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Published: January 1st 2012
Bremen Town Musicians!
Me, Linnea and Karen with the statue! You rub the donkey's foot for luck; much less awkward that rubbing Juliet for luck :)Hello again!
Yesterday was my last day with Elisabeth and the family. I was really sad to go. I was nearly teary-eyed saying goodbye to the family and then again to Elisabeth at the train station. It has really been a great 9 days and I felt so at home there. It was SO much fun getting to hang out with all of the kids and I am really glad I got to meet Linnéa too. She left Thursday and it was strange not having her around the house! She is very funny and I think we actually have a lot in common! I liked hanging out with her and Karen. We watched “The Young Victoria,” one of my favorite movies, because they really like movies and shows from that period and we sat around and talked about the different royal families around Europe, I think Heather would have liked that conversation. 😊 It was just really fun to have some time with them. We sat around a talked and cooked and shopped, I just enjoyed it a lot. Karen was the only one in the family who didn’t get to go see New York and Boston last
year, so I suggested that she come over and we can go see Boston together because I have never seen it either! Linnéa should come too! That would be really, really fun I think!
Tuesday Elisabeth took Linnéa and me up to Bremerhaven. Bremerhaven is a port city at the mouth of the Weser River near the North Sea. It was built because ships became too large to make it all the way up the river to the port in Bremen and in the late 1800’s up to the mid-1900’s it was the main point of departure for Germans headed to the Americas and Australia. Elisabeth took us there to see the Deutsches Auswanderer Haus which is a museum all about the emigrants who left from there. It was really, really neat actually. You get a card with the name of an emigrant and it’s sort of an interactive museum. You can put your card up to a pad and then it will tell you about your emigrant or other information about the journey. As you go through the museum you see the different stages of the journey from waiting on the docks to traveling on the
Ship or Museum?
I thought they way they designed the museum was SO cool! It looked like you were in a real ship! ship and finally arriving. The thing that makes it so cool is they actually built part of a ship with the different types of quarters that were available in the different time periods and then at the end you even get to take the test immigrants in the US had to take to be let through.
At the end of the tour they have a room with all of the different emigrants and where they are today or what they accomplished in their lives. Emigrants ranged from people like mine who lives a happy life in Maryland farming and being grandmother, to people whose whereabouts are unknown and even the original owner and creator of Universal Studios, Carl Laemmle. There were also phonebooks from all, well;
most of the states in the US and you could look up names. There were only two for Nebraska so I found Schultze, Rex R.atty. 😊 Then they had computers where you could look up to see if your ancestors came from Bremerhaven and you could also find other old records. I found a census from 1930 with my great-grandfather, Emil Schultze, as well as his family, including my Grandpa
Bob and Uncle Don when they were only 7 and 4. It’s the kind of museum my Dad would have spent hours upon hours in. Actually, I felt bad he wasn’t there; I knew he would enjoy it so much.
After some hot chocolate and cake for sustenance we made our way back to Bremen. I could tell that Bremerhaven must be really beautiful in the summer with the sea nearby, and they had a Climate Museum that takes you around the world and you get to learn about climates all around the world; therefore I have to go back one day. 😊
We were pretty exhausted when we got home but not so exhausted that we couldn’t break out my new Memory Europa game. That thing is hard! There are a ton of tiles and a lot of the images look similar but are not actually the same and so its gets really hard to remember which tile is where.
Then Wednesday we went back into Bremen to explore some more. Bremen is famous for coffee (Jacobs), beer (Beck’s) and of course, the Bremen Town Musicians. However, my favorite part
Schoor
See what I mean?! A brighter, happier Diagon Alley! was seeing the old Schnoor neighborhood. I think this neighborhood must be the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter because that is what it reminded me of, only a little bit brighter. It’s got lots of little narrow alleyways with small shops with tall roofs. It was really neat, even though it was small, I feel like you could just sort of explore it forever! Elisabeth took us to a little Austrian café that she said has the best hot chocolate…indeed it does. And very good deserts. 😊
We walked along the river to get to the . Walking along the river was really fun because of all of the boats and small old-fashioned ships. I don’t really know why, but I like nautical things a lot. I just think it would be so fun to learn to sail. Clemson has a sailing club; they don’t seem to do much actual sailing though. We’ll see. That sounds like one of those things one of my gal-friends in Clemson and I would do for fun!
