France

We break from the tour of of our ancestors' land to visit some of our more recent family heritage...Lesley's dad, mom and sister, who just happen to be in Paris for a medical conference and fun. Like much of our trip, the timing could not have been better--we had a car, a day, and Paris was only four and a half hours out of the way.

Crossing into France.









Spent the night in Verdun, a town made famous by being having one of the deadliest WWI battles, now known for its Peace Center.












In Verdun for enough time to have good Moroccan food,













...and buttery pastries, priced by weight.












Brioche raisin.









The French countryside and towns are softer around the edges and less orderly compared to Germany.









In Paris! The famous Velo bikes, a system of bikes for rent scattered around the city. There are bike kiosks seemingly everywhere, and you can rent one for free for less than 30 minutes. Alexis said the locals use them for quick trips and for going home late at night. In some places they are so popular that its hard to find a free bike, or open place to park one.










What fun to all be together in Paris! Just like that.




















I don't know what you can say about all these berets, except that for ironically, none of them were bought in Paris.









L'Institut Du Monde Arab, one of Lesley's favorite Paris buildings.









Dinner at a new hip cozy Paris bistro. Great to see you Mom and Dad and Lex!









Left Paris Sunday morning to head East to Alsace-Lorraine, regions in northeast France where Lesley's mom's family (Hoeffels, Nafzingers, et al) come from.

Back to the countryside









Dinner in Colmar, a picturesque German-French-Swiss hybrid near the borders of them all. The language is an amalgamation of all three, with Bon Abends all around.

That is not a pizza. It's a tarte.












Another local dish is raclette, a melted swiss cheese served over boiled veggies and broiled to form a crispy crust.












This place was one of the many visited on our trip that was a model for future endeavors. They served local beer, glasses of cremant, tartes, and a few other things. It was owned and run by one woman who's sisters were there having wine while we dined.



























Before leaving on our trip, Lesley's Aunt Karen provided us with extensive research on her family line. The most detailed records are for the Nafzingers, Lesley's great X 7 grandfather's line. They were from the Alsace Lorraine region in what is now northeastern France, southwestern Germany, and western Switzerland. There are records placing this family in several towns in the area, we decided to visit two of them--Neuf Brisach, France and Naefels, Switzerland. We drove into Neuf Brisach Sunday evening, and immediately learned that the town name referred to the nine old stone walls that surrounded the city. The small town is laid out in the shape of an octagon, with walls and moats built in several layers to provide optimal defense. As we've mentioned in previous postings, stumbling upon places like these has been a delight--no expectations, and suddenly you are in a tiny, perfectly geometrically shaped town steeped in history.

Entering the city.









Our hotel in Neuf Brisach.










Some of the remaining walls.









an aerial shot of neuf-brisach, thanks to wikipedia









Off to Switzerland, our last day of touring by car.

Rhein Valley

Here we are in the Rhein Valley. The southwest corner of Hessen includes 40 km of the Rhein River, in between Koblenz and Mainz. It's a beautiful stretch---medieval castles and forests, vineyards on steep cliffs, little towns dotting either side. Visiting in the quiet late fall with few tourists, rolling fog, and muted colors, one can easily imagine what it was like 600 years ago.













































We spent the night in Assmannshausen, one of the littler towns along the east side of the river. There are two streets that lead up into the hills from the town center, here was a nice mural along the way. In the background you can see the vineyards that are everywhere.












Nice sgraffito.












Ja.









One of our favorite pub's in Seattle is called The People's Pub, a pub in Ballard with traditional German fare. Kudos to the PP for their authenticity--the schnitzel with french fries and side salad, washed down with a crisp Bitburger Pils here in Assmannshausen was one for one with the PP back home. The ambiance matched as well--this place had a table of older women drinking the local white and eating schnitzels, and single folks at the bar catching up on the day.









Plenty of light, this was a cozy, warm room, not a drinking hole.









From the outside.









Our hotel along the river.
















































We stopped for the local apples and wine at this roadside stand. The area is known for its light red and various whites. Our favorite was the feinherb, a spicy crisp dry herby white, not too fruity.









Strammer Max at a local bakery cafe. Literally "Strong Max", it's a giant, open face sandwich of fried bread, eggs and ham that you eat with a knife and fork.


































The view of the river from the castle walls high above the wester coast.


















Tschus Hessen! Off to France....

Hessen

Have we mentioned yet that Joe got to drive 160km/hr on the autobahn? We drove into the state of Hessen on Tuesday evening at sunset.










