Where have we been?

Where have I been for the last 6 months or so?  Whatever I have been doing, I have obviously forgotten to blog.  But we have had so many memories I wanted to go over some of the highlights from Summer and Fall 2014.  Often I post pictures and short notes on Facebook but the blog gives a little more context. 

The Summer began with us returning to PA for 2 weeks.  In that time, we had two beautiful family weddings, and spent so much great time with friends.  It is much easier to adjust to the change in time zones when it is actually sunny and warm.  We returned back to Deutschland for the semi-finals and finals of the World Cup.  Mike was committed to watching the world cup final in the country of a team that was playing in it.  So we were pulling for France, Belgium(when they didn’t play the USA), and the Netherlands.  All approximately a 1 hour train ride from us.  Of course, Germany was the most convenient and they did not disappoint.  

A lot of people asked what it was like during the World Cup final.  We decided that we had to go out and watch the game in public or in a bar, that is just what you do.  So we decided to get a bunch of Americans together who we had been watching different games with.  We rented out a table in a bar along the Rhine River in the Altstadt in Düsseldorf.  It was great, and very much like watching big games in the USA at a bar.  There was a DJ playing pump up music before the game and even got chants going during the game.  All our pictures are kind of weird from the night because we were technically outside, with a Red tent over our head so we all have a red tint to us.  It was a great place to watch the game with our friends and so many crazy German fans.  There is a great video of Ryan and the kids dancing on the table after the win.

We have lived in Pittsburgh for two Super Bowls (have been on the southside after both wins) and a Pens Stanley cup.  I would say the feeling in Germany was very similar. 

The summer progressed as normal with the kid's birthdays and small trips here and there. There is a lot of wine in Germany not just all Beer.  So one weekend we rented out a hotel with a bunch of families down in the Mosel valley.  This is a really great part of Germany with some great sweet wine’s.  The kids had a blast and the parents just drank wine and were loud obnoxious Americans playing “Cards against humanity” all night.  Exactly what you would expect to do in the Mosel valley. 

Wine in Cochem

We experienced our first round of Expat friends leaving and new ones coming.  It is quite natural for people in our situation to experience it, but this was a first for us.  We said goodbye to some good friends and quickly met some new arriving future friends.  I guess this is just how Expat life goes, but its an emotional roller coaster nonetheless.  

In August, our friends Dan and Marlena came to visit.  The kids were in Basketball camp, so it was the perfect opportunity to do some sightseeing.  We spent a night in Brugge and a night in Amsterdam.   In Amsterdam we did a bike tour of the city with Mike’s Bikes.  I strongly recommend that to anyone that visits Amsterdam.  We all visited Westvleteren monk brewery, and picked up a few 6 packs of the world's #1 ranked beer.  Mike and Dan looked like a kid in the candy store buying and drinking these beers.  Mike is hoarding it away in the basement as we speak, so anyone visiting us if you are nice, he will share one with you.  

Amsterdam

We were in Brugge for a second time and although it is getting quite the reputation if you look at any rankings of top 10 places to go in Europe, it is worth all the fuss.  This time we did a boat tour and were able to snag a great table in the famous beer museum bar.  For dinner we went to a great restaurant and met up with 2 Brits and joined tables with them.  Dan ate Kangaroo and then of course hopped around the rest of the night.  Marlena ate 354 Belgium waffles during her trip.  There were having a very, very weird street festival when we left dinner with a band that came out on stage with Dry Ice and dressed up(insert picture) and played some good music.  Sometimes you had to pinch yourself if you were really seeing what you were seeing or if it was the Belgium 8% beer talking.   

Brugge, Belgium

The last weekend in August, we flew, with the Mangins (our Scranton, Pittsburgh, York, Düsseldorf friends) up to Ireland for the Penn State victory over Central Florida.  A good time was had by all.  We visited Malhide Castle and took a beautiful tour of the east coast.  The whole time anywhere you went in Dublin we ran into Penn State fans.  But when we were visiting Malhide Castle the entire Cheerleading squad was there and Erin got her picture with them.  She could have floated home to Düsseldorf after that.  We of course made stops at Guiness and the Jameson Distillery.  It was educational for the kids!  In fact at the tour they asked what the 4 ingredients to Beer were and our kids got 3 of them right away. (OK maybe 3 brewery tours in 3 different countries is paying off).  There were a lot of Penn State fans and they completely took over the Temple Bar area of Dublin.   

