Accidentally on purpose (To Homburg)

This has been the hardest castle ruins to research.  In Germany the castles have two or three names.  For example, the town website calls it Schlossberg, Hohensalzberg Castle, and Hohenburg auf dem Schlossberg (which basically means the castle high on the castle hill).  Berg/Burg means castle.  Schloss also means castle.  Anyway, March 26, 2012, Harper fell asleep in the car.  I can't remember exactly, but I don't think she had been napping much so I asked Jeremy to keep driving.  So he did,  he drove past the house and just kept driving. Somehow we ended up in Homburg.  It took us 20 mins to get there.  Right before we got into much of Homburg we saw a Schloss sign.  We know what they look like now, and we always follow them.  Schlossberg Strasse literally drove us through the middle of the Karlsberg Brewery and up to the highest point in Homburg.  We decided that we should return the next day when better prepared.  So we did.

The right side mound of sandstone
 is what we missed.

We packed a lunch for all three of us, packed the backpack, and packed the camera.  It was chilly and windy, but it was a large area to explore, climb, and walk.  We found a quiet spot on the castle grounds that seemed to block the wind and ate a picnic lunch right in front of everyone.  We were disappointed on how the town didn't take care of the grounds.  It was overgrown with weeds, and it seems to be a hangout for local teens after school.  There was a lot of trash laying around too.  Because this particular castle was built up, then destroyed, built up, and destroyed again (as it seems for most castles in Germany).  The last destruction was in 1714, and the castle was then forgotten about.  Apparently they've been digging this one out of the ground for a while now.  We did not get to walk the entire castle campus.  That was a big mistake.  Now we have to go back and do it again.  Why, you ask?  Well, as I was trying to find out some information on this stinkin' castle I found out that there are 12 underground caves tunneling all under that awful castle.  Ugh!  Apparently they are the largest man-made caves in Europe.  Seems like they have an interesting history, and you get to wear hard hats to walk through with a free guided tour.  So here's the lesson for the day...when traveling in Europe (even if you just stumble upon a cool site), research what you're about to see.  Good thing it's only 20 mins from our house.  I would be ticked if it was a far drive and we missed something important.  Still, it was adventurous just driving around these crazy German streets acting like we know what we're doing. I'm just glad that on this trip I didn't make Jeremy drive up a street that actually turned out to be a walking path that end with steps. We love adventure!!

~ Tara

Favorite castle so far (To Kusel)

There are several ruins of castles close to our village (15-30 min drive).  On a whim, May 10, 2012, we drove to Kusel, Germany to climb a castle.  What we discovered was fun, beautiful, and oh so yummy!

Jeremy was about to go back to work after graduating leadership school (ALS), so he was sleeping days and about to work that Friday night.  It was to late in the day to do anything big, but I said, "let's go to Kusel."  We swung by the house to pick up some food for Harper, and we were off!  I think it took 25 mins to get there (Burg Lichtenberg).  Of the several we have been to, this one is so far the nicest.  It's still in ruins, but they built some of it back up for visitors.  There's a whole campus of buildings still in tact--a church, two museums, a hotel and a restaurant  within the fallen walls.  The scenery is beautiful.  The castle was constructed starting in the year 1200, the French killed it, the Prussians took over, the church was built in 1755, it burned again, and then the people of Kusel received it as property and started restoration of it.  The main tower was rebuilt back to its original 33 meters.  It gives such a great view.  The grounds are well kept, and there's no charge to just walk around.

So anyway, as I said before, we got there around 1500 and were already behind the ball when it comes to our time constraint.  Most things in Germany close around 1600-1700 in the afternoon.  Well, to get to the main castle area you have to walk past the Burg Restaurant.  We were getting there at their off time, but there were around 25 retired people sitting outside eating the most glorious ice cream desserts.  So, we stopped.  They had a modified menu due to the time, so I got a salad and Jeremy got ham, cheese, bread and a beer.  We sat outside on the terrace with all the locals, who were very nice to us even though they didn't speak any English.  It was good, but we couldn't resist getting what the locals apparently know is like heaven.  Homemade vanilla ice cream with this warm, raspberry, dreamy, heavenly sauce that you pour over it.  Then you eat it quickly so it doesn't melt the ice cream.  Jeremy actually ate just the sauce when the ice cream was gone. I thought he was going to tip it up and pour it down his throat.  And, no, we didn't get a picture of the dessert.  We didn't waste any time clearing our bowl.  It's a really nice restaurant that holds like 80 people inside.  This will be a frequent trip for us.  Yum!

