Genealogy search in Germany

Today was my last full day in Germany before I head home tomorrow, so Lesa agreed to drive me about 90 miles south to a small village called Weislingen where my great, great grandparents were born. Spring break was over, so Chance and Bella had to go back to school today, so it was just Lesa and Rachael and I going for a drive.




Here's a photo of the town as you are driving in....it was foggy today, so it's not a very good view.



Most of my family has lived in Kansas for several generations, and the most recent immigrants were four generations ago, my great, great grandparents. On my father's side, there were two from England and one from Wales. On my mother's side, there were two from Germany, Christian Klein and Magdalena Hunsinger. There were both born in Weislingen before immigrating to the USA where the lived the rest of the lives near McPherson, KS. Their daughter, Katie Klein, married my great grandfather Hugh Holler, who was also from German heritage, but that was 8 generations ago. All of these ancestors were from the Alsace region, which is just south of where Lesa lives. Alsace is now a region of France which borders both Germany and Switzerland. At the time my ancestors lived there, it was mostly German territory and has a long history of going back and forth between France and Germany. The capitol of the Alsace region is Strasbourg, which often hosts international meetings such as the NATO summitt that was held there at the beginning of April. I don't want to be French, so I've decided that it is German territory for my purposes :)

This is a view of the foresty area you drive through right outside of town...it was so pretty, but my pictures aren't very good.


The village of Weislingen is very small, just a few streets, and doesn't even have a town square. According to wikipedia, it has 583 residents. It's quite a way off the main highways, but thankfully we had GPS to help us find it. We drove through the town and went to turn around and noticed a cemetary off to the side of the road, so we stopped. The cemetary was small, but full of Hunsingers, Kleins, Muglers, and other names from my family tree, so at least I knew I had found the right town!

The cemetary:


I took pictures of all of the tombstones with Klein or Hunsinger last names (there were about 20), but based on the birthdates, they would all be decendents of relatives who stayed, as they were all born in the mid to late 1800s. My great, great grandparents were born there in 1846 and 1854. I did not find their parents, but some of the older tombstones were no longer readable, so they could have been there.

Here's a photo of one of the many Klein tombstones I found:

another favorite pic

I forgot to post this one yesterday....it's Lesa and the kids walking through one of the entrances to the courtyard in the Louvre. You can see the famous pyramid entrance ahead.

Favorite Pics from Paris

This is a photo of Bella holding the museum map in on of the many hallways of the Louvre.



The kids sitting along the street in Paris, Bella is explaining to her mom that it was Chance's fault, not hers, for whatever offense jut occurred.



Lesa and Rachael in the Louvre.



Chance and Rachael looking through the window in the Louvre.



Lesa and Rachael on the boat taxi

Paris in a day - whew!

We decided to make a quick trip to Paris, which ended up being a lot of fun and quite tiring all at the same time! Lesa had a lunch thing on base that she was in charge of on Thursday, so we didn't leave until around 4:30 pm. It took us about 6 hours (numerous bathroom breaks) to get there, find our hotel, and find parking. That was quite an adventure all in itself! I'm an avid map reader, but nothing is on a grid in Paris (or anywhere Europe), so I had a lot of trouble following the map. Thankfully Lesa has GPS or we would have never (and i do mean never) found our hotel. We stayed at an unmarked hotel for French miltary officers that they allow American military to use when rooms are available. It was in the Latin Quarter, near many of the Universities, and across the street from the Sorbonne, though I never did figure out which building that was. Here's a photo of Rachael outside the door to the hotel.

It was after midnight by the time we got the kids settled down and asleep, so we slept in until 9:00 (my kind of schedule!) on Friday before heading out to explore the city. We stopped at a bakery for some chocolate croissants for breakfast and started walking to Notre Dame for our first destination. Since it was Good Friday, they were in the middle of mass when we arrived, but oddly enough, they allowed visitors to walk all around while this was going on. So while about 200 people were attending mass in this huge cathedral, there were hundreds of tourist walking around, taking photos, and purchasing things from the gift store at the side of the room. Quite a weird experience. We were forunate to get right in because as we left we noticed that the line had formed with a couple hundred people lining the courtyard in front.

The kids on a bridge over the river Seine with Notre Dame cathedral in the background



Chance holding Rachael in front of the entrance to Notre Dame cathedral.


Next we walked to the Louvre. We didn't want to take time to tour the whole museum, but we did want to go in and see part of it, so along with many other tourists, we headed straight for the Mona Lisa, the only painting familiar to me. The place is HUGE and there were tons of people there, as is evident in these photos.


