Germany, Nurnberg

Our last few days in Germany were spent in and around Nurnberg, which is a big modern city with all the stores we have here, and much more. It was interesting to see the old with the new built right into it. Ancient cobblestone walls and watch towers providing security for... Burger King and Foot Locker; Starbucks just down the lane from the 12th century cathedral; eat at the trendy ice cream cafe with Lady Gaga blaring, then walk around the corner to the castle square. Oh, and fountains...



And here's a woman taking a picture with her dog...



In Nurnberg we had an amazing meal. After much walking and wandering, we picked a tiny, humble door in a long lane of shops and cafes and stores. We entered a dark little front room that split into two directions: wooden stairs heading left and up into darkness, or right and down a few steps to a coat rack and the restaurant entrance. Again, all was so quiet and quaint that we thought we might have taken a wrong door and entered somebody's private residence. We hung up coats, gloves, scarves, hats, second coats, and sweaters, then entered the restaurant.

Wow.

The place was small and dim. Candle-lit, with Christmas decor adding more sparkling lights from exposed-beam rafters. The place was long and extremely narrow, but the most interesting part was that we were below street level, so that through tiny square windows up by the ceiling you could see the dark forms of feet shuffling by. Of all the places we ate at, this one most resembled a Hobbit-hole. As the few tables were already occupied, we took our places at a table with another couple. This is typical for German restaurants. Unlike the USA, you do not "own" your table at a restaurant. Others can and will sit at your table with you (but usually only if there is no more room elsewhere). We shared tables many times during our trip, but this was the most enjoyable pairing we had, simply because the couple was from the UK and spoke English (and right proper!). We struck up a conversation with them and really took our time eating and conversing, sharing stories and talking about our families. They were an older couple with kids already grown, and they frequently made the drive down to Germany from the UK, which came to about an 8 hour drive. It was crazy to think that a trip that cost so much money and time and planning for us was merely a weekend road trip for them.

Anyway, I had ordered Nurnberg's specialty: mini Brotwurst links and potato salad. It was my favorite meal of the whole trip. The potato salad was not like we have here - it was amazing. So I had no problem taking my time, enjoying the food and the atmosphere and the company. See, Kelly and I are NOT conversational eaters. Like those people who go out to eat and stay for two hours, just sipping drinks and talking and then ordering desert, talking some more, then coffee, etc. Not us. We eat (usually without talking), and then we leave. But this was one rare occasion when it felt like we were those people. Felt like we were there for hours, and finally it was time to go when the gentleman had downed a beer (or two?) and told a story about Hitler, mortifying his wife when he even started making the "Heil Hitler" hand gesture in the middle of the restaurant. And a great time wasn't all we got out of the encounter: the couple also gave us advice to come back into Nurnberg for New Years Eve, said this city was crazy about fireworks.

Dude. That was an understatement...

In the final blog about our trip: New Years Eve and our departure. Coming soon!

Thanks, Chris!

Check out the bay window seat my brother Chris made for us (click it to see bigger)...



He lives a thousand miles away and still built it to fit just perfectly. Those doors open to reveal tons of storage space. Nice! We love it, Chris, thanks! And thanks to my dad for all the help transporting it and installing it.

Here's the space as it was before...

GERMANY, PART 3

One of the great things about Germany was just driving around in the countryside. We would be winding through grassy hills and misty backwoods forests for thirty minutes or so - then suddenly break out into a clearing to see a small town on the side of a hill. Church steeple in the middle. Castle on top of the hill. It seems that no town is too small to have a large church and a castle. The picture of me above was taken in one such town - Colmberg. Now, we didn't get back far enough with the camera, but you are pretty much looking at the whole town. There is a little bit more just out of frame on the right, and that's it. In this pic, we're up at the castle, which actually has a restaurant (but was closed because it was New Years day). These little towns are everywhere, with no fanfare or theme park or tourist map. In fact, we only knew of most of them because of the recommendation of Baron Crailsheim, who understandably dislikes the usual tourist trap destinations (which we also went to, of course - more on that below!). Kelly and I would always have the same remarks upon driving through one of these towns: "Who lives here? And what on earth do they do? Do they have 25 different bills to pay online and hair appointments and parent/teacher conferences, and so on and so on?"