We walked around for maybe 30-45 mins then went home.  It was a really nice day.  We weren't rushed, it was super easy to find unlike most of the ones we've gone to, and it was a beautiful day.

And everyone was happy!

~Tara

Now we're cooking!

We haven't written in a while due to Jeremy's leadership school.  The computer was working overtime for that five weeks.  We also didn't get to travel while he was in school.  Our biggest adventure during that time was a trip to the Exchange, just to get out of the house.

Anyway.  I'm going to talk a little about the German appliances I experience everyday.  This is not going to be an exciting post for most of you.  I've waited four months to write this one because the first several months I was dealing with anger management issues when it came to the use of my German appliances.  Today, that anger is under control, and I feel that I at least understand how to use them.  I still may not be good at cooking on the stove, but at least I understand it.

The house we're living in was built in 2000.  The landlords knew that most of their renters would be Americans, so they tried to build it with some American accommodations.  The appliances are worn out and soon to be replaced, but I'm not too concerned about that right now.  The dishwasher is like any other dishwasher in the world--it's loud and takes forever to clean your dishes. Our refrigerator doesn't have a freezer, and if "someone" accidentally hits the temperature knob in the fridge it gets so cold things like milk start to freeze (not naming any names). It's super tiny and is awkward to use. In the picture to the right, the fridge is the long cabinet all the way to the left next to the red apron.  The first handle on top is the fridge; the bottom handle is storage where we keep our pots and pans stacked like a clown car.  We are truly thankful that the military loans out a small American-type refrigerator for our use (so, yes, we have two fridges in the house).  The oven is the problem of the kitchen, unless you count the accidental freezing of my milk so I can't drink any in the morning!  It's not insulated well.  The front of it gets super hot to the touch.  This is a problem when it comes to the little one who likes to look at herself in the glass of the oven door.  Temperature conversions are difficult for me, so I bought an oven thermometer.  It will reach 450 degrees F if you let it preheat for about 30 minutes.  Needless to say, I dry our meat out often.  The stove top is, I think, made of cast iron.  It gets way hot and will scorch stuff in a heartbeat.  Boil stuff on 6; cook stuff on 3.  That's how we only use the stove.  Oh, and I forgot the most important part about the oven.  It's so small I can't get some of my cookware in it.  A 9x13 is about as long as you can get in there.  The width is a bit more, but I can't use a lot of my Pampered Chef cookware in it due to its size.  I don't know how in the world Germans cook for a large crowd.  No way possible in their own kitchens.  No way.  Oh, and the sink--SUPER tiny and only has one side.

I'm going to dedicate an entire paragraph to the washer and dryer.  German ingenuity is amazing.  When we first moved into the house, the previous tenants had, from the military loan closet, an American washer and dryer.  They were old and the loan closet told us we could upgrade if we would like, so we did.  When the movers came to retrieve the American washer and dryer, the German movers easily talked me into getting German replacements.  Ok, why?  Well, we save a ton on energy, water, and harshness to our clothing.  The washing machine only uses cold water.  It has its own heating mechanism within the washer, so we're not using water from our hot water heater (which uses more energy to heat it back up).  The dryer is really different.  There is no hose to release the air to the outside of the house.  The dryer doesn't blow the clothes dry.  It sucks the water out of the clothes and heats as it does this.  About every two or three loads, depending on what you're drying, you have to dump water that has been collected from the drying process.  But the most important thing that absolutely must be done no matter what the weather is like outside, you MUST open the laundry room window when drying your clothes.  The humidity creates mold if you don't ventilate; not that I know anything about this first hand.  Americans would never go to this system because the loads are small and the process takes longer than a normal washer/dryer.  I love them.  They are saving us traveling money.  When in Germany, be German.  I'm now hanging my clothes outside to dry and saving at least two dryer loads each time I do laundry!