This photo is of the Mona Lisa (the small painting in the middle of the photo surrounded by the mob of photographers.)


This next photo is Lesa and the kids outside the entrance to the Louvre.



After the Louvre, we hopped on one of the boat taxis to head to our final destination, the Eiffle Tower. Again, it was packed. I'm not a huge fan of crowds, so I was about done with Paris by this time, and the kids were starting to get a little cranky as well. We stopped at four different playgrounds during the day to give them play breaks, but it was still a lot of walking, and with a three year old along, we couldn't walk very fast.


Me and Chance in front of the Eiffel Tower.



That evening we went back to the hotel to rest for a little bit, then met Lesa's cousin at a nearby restaurant. She has lived in Paris for over ten years, so she was able to help us read the menus and gave us some history about the restaurant. It was owned by a family from central France, so the cuisine was from their region, along with the wine. Lesa said it was dry wine, which is what she likes best. I don't really anything about wine, but I do know that I liked the wine she had at home better, which she said was German sweet wine. I had lamb with roasted garlic for dinner, which was wonderful. Lesa had roast duck, and the kids had a little bit of everything. After dinner I took them back the hotel for bed so Lesa and her cousin could visit without all the distractions. Oh, and the best part of the restaurant is that they had a big black cat named Morris who wandered around while we ate :)

And here is one of my favorite photos from the day. It's the kids down the steps from the Eiffel Tower, trying to do these weird poses for Lesa so she could get a photo where it looks like they are holding the tower in their hands.


I have a lot of other favorite photos that aren't necessarily of any Paris landmark that I'll try to put on here tomorrow.

Castle

Yesterday we went to visit Nanstein Castle, which is just up the hill from where they live in Landstuhl. Today we are heading to Paris, and will return on Saturday. Currently, the girls are crying/screaming "I don't want to go to Paris", so I think the trip will be fun. I think they are tired of road trips and just want to stay home and play. Oh well, poor kids have to go to Paris :) Here are a few photos from the castle.




Here is a photo of Ramstein air force base from the top of the castle. This is where Andy works.

Misc Germany Photos

The kids walking in front of the Cathedral in Cologne (see post below for more cathedral photos)


This is a german village we drove by near Trier (close to Luxemborg).

Rachael walking down the street in Cologne.

Cologne, Germany

On Tuesday, we took a short road trip (three hours each way) to Cologne (Koln). It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, and was founded in 38 BC. We went to the Koln Cathedral which was originally built in 1248. During world war II it survived 14 aerial bombs and is still standing despite 95% of the city being destroyed during the war.



We also went to the chocolate museum, and walked along the River Rhine which runs through the middle of Cologne.

Free samples from the chocolate fountain in the back:

Lazy Monday in Germany....

Today Rachael woke up with a fever, so we decided to stay put and relax. Lesa took Rachael to the doctor to get some medicine, which fortunately is just a short walk over the hill, and the ER doctor is their next door neighbor, so they got in and out pretty quickly. She ended up being okay, just needing some rest. We also walked over to a bazaar that the base was hosting. I didn't buy anything, but there were some really cool cork purses and wallets from Portugal that I might have purchased if they were a lot cheaper. We also sampled lots of cheese from Holland and some schnapps from Germany.

This evening we went out to dinner, and tried to go to a German restaurant in nearby village, but it was closed, so we ended up at Chili's on base. It was fun to drive around and see more of the air force base. Here's a photo of Bella in her super cute outfit for going out to eat.

Sunday (Day 3) in Germany

Today was our rest day, since we sort of wore the kids out with all the walking on Saturday. We went to church this morning at the First Baptist Church in a nearby town. It's an American church with mostly military families. After church we had lunch at a wonderful Italian restaurant in one of the nearby villages.

This afternoon I played outside with the kids for awhile since it was so nice. Andy has been teaching Bella how to ride her bike without training wheels and here are a few photos I took of Bella and Chance riding in their cul-de-sac.


Rachael has had a bad cough from her allergies, so in an attempt to get her to rest, she and I came inside to watch Thumbalina. I've seen better movies. First of all, I wouldn't recommend a movie with Barbie as one of the main characters, but that's just my opinion. I kept falling asleep during the movie and everytime three year old Rachael would catch me with my eyes closed, she grabbed my face and said "stop that attitude!". I'm assuming she has heard her mother say this and thinks it means that you are doing something she doesn't like. It just made me laugh, which then made Rachael laugh too. Later when I was showing her photos of my kittens on my computer, she said "stop it Kelly, you're killing me!". Funny kid!

