Day Trips

Neumarkt sets up an ice rink for a few months every winter.  Available snacks:  curry french fries, all sorts of gummi treats, Kinderpunsch and Glühwein.  This was Declan's first time on skates and thanks to a certain Pinguin, the day was a success!

 

The kids and I are doing our best Frankenstein walks...

We spent a day in Ingolstadt,  home of the Deutsches Medizinhistorisches Museum.  The museum was one of the sites used by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein.  It was where the good doctor studied and gained... inspiration.

 Some Ingolstadt street scenes: On January 6, Drei heilige Könige, kids will go house to house and sing for a donation.

Then your doorway will be marked and blessed for the coming year. These gentlemen represent these 3 kings, or wise men, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.  Who knew they had names!  The CMB below in the photo is often thought to refer to their names but it's actually from Latin Christus Mansionem benedicat - Christus möge dieses Haus segnen. May Christ bless this house.

Our door!

Schloss Neuschwanstein inspired Walt Disney

 Luckily for us, there was also this fantastic exhibit on "Crazy" King Ludwig II (1845-1886) at the Bayerisches Armeemuseum in Ingolstadt.  Crowned at 18, the craziness didn't really creep in for several decades when he started to retreat from the public and even from his advisers (they often had trouble even getting signatures as he reportedly would hide).  He is most well-known for his castles, including Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein which completely drained the treasury.  He died under mysterious circumstances -- did he drown or did he get some assistance?

 A = Austria or I = Italy?  On this trip, we stayed in Germany and went to Munich for another museum exhibit, much to our children's dismay.  Why oh why  must their parents be history geeks?

This time it was on the 30 Years War, 1618-1648, which was a complicated tangle between the Habsburgs, the House of Austria, the Danish, Dutch, Spanish, French, Swedish and various Germanic dukedoms.  Most of the battles took place within the modern German borders.

Porous bones

 It was also a religious war to a certain extent among Catholics, Lutherans and Calvinists.  The mess was compounded by armies who were expected to be largely self-funding (plunder anyone?) which left huge areas completely devastated for years.  The soldiers often joined up to escape famine and poverty and were known to switch sides depending on who was winning -> who had better living conditions.  Remember, this lasted 30 years...

A recreation of a typical soldier

So this exhibit focused on a grave discovered in Wittstock, Germany.  During some digging, bones were found and assumed to be from the Death Marches of WWII.  Upon closer examination, it was determined the 125 bodies were from the 30 Years War. The bodies were carefully excavated and analyzed.  What I find found fascinating was not so much the cause of death but the condition of the physical health of the soldiers.  Bones showed malnutrition for their entire life, scurvy, parasites of all sorts, rickets, and massive tooth decay.  The teeth of some soldiers were nearly ground down to their jaw due to the rough grain bread available.

The "train" which followed the soldiers was often twice as long.  It consisted mostly of cooks, wives, widows, children, prostitutes, and blacksmiths.  So imagine 15, 000 troops plus their entourage heading through your village.  If you survived the attack, joining them was often your only hope of survival, especially in winter.


The museum offered a special children's program which included an excavation of its own.
.

We were joined by the Lloyds

The day wasn't completely museum based - we visited Munich's famous English Garden known in summer for its topless sunbathers and in winter for its surfers!

Kinder Küche Kirche

Children, kitchen and church.  In the late 1800’s as women started taking more and more interest in politics, a counter movement insisted that these 3Ks were the proper place for women.  In 1934, Hitler argued that for the German woman her “world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home”and he bestowed the Cross of Honor of the German Mother  on women bearing four or more babies.   Well, I don"t have four or more children but certainly find my days extremely busy and fulfilling handling our 3 Ks plus a T (tourist outings).

 




Kinder The kids are all taking music lessons and over the course of these 6 months, we’ve finally learned the way things run here.  Learning an instrument is challenging anyway but who know the notes would change?  B still exists but only as B flat.  Emma’s violin lessons are 62 Euros ($82) a month for 30 minutes.  Renting a violin was unpredictably complicated (apparently most people buy and then trade in).  Therefore we were thrilled when Emma’s classroom teacher offered us one from the collection he had in storage at the school.  Yippee!  Her teacher is from Azerbaijan and was surprised that Emma had started when she was five.  

Serena’s school offers subsidized piano lessons after school.  How very convenient!  33 Euro per month seems a steal.  We had forgotten Serena’s books in Milwaukee so the Grafs sent them only to have the envelope arrive empty!  Of course, an investigation turned up nothing so much to our surprise, the Grafs and our former piano teacher repurchased her books and mailed them again!  Her current teacher, a cheerful and friendly German lady, started Serena right off the bat with some contemporary pieces much to Serena’s delight and now can also continue with her familiar books.  She and Emma do a great duet to Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

Since the girls both started their instruments at five, Declan was very disappointed that he had to wait until he was six but it was nearly impossible to find a studio or a private teacher here who would teach someone his age anything other than the recorder.  Luckily we finally located a wonderfully, warm and chatty Frenchman who accepted him as a piano student (65 Euros per month for 30 minutes).  He now has a small collection of mastered  songs which include the left hand - favorites are Yankee Doodle and Sum Sum Sum.