But no, they couldn't, could they? They chop wood for their fires and have family over for dinner and storytelling. They stay up late with a favorite book and a rocking chair that's been in the family for generations. But that's not reality, either, is it? Something in between? Do they all travel in to the nearest city to work? But then, our idea of life is centered around earning enough money to pay those 25 bills online, and maybe life is so different in a little town like this. Who knows how long their families have lived in that same house - not bought, but inherited - so maybe the idea of mortgages and bills is a totally foreign concept. They just live where they've always lived and life's about family and friends and church. Sounds so nice. But maybe it isn't. Maybe it's all normal to them, taken for granted, or perhaps even despised by now, the same old 'same old'.

These are the conversations we would have, or at least what we would each be THINKING, since neither of us is much of a conversationalist (with each other, that is. I've seen Kelly in the middle of a group of girlfriends, and there's no stopping her! Talk talk talk laugh laugh laugh talktalktalktalktalktalktalk). She's good at it, so I know it's me. There's maybe, like, THREE topics that I can talk about for longer than 5 minutes, and Kelly's already heard (several times) all I have to say about those things!

The picture below was taken at a gigantic church in one of these little towns we drove through...



ROTHENBURG

This is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Bavaria. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a big city with an Altstadt ("old town") that is completely fortified by walls. Here's Kelly sitting atop the wall. You can see it winding around into the background, all the way around the city...


All the best of the typical German touristy festival stuff that you see in peoples' travel photos is on display in Rothenburg. Half-timbered architecture, cobblestone streets, medieval clothing, middle-age taverns, shops full of cuckoo clocks and hand-made treats. The festivals here (we just missed the Christmas one) pack the streets with music and food vendors and general outdoor partying. We were there on a quiet day between Christmas and New Years, so we walked some very uncrowded streets and ate in a little tavern with hunting paintings on the wall. Also, this day happened to be the COOOOOOLDEST of our trip, so we were bundled up good.





Can you spot Kelly in the pic above? You can walk the perimeter of the town up there. It was fun to look out the little slots made for archers. Defend the city! For Rothenburg!

I would totally go to a Renaissance Fair.

GERMANY, PART 2

(continuing with our tour through Neuschwanstein...)


(Tourists are not allowed to take pics inside the castle. But you can take pictures looking out the windows. How would you like this view from your bedroom? Below are pics from the inside that I found online...)





These castles really were amazing. By the time we hiked back down the mountain, the sun was setting. We stopped in at a quiet little diner at the foot of the castles. I remember this diner because it was very rustic, with soft candle lighting and the typical exposed wooden beams in the ceiling, draped with wreaths and christmas decor. The waitresses all wore the traditional German festival dresses (which is just a touristy gimmick, but still cool!). Couples and families were coming in out of the cold with red noses and cheeks, but all with smiles because they had just come from the castle, too. We were warm and cozy, our food was great - I just remember a nice feeling at that place. Like being at Disneyland, only it's all real, and quiet and calm.

Sommersdorf

That evening we had our longest drive - 3 hours north on the "Romantic Road", which leads through several major historic sites. We were headed to Castle Sommersdorf, which would be our home for the rest of the trip. Personally, I was looking forward to having the drive to Sommersdorf behind us, because it was the last major drive that could get us really lost, and once we could be settled in there, the rest of the trip would not be scary. Well, we ALMOST pulled it off. At around 8:30pm we had navigated through three hours of directions to find ourselves in the town of Sommersdorf. Made it! Except that... Sommersdorf was not exactly what we had expected. First of all, to get to Sommersdorf we had to drive fifteen minutes away from the main road, through misty rolling hills and winding, dark forests. We were like, "Where's the city?" Then we passed the town's welcome sign: "Sommersdorf: population 170." Whaaaa? The town was black - there was one tiny street light on. It took less than 1 minute to drive to the other side of town, and we saw no castle! I began to panic, thinking that maybe I had looked up the wrong Sommersdorf when I got directions. There was a tiny diner with a light on, so I ran in and asked directions, "Hey, where's the castle?" The people couldn't speak very good english, but whatever, I was just relieved when they nodded their heads and said, "Ya, Castle Sommersdorf" and started pointing. At least they knew what I was talking about! The very nice people finally got me to understand that I need to take the second right turn in town. Okay, there are exactly three right turns in Sommersdorf, so that was easy! We took the turn to find ourselves driving underneath a stone archway and entering a vast courtyard area. And there it was...


