I am happy to report that we've just returned from two fabulous weeks in Germany. We took a direct, military flight from Baltimore to Ramstein AFB. It was a 7 hour flight going and an 8.5 hour flight coming back (I kid you not....). Most of Sven's family lives in the small town of Bischofsgrun in northern Bavaria (a 3.5 hour drive from Ramstein-- and a 7 hour drive returning....seriously). Aside from the long, long travel times and jet lag, we had a wonderful time. I was worried about several aspects of the trip and I'm glad that those worries were in vain (aren't they usually?!). Sven was so happy to see his family and they, in turn, were excited to see us as well. He had been there in January for Oma's funeral, but Nikolas and I hadn't been there in 4 years. I'm not sure where to start or how to blog this trip. I feel like I have enough to write a book (or compose a photo book at the least) and not just a blog entry. It really was a wonderful trip. We enjoyed almost every aspect of it with the exception of not being able to sleep that well at night because of the time difference between there and home. The family was hospitable, the food was delicious, the landscape beautiful and the experience simply wonderful. So, here it goes..... our 2 weeks in Germany......
This is the adorable apartment where we stayed. Sven's aunt and uncle used to live here. When Oma passed away, Wolfgang and Anita moved downstairs into the second floor of the house where she had lived. This third-story apartment is now set-up as a vacation rental. If anyone has a desire to go to Bavaria and wants a great place to stay in a quaint village....let us know. =)
This is the stairway that connects the floors within the house. Unlike our house where the stairway is in the middle of the house, these stairs are not part of the main portion of the house. So, when it's cold, the stairwell is cold because the apartments are separately heated.
Flowers for Oma and Opa.
This is the house that Sven lived in when his mom and Jerry were first married. He was about Nikolas' age. His bedroom was on the second level above.
This is the ski jump in Bischofsgrun on Schneeberg (Snow Mountain). Opa used to operate the tow rope up the hill.
This is the roddlebahn on the same mountain as the ski jump. Imagine going down that in a sled-type of cart. It was closed for the season when we were there. With the length of the run, I'd imagine you'd gain some serious speed. Sven has fond memories of these places.
On our first Saturday in Germany, we went to Bayreuth with Wolfgang and Anita. The Christmas Market was not yet set up, but they were getting ready for it. We had an afternoon drink at this cute, temporary, indoor pub.
Boys and their toys.... Nikolas was able to engage Wolfgang (Sven's mom's brother) in many hours of paper airplane play. Nikolas made up a new game where you had to make a 'basket' with the airplane. What a good sport Wolfgang was!
Veronika invited us to spend Sunday at their house. Her meals are always spectacular and so delicious-- the epitome of 'good German food'. I've always loved their dining room. It's pristine and so tastefully decorated. How could food not taste better in a setting like this?
Does Nikolas like the food? Take one look at his expression and you'll have your answer!
Karl and Veronika standing in their backyard. You can see the town of Bischofsgrun in the background.
Sven's cousin Marcus (Karl and Veronika's son) and his family joined us for 'kuchen und kaffee' (cake and coffee) in the afternoon. (Bear in mind I had NO ROOM for cake nor coffee after that fantastic lunch....).
Left to right: Karl, Veronika, Heiki, Dominic, Marcus and Sven.
Patrick and Nikolas skipped on the cake and had their own snack in the living room. I'd say these cousins are hitting it off, what do you think? It was quite entertaining to watch them together. We told Nikolas that Patrick studies English in school and can understand it. Well, I guess we should have specified that Nikolas should have spoken more slowly..... poor Patrick-- Nikolas was talking 100 mph and Patrick just had a glazed look on his face. =) Oh well, they had fun anyway!
Cousins and second cousins: Nikolas, Dominic, Marcus, Patrick and Sven.
Sven's Aunt Traudi invited us to go to Hof (about 45 minutes away from Bischofsgrun) on Monday. She gave us a choice of things to do and we (ok, well me....) decided to go to an old East and West Germany bordertown not far from Hof. It was quite fascinating. She explained what life was like before the wall came down and explained the layout of the border. (I forgot to mention that Traudi and her family know English. It's always very comforting to visit with her and be able to speak English. She thinks her English is not very good, but I have to disagree. Her English is way better than my German! We'll keep practicing, Traudi!) Pictured below is an old East German helicopter.
