Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving again this year....even if we did celebrate a little late on Saturday! We wanted our friends to be able to come and Thursday is not a holiday in Germany,  which is mildly shocking considering just about every other day is...see post here for more about that!

I went with a more modern eclectic table setting this year that sprung off my new 9.00 Euro teal Ikea tablecloth. It was on sale and I couldn't resist the stripes and the material is nice and durable. The mustard color is actually really pretty too...maybe next time! 

GLÄNTA tablecloth from Ikea

A while back I visited a local park and picked up some large bark pieces and decided to incorporate those in as well. I dried them in the oven and then added some gold paint to lighten the wood and add some interest. With candles we had and some orange lanterns (real branches given to me by our landlord) I think it turned out okay.

This year I simplified the menu a little, but it was less stressful and to tell you the truth Germans have no idea what you normally eat on thanksgiving so they didn't miss the sweat potatoes or green bean casserole. I decided on a new spanjer favorite "roasted broccoli" and then just stuck to the classics including homemade cranberry sauce  which is really easy to make and tastes way better than the canned version. We used Alton Brown's brining and turkey cooking recipe thanks to my parents suggestion and it turned out great! I think an improvement from last year and a lot shorter cooking time.

Stephen did the honors of cutting our little bird to pieces

and we finished the night off watching Men In Black 3. It was a fun night of friends, family, and lots of eating! Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! 

Cheap Trip

At the end of August I took a quick trip north to visit a good friend who moved to Bonn to attend college. I purchased my train ticket through a last minute discount website and was delighted to only pay 25 Euros each way. Not bad for a 5 hour train ride that usually cost around 80 Euro each way! Here is a link to the website in case you are ever in need of some discounted Rail Tickets: http://www.ltur.com/de/bahn.html....you can also get tickets to Paris for 35 Euro from our home. Feel free to come and visit and we can test out the Paris route!

University Students get a free pass to ride all public transportation and lucky for me they get to take a friend free after 7 pm. Since Bonn is only a 20 minute train ride away from Cologne, and it was free, Leo and I went for dinner one night. Here is the main cathedral, which is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. 

You will love the european rail system, come and try it out!

Via Ferrata Switzerland

At the end of August, we headed to Switzerland to conquer a Via Ferrata (Mürren to Gimmelwald Route) as an end of the summer challenge.

"A via ferrata (Italian for "iron road") is a protected climbing route found in the Alps and certain other locations. The essence of a modern via ferrata is a steel cable which runs along the route and is periodically (every 3-10m) fixed to the rock. Using a via ferrata kit the climber can secure themselves to the cable, limiting any fall. The cable can also be used as aid to climbing, and additional climbing aids, such as iron rungs (stemples), pegs, carved steps and even ladders and bridges are often provided. Via ferrata therefore allow otherwise dangerous routes to be undertaken without the risks associated with unprotected scrambling and climbing or need for climbing equipment ." -wikipedia

Luckily, via ferrata courses are free, but you have to own or in our case rent a harness set and helmet to complete them. We rented ours in a nearby hostel and then headed up the mountain for a picnic.

If you haven't heard, Switzerland is crazy expensive so we brought our own picnic! We did get a really pretty view though for free!

After lunch we headed to the course with our gear!

It started out nice and easy....giving all of us a false sense of pride!

 Then it started getting crazy!

As Stephen and I were about to start the exposed area of the course a man came running along and jumped up onto a platform. He zipped up his suit....

checked his camara.....

and then just jumped off the side of a 3000 foot mountain......

while we all clung to the steal cable and prayed our harness wouldn't break!!!! 

And we thought we were awesome....hahahha!!!!!

We had a string of waterfalls to cross,

 ladders to climb down, 

beef jerky sticks to eat, 

strange metal hats to put on, 

and to save the best for last, swinging bridges 3000 feet up in the air to traverse. 

But in the end, we conquered the via ferrata!!!!

We would love to take any willing participants next summer, come and visit!

Via Ferrata

Just wanted to give you a little preview of a recent trip to Switzerland! More to come...

Natzweiler-Struthof

For Kristy's birthday, Stephen and I decided to take her to a historical sight about 1.5 hours from us in the French mountains. She is a big history buff, so we thought she would "enjoy," if that is even possible, seeing a concentration camp. I had never been to see the camp either so it was a bonus for me to get to tag along.

Here is some information about the Camp:

— Information from wikipedia:

"Natzweiler-Struthof was a German concentration camp located in the Vosges Mountains close to the Alsatian village of Natzwiller (German Natzweiler) in France, about 50 km south west from the city of Strasbourg. It was the only concentration camp established by the Nazis on present-day French territory."  

 — Information from Stuthof Website:  http://www.struthof.fr/en/home/

On 21 April 1941, near the village of Struthof, the Nazis opened a concentration camp, KL-Natzweiler.

The central camp, the only concentration camp in France, was located in the then annexed Alsace département. Its annexes, scattered over the 2 sides of the Rhine, made up a network of nearly 70 camps, more or less large. Of the nearly 52,000 detainees of KL-Natzeiler, about 35,000 did not go through the central camp.

A labour camp supporting the Nazi war industry, it was also used for medical experiments by Nazi professors from the Reich University of Strasbourg.

On 23 November 1944, the Allies discovered the site evacuated by the Nazis since September. Some deportees from the camp annexes had their sufferings prolonged in the spring of 1945 on the "Death Marches".

From 1941 to 1945, the KL-Natzweiler was one of the most murderous camps of the Nazi system. Nearly 22,000 deportees died there.

“I learned how to stand pain that would have been unbearable for a human being in normal circumstances, but I also learned how to savour tiny pleasures: a ray of sunshine, light playing on the mountain, a few instants of peaceful sleep, a hint of bad meat at the bottom of my bowl, a civilised conversation with an old comrade...”   —  Jean LEGER

This was a holding cell they would put prisoners in. 

Your hands will bleed,

Your feet will bleed

You suffer, the mountain hits you

On your tired back, your bruised arms

On your gasping chest

On your clear head.

You will fall! But energy, the will to live

For a child, for a mother,

For a woman or your God

You will stand back up, grit your teeth,

You will start walking again.

— Léon BOUTBIEN

Le Gourou, témoignage de déportation au KL-Natzweiler

Monument built to memorialize the area.