Now I'm drinking a glass of wine and getting ready to plan out the rest of the week. We can't decide where to go: Paris, or Amsterdam, or Munich/Austria. They are all about 4 or 5 hours away so we were thinking of doing an overnight trip, just can't decide on which direction to go! Too many choices....

Music Video

Here is a short video of Bella dancing in Heidelburg while we were listening to the street musicians and waiting for Lesa to get her Starbucks!

Day 2 Flea Market and Heidelburg

Busy, fun day! Saturday morning we went to Homburg to go to a flea market. It was a huge flea market and lots of fun! I scored some Micheal Jackson albums for Julie, which I know she will treasure, and a necklace. Rachael scored a nice big bratwurst (see photo)
After the flea market, the kids played at a playground near downtown Homburg where we parked, while Lesa and I rested on the bench. Then we drove about twenty minutes to some town in France which I don't know the name of. It was very anti-climatic crossing the border from Germany into France because no one even stopped us, much less stamped my passport :( We went into France to go to a large grocery store called Cora to pick up a few things. The store had a very large liquor department (mostly wine and beer), including this wine in a juice box Lesa is holding. Nice!After pizza for lunch, we headed back to Germany and drove an hour or so to Heidelburg. This was a great city to visit, although it was packed with visitors out enjoying the beautiful day. We walked through the shopping district, stopping for ice cream of course.

My favorite part was walking across the bridge and seeing the gorgeous views of the city. Here's a photo of Lesa and the kids near the entrance to the bridge.

Germany Day 1

I arrived in Frankfurt around 7:30 am Friday morning, which was seven hours earlier back in Kansas (or about the time I would normally be falling asleep). I slept for about an hour on the plane, but was too excited to sleep much more. Lesa picked me up from the airport, which was a little over an hour from where she lives. She said I had to stay awake at least until supper time, and then I could go to bed early, but if I took a nap my time schedule would be off for days. This sounded good to me because there was so much to do, who wants to sleep on the first day of vacation???

Once we found our way out of the Frankfurt airport, we headed to Ramstein military base to get me a visitor’s pass and photo ID (lovely). We also went grocery shopping at the commissary and walked around the area on base a little bit. They had several little shopping areas in the next building including a small bookstore, hallmark store, thrift store, bank, etc. It was actually pretty nice and Lesa said they will be building a little mall on base soon which will house all these stores.

Apparently there are multiple military bases in the area and they house not only American military, but other NATO members as well. Lesa and her family actually live on the base in Landstuhl, even though Andy works at Ramstein. Landstuhl is a medical base, housing the hospital where the wounded Iraqi soldiers come before heading home to the states. It’s a smaller base and a very nice, quiet place to live. They live in a three bedroom house on cul-de-sac with tons of kids. It’s surrounded by tall evergreen trees and made me feel like I was in the pacific northwest. It’s beautiful!

So eventually we got back to the house and greeted the kids. I showed them the gifts I brought (the HSM movies and some wooden animal painting kits), and they wanted to immediately go outside and start painting. Here’s a photo of them painting, and a close up of the butterfly Rachael was working on. After painting was over, we walked over to the hospital to go to the bank on the first floor so I could change some money over to Euros. We also stopped and talked with lots of the neighbors, as everyone was out enjoying the nice spring day, watching the kids play.

Next, Lesa, Bella, and Rachael and I decided to walk down the hill into the village of Landstuhl to get some ice cream (and keep me from sitting down where I might fall asleep). It was a pretty walk down a tree lined street with views of the village below. This is the closest town to where I am staying. I was just reading about it on wikipedia and it says it is a village of about 9000 people in the region of Kaiserslautern. Here are a couple of photos from the walk, and one of our yummy ice cream.

I was able to stay up until about 7:30, then finally off to bed! It’s about 5:30 am now and I'm up early while everyone else is still in bed (this would never happen if it weren't for jet lag!), and soon we are heading to Homburg (not to be confused with Hamburg which is way north) to go to a flea market, and then to Heidelburg to go to a castle or something like that.

More pictures tomorrow!

My playlist for the week

This week might kill me. I like a little bit of busyness, but this is too much. Today I had fun speaking to a high school class this morning, then spent 8 hours at the office getting ready for the week ahead (yes, that's in addition to the four hours I spent at the office on Sunday afternoon). Tuesday I drive to Topeka and back for our monthly management team meeting. I'm looking forward to the meeting and the lunch with our new staff, but I sure hate having to be on the road by 6:30 am to be in Topeka by 9:00. It makes me a little bit cranky. Wednesday I am back in Topeka (don't have to be there until 10:00 that day though) for our Advocacy event at the Capitol to kick of Child Abuse Prevention month in April. Then after a quick afternoon meeting, I'm heading to Lenexa to stay the night so I can do two days of training with our new home visiting staff on Thursday and Friday. It's a fun training to do, and I'm looking forward to seeing some college friends while I am in town. Actually the week wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't teaching online classes at the same time, meaning I'll be spending time each evening responding to students posts and assignments. I'm planning to crash on Saturday!