An old East German tank.
Behind Nikolas, Traudi and Sven is what used to be the former East Germany.
This is a guard tower at the old border.
I was eager to climb up the tower and get a good look around. Expeditions like this really bring history to life....the good and bad.
Back at Traudi's, we were surprised that Nikolas remembered Anka from our previous trip. Up until then, he didn't have too many memories from our trip in 2005.
Tuesday, we went to the town of Kulmbach to visit a castle that contains several museums. Much to my dismay (photographically speaking), it was raining...hard. So, I wasn't able to get any exterior photos of this beautiful castle. We started our outting by having lunch at a recommended gusthaus. It was excellent! After lunch, we walked to the castle (yes, in the pouring rain) that was up on the hillside overlooking the town. What a view! We had the whole tin men museum all to ourselves that day (unlike at home where they'd be especially crowded on rainy days). It was very weird to be walking through this old castle, through the rooms of the museum, all alone. We, and especially Nikolas, enjoyed seeing all the tin men displays. There had to have been hundreds of thousands of them making up hundreds of various historical scenes. It was amazing.I love the way Nikolas captured the essence of the gasthaus. Good job, buddy!
A view of a mansion from the castle window.
A tin men display (pictures couldn't possibly do any of the displays justice).
Don't you just LOVE the look on Nikolas' face (look closely at his eyes). It took some urging on my part to get him to stand by the knight. I promised him there was nobody in there but he wasn't so sure. =)
This is the traditional German meal of brotzeit. I love it. It's an assortment of various breads, meats and cheeses (all served cold). A nice slathering of good German mustard and you're set. A very simple and tasty meal.
Pictured below: Sven's cousin Karl-Gerd and his son Andreas Dennis, Anita, Nikolas and Sven.
On Thanksgiving day, we enjoyed an outting to Bayreuth (one of my favorite cities in Germany, about 30 minutes away from Bischofsgrun). I don't have many point and shoot photos from this day because I enjoyed using my Nikon instead. I'll have to supplement these photos with those after I go through them. Here Sven and I stand in front of a beautiful building in the old part of the city (I think it was a castle). I love, love, love the cobblestone streets in so many of the old towns there.
I found this window/street display rather unusual. Maybe I've been shopping at the wrong places. =)
As we were leisurely strolling around Bayreuth on Thanksgiving day, Anita was at home cooking us a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. How very, very thoughtful of her! They didn't want us to miss out on our American holiday while we were there.
On Friday, we took another drive out to Hof. During the holiday season, many of the towns and cities in Germany have outdoor Christmas markets. This was my first Christmas market and Traudi was very happy to show it to us. It was oh, so cold, but so very festive, too. Most attendees enjoyed the hot, spiced wine while I enjoyed the non-alcohol version of spiced cider. Perfect for cold hands and bodies! Pictured with Sven and Nikolas are Karl-Gerd and Andreas Dennis, Veronika (Karl-Gerd's mom), and Traudi (Veronika, Traudi and Sven's mom are sisters).
After the market, we went back to Traudi's to thaw out and enjoy a nice family dinner together. Here is Traudi's husband, Rudi, watching Nikolas play his Nintendo.
Traudi and Nikolas.
There were many laughs this evening. The excitement mostly came from Nikolas and his ever-loosening tooth. He worked on that tooth for HOURS and made the rounds showing everyone how loose it was getting. Here is the last photo we have with that tooth.... yep, it's there.....hanging on by a (gross, little) thread. =)
Saturday we had a nice family get-together at Bischofsgrun's Italian Pizzeria. I love this photo.....cooled by the winds and warmed by the Schnapps, we all posed in the street (yes, on my favorite cobblestoned variety) with the town's Christmas tree in the background. Here, left to right: Wolfgang, Anita, Heiki, Marcus, Patrick, Andreas (Wolfgang and Anita's son), me, Sven and Nikolas. Nikolas was so excited this night. We granted him permission to go outside and play with Patrick (10) while we finished our meal. He must have had the time of his life because he couldn't stop talking about it. I think he felt pretty grown-up. =) I would NEVER let him do that here.....but when in Rome........ =)
Andreas and Sven after dinner at the pizzeria. Sven's comment: at least it looks like I have 2 hairs on my head. =) Quite a contrast between the two, don't you think.... hee hee.