Friday night there was a high school game between two PA high school teams Penn Manor and Cedar Cliff.  Our good friend from High School, Todd Mealy, is the Penn Manor Coach.  He said that not all the coaches could make it and asked Mike to help. So  Mike got to help on the sidelines and be Penn Manor's 'get back guy'.  The weather was miserable at the Penn Manor game, but it was so good to be able to see live football so far from home.  Mike said being the “get back guy” was hard work but I am not so sure.  

Neuschwanstein Castle

Eagle's Nest

The Nighwatchman's Tour of Rothenburg ob der Tauber

September brought my parents to town. Yes, we managed to get them here.  I never thought it would happen.  And we gave them the full tour, Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, a Rhine River Cruise, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a night in an Austrian ski village, Neuschwanstein Castle, Eagles Nest, the Chiemsee, Salzburg, and a German amusement park.  We sent them home tired!  The highlight of the tour was probably going up to the Eagles Nest which was a house built for Hitler near his hometown.  It really had amazing views from up there.  We also had a blast in Rothenburg, which once again is a pretty popular tourist destination, but worth it.  We really lucked out with all the great weather we had.  For our Rhine River cruise there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  I think you see something like 40 castles in the 5 hour ride.  Our kids are officially Castled, Churched and Breweried out.  In all honesty, the kids were wonderful on the trip and had a blast, especially at the waterpark we went to on the Cheimsee.    

Salzburg

Erin and Ryan continued to play baseball for the Ratingen Goosenecks.  The team went 22-2 (Erin and Ryan missed 2 games they lost, so technically they went 22-0).  Ryan played second base and made a couple of diving catches.  Erin went between Left Field and 3B.  They are not going to play winter baseball this year because both are playing Basketball but will pick it up in the Spring again. 

Erin is once again playing basketball for school on their U13 and U12 teams.  U13s play against other German teams, U12s play against other international schools.  Erin is continuing with choir and has taken up the piano.  She really enjoys piano, and I wish we could have gotten her started earlier.

 Ryan is playing basketball for school on the U10 mixed team in the German league.  He is also playing 8U soccer.  He has been playing usually one half of goalie each week.

We have all been working hard to strengthen our German.  And we are doing pretty well, if I do say so myself.  Ryan acts like he doesn't, but he can understand a lot.  And Erin is awesome.  Mike's colleagues constantly encourage him to speak German to them.  He is on the B2 level if that means anything to anyone.  Mike and I actually just finished watching our first German mini-series, Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter, with German subtitles.  

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner with our friends the Quinn’s.  Stephanie did most of the cooking, but in actually all the families brought delicious sides.   We had 43 people at our house and put all the kids in our party room out back.  It was about 50% complete chaos and 50% a nice Thanksgiving dinner.  Similar to having Thanksgiving with the Jameson’s in America.  There are hundreds of Americans living in Düsseldorf that we are friends with and we couldn't invite everyone. 

This Spring Ryan will receive his First Holy Communion.  We have a great English speaking church that we go to.  Erin is now a proud Altar Server and doing a great job.  They go to Sunday school with our friend Colleen (yes another Colleen from America) and she is an excellent teacher.  The Mass starts at 5 PM local time which is 11 AM in the USA, about the same time we use to go.  So Mike can update his fantasy team towards the end of church, just like we are in America!  See some things don’t change!

Trip to Muhl, Germany. Go ahead, try and find it on a map.

I'm back, I know I haven't posted in a while.  And even this post is a cheat.  This is a copy of what I wrote to my Phillips Family on our FaceBook page, detailing a trip Mike, the kids and I took.  Enjoy!

At some point I came across the Family Tree book given to my parent's by Grandma & Grandpa. I figured out the starting point and have been looking for the town of Muhl, Germany, which is where my Great, Great, Great Grandfather, Johann Peter Philipp was born around 1822. I have never been able to find the town. I have emailed with local historians of the Diocese in Germany. They also could not give me a specific location. It does not exist on Google Maps. The Diocese said that it had been included into the city of Züsch.

A good omen for our trip?

This past week Mike and I planned a trip to Boppard, Germany with the kids. We spent the day hiking and seeing castles, but there really wasn't 2 days worth of sight-seeing to be done. I suggested a trip to see Züsch. I had no idea what I was going to find there.

Zur Alten Muhle

As we came down out of the mountains, we saw a sign for a restaurant called “Zur Alten Mühle”. We thought we hit the jackpot. There was no one around in the town of Borfink, so we moved on. There was a sign in German that read, “Borfink, the end of civilization”. Interesting folk.

