meine liebe deutsche Familie!

So I spent my Easter break with my amazing German relatives. It was very nice to be with family for the holiday – especially with such wonderful family! Rolf, a distant uncle or what-have-you on my mother’s father’s side of the family (Egenberger), picked me up in Constance, and thus began yet another string of adventures!

We crossed the border into Switzerland and drove to the Rheinfall, a huge waterfall in the city of Schaffhausen.


me, in case you couldn’t tell


This is why I love this region.


We drove up and down between high- and lowlands. As soon as we passed a certain point, everything was green, and then when we reached a higher altitude, everything was blanketed in fresh snow.

We stopped briefly at a Roman Empire-era farmstead. There wasn’t much left, just the stone bases of various building, but the landscape was gorgeous! We were in the flatlands between dead volcanoes, so you could see for miles and miles.


While we were walking back to the car, Rolf and I saw this larger bird chasing the smaller one. They zipped around us for a few minutes before flying off.


Then we drove to Singen to see this famous castle called Hohentwiel. It’s way up there on top of the mountain. It was a long hike! I made Rolf climb all over the place, and although he insists he’s no sportsman, I’m pretty sure he’s an Olympic contender ready to head off to Beijing!


Here we are on top of the world!


Hohentwiel ruins


another view from Hohentwiel
The lake in the background is Lake Constance: home, sweet home!
Oh, and on the left side you can even see the Alps (not well, I warn you, but they’re definitely there)!

Then toward evening we drove to Constance, grabbed some food, and headed off to Augsburg, where those lovely Egenbergers live!


Hermann and Anita, the relatives at whose house I stayed, recently built this Wintergarten. This is where we had breakfast each day.


In Augsburg they were having a big festival called Volksfest (said in the local accent with loads of “sh” sounds). We got there at 10:30 am and had ourselves some Hasenbräu beer. Oh, this is Easter day now, by the way!


Then we went back to the house to have Easter dinner/lunch/brunch/so much food that I don’t think I’ll need a full meal again for a week! From left to right: Walter, Hannah (I’m not sure I spelled her name right), Anita and Hermann. All absolutely gracious, wonderful people!

As I’m typing this, I’m riding back to Constance on the train, and I’m reading this hilarious article Hermann gave me by Mark Twain. It’s called The Awful German Language. Here’s a sample that you Germanophiles will get a bang out of:

“An average sentence, in a German newspaper, is a sublime and impressive curiosity; it occupies a quarter of a column; […] it treats of fourteen or fifteen different subjects […] after which comes the VERB, and you can find out for the first time what the man has been talking about; and after the verb – merely by way of ornament, as far as I can make out – the writer shovels in ‘haben sind gewesen gehabt geworden sein,’ or words to that effect, and the monument is finished. […] German books are easy enough to read when you hold them before the looking-glass or stand on your head.”

They say if you laugh once a day you gain a year in longevity or something like that, so if you have the time, check it out and live an extra decade or two!

In closing, the following transgression: I searched “Easter” in my iPhoto, and found the following picture. It cracked me up so much, that I decided I needed to share it for humanity’s sake.


above: another Easter spent with another lovely set of relatives
Even though I’m off living the good life, traveling the world, I’m still thinking of all of my family and friends on the other side of the globe. Hope all is going well!