Hannoversch-Münden

 What a pretty town. It's at the confluence of the Werra and the Fulda and together they form the Weser, starting just a few meters from here, the town hall. I can't imagine that the paint on the town hall was always so colorful, but it is now! At the top under the center gable are figures that come out three times a day - noon, two, and five - and the Glockenspiel plays. In the winter they could skip the 5 o'clock performance since it's way too dark to see anything!

This is the house (Victorian, 1900) where we rented a holiday apartment. The apartment (on the top floor - note the circles that indicate our bedroom and the living room) is almost as big as our house; the bathroom is bigger than our living room here at home!! Six or seven can sleep there and the owner says in the summer that's often the case. All that for 50€ a night - who'd want to stay in a hotel??

And the view from our bedroom window was pleasant - St Aegidius where Dr. Eisenbardt, the itinerate doctor celebrated in the Glockenspiel is buried.

It was just steps from the city center and - it's small - we got to know it well. There are hundreds and hundreds of half-timbered houses some dating from the 1500s and a lot of them really, really crooked! I could get dizzy walking down the street.

There's a Schloß, too; seems most towns have a small palace of some sort. This was begun in the 1500s and of course part of it is no longer there. Inside is the town library, the local museum and government offices. Probably some empty space too, I'd guess.

The doors of many of the homes were so interesting - different styles from different times, lots of color, lots of carving on the beams of the homes some of it quite complicated.

And since it is the "Three River City" there was lots of water to look at too.

When we weren't out doing touristy things and walking up the hill, we read and I crocheted and we slept late and we had a relaxing time.

Happy New Year to all.

May the year be peaceful .

Happy Holidays

On December 24 we got together with Mutti, Christoph and Tina and her parents at Christoph's place. This time Klaus didn't have to play chef - Tina had set out everything for Raclette.



Here they are at the table - festive oversized hats on the chair backs, too!



And here's what you do with raclette - put all kinds of goodies on the small tray and put it under the raclette grill in the center of the table. Like fondue, you all get really warm before the meal is over!! It was tasty and casual and leisurely.









Afterwards, we exchaged presents and found our way home by train at midnight.

Then Santa came to our house and we had a lovely breakfast of pancakes and orange sauce, opened all our lovely gifts and took a deep breath.

Merry Christmas!

This and That and the Other

A little quiz:

What costs more: A or B??

A: A piece of Spanish moss

B: Three bottles of good German wine

You know the answer already: this little piece of Spanish Moss costs €9.99 at the local garden shop and the wine (delivered TO OUR HOUSE from the winemaker!) was €3.30 average. Michelle, you have a GOLD MINE in your back yard !! Can you even imagine that people sell it - or worse, buy it ! Seems a bit like selling roaches.

René, Rima and Amina were here last weekend. Mom and Dad visited the art exhibit at the museum and we took Amina on a train ride. There's a new connection between Vegesack and the furthermost part of Bremen - Farge. They had a grand opening all weekend and since we all love taking the train, that's what we did. Here's Amina with Dr. Balloon and her gift from him.

Later we made cupcakes. This Lillifee character is so popular here - and I think Amina likes her most because she's pink. So, pink cupcakes. Just from licking my fingers while getting the icing poured convinced me I didn't want to bite into one of these things; we sent them all home with René and Rima.

Today it was FREEZING. It didn't snow or rain, but there was so much moisture in the air that all the branches of the trees and shrubs were covered with hoar frost; everything was white and bright and oh so pretty. Cold has its good side. This is a scene from our back terrace. Wow.

Upkeep Update

This time of year, postings are a bit more sporadic. It's busy, though that doesn't mean that I'm getting done all the things that need doing. Not even close.

It's a bit of a relief that the 3rd semester Biomimetic students at the college are giving indivdual presentations right now; that means I don't have to prepare lectures for them. On the other hand, there are evaluations and grades to assign which can be equally demanding!

But it is Chrismas time and that means there's the Christmas market. I don't know the history of why that is such a loved tradition in Germany, but it certainly is. Larger cities - and Bremen with less than 700,000 souls counts as "larger" - have markets that go on for almost four weeks before Christmas. Vendors with goods - to sell for gifts or to eat and drink on the spot - are in the downtown area and open for business every day. There are the small carousel rides for the little ones, too. In smaller towns like Affinghausen where Werner comes from, there is a market on just one weekend in December with local raffles for goodies and - naturally - Bratwurst.

Here's a collage of the Bremen Weihnachtsmarkt. I thought it nice that all the trees were decorated with garnet and gold bows. The cups held Glühwein - mulled wine or literally, wine that makes you glow - very popular this time of year at the outdoor markets!

Wish you could enjoy it with us.