Serena is the top bridge

The girls have also joined the Artisten Kiste, which combines tumbling, juggling, unicylces and acrobatics.  Three hours at week cost 83 Euros a month for both of them. Thanks to their years at Swiss Turners in West Allis, the tumbling was no problem.  They were placed in a group where the average girls are between 11-14 and needed to quickly learn to juggle and ride a unicycle.  

That's Emma on top

Emma has the Einrad down (literally translated, one wheel) and Serena’s close but regarding juggling, both girls are far from getting 3 of anything to stay in the air.  The acrobatics are fun for them, being the youngest and therefore the lightest in the group, they’re always on top!  Here are a few shots from their Christmas Parent Show.  Their first formal performance will be in May in Mannheim, yes, as in Steamroller.  Mannheim is a 3 hour train ride away. They’ll travel with the team, watch the German National Gymnastics Finals and prepare for their performance.   More to come on that.

It seems to be common practice here for you to pay the teacher/organization even when there's no service provided ie school vacation, teacher or student is sick or needs to cancel. We pay for all these lessons, and in fact every other regular bill by automatic transfer. This “Bill Pay” option is of course widespread in the US.  One small difference is that I can transfer an amount to another bank or to my neighbor or anyone without paying any fees and it has been so at least since I studied here in 1994.  Many Germans are astonished that the American banking system is so antiquated and that people still hand write checks!  If they only knew the charming personal check designs available… 

Küche 

Cooking and baking abroad are always a challenge as ingredients either don’t exist or aren’t easy to substitute.  We miss good Mexican food, cheddar cheese, ranch dip, prepared pie crusts, fruit leather, and Trader Joe’s hummus.  During our first couple weeks here, we all commented on how many foods in Germany just seemed…bland.  One certain granola with caramel and chocolate pieces was such a disappointment because it looked delicous on the box but just wasn’t sweet enough so we added sugar.  Seasoned rice, soup,  even chicken breasts just seemed a tad blah without that extra salt.  (Unlike many chicken breast suppliers in the US, the meat here is not injected with a salt solution.)  It turns out, the problem was us and all the additives we’re used to.  I’m happy to report that in the meantime, our tastebuds seem to have recovered and recalibrated and we are now absolutely enjoying our meals here.  As for that granola, the only addition necessary now is milk and a spoon.

There are so many wonderful cookbooks in our kitchen so I’ve decided to try a recipe for a new local dish every week.  Nothing as ambitious as “Julie & Julia” but still a fun challenge and most of them have turned out.  This one is hollowed out potato halves, simmered in beef broth, then broiled with sausage and onions.  Lecker!    

The dessert below is called Maulwurfkuchen (Mole hill cake) with a surprise of chocolate flake cream and bananas in the middle.

Mmmm, lard....

Bavarian cuisine is relatively heavy – lots of pork, game, bread, and potatoes.  One notable item is Schmalz.  This is basically lard.  I have vague recollections of my grandparents eating lard sandwiches and we kids would always feign vomiting so you can imagine my surprise to discover that it survived the Great Depression to emerge quite a popular spread!  Andrew likes a certain brand with bacon bits, in case the caloric intake wasn’t high enough alone.  At the Pöllinger Weinfest, you could only order Wurst with mustard, Schmalzbrot or sliced cheese with freshly ground pepper.

Another local spread making a regular appearance at our dinner table is Obazta, a creamy mixture of camembert, butter, paprika, cumin, salt, onion and pepper.

Kirche   

We are all getting a crash course in Catholicism living here in Bavaria.  There are crucifixes in every classroom, public buildings, city parks and sometimes along side a road at the sight of an accident.  All three schools offer the kids some version of religious instruction.  Serena reports that they are learning the books of the Bible and Who’s Who in the Gospels, Emma’s class is focusing on family and what makes a good friend.  Her friends taught her the sign of the cross.  Declan says that his class sings and prays.  Then he sang a cute little song and shared a chant.  “And what do you pray about?” I ask.  “Penis, bagina, weiners, weiners, weiners, boogers, butthole, weiners, kaka.”  I should have been happy with the song.

A common greeting here is "Grüβ Gott." (Greet God) There are even several religious  holidays in Bavaria that are either not legal holidays in the rest of Germany or just simply not celebrated.   You even are automatically taxed 7% (Kirchensteuer) when you file your yearly taxes.  You can claim exemption if you check that you don't belong to either State Churches - Landeskirchen. (Catholic or Lutheran)

Upon our arrival in Neumarkt, we visited several churches and were constantly amazed by the gilded ceilings and pure historic relevance of these tremendous buildings. None the less, the old ones are cold!  No basement and no heating system.  Brrrr!  On our first visit to the Free Church in Neumarkt, we witnessed a bit of chaos:  they were between pastors, the guy who had played piano jumped up and gave the sermon, then there was a problem with the overhead displaying the songs.  Little formality, no overly choreographed music and wonderful, welcoming people - we were home!  Bonus - lots of familiar songs from our years in Kiel.

