Easter Weekend with the Fam

Hello Family and Friends,

Easter weekend with the family

I always find it find it interesting when you ask Americans what is their Heritage, and they roll off 4 or 5 different European countries. When people ask me what I am, I say German. The reason I only say one country is because I still have lot of German relatives that my family talks to on a regular
basis and we they come to the US on business we make sure they stop by and see us.

So now that you have my back ground you can see that, since I am in Europe for three months, that I had to do the same. However, I wanted to visit on a holiday weekend because this way I would be able to see a good portion of the family at one time.

The major contact member of the German family is Christoph Krohmer. He is the family member that comes to the United States a lot for business, so he was the one that I had met before and kind of knew. So as soon as I was accepted into the Switzerland study abroad program I emailed him and said “I’m coming to Europe for 3 months! I will have to come and visit.” We emailed back and forth for about a year off and on. In that time I was thinking what would be a good weekend to come and visit. I picked Easter weekend because it was a longer weekend for me and it gives us a nice visit
with everyone.

Friday Good Friday April 10, 2009

So I got up early and caught the 6:25am bus from my little town of Vitznau, then the train into Luzern. There I had some time to kill before my train to Zürich. So what does any college student go and find? Of course, that is cheap COFFEE and something to eat on the next train.

I get on my train to Zürich, they check my ticket, and then the person sitting in the seat on the other side of the isle starts talking to me. Of course, all I want to do is eat and drink my coffee in peace and listen to my music. But this guy was very creepy and said I was very pretty and wanted to meet me again for coffee. He asked for my phone number and my email address. What I was doing in Switzerland. I talked to him for a little bit but I am a person that will never give out my phone number unless I know the person or I am working with them. But it is also good now because I don’t
have a phone number to be reached at right now. I also lied through my teeth about my email address, and how I can only use it for school items. So I said there was no way of ever reaching me again. So the trip started our a little rocky but it got better.

The train to Germany was uneventful. It was a nice little 2 1/2 hour train ride to the small town of Horb. This is the closest transition to were Christoph lives. This station is very small and a great place to meet up with family. It was funny because I had emailed and told Christoph that I
would be wearing a green coat but last minute I got a new coat. Christoph was worried when he did not see anyone wearing a green coat get off the train, and he asked one of the conductors if there was an American still on the train wearing a green coat. But of course by that time I saw him and was
making a bee line for him. About 4 feet out I said “Hello Christoph” and then he realized it was me. Christoph game me the biggest welcome hug I have ever gotten.

Christoph had his son Julius with him and he was very quiet. On the way home, we dropped off Easter gifts for a Godchild, then we headed to his house, where I met his wife Tatjana, and his 2 daughters Luise and Karoline.

me and Luise



me and Julius


me and Karoline

Then I got a tour of the house, and Luise showed me were I would be sleeping. Christoph started to make lunch and I was standing in the kitchen talking to him. Christoph told me that in Germany that it is tradition not to eat meat on Good Friday, so we eat fish. So for lunch He made a pepper
fish and I helped. I made the pepper butter, and made the salad dressing. I had never made salad dressing before so he taught me how to do it, and it turned out really well. So for lunch we had pepper fish, salad, potatoes, and wine to drink. Then for dessert we had this cream yogurt dish, and the Swiss chocolate I brought with Espresso.

About an hour later we went out for a walk in the village. This is a cute little village, very walk able and the weather was beautiful. After our walk we came back and died Easter eggs. I leaned a new way to die Easter eggs too. First you boil them and then take them out and put a leaf or a flower on them in a nylon and tie it off and put it in the color. Then you pull them out and the die is all over the egg except were the leaf or flower was. I was so fascinated with that, I think I died more eggs than Christoph and Tatjana’s kids.

After the walk I played hide and seek with the kids and then they saw my computer and asked in English if I had any games on it. So I let them play one of the games I have on it. The really won over Julius. Then I showed Luise the horse photos I have on my computer and that won her over. Luise really loves horses and she has been riding for about a year.

Then around 18:30 or 19:00 hour we had dinner. Dinner in Germany is not like dinner in America. Dinner is a lot of different types of cheeses and things stuffed with cheese and some meat and butter. I am not really sure how to describe it but it is very good. I tried just about all of the cheeses, and put some on bread and mixed with other things. It was a great dinner. To drink I had a local German Beer. Dinner lasted for about 2 hours. There was great conversation, and was a great beginning to Easter weekend.