Okay, except that it was a dark, misty winter night, so this is actually what we saw...

Cool! Except... okay, looking around now... don't see any... front desk... wait, where are we supposed to go now? How do we check in? We walked around a bit, but all was quiet. And cold. And veeery dark. The one light shone over the bridge that spans the castle moat. We walked (more like shuffled hesitantly) across the bridge to the big wooden castle door.

Which was shut tight.

Next to the door there was a buzzer labelled "Baron v. Crailsheim". I knew that to be "the" Baron, the owner of the castle. Right, like I'm just going to buzz the Baron! "Yeah, Baron? It's the Orams, open the castle doors, would you?"

We fled back over the bridge, contemplating a drive to the nearest city to stay the night until morning, when we could come back and find things a bit more lively. It was then that a murderous, barking dog came running across the bridge towards us. That was it for me - done! I'm afraid of dogs, and here comes this ravenous stray to bite us and tear us apart and drag us into the misty marshlands surrounding the place. Kelly, of course, just knelt down to pet the dog, at which point a nice little lady came walking up. It was her dog, she says, and she was out taking a walk, she says, and well, why hadn't we just buzzed the Baron if we wanted in, she says.

We go back and buzz the Baron. And you know, the kindest, gentlest voice came out of the little speaker, "Ah, yes, Mr. Oram. I'll be right down." We hear footsteps, then KA-CHUNG! and the castle door swings open. There's Crailsheim, all smiles and so polite and friendly, with his gigantic bear of a dog, Moritz, following him everywhere. He welcomes us to his home and shows us to our room with an invite to breakfast the next morning! Which ended up being one of the great highlights of our stay, actually. Bright and early we show up at Crailsheim's personal quarters, located way up in the tower. He invites us in and Moritz is jumping all over us. The place is covered with family heirlooms and commissioned paintings, antique furniture, etc. Very comfortable. We meet his wife and learn that their kids and grandkids are visiting for the holidays and also staying in the castle. We feel like part of their extended family! So then we are led into the dining room, where a breakfast spread awaits us on a table set for two with china and lit candelabra. Giant windows affording a view of the morning mists rolling over. Then Crailsheim bids us "Gut appetite" and leaves us to enjoy a delicious breakfast together. We just ate and whispered and looked around, like, "Could you imagine this sort of hospitality in the States? Ha!" What an amazing gesture from the Crailsheims - we are grateful to them for their generosity, especially while they had their own family to entertain.


In 2008, Castle Sommersdorf celebrated its 800th year! It even has catacombs with real mummies!

Walking the grounds...


Talk about quiet! The nearest city was half hour away through winding hills and forests. No cars, no kids. Just me and Tolkien at an 800-year-old castle...


We loved the little breakfast nook, so we went grocery shopping and made some great meals for ourselves...


Did I mention how quiet it was there?


Our favorite things to do during down time at Sommersdorf were to make meals to eat in the nook, and watch "Pride & Prejudice", the six-hour BBC mini-series. And the rumor is true: once we had finished all six hours, we started it over again from the beginning. And yes, most of our conversations throughout the trip included bad impersonations of lines from the film. And I know that film has nothing to do with Germany, but somehow, with our castle setting, it just fit better than "Ironman" or "17 Again".


In Part 3, we're off to see Rothenburg, then the big city Nurmberg for New Year's eve...

GERMANY, PART 1

We left on Christmas day. Opened presents first, of course, then dropped kids off at Alan & Robin's house, where Kimberly and Benjamin were already tearing up the house with their new toys. Josh and Jackie were so excited by all the craziness that they hardly cared when Mommy and Daddy gave hugs and said, "See you in a week, suckas!"

That was 11:30 AM on Friday.

At Noon on Saturday we were landing in Munich. For that first day we were definitely the most obvious of rookie foreigners - every little thing seemed either amusing or absurd or just intimidating.

"Dude, this rental car looks so... European."
"Oh look, their freeway signs are all blue!"
"No! Don't pass another car on the right, I read that in a book!"
"Dude! The police sirens sound just like in the movies!"
"Why do all the freeway signs say 'fart'?"