Since I'm spending so much time on the road this week, I made a new playlist to take with me of songs I like. Hopefully I won't be kicked out of my house church for my taste in music, although I think we established tonight that we are all accepted and appreciated, despite our differences.

Cecelia - Simon and Garfunkel
Everything'll be Alright - Joshua Radin
Kodachome - Simon and Garfunkel
Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers
Long Time Gone - Dixie Chicks
Manic Monday - Relient K
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard - Simon and Garfunkel
Only the Good Die Young - Billy Joel
Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me - Terri Clark
Sky - Joshua Radin
Star Mile - Joshua Radin
Suddenly I see - KT Tunstall
Vegetable Car - Joshua Radin
The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
We Are Okay - Joshua Radin
Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks
You're Still Standing There - Lucy Kaplansky

And when I go on really long road trips (like my drive to Illinois I'll be making this summer), these are my favorite CDs to bring along:

Karaoke Superstar - Superchick
Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek - Relient K
ABBA Gold
The soundtrack from High School Musical (the first one)
The Beatles Greatest Hits 1962-1966

:)

Lent journey 2009

With the Lenten season beginning this week, I have been giving a lot of thought as to what I do want to do to make the season more meaningful in my life. I may still attempt my usual fast of giving of soft drinks, but I decided to focus more this year on something I could add, rather that what I might give up. My goal is to have some sort of sabbath each week. Since I go to church on Saturday nights, I am fortunate to have my Sundays free, so I've decided to try and make the next six Sundays a day of rest and study and reflection.

I'm not exactly sure what one is supposed to do or not do on the Sabbath, so I'm making up my own rules. First off, I'm starting a little early with today so I can get in six Sundays before I leave for Germany on Palm Sunday weekend. I'll be in Germany visiting friends for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday weekends, so my personal Lenten journey will probably end when that trip begins. One of my first rules is no television or movies, although tonight I do want to watch the Academy Awards, so I may end my day by breaking my first rule. My goal isn't to make a bunch of rigid rules though, but to be more thoughtful and planful in finding time to spend enriching my christian life. One of my goals for the year was to keep a prayer journal at least once a week. I had not started this yet, and so I'm hoping that carving out some time each Sunday during Lent to spend in extended prayer, specifically in written prayer, will get me started on this goal, and extend it beyond Lent. Writing out my prayers has always been helpful as it helps me to focus and reflect. Another goal has to been to pray for my church at least once each week, so that is definitely becoming part of the Lenten practice as well. I'm embarrassed by how little I pray for my church now.

I also want to spend time studying scripture, something which I have found myself neglecting over the past year. I'm finishing up a study of Esther with a few friends, and I think I want to continue some Old Testament studying during this time. I'm also rereading the book "Mudhouse Sabbath" by Lauren Winner. I started this book (and many others) last year and never finished it. It's a very short, easy read, so I'm starting over to read it, hoping it might give me some good insight into how to use my six week practice in honoring the Sabbath. It's also another one of my 2009 goals to finish all the books I started last year, so this will help me achieve that as well.

In the introduction to the Mudhouse Sabbath, Winner writes that "practice is to Judaism what belief is to Christianity". Her perspective in writing this book is that she grew up Jewish and converted to Christianity during college. As she relishes her new understanding of Jesus Christ, she also misses some of the practices of the Jewish faith. She goes on to say "your faith might come and go, but your practice ought not waver. (Indeed, Judaism suggests that the repeating of the practice is the best way to ensure that a doubter's faith will return)". I find that as I get older the Christian faith is less about the emotional experiences that you experience in youth like church camp, CIY, Bible college, etc. and more about the perserverance of your faith, your ability to continue to believe and act out those beliefs, even when the emotion isn't there. I've always been fascinated with the concept of self-discipline, always searching for ways to make myself more disciplined, and this plays into that fascination I suppose.

Well, on to finish my time of study and prayer. And for my loyal reader who has been requesting for some new cat updates, a couple cute cat photos:

The cats helping me get ready in the morning. They are not really that helpful.

Close up of Topher


Willie in the sink. He likes to drink from the faucet while he is in the sink and it is dripping on him.