Day 5 -6 - the last days of the Miller visit

Note the extra cool sunglasses that Lindsay sports today!

And the wooden shoes of our guide.


The Windmill - and the mill stone.


The huge hearth - where the all the work of the house was done.




Then - Muenster without the Karnival.

Lindsay pointing out the messenger bag she bought. And one of the many flower stands that catch eye.

The inside of the Dom.

And the knitting. (note how happy and relaxed I seem...)

A GREAT week.

Thursday and Friday - the last days!

Thursday was another exciting day - ranking right up there with Karnival.

The Davis kids went to school by themselves that day (no guests, much to Rowyn's dismay - but we thought that they needed a rest....there's not much sleep going on when those two are whispering into the night!) And the rest of us went first to have a coffee at Floyd's, and to see the Dom (which David missed the day before while we were shopping) and then to the Picasso Museum in down town Muenster - which was extremely cool.

Then we met up with the kids at an open air museum - where they have reconstructed several buildings from representing the area's history. We have a friend we met at the English Club - something our friends, the Emmels, are involved with here - who volunteers there and was willing to do a tour in English. His name was Joseph (see him in the pictures in full costume) and he spent THREE HOURS taking us around! Truly amazing place too - there were buildings from as early as the 1600's that illustrate just how the people lived back then. (Like the farmers who lived in the same barn-like room as their animals...) The place revolved around a wind mill, which was the first building they rebuilt. I guess there used to be 11 windmills around Muenster, and when the last was torn down, the people decided that they didn't want to lose this aspect of their history. So they found an unused one to restore, and rebuilt it on this piece of land. And that was how it started. They have 21 buildings now, and we toured most of them. (even three hours wasn't enough time!) The highlight for most of us was that Joseph took us up into the windmill - something that isn't done in the 'normal' tour offered we think. All in all, it was a big treat, and it helped that the name of the place - Muhlenhof - translates into English, the Miller's yard. Needless to say, Beth Aura bought some mugs for the Miller side of their family and some wooden shoes for the girls. (It was very interesting - as you'll see by the pictures - how Dutch everything seemed. We are less than 100 Km from the Dutch border, and they share a common history with this area.)

Steve had his class again, so the rest of us headed off to Altenberge to a Greek restaurant, the Olive, where we enjoyed wonderful Greek food. (Poor Steve)

Friday, was catch up day. We went to all the places that Beth Aura wanted to get souvenirs - mostly knives! Germans make the best in the world. And Lindsay finally found the messenger bag with the map of Muenster on it that we had been hunting for. David, not wanting to join us for the shopping of course, ventured off to the city museum where he saw displays of the city throughout the centuries.

In the evening, the adults went to a 'Wine and Cheese' party with the English club, while the kids watched a video. It was a lovely party right in the main schloss of town - now a university building. Afterwards, Beth Aura taught us how to knit. She had been working with Rowyn during her nights with Leah, and I figured that I'd better know a least a little so I can help her. Little did we know how much Harrison would take to the needles! So now Rowyn, Harrison and me are all knitting.

That was pretty much it. The Millers left to pack and get ready to go, and the next morning we had a big breakfast before they headed off to Cologne. It was a fantastic week for all of us. Rowyn is soooo sad that Leah has left, but we all look forward to seeing everyone this summer. What a gift to see friends from home.

Pictures from days 4-5

Day 4-5 of the Miller visit

Tuesday was castle day for the Connecticutians.

You might compare these pictures with the ones we took last September when everything was so green. You can see that there is still such a majestic quality to the places even in the leaf-bare winter.

David took dozens of pictures of Castle Vischering - from the 11th century. We all loved the "knight in shining armor"-ness of it all. There was even (weirdly) a Barbie Doll display! Beth Aura and I reminisced together viewing some of the toys we used to play with. (I had only the Barbie Airplane, but Beth Aura had quite a bit more - the town house or hospital one? I can't remember.)

NordKirchen was just as huge as it was last summer - the girls had a great time posing as the statues while Lindsay took pictures. We ended the day eating at our Italian/German restaurant just near our apartment - Zum Rushouse, while Steve had German class in town.