A few miles down the road we were shocked to see the town of Mühl. Let's get this straight, it was more of a collection of houses than an actual town. I don't think you could even call it a village. Maybe 30 houses bunched along 4 streets. We found the Catholic Church (literally it was the only building that wasn't a house, no shops, no restaurants). There were several graves in the back of the church, and one actually belonged to a Adelheid Philip, who passed away in 2008. (side note, we now have learned that graves are only maintained in Germany for 30 years, after that, they are recycled, don't ask me how)

The small white sign underneath translates roughly to "Rabies Endangered District"

Muhl

After a few minutes of debate, we decided that we would continue on to Züsch as originally planned. Züsch was a much larger town that Mühl. Of course, today was Sunday and nothing is open on Sunday in Germany, so there were few to no people wandering the streets, also, it was about 87 degrees out. We first stumbled upon the Protestant Church and cemetary. No Philipp's there.

Again, we debated taking our victory of finding Mühl and going home, but we decided to walk on a little. We visited the Catholic Church, St. Anthony of Padua. I had been giving this name in relation to the marriage of Johann Peter Philipp and Magdalena Kronenberg, his first wife. Quite possibly they were married in this church. (He later married her sister Katharinia, after Magdalena's death, and they raised a family, including Michael, who came to the United States, and from whom we all descend)

St. Anthony of Padua

Again there was a large cemetery behind the church and we found several from the Philipp family recently buried there. As we were looking at the stones, we saw a woman leaving the church and watching us. She approached us and stood by the grave of a couple by the last name of “Bier”, yes, Beer. She asked me(first in German, then in English) “Do you have people here?” I said “possibly”, and showed her the book. She was so excited and said “Johann Philipp?, he is my family!” (At this point she realized that the church bells had been ringing this whole time, and she was in charge of stopping them, so she ran off to complete her duty!).

When she returned, she told me that I needed to meet her sister, who was already on her way, because “she has everything”. The sister, spoke no English, so that is always an adventure, luckily I had my translator Mike with me. She had a small booklet with her, falling apart, sealed in a plastic bag. She was very excited and speaking very fast about Hitler and “schule”, which means school. We finally figured out that when her Grandmother was in school, the Nazis made the children research their family trees.(you know in case you had any Jews in your tree) Grandparents and great grandparents, places of birth and death, marriages, children, etc. The children filled out these neat little books. Attached are some pictures of the book, please notice the artwork on the front cover. Such a fascinating glimpse into the past. Sure enough, there is our Johann Peter Philipp from Mühl, in her book. The dates are slightly off, but I'm sure that is common after almost 200 years.

The entire time we were speaking with the non-English speaking sister, the original one was trying to reach a man in Mühl, by the last name of Kronenberg who has a lot of information on the family. (Kronenberg was the last name of Johann's wives) She was not able to reach him today, but we exchanged email addresses and phone numbers. She promised to pass along my information to him. So I may be making another trip in the near future.

Two other items of note that we were told by the sisters. They said that their grandparents always spoke of how loving the Philipp grandparents were to their family. Secondly, they commented that all the Philipp's always had many children! I think we an all understand both of those family traits.

I am truly amazed at the unusual set of circumstances and decisions that let us to be standing near that particular grave at that particular time. And I look forward to hopefully hearing a little more about our family soon. I will pass along what I find.   

Rick & Linda, Berlin, Dresden, & Prague

Rick and Linda arrived on Friday morning, April 4^th. Linda had her first German breakfast then they both got a good nap to prepare for the weeks ahead. Life goes on even with guests, Erin had Volleyball practice, Ryan had basketball, then they both had baseball practice. We topped off the night with dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants, Tonhalle. Even met up with the Quinns and Mangins to keep all the kids entertained.

Saturday morning, Ryan had a soccer game and Erin had her end of year hip-hop performance. Then we went to Cologne for the night, MJ's favorite city, and his first stop on all visitor's tours. We visited The Dom and had a delicious, albeit late, dinner at Peffkin.

Monday was supposed to be a normal day but Ryan and Mike were sick so they stayed home and recovered. (AKA, played a lot of video games and watched movies). Rick and Linda explored Düsseldorf and Erin and I met them for dinner.

Tuesday was a big day. Again, Mike and Ryan were not ready to get back to normal. Today's viewing included two Steeler's Super Bowl DVD's and Frozen twice. Myself, Rick and Linda headed to The Netherlands to visit The Keukenhof. You had never seen so many flowers in all your life! And it wasn't stuffy or annoying, it was very comfortable to be there. Lots of playgrounds for kids, lots of well-priced restaurants. And since it was during the week, not too many people! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

Afterwards, we headed for the beach. Yes, it was about 7 degrees and raining and 20 kmp winds, but, when you are a 20 minute drive from the beach you MUST go to it. There is a law somewhere, I'm sure of it.