Thursday was a sad day because Linnéa had to leave to head back to Sweden. I so enjoyed meeting
The B Team
The photo to the right is the Bremen Town Musicians "B Team" haha! Linnéa! I think my Dad would have really enjoyed meeting her too because she is studying history at her university in Sweden. Her job was working as a tour guide at a silver mine in Sweden and Martin and Elisabeth went and visited and they said it was really great because she dressed up in the period clothes from the 1800’s and they take you all the way down into the mine. It sounds a little scary to me, but she said the mines are actually quite big; it’s just the ride down in the elevator that is a little nerve-wracking. She did her project last year on periodicals in Sweden between 1870 and 1900. Listening to her talk about it is really very interesting and it makes sense why she liked all of the museums we went to because she wants to work in one! She also has quite a sense of humor!
Martin took me to see another ancient burial ground that afternoon. It was raining quite a bit so we didn’t stay long, but it was neat to see. When went partly because they took Grandma and Grandpa Heiden there the last time they
came to visit and they wanted me to see the small opening that Grandpa made it through. It was quite small! I was really shocked! Grandpa must have been quite the svelte lad 15 years ago! 😊 I would say the opening was only about two feet wide or so!
However the afternoon brought on more serious matters of Monopoly. Matti, Christian and I finally got a chance to play and playing Monopoly in Germany is nearly as competitive as it is with Conor and my Dad! Christian was probably the funniest though, “I don’t know why but I get quite arrogant when I play Monopoly.” The going price for selling a property seemed to be 10,000 DM (Deutschmarks, it’s a pretty old version of the game so they still use DM!). “Matti, would you sell me your orange property?”
“10,000DM”
“Uhg. Devin, how much would you sell your Südbahnhof for?”
“10,000 DM”
“You know, I will only be patient for so long. I think you really want to seel me your Südbahnhof.”
He is like Conor and likes to make lots of deals to get us to
sell our properties, but I know that game. Conor always beats me. It’s not even really a contest; he is a mastermind at Monopoly. Really, I can’t beat him at any board games, except maybe Scrabble. However, then he always seems to be able to pull out some ridiculous word like “Jinx” with ‘x’ on a triple letter or something and just when I think I’ve got him, he beats me. I think Matti has the same keen board game talent Conor does. Not only did he whip me and Christian at Monopoly but in the evening when we played my Memory Europa game again he completely wiped the floor with me, Elisabeth, Martin, Karen! His young mind is too sharp for us older people. 😊
All in all it was a really great Christmas and it went by so fast! Probably because I spent my time either having fun with everyone or sleeping…two things that make time just fly by! It is most certainly a Christmas I will remember forever and I don’t know how I can thank the Saathoff’s enough! I so, so, SO enjoyed spending time with all of them! They are so funny,
And the Entrance
I'm impressed I got through! and I know I’ve said this before but they really remind me of my own family. Well, I suppose they are family, really, so it makes sense. 😊 I was sad to go, but I know that we will see each other again, hopefully soon! 😊 They are always welcome in Cádiz if they need to get to some warm weather! 😊
I was sad to go, but I was SO excited to see Jana. It has been so, so long! Over eleven years! However I will save more of that for my next blog 😊
Love and miss you all!
And all my friends from Clemson and Nebraska can cheer on the Huskers as they take on South Carolina this week! Go ‘skers!
And don’t forget the Tigers!!! In the Orange Bowl and I can hardly believe it!! My parents and my Uncle Rick and Aunt Lyn are going “Bowling” this week and they get to see both games since Nebraska plays in Orlando and then Clemson plays in Miami…what a hard life being empty nesters, eh? 😊
Happy New Year’s Eve to everyone!
Monopoly Time
Now I have been beat in Monopoly in German and in English. Love always,
Devin 😊
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Natalie
non-member comment
DEVIN!! I loved this blog!! You just seem so happy, and that makes me happy!! =) It is most wonderful that you've gotten to know your family better! What a blessing! Plus, Germany seems like a pretty sweet place. =) =) =)