This seems too long to talk about appliances.  It's good information if you've never lived in Europe and are moving here soon.  Anything made by Apple is convertible by a plug adapter.  Love it.  Don't bring your washer/dryer, microwave, crockpots, toasters, (if you drink a lot of coffee) coffee pots, alarm clocks, TVs (that aren't 120v~220v), DVD players, and if you use it a lot your vacuum cleaner, too.  If you don't use your mixers, blenders, small appliances, etc. often, using the converter isn't really going to affect your electricity bill.  Using a converter for things that I listed as the don't bring section will kill your bill.  The loan closet (FMO) will give you a microwave to use for the entire time you're stationed here.  We bought a 220v toaster for cheap, and the rest of the stuff you either do without or buy on the equivalent to craigslist (ramsteinyardsales.com).  Oh, and FMO gives you two converters to use while you're here.  Converters run you about $200 a piece.  We carry those heavy boxes all over this house.  Not gonna pay that much for one of those things.  Lamps...bring them.  You can buy a plug adapter (for $4 at the Exchange) and use German 230v lightbulbs to convert your lamps into European lamps.  Pretty cool how that works.  I brought all of our small appliances thinking I would just use the converter, but counter space in German kitchens is a high commodity.  I need it for other things, so I packed those bad boys up and stuck them in the attic.  See ya in four years!

I could go on about the other things related to this subject, but I think you get the point.  It's really been an adjustment getting used to German living, and my cooking has suffered greatly for it.  But, we're managing and learning.  I still love it here and hope we'll be able to stay as long as possible.

~Tara

A lot of catching up to do! (To Trier)

We're behind in our writing.  We've been several places and had new experiences here that are post worthy.  I have found it difficult to balance quality time with Harper, quality time with the house and laundry, and quality time just for myself.  So, if we get behind and you get several at one time, have mercy on us.

Trier, Germany

I actually don't mind driving around in this town.  It doesn't seem as confusing to me as the other places I've been.  There are also a lot of directional signs to landmarks here as were not in other places we've been.  I've been twice; Jeremy has only been once.  I went with my parents while they were here visiting, but we got there late and didn't get to see everything we wanted to see (Thursday, February 23rd).  So, Jeremy, Karl, Harper, and I went Saturday, March 24th.  I wanted to visit the Roman Baths and the Amphitheater.

Trier is set along the Mosel River in the middle of wine country.  We didn't take many noteworthy pictures of the vineyards, but they are literally as far as you can see in both directions.  The vineyards are literally on the sides of the most vertical slopes I have ever seen.  I have no idea how they harvest and take care of the vines due to the sheer incline of the mountains.  I hear they have a great wine festival.  Trier was taken over by the Romans in 16 BC and was considered the best "Rome away from Rome," by the Romans.  So when they took over Trier, they built a ton of Roman stuff.  We didn't see everything in Trier; we hit the big stuff.  The Amphitheater was pretty cool.  It's Trier's oldest Roman structure (circa AD 100) and seated 20,000 spectators.  It was a gladiator-style structure with cages for animals and a basement with a stage lift.  The stands (made of stone) were demolished in 1211 so the monks from the monastery Himmerrod built their houses with the leftover demolition.  It was excavated in 1816, 1854, 1891-92 and the arena basement in 1908.  Because I've been to Greece and been to an amazing amphitheater I knew what to do when I got to the middle of this structure.  Jeremy and Karl were at the very top of what were the stands (now just grassy hills).  I walked to the middle and spoke in a regular inside voice as if the boys were right next to me.  They heard me perfectly.  The way they came up with a "mic-system" was just amazing.

The Dom (Cathedral) was the most amazing church we have seen so far.  It's the oldest Christian church north of the Alps.  It originated in AD 330, then it burned and got rebuilt several times and the structure there now takes up three blocks.  When I was there with my parents, the organist played and it felt like the music was an actual tangible object.  It was beautiful.

The Kaiserthermen (Imperial Baths) were super crazy cool.  It is the site of a 4th-century bathing palace that housed cold- and hot- water baths and a sports field.  There's not much left of the baths nor the palace, but the walls and the basements that do remain are just beautiful.  The Romans knew what they were doing when it came to archways and masonry.  They allow you to wonder around the grounds and all through the basement part.  It's a crazy maze of underground hallways where the temperature changes and you can see your breath.  It was worth my second trip back just to see the massiveness of the structure.

Ok, two more things and then I'll leave you alone on the Trier history lessons.  We didn't go through the Porta Nigra (Black Gate) on my second trip (the boys were tired).  I did go through it though when I went with my parents.  It was pretty neat too.  The history behind it is really the reason you'd want to go walk up all those flights of swirly stairs, but it was worth the little bit of Euro we paid.  It was the city gate built in the 2nd century; one of the best military defenses the Romans had in that area.  In the 11th century the upper stories were converted into two churches, and then completely disassembled in the 18th century.