Baby Dylan's Stocking

The Christmas sockings for Hunter, Hannah and Hayden were all wonderfully indivdual, special and personal, in my humble opinion. And Dylan's is - I suppose - the last of the stockings for the grandkids. But since I have this medium for broadcasting, her stocking gets s bit more attention.

What a challenge! What else could I come up with? I love buying little bits of things - linen, fabric, lacy odds and ends - without knowing what I will do with them. Finally, it came together. Miss Dylan has a stocking just for her: a tree of old lace and ornaments that I hope will speak to her: an apple, a rose, FSU colors and megaphone, Bremen Musicians. And lots of love.

Food? More Food !

It's been a week and a half since our Thanksgiving dinner. We had bought more Brussels sprouts than necessary - an understatement - so we had to use them. Who knew there were so many things you could do with Brussels sprouts? Amazing - we've had plain old leftover sprouts, turkey and BS casserole, BS with cream and garlic, and even BS soup. Don't try to read too much into this. BS is just BS.

Here's the soup. Actually it's quite good. The recipe - isn't Google incredible ? - from a cook in Australia, says the soup is so tasty that you wouldn't know it was BS. You do. But, no BS, it's good!

In addition to all the Thanksgiving leftovers, I made oatmeal one morning a few days later and there was a bit - well - left over. Maybe we could fry it, Werner said. Fried oatmeal? That sounded weird, but I googled "fried oatmeal" just for fun and - of course you believe it - there were LOTS of recipes for fried oatmeal! Here's one - really good. What won't people eat?

Christmas Season

... here again. Already. Can you believe it?? As usual, I am not ready.

But some of the trappings of the season are done. We sat down to breakfast on Sunday, the First Advent, and lit the Advent candle. This year we opted for one candle instead of the traditional four. With four candles, each is lit on consecutive Sundays, adding one each Sunday, so they burn down at different rates - that doesn't sit so well with Werner, these uneven thingies on the table. I like this, too.

The greenery is from a little "bouquet" of evergreens we bought at the market plus things from the yard and the miniature Pointsettia that I keep buying thinking I can nurse it through till Santa comes. We'll see what happens this year.
Then it was off to René and Rima's for their annual First Advent family luncheon - ten of us this year with her parents, Lex and Monica, us, Mutti, Monica's cousin Ruth (plus Amina of course, though she doesn't eat all THAT much!).

René's kitchen just gets more and more refined. This year it was clear soup with braised dove followed by monkfish on saffron rice, then doe filet and stag filet chops with caramelized shallots (again? someone said !) and puff pastry horns filled with wild mushrooms. Yes, a bit heavy on the meat but all of it was simply delicious. First class.

I brought a cranberry bread, thinking they might have it the next morning, but they served it along side Monika's chocolate bundt cake and Rima's mother's Lebanese cheese cake. They were all well received, and with a couple of requests for the cranberry bread, I was happy.

Amina had to rest between courses - the meal lasted a good three hours - and here she is being read to by her cousin Sarah.

Sigh. Now it's Monday. Two classes down, three more tomorrow, so good night.

Football, American College Style

You can learn all kinds of things when you read. For instance, yesterday I was reading the TV magazine comes with our digital receiver. There are lots more channels of course, but who watches that much television? So, I hadn't paid all that much attention.

BIG MISTAKE !! So, I was looking at the schedule for Saturday, and LOOK WHAT I FOUND:

NASN is the North American Sports Network. OK. That was new. But if you look a little closer:

...you see that Bobby Bowden speaks German!

No, Bobby doesn't speak German (and his English isn't always standard), but things are spoken about him in German. Nevertheless, the planned broadcast for the day was the FSU - FL game at 9 PM our time, 3 PM local time. I was so excited !! That was changed as we know, and it turns out the VaTech game was shown, but here, last week of the season, I am just finding out I can watch some NCAA football! What a hoot. All the stuff there is to see!

Next year ...... maybe they'll show the FSU - FL game and maybe the outcome will be better.

Thanksgiving

We celebrated a day later than there, but Thanksgiving it was. We were supposed to be 9 at the table but poor Peggy was so sick that she and Wolfgang didn't make it. I've already given them the date for next year!

So there was lots of food for the rest of us - I don't know it that was good news or bad news. There are a few more leftovers than usual, but that'll make Werner's mother happy.

The menu has staples and variables and the soup is always in the second category. This year it was Carrot and Cilantro Soup from Delia Smith - I heartily recommend it. (BTW Crissy, you were absolutey right about the pronunciation - Werner was trying to make it Italian!) The main staple is of course the turkey with cornbread dressing. I read a little piece about what makes Thanksgiving Thanksgiving, and the writer said it's NOT the turkey - it's the dressing. I agree! The dressing never changes. Potatoes mashed with parsnips, sweet potatoes with orange butter and cranberries, Brussels sprouts with lemon and poppy seed (thanks to Orangette), green beans. Cranberry sauce, naturally, this time with currants, pears and walnuts. That was good, too - a variation on a Martha recipe. To finish us off, there was pumpkin cheesecake and pecan pie. Coffee. Schnapps. Roll us out the door!

