Long Island Sound

Our flight to New York went smoothly, and having done this a couple times now, we were especially impressed by the quick and efficient automated check-in service for international travelers on SwissAir, AND - surprisingly - the amazingly quick processing through customs at JFK airport. Having been exhausted by these processes in the past, it was a real pleasure that everything went so smoothly.

And then there came cousin Carol and husband Greg to pick us up - which was really nice and very appreciated.  They made us a great dinner on the grill and we managed to hold our heads up for a little while of conversation before passing out from our travels.  For whatever reason, the jet lag is less for me coming in this direction, but it still takes awhile to adjust.  I woke up at 4 a.m. ready to go!

Everybody here is busy with their jobs today, so cousin kindly leant us a car and we drove 20 minutes up the road to the Sunken Meadow State Park on the Long Island Sound.  Wow.  A little beach is the one thing we had missed on our European travels, and here we are!  Really lovely.

See also http://nysparks.com/parks/37/details.aspx.

I have to say it's a really terrific way to re-enter by having the vacation linger just a little bit longer.  Tomorrow we'll get a little more visiting time with cousin and then be heading home....

Zurich - Part 2

Yesterday was all about strolling.  As you go away from the water, Zurich becomes quite naturally hilly - let's just use the word Steep!  No need for a bike.  So I just started to wander.  I crossed the bridge and started going up until I got to a lovely park that overlooked the city.  The part I liked best was the big chess boards in the park:

Totally great.  Then I crossed back over the bridge and wandered up the other side, and for some reason I decided to go into the Grossmunster Church which like all things European dates from a period of 1100 to 1230.  At this point in the trip, I have lost track of the old churches I've seen, and meaning NO disrespect whatever, they start to look a bit the same after awhile - at least to me.  Which is why I say I'm not sure what inspired me to wander into this one.  I'm so happy that I did because it presented me with a completely unexpected surprise.

The long history of this church includes a concerted effort to make the building a presentation of stained glass art.  What's stunning is that the windows have been periodically updated over time, and the latest display was designed, installed, and dedicated by Sigmar Polke in 2009 (he has since died in 2010).  The windows are at once contemporary while still incorporating the medieval stories that belong to the Old Testament of the Christian faith.  I could go on and on about all that, but here is the stunning part for me.  All of the west windows of the church are filled with sliced agate, held together with the traditional lead caming used in the old ways of making stained glass windows.  The sliced agates are especially meaningful to me because my maternal grandfather also made sliced agates, and in fact had created a light box which I inherited and restored and which sits in my living room at home.  But I have never seen sliced agates anywhere other than from my grandfather.  But here they are in a Zurich church, and curiously sliced stone (usually alabaster) was commonly used in the Middle Ages to fill window aperatures.

Here then is a picture of one of the windows:

So for obvious reasons, I loved this church because it brought yet another unexpected connection to my family history.

The evening was spent listening to a public lecture about the Klimapause at the university of Zurich where Clara's conference is.  We had a fine meal and came back to our room to watch the Swiss team lose to the French in the World Cup.  

I'm not sure there will be time for another post from Zurich, but will update when I can.  This afternoon we are going on a hike when Clara finishes her conference, and then a friend of ours who lives in Zurich has invited us for dinner.  We feel pretty lucky to have so much personal interaction with locals all along the way in this trip.

Zurich - Part 1

Zurich pictures:

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The trip to Zurich was uneventful, even though arriving in a big central train station was slightly disorienting for me, I finally found how to pay for the tram and make my way to the hotel, where Clara met me as I disembarked.  Our hotel room is quite lovely - the conference spared no expense for its speakers, of which Clara is one.  We even have what is mostly unheard of in Europe:  air conditioning!  Not that we have needed it much - the weather has been in the 70s every day with wonderful breezes coming from the water.  Lovely.

So while Clara is off "working", I discovered that Zurich offers free bicycles which I quickly took advantage of.  After a couple weeks of alternating between walking, sitting, and eating, I am thrilled to do some biking.  I went along both sides of Zurichsee (Lake Zurich) yesterday - which was lovely as there are parks and gardens and statues all along the way.  I even stopped for a bratwurst for lunch and sat watching the swans and ducks for over an hour.  It felt so good to have nowhere in particular to go and sit down to just enjoy the day.

