My German Roots

Now it’s time to head back to Germany. We flew into Brussels on Wizz Air (the kids got a chuckle about that) and drove straight to Köln (or Cologne in English) to spend the night. In the morning we found a Mailboxes, Etc. to ship out the Eastern Europe treasures we’d collected, and then headed into town for a quick visit of the famous Köln Cathedral. After that it was on to the Schwalm region of Germany, located approximately an hour west of Frankfurt. This is the land of my Staehling ancestors. We’ve traced our family tree back to the 16^th century and found that the first several generations all came from a village in this region called Loshausen. A dozen or so villages make up the Schwalm of which Loshausen is one. The villages are all very well manicured with cute farmhouses and half-timbered homes. The rest of the area is full of lush rolling hills and dotted with fields of yellow flowers.

We set up plans to meet four of the Stähling families in the area that I made contact with ahead of time. By the way, “ä” in German is pronounced like “ae” in English, thus the different spelling with our German relatives. We arrived town a little early and checked into a farm stay full of animals and playgrounds. Since the kids were set, I decided to do a little exploration of my own. I started at the local tourist office, hoping to get directions to the Loshausen cemetery. As I was visiting, the curator of the local history museum happened to stroll by. They summoned him in and he offered to personally take me to the church and cemetery. We stopped off for a key to the church and then I got the full history lesson about the area. While visiting the church I asked if it was for sure the right one. Were there other churches in town? He told me in this area there is one religion – Protestant. “One religion, one church”. The cemetery was not the jackpot I had hoped for though, as the earliest graves were barely from the 1800’s. I later learned that in Germany a gravesite is purchased for 30 years. After that time expires, someone must renew the lease or the plot and headstone get recycled. The bones are typically retired to a crypt, but that too can vary by village.

Our first visit was with Kai and Denise Stähling, a young couple in Loshausen. Kai and I traced our roots back about four generations before the branches in our family tree went off in different directions. We had a great visit and he showed us one of the houses down the street that has been occupied by Stählings for the last few centuries. Our next stop was just up the road in Schwalmstadt. Armin and his wife Angelika also rolled out the red carpet. They had a beautiful home overlooking the valley and we arrived just before sunset. We visited about all kinds of things, from village culture and traditions to life in America. He also told us that while there are a few more Stählings scattered throughout Germany, they all originate here. They have a 22 year-old daughter studying in Aachen (whom we’ll probably see when we visit that town later in our trip) and a 17 year-old son who arrived later after returning from English lessons. He even broke out his saxophone when he got home and gave the kids a little concert. They also gave us a beautiful hand-embroidered linen, created by one of the local artisans.

After a quick night’s sleep it was on to relative number three. Gerd and his wife Irene live in Willingshausen, again just down the road. They also have Johanna age 7, and Jonathon age 4. When we arrived, the kids were already at school so Irene arranged a visit for us. Johanna’s teacher was fluent in English and offered to take the kids for the rest of the day. You didn't need to twist our arm and off we went. It was the first time Angie and I had been alone since we left on our trip. But while the kids were in school, Angie and I went on to visit relative number four. Walter and Martha were an older couple who were so excited to have relations from America. He spoke no English and just rattled off his German like we understood everything he said. Finally a friend of his came by that worked as our interpreter. While we couldn’t confirm where our family tree crossed, he was bound and determined to figure it out and get back to me. Again he filled us with snacks, gifts, and treats for the kids. Back to school, the kids were talking a mile a minute about their day. They participated in math, weaving, gym, and English. The teacher mentioned that the other students were very excited to put their English skills to the test, and asked our kids all kinds of questions. After school we all headed back to Gerd’s for a big German lunch, a lunch dominated by the mountain of regional sausages and breads. The saving grace for Angie was that Gerd was a bit of a wine connoisseur. A great glass of wine was a welcome relief from all the German beer. After lunch we took a tour of Gerd’s office furniture factory and then headed down to his farm. While he leases out the farming duties to someone else, he had an old John Deere tractor that he was dying for an excuse to pull out of the barn. So we loaded up the trailer and headed down the road.

Everyone was so nice that once again our only regret was not having more time. This truly was a special couple of days for the family. We left with lots of encouragement for a quick return trip. I can't promise when that will be, but I can promise it will be for a longer stay!

A "sweet" stop in Köln.

Kai & Denise

Armin, Angelika & Yannick

Some down time at our farm stay.

Study time at the German school.

Walter & Martha

Gerd, Irene, Johanna & Jonathon

Cole in front of one of Gerd's trucks.

"Taking the Water"

One of the most popular rituals in Budapest is the thermal baths, or “taking the waters” as the locals say. With the weather a bit chilly we weren’t sure if we could fit it in, but the baths are open year-round and we were told the colder the weather the better, so off we went. The city has over 100 natural springs and some two-dozen thermal baths. While these spas traditionally served a medicinal purpose, today they’re just as much about the recreation. After World War II, the baths were all taken over by the communist government, and today are still owned by the city. We choose the Szechenyi (SAY-chehn-yee) Baths, both for it’s convenience and historic significance.