Such an undertaking is never without a hitch; this time it was the pie. I have become a world-class pie crust maker since there's no Pillsbury in the grocery store, so that wasn't it. But I'd forgotten to buy more corn syrup while I was there - oh no! There was a scant 3/4 cup left in the bottle, so a quick internet search for substitutes came up with honey. It worked fine, so another staple was saved.

But the turkey is the star and everyone was just as happy as Ursel to be here for dinner.

Now to take a walk ........... a very long walk.

Belated Birthday

Werner and I did my birthday today. I think we had spent one other birthday of mine apart and one of his as well. Or two. Of mine. Or his. I don't really remember that so well and neither does he; that makes me feel a lot better about my ever-more-weak-and-holey memory.

Since I like decorated eggs, this picture appealed to me. Go figure.

Anyway, we made a date to go to an exhibit about Paula Modersohn-Becker, a German artist of the early 20th century who died 100 years ago this year. Hence the retrospective (click here).

She's a bit of a cult figure here - born in Dresden but Bremen was where she grew up and she lived in Worpswede (the artist's colony north of here that most all of you have visited) when she produced most of her work. She was only 31 when she died from an embolism just after the birth of her only child.

That she had painted so many portraits of women, children, and mothers and babes makes the exhibit a bit more touching.

One aspect of the exhibit compared her many portraits and self-portraits to paintings of ancient Egypt that were painted for mummies. It's a fascinating comparison and highlights how artists were influenced by earlier art and each other.

Afterwards we took in local artistic presentations of food - good old local comfort food in a charming restaurant in our most charming quarter - the Schnoor.

Notes from Florida, Part 2

As much fun as it was with Hunter and Hannah (and Mom and Dad), they were not the major reason for this trip -- the smallest and newest of the bunch was the one I had to see: Dylan Rose. Here she is. Absolutely worth the trip!! Is she a cutie or what ??

It really was Halloween in Orlando - decorated houses and more kids in costumes. Dylan Rose dressed down a bit - the pumpkin was way to warm ! Hayden was a bit warm in his dragon costume, but he still impressed a few folks walking around the neighborhood.

Here's a sort of family portrait - getting everyone togther at the same time and awake proved impossible! As Lee said, sleep deprivation is a fact of life at their house right now.

Don't look too closely at this picture of me with Hayden and Dylan - neither was particularly happy at that moment - so I had to be happy enough for all of us.

And here's Hayden in motion; Dylan doesn't do all that much moving around, so I'll get her next time!

Notes from Florida, Part 1a

I have to briefly mention the FSU game, my birthday and Halloween at Hunter and Hannah's place.

The FSU game was a sight to behold - tents all over the parking lot, grills, tv sets, bands, games, war chants and fight songs on loud speakers. Not even CLOSE to what I knew in college -- or even much later.

Here we are with the stadium in the background in our black t-shirts. The stadium looks kinda black too! Somehow that was supposed to be a team spirit thing, but not everyone was in the spirit. That's OK; we won the game anyway!

If you want to watch the game, you can get re-runs on TV; here's stuff they don't usually show and sometimes the best part of the game: The Marching Chiefs and Renegade !

That was Saturday; Sunday was my birthday. Hunter and Hannah slept till noon (!!!) - we got home really late - so we had to start right away on the cake. We'd bought all the goodies the day before: choclolate cake, chocolate icing, candles and hats. Here's a little collage.

And then it was off to Orlando, but not before I got a shot of Hunter and Hannah in their Halloween costumes, a Super Girl and a menacing Ninja. Wow !

Notes from Florida, Part 1

It's been busy since I arrived, what with eating in a different restaurant for lunch every day, walking the kids home from school, soccer games, birthday parties, homework, and ETC ! There's more to come (today is the road trip to Tallahassee for the FSU game) but in the meantime, here's a video of Hannah at ballet class to keep you a bit up-to-date. Have fun!!

Mittenwald Movie

Here's a too-long video of some of our activities in Mittenwald. But the mountain views are wonderful. The Wetterstein and the Karwendel were the ranges we could see from the windows of Tony and Muriel's apartment.

Muriel spoke of "Ötzi" and I don't know if you know about him. Click here if you want to know more. It is a fascinating story about the mummified remains of a man who lived about 3300BC and found in 1991.

The local residents of Mittenwald that you see in the procession are wearing traditional dress of the region, and in fact the dress that most people think of when they are asked about Germany - Dirndls, Lederhosen, and so on. In Barvaria it is common to wear these costumes but we rarely see this sort of dress in Bremen. In fact, I 'd have to say that the northerners have a bit of prejudice against the Bavarians. But for me as an outsider, I find all these traditions fascinating - without prejudice. But Werner doesn't want me to wear a Dirndl!