All in all, services are similar to our Free Church in Milwaukee with a few variations in communion and format.  Most are somewhat reserved in style.  A recent Ugandan visitor made the observation that the Germans definitely feel moved to clap and cheer and passionately sing in joy... when it comes to Fuβball, not in church.  Maybe he's onto something there...!

Eisenach 

Whenever we can, we break up the 8 hr drive to Andrew's parents' house, doubly so this Christmas with Andrew's arm still being in a cast which meant I got to do all the driving.  So we chose Eisenach because 1) it was on the way! 2) Johann Sebastian Bach was born there and Luther lived there and 3) it's yet another charming German city.

Das Bachhaus is a fantastic example how to marry old and new.  His childhood home has been amazingly restored due to 600 years of time and then the bombing in WWII.  Hmm, I wonder who did that?

The renovated sections have been connected to a sleek high tech museum showcasing a wonderful variety of his works, contemporary books and instruments.

This little treasure is a glass harmonica, invented in 1760, and played by rotating a pedal and wetting your finger!  Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss and Wagner also wrote pieces specifically for this instrument.

Emma liked this Taschengeige (pocket violin) which was used by dance teachers.  They could easily stow it in their pocket, show their students the correct steps and then play the piece again.

Now, I'm no cartographer, but I would guess this world map is not to scale...

Notice the location of the black and white keys - ivory was known but incredibly expensive.

Here's a little nugget: Bach (1685-1750) and a friend walked to Hamburg in search of work after they finished their schooling.  Also, Bach had 20 children! He had seven children with his first wife, his cousin, and thirteen children with his second.  Only 10 in total survived childhood.

Luther Statue

Martin Luther in a nutshell: (1483 – 1546) German monk, priest, professor of theology and major player in the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed many practices in the Catholic church's including the claim that sins could be "paid off" by purchasing  Indulgences in his Ninety-Five Theses which he nailed to the front door of the castle church in Wittenberg in 1517. His refusal to retract all this got him excommunicated.

With a price on his head, he was "kidnapped" by Frederick the Wise of Saxony and hidden away for a year at Wartburg Castle.

Eisenach's Wartburg Castle

During this time, he translated the New Testament into German.  Up until then, it had only been in Latin and only available through the filter of the clergy.  This made the message of the Bible more accessible, causing a tremendous impact on the church and on the German  language because a standard German was now in print. This is tremendously exciting for linguistic geeks like us!  In addition, by marrying Katharina von Bora, he set a precedent allowing Protestant priests to marry.

Fussball!

HSV

One of the things Andrew has relished about being here is Fussball.  In Europe (and most other countries in the world) it is fair to say, that it is by far the most popular sport.  Based on how passionate some of the fans are and how soccer consumes so much of society and daily life, it is seemingly the only sport.  Vacations are planned around team schedules and hidden cameras have caught people trying to get a "sick note" from their doctors so as not to miss big championship games.

                                                      Having grown up near Hamburg, Andrew is, of course, a HSV fan (Hamburger Sport Verein) and we both went to many games when we lived in Kiel.  Now that we live in Bavaria, of course we jumped at the chance to see a game between two dueling Bavarian teams, 1. FC Nuernberg and FC Bayern Munich.  50 Euro per ticket.  Andrew nearly hyperventilated seeing so many big names ((Manuel Neuer, Rafinha, Jerome Boateng, Phillip Lahm, Franck Ribery, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben, Mario Gomez and David Beckham.)  Alright, no David Beckham -- just wanted to see if any of you non-soccer fans read to the end of the list! :)

The first thing you notice at German soccer games is the absence of  the supplementary entertainment common at Bucks, Admirals or Brewer games.  No big display sharing random trivia, no background music to fill time outs, no cheerleaders, no Sausage Race.  It's all fan driven and these fan clubs take this very seriously.  Before the game starts, the various recognized fan clubs can enter special members-only "pre-party" tents right outside the stadium.  They have their own flags and insignia and organize buses to away games. 

One fan leader has a drum and starts a cheer or song and the rest of the group joins in .  Amazing how much variety they come up with!  Some chants require action from the entire crowd to stamp their feet or hold up their team's scarf.  Everyone seemed to follow along.  The opposing team's fan club would often counter with their own chant or they would just try to outscream each other.  It was really quite entertaining.

A friend of ours has been a club member for 20 years and gave us the inside scoop. Lots of younger men, lots of alcohol.  They have designated areas in the stadium and due to overcrowding, there are no pesky tripping hazards, like chairs.  They stand the whole time and don't dare leave their spot even to go to the bathroom, they just repurpose those empty beer bottles!  There have been, of course, some tragic overcrowding and trampling soccer-related accidents such as the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster in England, where 96 people died.  Since then, various safety measures have changed including the location of barriers.  

Nonetheless, the crowds can get really rowdy and we were treated to several rounds of forbidden Bengali Fire which the fan club to our left set off in the stands!  The police attempt to control the rivalry between the opposing fan clubs as well.  Here near the end of the game, the police line up ready to escort one of the clubs directly to their bus.

Date Night!

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!