We got off the highway at dusk and immediately hit country. Small winding roads with tiny towns every few kilometers. It was getting dark and we needed a place to stay for the night. We stopped at the first pub with lights on, hoping they would have a room or know where we could find one. In our perfect broken German, Haben Sie ein zimmer frei bitte?, we quickly arranged a lovely room and before we knew it we were enjoying a pint at the bar with the proprietor. Julia and her husband run a restaurant/pub/pensione in Nusthall, a small village northeast of Fulda. The pub/restaurant was closed Tuesday evenings and it felt more like being in their home. Julia was preparing to leave with her five year old son, who was playing with a large colored paper lantern.

A few days prior, Lesley had read about a festival called St. Marten's that involved kids and lanterns. The connection with Julia's son's lantern was quickly made and with hand gestures and smiles, we somehow arranged to go with Julia and her son to the nearby village in our car for the festival. And what a festival it was...children parading around a small village with lanterns, led by a man in a red cape on a horse (St. Marten) and the middle school band. Afterwards, the story of St. Marten was perfromed by Julia's son's kindergarten teachers in the school auditorium. He was a poor shoemaker who gave generously to others, inspired by the life of Christ. Plays are ideal when you don't speak the language, especially when they are geared toward kindergarteners. Afterwards, the parents gathered outside, kids ran around with their friends, and everyone enjoyed country German refreshments: two types of boiled wursts, eight inches long, forked out of giant steaming pots and placed in a crusty 4 inch bun. Next table down: hot, sweet gluhwein in little paper cups. For dessert and filler, pretzels--traditional salty and a special sweet one for St. Marten's that was lightly glazed like a donut. Julia introduced us to her friend that spoke English to make sure we understood what the festival was all about. Afterwards, we sat at Julia's bar, and got to know each other over the local wine, doodles, maps, little phrasebook and our family photo album. We learned that Julia and her husband were from Croatia, that her husband was a fabulous cook, and that they bought the inn seven years ago. When asked if they liked being innkeepers, she answered "absolut", with her big, beautiful smile. We don't have pictures, but the next morning's breakfast was a gourmet feast covering an entire table for 6.

The parade.









Video of the parade, turn your volume up for the children's singing and marching band.


The Rhonhof inn.









On the road again. We planned to spend our Hessen journey on small roads to get a feel for the countryside. Joe's great great great great grandfather Robert Ganz was from Hessen. Joe's second cousin, Rob Ganz, a farmer in Nebraska, is the family historian on the Ganz line. Before we left on our trip, he shared that Robert Ganz was a farmer/soldier. This was common in the region for able-bodied men, you may have heard of the famed Hessen mercenaries. In the late 1850's Robert came to the States to try and secure a better future for his two sons who would likely be forced to fight for part of their livelihood as well. Ironically, upon arriving in the States, Robert was paid to take the place of a wealthy Chicago businessman to fight in the Civil War. At the time, people could buy their way out of the draft. With the money and additional support from the businessman, Robert brought his wife and two sons to Chicago after the war. They lived and worked throughout the Midwest, the Ganz's eventually settling in Nebraska. Joe's grandmother Bobbie Ganz was born there, and Toni spent part of her childhood on the Ganz family farm. We're not sure where Robert Ganz was from in Hessen, so we decided to drive all over it. We've included a lot of photos here so that you can experience it too.

Joe loves these farmhouses with attached barns.









Video of the countryside




















We would love a courtyard like this.









A beautiful day. Note solar panels on 200 year old barn.



























Clever









Picnic in the woods at Alheimer.



















































































































































Our second night we spent at a dairy farm! It was a stroke of luck to stumble upon this place as it was getting dark. Before arriving in Hessen we had talked about how cool it would be to stay on a farm in honor of Robert Ganz.









Had dinner that night in town (Hofgeismar, in northern Hessen). Another pretty little town, ped only street et al.









What do they serve for breakfast on a dairy farm? Yep. Note: knit egg cozies.


















The farmhouse where we stayed. There were four guest rooms on the second floor, rooms for breakfasting on the first. The dairy is in the center building and the cows live in the barn on the left.









They had Deutsch jersey cows.









The sign that showed us the way.









Headed southwest









Video: one of the many lovely little towns we drove through, timber frame, slate, quaint.
































Stopped for a snack at a farmer's market. Joe found the real deal in country liverwurst.









Video: This song became the anthem of our road trip.


After two days of touring Hessen in a counterclockwise loop we're going to spend our last night in the southwest along the Rhein River. More to come....