Since MJ was home sick with Ryan and Erin was with the Quinn's (Thank You Stephanie), Rick, Linda & I had time to head into Amsterdam for dinner. MJ searched and found a great 'local' place for us to eat. (He couldn't handle our plan to just drive in and happen upon a restaurant). It was a small family owned place, and the guy at the table next to us was astounded that we found it, because “this is kind of a local place, not a place for tourists”. Maybe he was trying to tell us we weren't allowed there, lol. The food was simple, but good, I highly suggest going here for a unique experience.

There really are as many bikes in Amsterdam as everyone says.

Then we wandered Amsterdam for an hour or so, we even wandered int a Ben & Jerry's where were found some American college girls touring Europe while they were on break from them their semester in Ireland. In 12 years, when Erin is doing her semester in Europe, remind me of this two week break so I can make her come home and get a job instead of wandering around the continent with her friends.

A small rant about driving through The Netherlands. Ok, first of all, yes, we are spoiled driving in Germany, most of the highways (and some small two lane farm roads) have no speed limit. And we consistently hit about 100 mph on any given drive (Mom, I'm kidding). At one point in The Netherlands we were on a 5 lane highway, with a speed limit of 100 kmp (60 mph) and EVERYONE was driving in the right three lanes. It was like the other two lanes didn't even exist, like they were in our imagination. Or maybe they were being reserved for landing aircraft, I don't know, but it was bizarre. I felt like such a rebel when I dared to use the 4^th lane. I don't understand.

On Thursday, I did the stupidest thing I have ever done or possibly will ever do and accidentally washed my book in my washing machine. I have always had a fear of placing my phone in the laundry basket, and tossing it in, but you would think I would have noticed a huge book! I do NOT under an circumstances recommend this. And it wasn't a small book, it was about 1000 pages worth of Winds of War. MJ was the hero and got the machine fixed, so all is good now. Hold on a minute I need to go switch one of my 10 remaining loads of laundry. (Thank you here to Michelle and Steve Mangin who let me interfere with their Easter Sunday to to do about 6 loads of post-vacation laundry)

Japanese Garden

Rick, Linda and I visited the immaculate Japanese Garden at Bayer in Leverkusen. Then I took them to one of our favorite castles, Schloss Berg. Perfect timing, as we ran into (our favorite) tour guide Cevin who we had had on another visit. He offered (or maybe I offered for him) to give us and another group from North Carolina a tour of the castle. So much history, I highly recommend checking to see if he is available on your next visit. I have his email address. He is also a baseball and American football coach in Germany. (yes there is American football in Germany)

WEEK 2

With Rick and Linda in tow, we embarked on a rather aggressive itinerary. Mike and I drove with all the luggage, kid's scooters, & stash of Coke Zero. Linda, Rick & the kids rode the rails.

Mike and I arrived in Berlin and checked into our “Home Away” apartment. Great place, again, I recommend it. Two bedrooms, a bath and a half lots of living space and an extra bed in the living room for the kids, great location in Charlottenburg with cafe's and a bakerei's right next door, and a block from the U-bahn. (I can send the link).

You may remember the Christmas Countdown Beer Calender (I refuse to call it an Advent Calendar). MJ's favorite selection was an IPA from two guys brewing in Berlin. So we tucked it away in our memory in anticipation of this trip. I'm sure Mike will tell the story better, but long and short of it is we were able to buy the beer at the restaurant for take out. The waitress told him “it will be really expensive if you want to open it here.” She said it would be €1.80 if he wants to drink it in the restaurant. I think we could swing that.

After dinner (mine was just a plate of fried potatoes with bacon, awesome) it was time to pick up the train riders at the airport. But how can we do that? 6 people and 5 seats in a car. MJ always has a solution, MJ in the trunk, obviously. The train wasn't the best and they may have been a bit cranky, but MJ forced everyone to go visit Brandenburg Tor at night, truly stunning.

Saturday morning we hit the ground running (as usual) We started the day with Checkpoint Charlie and the accompanying museum. Then back to Brandenburg Tor and the Reischtag, then back to the apartment for a rest before dinner. We went over to former East Germany for diner, and we quite honestly waited and hour an a half for our food after we ordered. But the restaurant was cute and the beer was cold, and we weren't all cranky and tired (tiredness and crankiness increase exponentially over time as a vacation goes on) so we were fine.

Starbucks outside the America embassy

Holocaust Memorial 

Sunday, we visited Museum Island, and took a boat tour of Berlin. You get a much different perspective. Before dinner we walked down to Schloss Charlottenburg, which was right at the end of our street. We ate at a great brewery.