Last thing...we've been trying to remember the places we've eaten too.  We're not doing a good job of that, but Jeremy remembered this one.  We ate at a place called the Currybrat.  Apparently it's Berlin's trademark meal, and it made its way to the south.  I thought it was good; the boys weren't impressed.  Though I have to say that it was very difficult to eat that day.  We sat outside on the Hauptmarkt and were completely the center of attention by the passerbyers.  We got more stares than necessary.  It was actually very uncomfortable, and we couldn't figure out why so many stares.  Jeremy said his mustache was the cause, Karl said our Appalachian sweat shirts were to blame.  I just think we look American.  I don't know, but that was the first time I have felt like an outsider (well, besides the obvious lack of communication skills when ordering our food or buying something).

~Tara

Hansel and Gretel anyone ? (To Calw)

We drove to Calw, Germany in the Black Forest Sunday, February 26th.  (It's called the Black Forest because of the dense growth of conifers that block out the sun from inside the forest area.)  The description in our travel book made it sound great and wonderful, but it wasn't.  It could possibly be the best place ever and we were just there in the off season when there was NOTHING to look at.  It is the home of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Hermann Hesse.  Now I can say that the buildings were the traditional style that most American's picture in their heads when thinking of the half-timber houses with sharp gables.  That was neat.

The best part of the whole trip though was the drive home.  We ended up going the scenic route which took us through that mountains and many, many tunnels.  The tunnels were open on the side of the mountain, so as you drove through you could see the country-side.  We must have past easily five castles on the way home.  We went through a ton of villages and all along windy roads.  Gorgeous!  The worst part of the drive home was that I had to drive it.  For some reason Jeremy wanted to sightsee like the rest of us get to when he drives! :)

We will be making more trips to the Black Forest, and hopefully we'll catch it in the right season without a lot of touristy traffic!

~Tara

Back in the day. (To Heidelberg)

My dad was stationed in Heidelberg the year it was founded!  (Just kidding, Dad, but seriously a long time ago.)  When my parents came to visit two weeks after we arrived in Germany, that was the first place he was itching to go.  So, we went. (Monday, February 20th)

Heidelberg was the political center of the Lower Palatinate (defined as: the territory of the German Empire ruled by the count palatine of the Rhine).  France sacked the town twice in the late 1690s.  It's the site of Germany's oldest and most famous university.  It's a pretty great tourist town, too.  The Haupstrasse has a ton of shopping (including an Apple store).

We visited the Schloss, which means castle but that is its name (weird).  We did not go through the tour.  We would have had to wait a long time for the next one to run and Dad was antsy to get moving. :) So we walked around the entire Schloss campus, which was quite amazing.  We visited the Deutsches Apotheken-Museum (German Apothecary Museum), which I really had no interest in but it was free.  We took some great pics and moved onto the Haupstrasse were we looked for Dad's old haunts.  There have been a lot changes in 40 years though.  We went in February in the middle of the week, so not much was open (in the way of attractions).  We were able to walk into the churches, but they were closed.  We walked the Alte Brucke (Old Bridge), and took more pictures.  We did a lot of walking and reminiscing.  Oh, I need to add the parking experience we had.  Parking and driving in Heidelberg was not easy at all.  We pretty much saw the entire town and the all the neighborhoods trying to find a place to park.  Jeremy was unbelivably patient though the whole process.  Dad and I are not good back seat drivers.  Jeremy finally spotted a parking deck that our car barely fit in.  Driving that big old Taurus X though the skinny driveways and parking spots is not fun, but Jeremy did it like a champ.