The Mountains - Mittenwald, Bavaria

We went to visit Muriel and Tony, our friends from Great Britain. When we got to know them, Muriel taught in central England and her school had a work exchange program with Werner's school and she stayed with us. Tony happened to be working here in Germany at the time and he came for a weekend. It's pretty impossible, I think, to not like Muriel and Tony, so we did and do and we have stayed in touch over these last 10+ years.

When they aren't in Tyne, they're in Mittenwald in very south Germany, right on the Austrian border, south of Munich and Garmish Partenkirchen. It's not easy for us to get there - a bit like going from Pensacola to Key West. You can't get much further away from Bremen and still be in the country. Innsbruck Austria is a 30-minute drive; Munich is about an hour north.

But we finally managed it. We left Tuesday and returned Sunday. I have to say we are awfully lucky when it comes to little holidays - the weather was just great. Lots and lots of sunshine, moderate temperatures, one day that was a bit rainy, but the break from hiking MOUNTAINS was OK.


This is the view from their living area; I'm not kidding. It's easy to imagine why you'd want to be there: "wow" comes to mind. And this is a real picture. I took it myself !

The rocky peak in the background is called the Wetterstein; from the other side of their apartment there's a view of the Karwendel Mountain Range. It's also impressive.

Wednesday

We took a walk around the town after breakfast and looked at many of the paintings on the walls of the homes, shops and churches. It's called Luftmalerei (paintings in the air) and you can see it all over south Germany.

In the afternoon we wallked up to the Lautersee and the Fernchensee in the foothills of the Wetterstein. Behind us here is the waterfall between the two lakes.

We walked about 3 1/2 hours, but I think if you count the vertical, we get credit for at least 7 hours!!!

Thursday

We're none of us early risers, so we rushed to get to the Tourist Office for a 10 AM guided tour of the Luftmalerei but - wouldn't you know - it had been cancelled. So a bit of shopping and then we got our picnic ready for the days' walk.

A more challenging hike today, steeper and higher but with compensating views!

First, a look at the golf course: not bad! Muriel (a golfer herself) said a guest round costs about 60€ - a real bargain considering the view.

The golf course was only the beginning of a high climb: here was our reward.

Friday

Today was the Leutaschklamm: the gorge of the Leutasch River. It is a STEEP walk up and up. This walk has lots of signs - the local authorities have given it a little character to make it more appealing, so there's ghosts and goblins to guide you through this magical area. In my opinion, you don't need more than nature to make it magical.

This is an area of glaciers, so they've marked the glaciers' comings and goings for the last many thousand years. One result is this gorge. Tony and I are standing on the far end of this bridge; I was glad to get off of it since heights are not really my thing. I thought I deserved a badge just for walking over!!


When we got down again, Werner and I did the short walk to the water fall below. It was wet and cold and beautiful.

Saturday

It had become cloudier each day and Saturday the fog (or clouds) were low and the rain came a bit off and on. Too risky for walking so Werner and I drove to Innsbruck. It sounds so EXOTIC - lets's go to Innsbruck! But it's such a short drive - as the crow flies !! By car it's up and down and D-O-W-N. The folks here think a 16% grade is no big deal, but looking at the escape lanes for the trucks made me think otherwise.

The pictures don't do it justice - it was sunnier in Innsbruck but still not so very clear. But the mountains! They were sheer, they were so high and so dominating and I can not imagine skiing down the slopes we saw carved over the city. For a Florida Flatlander, it is quite indescribable.

We walked the city and took in the sites, had coffee and cake at the famous Hotel Sacher. Werner had the Sacher Torte, I had Käsestrudel (cheese strudel) but of course we shared; we always do.

Sunday

Sunday started with a bang, literally, at 6 AM -- cannon shots from the mountain to mark Erntedankfest - Thanksgiving. I was not so very thankful to wake up wondering what war I was in the middle of!! We knew there would be a formal procession, but we didn't know about the fire works. NOT a pleasant awakening. Remember St. Anne's Fest in Staufen, G+B??

There were lots of shots to follow, many long bell ringings, and though getting up and staying up from 6 AM on is not my thing, it was a bit fun. At nine we went to the church to watch the procession, but we weren't really in the right place to see it all in order. No matter, we saw a lot at it was impressive!! All the women and girls were in their finery, the men were wearing their best work clothes - farmers, firemen, violin makers, foresters, hunters - led by someone carrying the standard on a pole that was a good 12 feet high. And please don't forget the brass band!

We had to get on the road, so we left to pack up. A good hour later, they were still proceeding around the town. A great send off!!

Here's Tony and Muriel and one last mountain shot. Can't wait to go back!