Your first time can be a little intimidating, as they don’t make the process easy. There’s a complex payment and locker-rental system along with lengthy menus of massages and other treatments. After we finally figured it out, we made our way to the first pool. The indoor section of the baths is one pool after the next, each advertising the temperature and medicinal qualities (as some pools have more minerals). Temperatures range from about 86 degrees to 104. The water actually bubbles up at 170 degrees, so they add cold water to regulate the temps. With the outside temps a bit brisk, we tended to gravitate toward the pools around 100 degrees. Outside were three large pools; one for playing, one for relaxing, and one for doing laps. I’m sure you can guess which one we spent most of our time in.

Budapest

On our way back to Budapest we decided to stay overnight in Eger, Hungary. It was a nice stop, with over-the-top friendly hosts. It was a quick little stroll around town, a visit to the wine caves (they’re known for a wine called Bull’s Blood), and then back to the apartment for dinner. The next morning when we departed, the kids and Angie got a big Hungarian bear hug from our hostess. She literally picked up Angie right off the ground! I still chuckle when I think about it. We left behind a nice and sunny morning and arrived Budapest to cloud cover and sprinkles. That always means a good time for the kids to do a little homework or work on their journals. Unfortunately the weather didn’t get much better during our 4 days here. It was cold and drizzly with only spots of sun here and there. For day one we started off at the mall of all places. Budapest is a city of over 2 million people, so they certainly have plenty of shopping and numerous other options for any kind of weather. The mall had a few familiar stores, but most were different, especially in the food court. We took advantage of the great Eastern Europe prices and ate well. In Hungary we’re using the forints currency. I thought paying 400 korunas for a meal in Prague was confusing, but now that same meal is costing us 750 Ft (also called HUF). The exchange rate is about 220 Ft to the dollar, so you have to do a lot of dividing to figure out the conversion. We just figured $5 for every 1000 Ft to make it easier.

After the mall it was on to the Palace of Miracles. This museum is not on any tourist maps and was filled with young Hungarians. They had all kinds of displays that bordered between magic and science to entertain the kids (as well as Angie and I). After a quick dinner, it was time to get ready for the Ballet. Before leaving the States, we reserved a special night out at the Hungarian State Opera House. Noted as one of the finest in Europe, it’s a great place to see a show, especially with the good exchange rates. During our stay, the ballet Sylvia was in town. Upon entering, we were told it would last around 2 ½ hours. I figured we would be leaving before it was over, but all three kids were propped up in the first row of the balcony, content the entire time. Cole was helping the girls interpret the story that was unfolding and it turned out to be a great family evening.

Day two took us to the thermal baths, but I need to hit that in a separate post. Along with the baths, we did a little more sidewalk shopping and explored a few of the city’s sights. Budapest is actually two cities with hilly Buda on the east side of the Danube river and flat Pest (Pesht) on the right. The hills of Buda are the last few ripples from the Alps heading west. And across the river in Pest starts the Great Hungarian Plain, which stretches all the way to Asia. While there’s plenty to see on both sides of the river, a lot of the main sights date from 1896 when the city celebrated Hungary’s 1,000^th birthday. The baths we visited lie in the city park, which was one of the host sites for this millennium celebration. Besides the baths, it also includes a zoo, amusement park, and castle. The subway line connecting the park to the city center was Europe’s first, again built as part of the millennium celebration.

Another prominent building built at this time was the Parliament House. Inspired by its counterpart in London, it was built at a time when Budapest ruled much of Eastern Europe. Today the Hungarian legislature only utilizes about 1/8^th of the building.

The weather kept us in check in Budapest, but we still had a great time. So now our time in Eastern Europe is up, and tomorrow we’ll be sleeping in Germany. One thing we found to be amusing was that in Hungary they’ve adopted the English word “hello”, but the difference is they use it for both hi and bye (kind of like ciao in Italy). So I guess its hello Hungary and hello Germany.

Mia flying on her umbrella.

The kids with the Parliament House in the background.

Hungarians love their big mustaches.

The "Great Market Hall".

The Chain Bridge

Ella stuck to a velcro wall at the Palace of Miracles.

The Wooden Church

Another thing that strikes you when traveling through this area is the beautiful wooden churches. Built by the local villagers, every element from the foundation up is made of wood. The distinctive tower is usually twice as tall as the church is long, although in some cases it rises up to three times the length. The first I've pictured, from Barsana, is one of the tallest wooden structures in the world. Eight of the area churches are currently on the UNESCO World Heritage list, including the one in our village of Ieud. It was built in 1364 and considered to be the oldest wooden structure in Europe. It was also here that a document, dating from 1391, was found in the church attic and thought to be the first example of written Romanian.

