Saint Gallus Evangicale Kirche Derendingen

Hearing bells ring every 15 minutes our first evening lead us to curiosity. I followed my ears early Saturday morning while the rest of the family slept and found this wonderful and charming old church, just a few blocks from our house.

I encouraged the family to take a Saturday evening walk to Saint G.... Evangelical Church. It is simple and plain compared to the larger churches we had seen in the in the city. Yet is simplicity and magic charmed us.

We delighted in the graveyard, where every grave had a flower garden planted over it. We were so impressed and thought that the flowers bring family and friends regularly to the grave for care taking and to send love to their dear ones.

As we were about to walk home, we met Dorris and her husband Gerhardt. Dorris is some type of caretaker for the church. (which means we did not understand what she said!) She and her husband took us inside the church, turned on the lights and told us the history of the church. Primus Truber, is one of their former pasters and the most famous. He is actually engraved on a coin! He translated 8 Slovenia languages into one, and created and alphabet for the people so they could learn to read the bible, he is known as the "Slovenian Luther." Doris is very proud of this heritage.

We decided to return the next morning for the church service, even though Dorris had the day off and would not be there to welcome us.

We arrived a few minutes before 10, delighted to hear the church bells ringing for all to come and the organ sounding through the door. As we stepped in we discovered we were some of the first to arrive. This surprised us, but little by little others arrived. We later discovered that the service started at 10:15, rather than the 10:00 posted on the sign. Everyone seemed to arrive almost at the last minute and sat in the back of the church. We had found a seat in the middle of the church and so, we were actually sitting in front of almost everyone. Just before the service started the organ stopped playing. I expected silence but instead everyone began speaking to each other. On our way home, Emily told us they were talking about us! They were so loud, she could understand them. They ask "who are they?" "they are definitely not German," "perhaps they are Slovanian!"

The service was full of lovely organ music, which was one of my reasons for attending! Not just hymns but peppy classical pieces. Of course Dan and I understood nothing that was said throuhout the service. The girls picked up bits and pieces. I knew I recognized about 1/4 of the words, even if I could not put them together or remember what they meant. I feel good about this and plan to study this week so that by next Sunday, I have more words to understand. It was more about real life, and being kind.

One of the main focuses of the church is described in the stained glass windows. This is part of what the sermon was about. It takes a bible verse where the fishing net allows the fish to freely swim in and out of the net. The church believes that is how people are, we can go in and out of our spirituality, sometimes in the net, sometimes out....we are free at all times to decide, and are loved regardless of which side of the net we are on. We think this is a healthy view point.

We departed quickly without talking to others, as agreed on, as some in the family preferred not to be sociable that morning.

I look forward to visiting again, chatting with Doris and letting people know that it's true we are not German, nor are we Slovenian. We do have German heritage about 50% on both my side and Dan's (does that make the girls 100%?- ha!)

Photos just outside our door

Samstag

Saturday Ruth picked us up to drive us to another health food store and the farmer's market. After we parked, we stopped by the tourist center to purchase a bus ticket for Sunday, crossed the river that runs through the city, walked to the the town hall, up a steep hill to the castle for a view of the city. The side trip to our shopping was a definite surprise to us and a delight!

The we hurried down the very steep hill and across several blocks to reach the farmer's market before it closed. We delighted in fresh berries and bought a few other necessities. At the Reform Haus, we searched for gluten, corn and potato free bread, but were only able to purchase rice cakes. We balanced the disappointment by a special purchase of rice cakes covered with dark chocolate on one side. They were delicious and were a great substitute for all of the pastries and ice cream we had pasted by all morning.

Later in the afternoon, Ruth picked us up again and took us to a rose festival. It was at the Old Botanical Gardens, but she thought it was at the New Botanical Gardens, so we had a view of the New, before she realized we were not in the right place. She drove quickly to the Old Garden, where we met Carolyn(a native of Detroit/Ann Arbor) and her husband Christoph and their nephew Thomas (also of Ann Arbor). We walked around a bit and saw lovely roses, and many arts and crafts...then Carolyn and Christoph took us for tea/coffee/beer in the town square. We agreed to speak in English and had a lovely conversation about politics, both in Germany the USA and abroad. During the conversation, I hoped that at the end of the summer, we would all sit down again and have our conversation mostly in German.

Safe Arrival!

Gabriele drove us to the Detroit airport on Thursday. She kept us laughing and relaxed, even in the traffic jam!

We arrived in Stuttgart, Germany after 12 hours of air travel. The flight was a bit rough at times, so our ears and stomachs were not always happy. Fresh air, walking on the earth and the excitement of arrival were great remedies for our travel blues.

Christoph and Ruth picked us up. They have small cars and thought it best to take two cars from the airport. We may have been able to fit in one car, but it would have been tight. The drive to Tuebingen was fast, though we were not even on the autobahn, the Germans have a quick method of moving their cars in and out of other cars at high speed!

The house is as clean and cozy as the photos sent by Stefan, our landlord. His house is directly next door to ours. (I planned to insert the photos he send of the inside of the house, but they are hiding...I will take other photos soon if I can not find the originals.

Dan and Allegra stayed home to unpack, while Emily and I rode with Ruth to an organic market near the bus and train station. We were able to find all the foods here we desired to eat, plus admire the breads and pastries that we can not eat due to food allergies.

We had a quick dinner and and early evening bed time, with a goal to sleep 12hours to catch up on our sleep. However by 1am we were all awake! So we had a late night snack and chat then back to bed!

Ferienhaus Orange

Ferienhaus Orange (Orange Vacation House) is the name of the house we are staying in. We have less than one week before we depart. Between the two girls, they've performed in three recitals during the past week - Emily - violin and Allegra - cello & flute. Emily's Sophmore Finals are over, Allegra is almost finished with Homeschooling. Now we can concentrate on packing and finalizing our trip.

Holiday in Deutschland

We are spending our summer in Germany. I am so excited! An inheritance from my late Great Aunt Mary Jane, pays for our travel. Mary Jane was childless and left money to her favorite nieces, including my mother Claudia.

Tübingen is the sister city of Ann Arbor. We've rented a tiny house for the duration of our trip. Dan will be able to work long distance on a lap top. The girls will visit local schools...and I will walk, dream and discover. Dan will have 3 weeks plus evenings and weekends to travel as a family.