On Sunday, we tagged along with Anita and Wolfgang to a couple of Christmas markets in the towns around Bischofsgrun. I had a great time people-watching and observing the traditions. Sven and I laughed thinking how in America that fire would have been a law-suit waiting to happen. Boy, sure makes us wish for simpler ways, sometimes (ok, often) I think how complicated we've (our society) made everything.
Monday was our last full day in Bischofsgrun. The weather was dry (not so for many of our days there). We headed up to the hills for a hike up to what used to be an American Army listening post back during the Cold War. In fact, it was where Jerry worked when he and Sven's mom met. The Germans have since torn down most of the American buildings, but you can still climb up this tower and see the main tower as well. It's an amazing, amazing view.
The Americans and German posts were right next to each other. These buildings on the German side are vacant now, but they do keep them maintained. Off in the distance is the town of Bischofsgrun.
Remnants of the American buildings.
We had originally planned on heading back to Ramstein on Monday, Nov. 30. We extended our stay for one day because Connie (Anita and Wolfgang's daughter) and her boyfriend, Stefan, were driving down from Frankfurt to see us. We enjoyed a fabulous (as always) lunch that Anita prepared for all of us, and then we took a walk through town to the cemetary to visit Oma and Opa's grave. Connie grew up in Bischofsgrun and said (yes, in English-- woo hoo!) she really misses it in comparison to the big city of Frankfurt.
Remnants of the American buildings.
Off in the distance....Czechoslovakia.
This is the view I'll always remember of Oma waving at us through this window. Times change and now Anita carries on this tradition.
This is so exciting.....Sven, Nikolas and I were fortunate enough to be there when Connie announced (yes, to her parents for the FIRST TIME) that she and Stefan are engaged! How lucky were we to partake in this exciting news!! We are so thrilled for them. Congratulations to you both!! (Yes, I did make sure it was ok to relay this news!)
This is so exciting.....Sven, Nikolas and I were fortunate enough to be there when Connie announced (yes, to her parents for the FIRST TIME) that she and Stefan are engaged! How lucky were we to partake in this exciting news!! We are so thrilled for them. Congratulations to you both!! (Yes, I did make sure it was ok to relay this news!)
And, alas, it was time to leave Bischofsgrun and head back to Ramstein, and ultimately, America. As we made our way back through the small towns of Bavaria, I had Sven stop so I could photograph an image I want to keep in my mind....the immaculate mult-colored buildings, the cobble-stone street and (out of the photo) the town church. These small, historic towns are beautiful and each has its own individual character. I've been disgruntled by life in MD and how it seems to be one mall after another after another (I've fondly -ha- termed it 'Mall-land'). I don't quite care for shopping and I think it's ridiculous the amount of time our society spends shopping and getting itself into debt-- merely to 'keep up with the Jones' ' and feed that perpetual desire for more. I know it's not fair to make sweeping generalizations and I know that I only saw a small slice of life in Germany. But, I can tell you this-- what I saw, I liked: a simpler lifestyle, days revolving around family (and yes, food), satisfaction with what you have and not all of the things you don't, pride in caring for those things, the greater community and the environment. Yes, I find that attitude and lifestyle very appealing. As I've discussed with my good friend, Heather (who spent 6 months in Austria and so gets what I mean by all of this), we may not be able to duplicate all those things here in our lives in America, but it is in our power to select those attributes that are most appealing and integrate them into our daily lives here at home. So, as the holidays are upon us and 2009 will soon draw to an end, I thank our family and friends in Germany for the inspiration for my New Year's resolutions. We had a FABULOUS time visiting and are so thankful and grateful for your hospitality and devotion to our family. We can't thank you enough. Until next time..... danke, choos und auf Wiedersehen!
(More photos to follow as I sort through all of my Nikon photos......)
