Weihnachten!

Snow falling on half-timbered homes, medieval castles, cobblestone streets, stores proudly displaying 6ft tall gingerbread houses and of course, the enchanting Christmas Markets bursting with hand-carved candle powered pyramids, Nussknackers and advent wreaths.  There’s undoubtedly something fairy-tale like about Christmas in Germany.  We visited 3 Christmas markets including the famous Nuernberg Christkindlmarkt which did not disappoint.  It also has a separate square geared towards the Kinder!  It was freezing though and at one point, Declan declared he couldn't take another step because he feet were "steaming cold."

Emma bought a wooden board for a friend and had her name burned on it

When asked if she wanted a sausage, Emma replied, "Only if it's whole grain."

Advent holds quite a predominant role here in Bavarian culture.  All the kids in Emma’s class brought a gender neutral gift, then each day of Advent one child got to take home a little surprise.  Serena’s class was similar except that two kids dressed up like angels to hand out the gifts.  Last week, Emma and Declan’s classes sang in front of the village church which was followed by horse and carriage rides and chased by Glühwein and Heiße Schokolade.  Emma's school also performed their Christmas program this evening complete with the nativity story, Christmas songs, instrumental pieces and a puppet show!  Attendance was mandatory (!) since the kids are dismissed an hour earlier on the last day before break.

Good cop, bad cop?

On December 5, after setting their boots by the door, children recite poems for Nikolaus, who comes with his bishop's staff and bag of treats for well-behaved kids but he’s not alone.  His escort, Knecht Ruprecht, has his own stick and bag to collect the naughty ones.  He uses the stick to push the kids down in the bag!

We set up our Christmas tree just after St. Nick’s to the shock of all our friends.  Apparently, it’s more common to wait until a few days before Christmas if not Christmas Eve.  The big Christmas celebration/gift exchange takes place on December 24, often with duck, sausages and potato salad.  A window is left open to allow entry for the Christkind aka Weihnachtsmann to deliver his goodies.  Christkind literally means Christ Child or Jesus and Declan was surprised to hear Jesus is involved in the present business here.  In Milwaukee, all he brings is eternal salvation and peace on earth! 
 

Our neighborhood hosts a wonderful street advent calendar in which each house decorates a window and then all the neighbors gather to the revealing of that day’s numbered window followed by more Glühwein and cookies.  Seriously, how much more Glühwein can these Krauts drink? 

This one is ours!

 

Keeping warm waiting for the window reveal

The year winds up with New Year’s Eve, Silvester.  A popular drink is Feuerzangenbowle – a spiced red wine with sugar and rum.  On Silvester, you shouldn’t serve duck because all your luck and fortune in the new year could fly away with it.  It’s a widespread tradition to watch the black and white British short film, “Dinner For One” and set off fireworks.  Not just harmless sparklers mind you, but zoom past your head, wake up your neighbors fireworks.

Gluehwein anyone?

 On that note, Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein Frohes Neues Jahr!  May your year go out in a bang!

Stuttgart!

The guild for a drugstore

The German school year follows the  pattern of 6-7 weeks of school, then a break of 1-2 weeks.  Summer vacation is about 6 weeks.  The first such break was the Herbstferien, or Fall Break.  We headed 2 1/2 hours west to the Stuttgart area.  Fun Trivia - Stuttgart, geographically speaking, is basically a bowl with over 500 of its streets ending in stairs!  On the way, we stopped in Dinkelsbuehl, yet another beautiful, seemingly medieval city.

Note the dipped stone steps from centuries of feet!          And here we are near what remains of the old moat.

  

 The traditional exposed timber homes are called Fachwerkhaeuser. Here's a peek at what's behind the plaster.  Apparently, all sorts of things were thrown in between the woven wood to insulate and as common in many cities, as the floors went higher, they extended outwards.  Taking up less real estate, the owners paid less in taxes. 

 No need for street signs in Dinkelsbuehl.  The street names are just painted right on the corner house.











Know why this little guy is smiling?  Because we told him we're finally going to leave this town with the "broken stuff" and go find dinosaur fossils! 

This wasn't our first attempt at excavating dinosaur fossils.  Andrew and the kids searched at a quarry for over an hour near Berching and  let's just say they nearly found one.  It was like camel spotting with Eric Idle!  So spirits were a little low. Extra thanks therefore to the Urweltsteinbruchfischer in Holzmaden, all 3 kids found more fossils than they (read - we) could carry.  This area used to be a prehistoric sea and although the museum boasted enormous, bus sized fossils, we were satisfied with our specimens! 

 BYO Chisel and Hammer!

 Off to Ludwigsburg Palace, one of Germany's largest Baroque palaces.  Although it was stunning to see all the fancy ceiling detail and golden everything, the contrast between the crazy lifestyle excesses of the Duke's family and the peasant class of the time could not be overlooked.

 The Kinderreich program offered the kids the chance to don clothes from the 1700's and learn dances and formal dining etiquette.  We could hardly hold the girls back, Declan on the other hand needed a little prodding....

 

Meanwhile, the extensive grounds at Ludwigsburg were celebrating a Pumpkin Fest featuring all things Swiss. 

 

 

The next day, we hit the ultra sleek Mercedes - Benz Museum.  It was a tough decision (serious turmoil for Andrew) because the Porsche museum is also in Stuttgart.  We saw Karl Benz's creation of the first gas-powered car, the Benz Motorwagen, patented in January 1886.

The first Mercedes-Benz brand name vehicles were produced in 1926, following the merger of Karl Benz's and Gottlieb Daimler's companies into the Daimler-Benz company.



Two interesting nuggets:  The name Mercedes came from the daughter of an Austrian businessman, Emil Jellinek, who was an important customer and later dealer of Mercedes-Benz vehicles.  Also, MB has recently acknowledged the use of forced laborers supplied by Nazi camps during WWII.

 

 The museum offered a great mixture of political/social history as well as a glimpse of the complex technology central to building the Mercedes Benz conglomerate.  Our children, of course, were content to focus on their own buildings....

Then...  (are you thinking this is the longest trip EVER?  :) Then we visited an indoor swimming park with cool ice towers.

 

 Outdoor thermal pools!

Yes - I am airborne! 

The last stop was the Ritter Sport Factory and Museum in Waldenbuch.  We enrolled the girls in the Schokowerkstatt program (Declan wasn't old enough) which included a factory tour, museum visit and then they got to create their own chocolate bars and design their own packaging.  They loved it!  If only there were an adult program...

 

Anybody need a meter of chocolate?

Meanwhile Andrew, Declan and I hit the store. As with most trips, great to go, but we were all happy to head home when the 4 day trip was over.