave him as a parting gift.
The river brought Wolfgang to a few more interesting cities including Memphis, TN and New Orleans, LA. Being that New Orleans was his last stop, he decided to calm his craving by stopping in an old antique shop downtown. It was there that he found an old ceramic plate that was made by the Choctaw Tribe in southern Louisiana in the early 1800’s.
Next on Wolfgang’s list was South America, where he knew a young rancher living on a small goat farm in the Northern Andes. He stayed there for a few weeks, until continuing on to his last stop, Kenya. He stayed with a Maasai woman for two weeks, learning the ways of her culture, helping the village people with their daily work and taking part in the communities celebrations. As a parting gift Wolfgang received a small wooden portrait of himself, carved by one of the young boys. This had always been his biggest dream, to take part in a community that was completely different from his own; a man of many accomplishments had finally accomplished it all.
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