Our last few days with Grandpa and Grandma

Wanting Dad and Mom to have a chance to relate with a couple their age, we invited Fred and Marta (and their granddaughter, Eva) over for dinner one evening. We met this couple through our church and have had quite a good time getting to know them. What a treat to hear stories of their childhoods, learn more about Germany and basically enjoy an evening of fellowship together.

The boys made a card tower with Eva while the adults talked. I
forgot to take a picture of Dad and Mom with Fred and Marta....
guess that means they'll just have to come back!

Halloween is not highly celebrated here. It is on the rise though, much to the chagrin of the older generation. Because we knew the boys would be disappointed about not trick-or-treating, we opted to buy pumpkins and carve them on Halloween instead. Grandpa got into it just as much or more than the boys! Noah's pumpkin carving was modeled after one that we saw in Rothenburg - using the stem as the nose.

These were the only four pumpkins we could find to carve!
So glad there were at least four to be purchased!

We proudly displayed our pumpkins on our steps and as a result,
we got a few trick-or-treaters. Dad and Mom had enough quarters
to give to the first set of kids. We didn't have anything to give
to the next set of kids so we decided to move the
pumpkins inside for the night - with that many pumpkins, people must
have easily concluded that Americans lived here! (Notice Grandpa
in the background of this photo - he's reading the news on the iPad!)

That evening, we allowed the boys to watch a movie while the four of us went to St. Jacobi's church in the City Center for a worship service celebrating Reformation Day. The program was based on Psalm 116 which shares about our salvation and response to God as a result. The music was absolutely beautiful - a combination of an a capella choir, hymns accompanied by a pipe organ and a few soloists. We sang along with the hymns as best we could...though we didn't really grasp much of what we were singing. This is the case pretty much every week at church though. Slowly we are making sense of it all. It's been a longer process than anticipated.

I didn't have my camera for the evening
so snatched this photo off of the Internet.
It was a packed house for the worship
service - we barely were able to get seats!

Our last day together happened to be my birthday, 40th no less! Wanting to make another memory, we decided to take the train to Hann. Münden, which is short for Hannoversch Münden. A friend recommended this little town as it is close by and yet is known for its black and white timbered houses, as some Germans call them. The town has over 600 houses that are the Fachwerk (half-timbered) houses. It is also where the  Fulda and Werra rivers meet to form the Weser.

Looking down a typical street in the town.

Our crew checking out all of the Fachwerks.

We could see some castle ruins on a hillside.

A beautiful old church right in the center of town.

Of course, a trip to a new town wouldn't be complete without
stopping by the local bakery! On our walk, the boys found a
really cool park and wanted to go back to it. So the adults sat
and enjoyed a nice chat while the boys ventured off to the park
before we caught the train home.

We caught a late afternoon train back to Göttingen just in time to bike from the train station to Zum Szultenburger for the best German Schnitzel that we have experienced yet. We forgot when we left the house that it would be dark when back home...and so forgot some of the lights for our bikes. As a result, we kinda walked and kinda rode (if such a thing is possible) to the restaurant. You can be fined for riding without a light, plus it's just not safe to do. It is fairly common to see people riding on one pedal off to one side of the bike so as to quickly hop off should a Polizei come along. I have not mastered this "method" of ride-walking and am not sure I'm going to give it a try either! The rest of my family can quite effectively ride this way. It does take a bit of balance.


Zum Szultenburger offers about 25-30 different Schnitzel dishes.
We all chose Schnitzels baked with cheese and other
toppings. It sure was nice to have these leftovers the next night
when I returned from the airport. So yummy!

Cheers! Prost! Grandma and Grandpa could not leave Germany
without trying a mug of dark beer. Grandma's favorite!

On November 2nd, we all walked with Grandpa and Grandma to the train station. I then rode with them to Frankfurt to catch their flight. We had enough time to get in one last bakery before they departed! After they went through security, I headed back home on the train not even realizing that their flight was delayed out of Frankfurt for three hours. The airplane needed mechanical work. I'd say a pretty important reason to delay! This delay caused them to miss their connecting flight at JFK - so they ended up spending the night on cots that Delta provided. Due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy, it was too difficult to get a hotel so cots were the next best option. I can only imagine how tired they were! I'm sure home was a sight for sore eyes by the time they finally got there.

For our family, Saturday was a sad day for all of us - we so enjoyed our time with my parents and it was hard to see them leave. Plus we did so many fun things together that to go back to the normal routine of life seemed boring in comparison. Yet we are so thankful that they made the effort to come for a visit and are very glad for the memories.