Berlin Cathedral Church

Schloss Charlottenburg

Monday woke up rainy and cold. We had tickets for a tour of the Reichstag Dome. (Quick history, the Nazis started a fire in the Reichstag, allowing them to take control and insert Hilter in power, we all know how that turned out.) After the tour, Erin, Ryan and I headed to Pottsdammer Platz to meet up with one of her friends from school. We had ice cream and went to see Lego Movie (in English and 3D).

Monday night we ordered pizza and pasta from down the street. Somehow I think the owners thought that we were new to the neighborhood, and were living there and gave us a bottle of wine to go with our dinner. I felt bad, but really had no way to explain in Italian or German, so I took it with a smile. Please if you are ever in Charlottenburg, let me know and I will tell you the place and you can give them your business!

Tuesday morning we were back on the road, this time to Dresden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden). I'm going to be brutally honest, I wasn't taken with the place (even before “The Incident”, read on). It has a ton of history, it's just bad history. And the rebuilt buildings are beautiful, but they are in between yucky Soviet era buildings, it doesn't flow well. Mike will say I'm too hard on it, but it just wasn't for me.

The Fürstenzug (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furstenzug)

The Semper Opera House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semperoper)

Dresden Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden_Castle)

Wednesday, we toured and the Green Vault, filled with crazy gold and silver and jeweled pieces. And we went to Zwinger, both beautiful properties. Then we navigated the difficult Dresden tram system, to get to “The Incident” and Pfund's Molkerei, Guiness Book world record holder of the 'most beautiful dairy'. I'll give it that. It was beautiful (it was on the other side of the river, and not destroyed in '45) Upstairs there is an ice cream, cake and coffee shop. Everyone ordered elaborate dishes of ice cream and cake. Ryan's came with coffee beans on top, so MJ took those off. About half way through Ryan said he swallowed something. We assumed he found another coffee bean or ate too fast. He never ate any more ice cream. Mike took a bite then Rick did, and Rick pulled a huge piece of glass out of his mouth from his bite, probably the size of a silver dollar. There was a small hospital literally across the street so we hurried Ryan over there, they sent us by super-fast taxi to the University Hospital and their Children's Hospital. The triage nurse looked petrified as we explained our story, but the doctor was fine, and Ryan got checked out, including monitoring his blood pressure. He also had a camera put down his nose to his esophagus to check for any cuts, and thankfully there were none. After that, he housed every ounce of food the nurses but in front of him, even wheat bread! We took him home to the hotel to a much relieved sister and Grandma and Grandpa.

Thursday morning we set off for Prague.  At this point, Prague was my favorite city on this trip.  They were having their Easter Markets, which are a lot lie German Christmas Markets.  Lots of eating and drinking and shopping for things you don't need!  We took a boat tour and toured Prague Castle.

Prague Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_castle)

On the way home, Mike and I stopped in Nuremburg for a bite to eat. They were also having their Easter Markets. We took time time to wander around, sampling some Nuremburg specialties and I even spun the golden ring on the fountain for good luck.

A few hours later, we stopped by Limburg Germany for a later snack. (No real meals today, just snacks) Limburg is ADORABLE! I want to go back, it's probably only about an hour and a half from our house, so it can easily be added to any trip to our house. All the crooked half timbered houses look like something out of a fairy tale. We sat outside a little cafe (eating delicious Hawaiian flamekuchen) and listed to a couple of musicians playing on the corner. The house behind us was built in 1294. Think about it, American wasn't even found yet and this little house was sitting in the middle of Germany.

Monday we had one later adventure up our sleeve. Mike Rick & Linda drove to Brussels, Belgium, while the kids and I took the train. We visited th Grand Place, ate some waffles and checked on the kid's favorite European landmark, Mannekin Pis (I'm kidding, they hate this thing, we over-hyped it the first time and now all over-hyped things are compared to Mannekin Pis) Ryan has been heard to say “I pee everyday and no one made a statue of me.”

Liege Train Station, very modern and unexpected

Long Spring Break!

We found a Chi-Chi's and had a delicious (albeit expensive) Mexican dinner. There is still little to no good Mexican food that we have found. Wiki research finds that shortly before the salmonella tomato appetizer that took Chi-Chi's fried ice cream away from us, the company spun off their European branch, which survived. They are starting to expand, included one reportedly opening in Brugge (where we are headed soon) After dinner Rick and Linda headed off for a few in Paris and we all headed home.

I hope that we gave Rick & Linda a great (maybe exhausting) European vacation and look forward to our next visitor, Mary!