Just to be clear, however, I only biked a very small part of the lake.  Once you see the size of the lake, you'll probably understand why.  The following map shows the lake with Zurich located at the top (upper-left)

At the end of the day, Clara came back and we got dressed up to attend a banquet that was being put on by the conference.  I have to say that it was Hands Down the most wonderful meal I've ever had.  There were easily a couple hundred people there - scientists young and old from around the world - many of whom I have met by this point and so it was nice to see a few familiar faces.  It was an all-around interesting and enjoyable first day in Zurich!

Storks

I forgot to mention the proliferation of stork memorabilia in Strasbourg, and then the actual sighting of live storks in Freistett yesterday.  Here is a link that tells a little about them:

http://www.butterfield.com/blog/2013/10/24/white-alsace-storks/

Freistett

Freistett pictures here:

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Clara left this morning for Zurich to start her conference there, while I hopped a train across the river to Kehl where I was picked up by the kind archivist from Rheinau who I have been corresponding with the past couple years.  Off we headed for Freistett, which is the home of the Sommer family, the maternal side of our Mann relations.

First we stopped at the archives where Herr Wacker works and looked at the old church books where several of the vital records have been found that pertain to our Sommer family.  It's exciting to see and touch the old books with records that go back to the 1600s, and to have Herr Wacker's help in translating what they say.  I had been making a pretty good guess about what they said, but now it's fun to find out for sure.

Then we went on a walking tour of the village, and the first thing I learned is that the Rhine River in this area meandered all over the place, and in fact that water once came up to what is now referred to as "upper" Freistett.  But then the river was "corrected" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Gottfried_Tulla), which resulted in the river actually becoming shorter by 50 km, but also this correction produced more very rich farmland.  There's not much that won't grow well here, but the crops that stand out in my mind are tobacco and flax (today there is lots of corn as we'd see in Iowa or Nebraska).  In addition, there are even today over 3000 islands in the Rhine, and these were where villagers fled and lived during the worst parts of the many wars suffered in these areas.  It's hard to imagine living in the woods on a river island with no house or food, especially in winter.  Eventually they would creep out and start to rebuild their houses and villages, and then the next wave of soldiers would come and burn it all down again.  It was not an easy time for this area in particular.

Above is a picture from the local museum that Herr Wacker helps to run.  The dress of this couple shows a married couple because they are dressed in black (!) - unmarried people were allowed to wear more colorful things.  Also the woman is wearing a Kappenschlupf which is entirely unique to this area of Germany.  This was worn by all women (young and old) and the color of the beading on the skull cap would indicate whether single, married, or widow.  All so interesting!

We had a quick lunch, and then (unexpectedly!), Herr Wacker took me on a driving tour of the Black Forest.  Like at home, the air is cooler in the hills and the views of the Rhine Valley are magnificent.  He then dropped me at the Kehl station, and now I am back in Strasbourg resting up before another day of travel tomorrow.

So this should wrap up the "family history tour" for this trip.  I still can't quite believe everything I have experienced in the last week or so - it seems like a dream half the time, one that I hope to revisit again soon.

Strasbourg

Strasbourg pictures:

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Saturday was our day to relax.  We did some hiking in the area, which is just so scenic and lush - very enjoyable.  Then we went to Pia's house to enjoy waffles with cherries and whipped cream (!).  Pia has a wonderful garden with chickens, and two very smart Australian Shepherds that she has trained to do some amazing tricks!

Then we had a simple and wonderful last meal with Trudel.  She served Spiegelei, which is fried eggs over ham and toast.  We were all laughing because Spiegelei literally means "mirror eyes" which is what the eggs look like when they're sitting on your plate.

So we went to bed early, and we didn't even hear that one of Trudel's neighbors came over to tell about hearing a story about one of the Schaefer's in my family being involved in a local "wonder" (miracle).  The surprises just keep coming.  Of course Trudel and I are both curious to see what this one is about, so I will post on my research website if we figure anything out.

The next morning, we sadly left our kind hosts and took the train from Koblenz to Karlsruhe, and then a bus into Strasbourg.  We found our hotel in no time and immediately started walking around the city.  Of course we had arrived on a Sunday, so many things were not open.  But we were in the vicinity of the magnificent cathedral when the bells started ringing - they must have gone on for 20 minutes - it was just staggering to hear them and be so close - all we could do was stand there and quietly stare.

We managed to find a little grocery store and bought some bread and cheese and ate in our room which has a small kitchen, so that worked fine.  Yesterday, we went back to the cathedral to learn all about the rather amazing astronomical clock they have inside.  And while there, Iit two candles, one for g-grandmother Marie Grimm Klein, and the other for her mother Pauline - both of whom came to New York from Strasbourg.