Ok, so previously in on of our posts I mentioned that we went back to Heidelberg with our favorite Karl (because he was driving = free gas).  We went Saturday, March 10th when the weather was showing signs of Spring.  There is a huge difference going site-seeing on the weekends.  It was packed, and it wasn't even warm out.  Craziness!  But we got to see different things than when we went with my parents.  We went back to the Schloss and again opted out of the tour.  I'll get into the castle one day before we leave.  We ate at some restaurant on the Haupstrasse and loved it!  They put a slice of orange in my ginger ale.  Yum!  We took our time walking up and down the Haupstrasse going in the shops we wanted to and hitting all of the churches on the way.  We ventured into the Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Ghost).  This church dates back to 1398, and of course this church was also ravished by ruffians and thieves.  I think that's the normal story for all important buildings in Germany.  Ok, but what was different about this church was that they let you climb to the bell tower.  Jeremy volunteered to stay with the baby, which was good because I guarantee you that there was not enough room in that stairwell for her to be carried up to the top.  Walking people only allowed.  It was the skinniest spiral staircase I've been in.  I hear Cologne is worse with their churches and whatnots, but wow!  If you are seriously claustrophobic, you will NOT want to do this one.  There isn't enough room in there for a handrail, so they give you a rope to hold on to, and trust me you will hold on to it.  I'm 5'5" and I had to duck through some of the areas.  Once you get to the top though, the view is great.  You can walk around the entire bell tower.  The view is great; you can see the Marktplatz and the Schloss perfectly from the top.  I didn't bring my camera, though I have to say I needed both hands to get up and down the staircase.  Going down was worse than up.  I was a bit green for about an hour and a half after my decent from the top.  I sat for a while to get my bearings.  Thought I was going to blow some chunks towards the end.  Great experience though; sorry Jeremy missed out on that.  After that, we were pretty much done with our day.  I think we'd seen about three churches along the Haupstrasse and done a little shopping and it was probably 1600.  We got in the car and drove the one hour home.  It's such a pretty drive too.

~Tara

Should be cleaning...instead, we PLAY!!!

Jeremy was off this past weekend, so we jammed some good times into a short three days.

So, it is true what they say about castles in Germany.  There are a ton of them!  Most of them are nothing but a pile of rocks at this point.  All the really pretty ones are too far away from France to get beaten up.  The little bit of research that I was able to find out about some of the less important Nobles/Knights/Lords has given me a very un-romanticized look at Knights, castles, and the ole days of chivalry.  Because public transportation was not invented back then, they had some sort of Lord/Knight or what have you on every corner.  (They were like the Wal-green of their time.)  They didn't want to travel too far to govern over (crush, steal and destroy) their people.

There are two castles that are 15 minutes from our house in Hutschenhausen.  There's one in Landstuhl and one in K-town.  The one in Landstuhl, Berg Nanstein, was the site of the fall of castles in the Palatinate area.  Franz von Sickingen was a mean SOB of a knight who made it famous and caused its demise.  He was smart, but got greedy.  I'm not going to give an entire history on it, but I can say that even though Landstuhl is small and the castle is not that famous it made many history books and articles  that I've read about in reference to the castles in our area.  Considering how many there are, that's big.  Ok, back to the castle.  Our GPS refused to know where it was.  The road to get there is a driveway to a hotel.  When you get to the castle itself (not open on Mondays, but gives a military discount when it is open--very nice), there is a cafe right outside its walls.  It looks like they have turned part of the castle into a section for parties or receptions.  Its tastefully done though.  The cafe looks over the entire town of Landstuhl and you can see Ramstein Air Base to the right.  They have really nice benches and tables outside, so Jeremy, Harper, and I had a super nice lunch out in the sun watching the heavies take off from the base.  The food was so good and it was the cheapest we've paid for a meal since we've arrived.  When we were finished with our meal, we went to explore the Nanstein.  When I say explore, that is exactly what we did.  The castle has two places you can't go: the tomb of Sickingen and a stairwell that looks like it hasn't been excavated yet.  I mean we must have walked all over that place for an hour.  It was a fun adventure.

Thinking we were up for more adventure, we headed into Kaiserslautern (K-town) to see another one.  Well, this one was not as forgiving as the other.  There were no signs on how to get there.  The GPS, again, was no help.  I actually told Jeremy (I'm the navigator when he drives) to drive up what I thought was a road, but ended up being a walkway with steps at the top.  So we had to back down in our huge car with the locals looking on (stupid Americans).  After asking two different people, we parked behind a church and hiked to the castle.  I will not go into detail on how out of shape the Wood family is, but when I say hike, I really mean cry, sweat, scream, and gnash our teeth hiked to the top of that big ole hill to see a couple of walls left over from a long ago life.  Burgruine Hohenecken was built in 1200 but first mentioned in 1277.  Again, this one was destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again by the French.  See the trend here.  All that remains are about 5 walls and most of those have been reinforced with newer construction to keep them from falling over.  The grounds are beautiful.  It's a great place to go if you want a little hike and a picnic lunch at the end.  This one was free (maybe monetarily, but not in blood, sweat and tears).

This ended a great day, but we were beat.  All three of us.

~Tara