ON THE ROAD AGAIN

As most of you have experienced the day before vacations are always the worst.   This was no exception for the start of our long weekend to Germany.  A list a mile long which included getting the dogs to the kennel and my car won’t start.   Hopefully it’s just a dead battery but Randy ended up coming home early to rescue me!  We got the dogs off to their new kennel.   It seems to be a very nice kennel.   But I’ll admit it made me sad when we walked away and I heard Newton howling for us!  I’m glad he had Oreo with him.   We finished the rest of our running around which included finding an auto supply store for the safety items that Germany requires you to carry in your car at all times.   This includes a safety triangle and yellow safety vests that have to be in the glove compartment.  If you get pulled over and the police ask to see these things and you can’t produce them, you can be fined 150 Euro and sometimes they make you pay this right then.  So anyway – we found 2 vests….don’t tell the Germany authorities! 

We got on the road and on our way to Germany.   I volunteered for the back seat.   Should have chosen the seat behind Randy since I could still see the speedometer!  No speed limits on German roads!

We arrive in Heimersheim around 7:00 pm.  We are staying at the Guesthouse Rabennest which is an Inn owned by Hans Peter and Marisa Koehler.   Hans Peter is the Great Grandson of the brother of my Great Grandfather.   This makes us the same generation of descendants on different sides of the Atlantic!  Not to confuse you....this is my father's mother's side of the family.  

Rabennest Guesthouse, Heimersheim Germany

Marisa & Hans Peter Koehler

DAY 1

Randy went off after breakfast to Hockenheim which is about an hour away with Mark & Brian.  This was Practice Day at the race track.  I decided to stay back and I spent the day with Hans Peter and Marisa.  After a nice light breakfast I waited for Marisa to finish up with Inn business.  I read my book in a nice quiet garden area.  

By the way, the Koehler's run a vineyard.  They are the 5th generation to run this family winery.  There are vineyards everywhere you look while you drive around.  In fact in Heimersheim itself I think there are about 4 wineries.  

I caught up with Hans Peter and discussed some family ancestry with him.   I had brought some postcards from home that had been sent to my father's cousins family back in 1921.  They were from relatives that visited our German relatives in the Rhein area.  It was quite interesting and Hans Peter has quite a collection of family tree information.

So the 3 of us took a drive.  First we went to the town of Alzey which is the town right next to Heimersheim.  It was so funny because as we were leaving Alzey Hans Peter and Marisa had a 10 minute long discussion about whether Alzey would be considered a village or a town and therefore what would be considered a "city".  I don't think there was a conclusion about the Village vs. Town but it was decided that a place like Mainz was definitely a "City".  Speaking of Mainz, that was our next stop.  Here are some pictures of Alzey.

 ALZEY TOWN CENTER

Alzey Castle built in 1500's - 

now a boarding school

ALZEY CASTLE

Before we got to Mainz we drove through a village called Schafhausen and also Gau Odernheim.  Both these towns were featured in the postcards that I brought from home.  Gau Odernheim is the village that my Great Grandmother, Maria Finkenaur was from and we believe the other village may have been a place where Hans Peter's Great Uncle Jacob lived for a while.  

THIS IS THE SAME SCENE AS THE TOP PICTURE

IN THE POSTCARD. THE CARD SAYS THAT THE

HOUSE ON THE LEFT IS "UNCLE JACOB'S". 

THE BOTTOM PHOTO IS MARKED ON THE RIGHT AS BEING

"LOUISA'S" HOUSE.  IT WAS GREAT TO MAKE THESE

CONNECTIONS FROM THE PAST AND THEN DRIVE

RIGHT THROUGH THEM MORE THAN 90 YEARS LATER!

ON TO MAINZ.  We walked to the town square where it happened to be Market Day.  

After browsing the market we stopped at the Mainz Cathedral which was built in 1000.  The height of the ceilings was just amazing and even more so when you think about tools they used a thousand years ago!  

LOWER CHAPEL IN THE BASEMENT OF THE CHURCH

THIS WAS HARD TO GET FOCUSED BUT I REALLY
LIKED TO SEE A MODERN STAINED GLASS WINDOW!

After the cathedral we stopped at an old tavern for some traditional German food.  I got the weiner schnitzel which was pretty good.  But now that I've had it....I'm good!

After lunch we made a quick stop at a Baroque era church which was just unbelievable.  What a difference in style from the Mainz Cathedral.  It is called St. Augustine Church and it was built in the mid-1700s.  You can hear everyone just gasp when they enter.  For some reason it seems like my camera was having a hard time focusing while I was in this church.  It must have been all that shiny gold-leaf!

Finally after a day of walking we get back to Heimersheim where we pick up a nice cake from the local bakery.  It's a typical seasonal cake for this area which was a thin dense cake topped with plums.  We got this to celebrate Brian's 18th birthday.  We had a dinner in the only restaurant in Heimersheim....we all had schnitzel (yes even me but now I've definitely had my fill).  And we sat around after dinner at the Koehler's and had a nice time enjoying desert and more talk of our ancestry.  No birthday gifts this year since Brian's birthday gift is the awesome F1 race tickets! Hard to believe this is just day one of our 4 day weekend.   I hope I'm not boring everyone to death!  Off to the races tomorrow.  It's qualifying day.

 HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY BRIAN!