But by the end of the trip, we had gotten so much better. It helped that we stayed away from hotels and tour groups. We lived in apartments and did grocery shopping and drove all over the countryside by ourselves. We didn't want to just see Germany; we wanted to live like a German!


(This is actually two separate pictures stitched together, hence the weird placement of us so far apart. Click to enlarge)

Bad Tölz

Our first apartment was in Bad Tölz, about an hour south of Munich, at the foot of the Alps. We dumped all our stuff in the room and promptly went out on the town to get something to eat. Bad Tölz reminds me a lot of Lake Tahoe - a nice little resort town with snowy mountain vistas. Bad Tölz is situated on both sides of the river Isar, which winds down from the Alps. On one side of the river is the 'altstadt', or old town, and on the other side is the newer part. We were starving and jet-lagged and it was getting dark, so we opted for the first restaurant we came across: an Italian eatery. I saw the word 'pizza', so I was good to go.

The culture shock officially set in as we walked into the restaurant. Actually, we had only stepped into the front room, which led to another front room bar area. Beyond that was a little room with coat and hat racks. Then beyond that room was nestled a cozy eating area. When I say cozy, I mean, like, I was afraid I had accidentally walked into somebody's home and was going to be attacked by their dog. The room was small, with hardly any windows. Several tables, candlelit. But what got me was the noise. Like, there wasn't any. There were two other families eating there, and the place was so quiet and peaceful. Kelly and I barely spoke above a whisper the whole time.

Oh yeah, Kelly. She was still in the coat rack room, afraid to come into the dining room! She was just sure that we had come to the wrong place and were somehow intruding. Surely this couldn't be a restaurant! No hostess, no noise, no windows with a view of the parking lot or traffic driving by. Just candlelit tables at which you seat yourself and wait. With some prodding, she finally came in and sat down to help me muddle through our order by pointing at things on the menu.

Our dinner adventure was our limit for the first day. We were exhausted. We were out of our element. It was so dark outside! We walked home and crashed.

It was 5:30pm.


(After this, Kelly told me to stop giving "underwear model poses".)






(We were just driving on the autobahn to another Alpine town when we rounded a corner to see this vista. Amazing.)




(Similar thing here: we were just driving in the Alps and saw this trail heading into the woods, so we stopped. It led to a little bridge that had been built over a gorge with a little mountain river and waterfall.)

Castle Neuschwanstein

Leaving Bad Tölz, we drove west along the foot of the Alps, through tiny little villages with churches peppered among rolling green hills. Just the drive itself was great. An hour and a half of these wandering mountain roads finally brought us to Hohenschwangau, where we toured the two most famous castles in Bavaria. Both belonged to the same King, Ludwig II.


(This was Ludwig's getaway retreat. He lived here while he supervised construction of Neuschwanstein (below), which sits just across the valley, up the mountainside. In one of the rooms we saw a telescope that he would use to look out the window and admire Neuschwanstein.)


(A pic of Neuschwanstein that I found online. This is the castle that Walt Disney used as a model for the famous Disneyland Castle.)




(If I look tired, it's because we just made the 20 minute hike up the mountain to get here!)

October '09

No, this is not Halloween. It was "Zany Clothes Day" at Jackie's school. Yes, she would dress like this every day if we would let her.



This is Halloween...




Kids went camping with Kelly's family. Don't know why Jackie needs a lantern - her smile lights up whole rooms wherever she goes. Awww, I know.



Kelly ran to get the camera to document me doing yard work. It's too late for some of my bushes. They're not coming back...

More Than You Ever Wanted To Know...

Been working on this project for the last few months: a photo comparison of Kelly and I at different ages, from toddler to now. I love looking at pictures of Kelly when she was little. There were several more I wanted to post, but I had to stop somewhere...










































When we first got married, it was not long before Kelly and I both realized something: we had absolutely nothing in common! We were basically strangers who might as well have been joined through arranged marriage, and if we had just taken a few more months to really get to know each other, we definitely never would have gotten married! It's true.

Which is why we are now so grateful that things happened so fast - we were saved from ourselves, from our senses getting ahold of us and ruining what has become something special and very deliberate, through years of work and discussion and an extremely gradual construction of interests and experiences that bridge the gap between our stark differences.

This one's going to be good. One of the great loves of the earth.

Love you, Kelly!