Maramures Traditions

Spending time in the village we were able to learn, and in some cases experience, many area traditions and lifestyles. To a certain extent life seems to evolve around the rivers. Each village in the region sits along one of four rivers that run through the valley, and each is used in more ways than one. Many houses in the area do not have running water, and while most families have a well in the yard, some still head to the river. Laundry is also done in the river, as you’ll see in one of my photos below. Some locals take their crops to the river mills to grind their grains and others use it to help make the local moonshine, called Horinca. We met some locals that gave us a huge bottle of their home brew and we did our best to keep up with the tastings. As you look through my photos, I’ve tried to show a few more of the traditions we encountered.

One of the village ladies spinning wool with a distaff. She'll then use the wool to make everything from clothes to carpets.

Ladies all over town use baskets like this to carry everything from firewood to laundry to crops from the field.

Here's a look at the village washing machine. Water hits the pool just right to spin the clothes like a regular washing machine.

No fancy tractors to plow the fields here.

A procession through town towards the church.

Mother and daughter getting ready for church in traditional dress.

Colorful pots and pans on the front tree mean that the daughter has now reached the age where she is ready to marry. Eligible boys are free to come calling.

Hay from the fields is slowly added to racks for drying. By the end of summer it will be one large mound.

Wooden architecture abounds in this area and these tall wooden gates are a perfect example. These gates can be found on every property and are considered the threshold that separates the "sacred space" of the farmyard from the surrounding land. It keeps trouble and misfortunes out of the farmyard. In earlier times they were a defining mark of one's social status, but today they're more a source of pride for the owner.

One other traditional item we became aware of was the metal roof ornaments. We tried to locate some in various shops around the area, but with the language barrier had no luck. Finally we met a man who took us to a local craftsman he thought could help us. We later found out that this type of work is a specialty of the Gypsies and so we now own a gypsy-made roof ornament. We went to pick it up at their shed and ended up being there for quite awhile. I took the shot below while they were working and before all the pieces were assembled. While the whole ordeal had us all laughing pretty hard, the final product will make for a memorable gift. Most likely it will end up in the garden though, and not on the roof.

Romania

We picked up a rental car in Budapest with plans to drive to our next stop in Romania. Starting out, the highways in Hungary were very nice. All the major roads seemed like they were built yesterday and traffic zipped from here to there. It was a different story though when we hit the Romanian border. There must be roads somewhere in Romania that are decent, just not where we’re going. Every 5 minutes you’re driving through another little village full of obstacles. Our GPS predicted that once we hit the border, we would have about 2 hours to our destination. 4 ½ hours later, everyone was getting a bit cranky. We always enjoy getting off the beaten track, but what were we in store for this time?

The farm stay we booked was in Ieud of the Maramures region, which is along the southern border of Ukraine. Having arrived, it was as if we time-traveled back over 100 years. This area is surrounded by mountains and we're told it's very difficult to reach during the winter. In fact roads rising to the various mountain passes are mostly closed from around November until April. This limited access over hundreds of years has helped keep the Maramures traditions and lifestyles alive. I plan to write another post about some of these traditions and the living conditions, but let me just say that you really do step back in time and bear witness to simpler times and simpler lives here.

In our village, horses outnumbered cars and pavement only existed here and there. But the people were great. Everyone had to check us out as we came and went, since it's not very often they see a new face. But once you engage with the locals, they're all smiles. I would often show them the pictures I was taking of them, and they would giggle like little kids. It was all very foreign to them I'm sure.

When looking into accommodations in the area, staying with a host family was a no-brainer. We choose this farm in particular because we knew they had three kids as well. It would be two more boys for Cole to play soccer with and a girl to show Mia and Ella around. The husband and wife were also teachers, so this gave us the opportunity to drop by the local school for the full tour. They spoke very little English, which was way more than anyone else in town, so communication was a bit difficult. The kids at school were great though. Everyone was so excited to have some Americans romping around, that some of the kids just followed us everywhere we went. We never did get a real grasp on the school day though as some of the kids went in the morning, others went in the afternoon, and some days they didn't go at all. We did decipher that school is mandatory from ages 6-14, after which time the next 4 years are optional. Liviu, our host, said about 50% of the kids choose to continue, while the rest start work on the family farm.

As you can see by the photos, we’re a long way from the hustle and bustle, and in no hurry to get back.

Our host Liviu serving up dinner.

Mia with one of the new baby chickens from the farm.

Soccer in the street with some of the neighborhood gang.

Traffic in Ieud.

We met these children on their way to church to sing.

Some of our school friends.

These school posters may look familiar.

This is a woodcarver we met that took us to his workshop.

More of the locals just hanging out.

A row of typical wooden houses.