Wednesday was SHOPPING DAY! It was just the 'older girls' today, while Rowyn took Leah to her school for a visit, and our kids went to school as well, and the guys took some time off. We had loads of coffee at our favorite coffee place - Floyd's - and took in the huge Wednesday morning market off the Dom Platz downtown, and then spent the afternoon just soaking it in. It is very difficult to decide what kind of souvenirs to take to family back home, so although we did little actual buying, Beth Aura had a better idea of what was available. Lindsay, actually, did spend her money on some German hard rock music and some very chic sun glasses.

Steve and David met Rowyn and Leah after school and took them to lunch - once again to Zum Rushouse, and had a lovely ramble homewards through the park. After all the touring around during the last two days, it was a very nice break for all! (Except for poor Harrison and Ev at school.)

Pictures from day 3

What the pictures cannot show is how, once the parade started, we were completely pelted by the candy the people on the floats threw at us. David wore a baseball cap and we were all jealous of his protection! There was all kinds of music - everything from German folk music to YMCA (the kids loved it.) And it wasn't just candy - there were small bottles of wine and even flowers. The first float passed out flowers, quite carefully I might add. Beth Aura was one of the recipients. Isn't it gorgeous?

There is my favorite picture that David took (these are all David's pics - he gave us a disc before he left, and he's a much better photographer than I am!) - of the monks checking out the nuns. Hilarious. And then there's us, foot-weary revelers, heading into the pub (brown building on the right)

February Friends - days 3

Monday deserves a posting all to itself.

We went to Karnival - the German version of Mardi Gras, and boy can they celebrate!
We left our apartment to go to the parade, the last of the Karnival celebrations planned before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, having no idea of what to expect. As you can see from the pictures, everyone wore a costume (Our costumes? Beth Aura said we'd go as tourists, appropriately enough). There were a lot of people with bottles of beer in hand enjoying very loud music while we waited the two hours for the parade to begin. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves- you just had to be there. David, unbeknownst to us, film much of it on his digital camara and cut and edited it for us later in the week. I'd post it here if I could - we'll just have to show you it once we get home.

After the parade festivities, we left, exhausted, for a pub for a late lunch. The food was nice, but the atmosphere took the cake. They had a fire going, and all the fatty foods and wine certainly helped to warm our very cold bodies. We topped the day off with ice cream from our favorite Italian Ice place in our little suburb of Gievenbeck.

Pictures from Day 1 - 2 of Miller visit

Here are the first day or two of our week with the Millers.

February Friends! A special visit

Long time no write!

Sorry about that, but not much was happening here. We have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of our friends from New Haven, the Millers! Well, the visit has come and gone, and now I can write all about our exciting adventures with them.

They arrived on Saturday, the 18th - extremely and tired, and just a tiny bit frustrated at trying to find our place. (Road signs are just a bit difficult to find, let alone read.) Anyway - they brought us many goodies from home. I now have unsweetened chocolate (brownies in the oven as I write), choc. chips (way too much to use!), lots of cold medicines, books for the kids, and some Yu-Gi-Oh cards especially for Harrison. (He was SO happy.) Our first little venture out into the country-side with them was short - just enough to help them got out into the fresh air and make it until the evening - when, hopefully, they would SLEEP. (Leah didn't sleep at all on the plane, and David got maybe 10 minutes because he was seated beside her.) We took them to see the country house - 'Rushouse' - and family estate - 'Schloss Hulshoff' - of the famous local poetess, Annette Von-Droste-Hulshoff. They managed to get through our chatter over an informal 'abendbrot' (German light meal with meat, cheeses, and bread) and we settled them into our friend's house, the Emmel's, who offered them their house while abroad - bless their hearts! All in all, a nice beginning to our week.

Day 2 - we let them sleep in while we went to church, and then brought them lunch later in the afternoon. We took the opportunity during dessert to celebrate David's birthday from the day before. We invited the next door neighbors over for coffee and cake, and had a nice little chat about living in Germany. Heidi and her two kids, Nicole and Peter, were very informative about the whole educational process here, and they brought over gummi bears for all, a huge success. The weather was still cooperating, so we parents took a little walk around Altenberge to help orientate the Millers to their little village. We actually saw very little of Rowyn and Leah during the week - they were in their own little universe, and loving it!

I'll pause for some pictures.