The rest of the day was quite pleasant.  We had a fabulous lunch in the local square where there were few tourists, and we walked from one end to the other exploring different areas of the city.  It was lovely, although honestly we were missing the quiet beauty of Udenhausen....

That said, the city did get pretty quiet last evening when the World Cup game started - Germany vs. Portugal, which I understand was one by Germany.  The World Cup is a very big deal here - everybody is following very closely!  And we are just as happy to be mostly oblivious to anything but each day's adventure.

Schaefer Reunion

Pictures from Alken:

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Pictures from Udenhausen:

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Friday was a big day on the "program" as several arrangements had been made to meet with living relations of my Schaefer family, but I think the patience of Frau Trudel was indeed tested that day.  First we had a misunderstanding with her about what time we were going to leave, so we weren't ready (not good), and then the workers who were supposed to come fix her driveway for over a year suddenly appeared.  Poor Trudel was beside herself!  But we all stayed calm and reassured her all was ok, and the day unfolded just right.

So by early afternoon, we had driven to the "Moselle side" (Udenhausen sits at the top of the hills between Rhine on east and the Moselle River on the west), and we took a small hike around an old castle on the hill overlooking the river and had a nice picnic lunch.  Then we drove into the town of Alken where we met Walter (pronounced VALter) and Pia, who are - roughly speaking - my third cousins.  Here is a very simple explanation of our relationship:

Johannes Schafer and Margareta Gipp:

   Paul Schaefer - remained in Germany

   Peter Schaefer - our relation who went to America

I am the gg-grandaughter of Peter, and Walter and Pia are the gg-grandchildren of Paul.  Both are a bit younger (born 1960s), and both speak good English whereas nobody else we were to meet could, so I'm sure the younger Schaefer's were sent ahead as the ambassadors!  Walter has just been re-elected as the mayor of Alken and is a bit of a history buff so he gave us a great walking tour of the village explaining its history all along the way.  Then we went to visit St. Michael's, built some time before 1015, which was opened just for our visit.  To our great surprise, as we came in, there were Rosa and Leo Escher - Rosa being the one who was born a Schaefer, and who had written to America after the War to inquire after Schaefer relations there only to get no reply.  Rosa can speak not a word of English, but she was clearly happy to meet me/us.  We finished touring the old church and then continued our walking tour into one of the old towers of the wall that had once surrounded the village.  Rosa and Leo came along the whole way - it was great.  Finally we ended up at Rosa's house where she served apricot cake with sour cream frosting, a strudel, and strawberries - all of which were wonderfully good.

So next Walter and Pia took us to tour the Castle Thurant which found Walter, Clara, and me climbing to the top of the tower for the best view down to the River Moselle - fantastic.  Then we all parted ways with plans to meet again later for a "family dinner" that would include even more Schaefer relations.

Thus we made our way back to Udenhausen for a little time to recharge, and then headed for the Udenhausen Museum which was founded by Trudel's sister Barbara.  As we arrived, there was a lovely sign in front welcoming the visitors from America.  And right on time, here came the other Schaefer relations:  Klaus who is a working farmer in the area and who brought his young son Johannes, and Franz who came from a place called Rhens, both being first cousins to Rosa.  A big dining table had been set up in the museum, and Barbara had prepared a feast.  I sat next to Walter in hopes of getting the occasional translation of all the conversation going on - and certainly there were some stories being told that I don't think I half understood.  But Franz and Klaus and Rosa had all brought some old pictures of their families, so that was exciting to see and share.

After dinner, we took a great tour of the museum and had more fun conversations looking at all the old things that once were part of everyday life in Udenhausen.  Then as the evening wore down, we posed for our new family photo outside the museum.  Rosa had found an old chalkboard and wrote in big letters the Schafer name in the old German script that she had learned to write as a girl, and her daughter Pia is holding that sign in our German Schaefer family photo.  

All in all, this was a very special day for me personally and for our family's history.  Before this day, Rosa had lost touch with her cousins, and certainly everybody in Germany had lost track of those who came to America.  Not only did I never dream there was such a place as Udenhausen, I never imagined there would be people who still belong to this place to offer us such a fantastic welcome.  Walter and Pia have been invited to Boulder, and they both seem excited to accept the offer.  I think in 2015, we might be hosting a reunion in America!