Saturday April 11, 2009

We started out slow with breakfast at about 8am. Breakfast is a verity of bread and cheese and meat and butter. I learned the Germans eat butter on their pretzels that makes them really good. And of course we had coffee to drink, with steamed milk. I have come to love COFFEE in EUROPE; I’m not sure how I am going to go back to American coffee. (hint Mom and Dad; I want an
Espresso machine for Christmas!).

Today is the day I became a tourist in Germany. Christoph, Julius, Luise and me, along with Christoph’s sister Eva and her two sons Noah and Jonas when to visit a castle (or a fortress, it just depends on how you look at it). I loved it, and I called it a castle. We went on a tour and it was in German, but there was a book of English translation of the tour. That was really
nice because then I did not have to rely on Christoph to translate the important parts for me. We spent a good 2 hours there.








Our next touristy spot was the town of Tubingen. We had lunch at a restaurant that was also a small micro brewery. The food was really good, and I am not sure what I really eat but it was really good. This was also like a small beer garden, so I got my beer garden in Germany and I had a beer there as well. Then we walked around the city and went in the church and had ice cream.




LUNCH ymmm!!!!!













Then we headed out to Christoph’s parents house. I got a tour of the house, and the garden. Manfred, Christoph’s father, raises honey bees. So they have some hives in the garden and many more all over the village. Dinner was good, it was pizza or knishes. I had this really good beer, it is a wheat beer and it is mixed with sparking water and is called a Russian. I also played some games with Luise and I got a lesson in how to say the
colors in German.


Sunday Easter, April 12, 2009

This was also a slow start we had breakfast about 8am again. Then me, Christoph, Regiswinde, Karoline and Luise all went to church. This was really nice for me, even though I do not really know German. The church was nice and little. There was a brass band playing all of the music. However, I did not know any of the songs, which was the one thing that Christoph and I were thinking that I would know.

When we got back from church, we waited for Eva and her boys to come. Not too long after they came we had an Easter hunt for our baskets. Christoph laid down the rules to the children, while I talked to Eva and Tatinia about the rules as well.

And the rules are:
1) No fighting
2) No hitting or biting
3) There are only so many gets and you each get this many
4) No breaking the egg in someone else's hand, if that was the one that you
wanted.

Eva told Christoph the last rule and he must of told it to the children, then they all came running out into the Garden to look, and Christoph was right be hind them and told me that if I wanted to hunt as well I could. I was like, Yes!, and was a little kid a again.

I was definitely not expecting to have an Easter basket at all. But there were gifts for me. I got a book of the county were Manfred and Regiswinde live, and a small box with some eggs it. I was so excited to have gifts as well, I felt like a little kid again.




me with my easter finds (thank you Christoph)

Then we made Easter dinner, and I helped. I learned how to make Spätzle. Spätzle is the Shwaben pasta, which is made fresh. This is really good pasta and I felt really German eating it. We had pork shanks, cooked really nicely in this butter and wine and tomato paste sauce, with onions, and mushrooms. We also had a vegetable casserole and salad with wine. Then for dessert we
had a raspberry cream dish made by Eva; it was amazing.

At school in Switzerland, we always wonder were the dessert is; Now I see it has all gone to Germany. Then Eva and her boys and I went to visit a castle. Germans call this castle
a Fairytale castle. Because of how it looks and it is sitting on the rocks. We also took a tour of this castle it is much smaller and would fit in my suitcase. So I was really thinking about taking it home with me.

Then we all went to Eva’s husband's family for about an hour, then we came back and had dinner at Eva’s parents house. We also made sure we got new family photos.

Then Christoph and his family went back home, while Eva, her sons, and I stayed as well. I played a game called make and break with Regiswinde and Jonas. It was all about building with blocks against a timer and to see how many you could make before the buzzer went off. This was a lot of fun and we did not have to speak so much, which was good because Regiswinde does not speak a lot of English and I don’t speak a lot of German. It was good on how they explained the rules to me in German, and I under stood what they were saying. We did this for about an hour.

Then Eva and I had more COFFEE and dessert and talked till about 22:30 hours. Then we went to bed. I also asked Manfred if I could have some of his honey to take back with me.


Sunday was a great day.

Easter Monday April 13, 2009,

Another slow start to the day, 8am breakfast, then Eva and headed out to Stuttgart where my train was leaving from at 11:53 back to Zürich. We met up with her husband in Stuttgart, and went up the tower at the train station. Then we went and got something to drink at a beer garden (it was not beer;
at 11am that is a little too early for me to start drinking.) Then they made sure that I got on my train.

And this is where I leave you. This train ride was very uneventful.

Till next time,

Travel54s