Wrapping up Autumn

Vibrant colors dotting the hillsides, a chill in the air and the excitement of approaching Christmas markets is how I would describe the Herbst of Germany. Views of the Bergstrasse never cease to amaze me; with a blue sky and the quietness of nature, my time walking through the hills of our region will always stay with me. Here are a few photos I've captured in the past few weeks. If you came to Zwingenberg today, you wouldn't see these vibrant colors because winter has arrived, but the bare trees of winter only give new perspective and excitement for the coming weihnachtsmarkt season.

Vineyard view with Auerbach Castle in the distance

Rolling hills of the Bergstrasse

Fall Foliage

Wine walk through the hills

Leftovers from the harvest

Looking over Zwingenberg

Last Thursday, as many people celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends stateside, Derek and I enjoyed too many episodes of Prison Break accompanied by not-so-good frozen pizzas and delicious German wine. But, on Saturday we welcomed our German friends to an American Thanksgiving feast at our apartment. We managed to gather three tables, our dining table, patio table, and random marble table, and created enough room for everyone to sit comfortably. Since I have ample free time, I spent all of Friday preparing the vegetables, chopping onions, carrots, apples, celery, and drying out too much bread for my grandmas' recipes of dressing. I even spent the evening making a homemade apple pie complete with a butter flaked crust. With no rolling pin, I learned that all things can be accomplished with a little faith. On Saturday, Derek and I basted the turkey and let it roast for three hours. While seeking help from Google, Derek "carved" the turkey and Simba had a hayday. Once everything finished baking, our table was complete with a 5.4 kilo turkey (13 pounds), two large dishes of dressing, corn pudding for 20, mashed potatoes for 15, and plenty of bread to last the next four days. Derek and I seriously overestimated the eating power of our German friends. But one of the best parts about Thanksgiving is the leftovers, so I guess I planned accordingly. Not to mention the entire extra cheese ball that is still in the fridge. I should probably throw that out.

On Sunday, we went to the Felsenmeer in the Odenwald, a large rock-bed flowing down a mountain. Dating from the ice age, the Felsenmeer is now part of the Odenwald National Park. There is more history and geological importance, but we were too tired to really dive into the facts. That evening we went to the Formula 1 Racing Championship public viewing party in Heppenheim Vettelheim. Sebastian Vettel, the world champion of Formula 1 is from Heppenheim, and the city goes crazy for the sport. Here's a few photos of last weekend.

Homemade apple pie

Turkey time!

Eva, me, Nadine

Derek and I enjoying our first Thanksgiving 

A full feast

Group photo minus Derek

Derek and I at the Felsenmeer

Taking a tour of Zwingenberg with Marius and Doro

Doro and Eva at the Vettelheim public viewing

A Family Visit to Oberstenfeld

Opa and Derek in the vineyards

Somehow it's already the end of November and I am just now getting this post up! We were very fortunate to have another set of visitors this month, Derek's sister and Grandpa (Rachel and Opa), who we bid farewell to last week. When they arrived on Saturday morning, November 12, we picked them up from the Frankfurt airport and then headed back to our Zwingenberg apartment for a quick nap. That evening, we packed up the Beamer and headed to Oberstenfeld where Opa's father was born and raised. After happy greetings and some kaffee, we watched a handball match before having a family dinner at the Hirsch restaurant.

On Sunday, we took a city tour, in both German and English, of Stuttgart. It was a rainy, cold day, but it was still nice to see the city. Stuttgart was almost completely bombed out during the war, and it was interesting to see the post-war architecture and to hear the reasoning for it's look. Stuttgart is not a quaint German town with half-timbered homes and winding cobbled streets, but more of an economic hub, filled with Porshe and Mercedes museums along with dedicated Fütbol fans. 

That evening we enjoyed another delicious dinner at the Streufert's house and then headed back to Zwingenberg. On Monday, we took the train to Heidelberg in order to pick up the rental car. We met up with Ingrid (German Nestel Cousin) and Kristin (Derek's American Nestel cousin studying in Denmark) and it turned out to be a wonderful day of castle exploring, shopping, and kaffee und kuchen! 

Ingrid, Kristin & Rachel

Rachel, Kristin, Opa, Me & Ingrid

For the rest of the week, Rachel and Opa went on their own adventure through Germany and we met them back in Oberstenfeld on Friday. We all enjoyed a relaxing evening and I got to write my name on the six page family tree! On Saturday we awoke very early for a tour of the Nestel bakery. (You can read that blog here.) That afternoon, Rachel and I went shopping with Uschi at a mall nearby and Derek helped Marius change the car's tires from summer to winter along with stack some firewood and shovel some manure. Good man time. That evening we watched Sophia's handball game and then took a lantern walking tour of the nearby city Großbottwar before having another delicious dinner of lentils with spätzel. On Sunday, we took a short walk in the vineyards and then visited the horse farm of Sophia and explored the countryside. It was a wonderful week with Rachel, Opa and all of our Oberstenfeld family. I think the most special part was for Opa to reconnect with his living cousins and for Rachel to see the church where she was baptized as a baby. As I've said before, we are so fortunate to have family here in Germany; it's made our year abroad even more special and memorable.  Here are some photos of the weekend:

Derek, Rachel and Opa walking through the horse farm

Derek and Opa in the Oberstenfeld vineyards

Derek at the horse farm

Derek's great-grandfather Ernst who came from Germany to the US

Family dinner - from left to right: Uschi, Günter, Sophia, Derek, Courtney, Marius, Rachel, Bud (Opa), Ingrid, Hilde, Wolfgang, Christine, Kristin 

Opa and his cousin's wife, Hilde, looking at family photos

Feeding the pony!

Leftover grapes from the harvest

Oberstenfeld countryside

Beautiful Iceland horses

I love their hair.

Before the lantern tour: Courtney, Rachel, Christine, & Ingrid

Bud talking to the horses.

Derek, Rachel, Uschi and Sophia

These ducks were quite humorous.

Christmas tree farm

Beautiful eyes

Rachel and Uschi cooking

I love this photo: The horse is eating while the ducks are scattered about.

A walk through the forest

More food please! 

A lovely German tradition: Kaffee und Kuchen

Delicious pumpkin soup 

Opa and Marius on the tour of Stuttgart

Fall foliage

A Tour of the Family Bakery

Uschi, Opa, me and Marius 

This past weekend we were lucky enough to take a tour of Derek's German family's bakery. In case you didn't know, Derek's great-grandfather came to the United States from Germany and the two families have stayed in contact ever since. This past week, Derek's Opa and sister visited Germany, spending a majority of their time in Oberstenfeld, the place where Opa's father grew up and where our current German family ties reside.

On Saturday morning, we awoke very early at 5:30 am in order to tour the Nestel Bakery at 6:00. And at 6:00, the bakery was a busy hub of mixing, baking, kneading, packaging and anything else that is required for a bakery that has about six additional stores in the area. The bakery employs close to 100 people and is of course, the most popular and delicious in the area! Christian, the son of the bakery owner, gave us the tour in German with Marius as our translator. There was just so much bread! And, fun fact, the flour machine holds up to 13 tons. The bakery uses more than this each week!

My two favorite parts were:

1. Attempting to form our own pretzels. We each tried to twist the pretzel dough into the right shape. The dough comes out from a processor into the perfect piece of dough about 1.5 feet long and it must be twisted the correct way in order to look like a pretzel. Pretzel making is an art form!

2. Seeing some of our favorite breads during the baking process, specifically the Berliner and pretzel rolls.

 I'll let the photos do most of the talking. Just imagine the smell wafting through the air!

Bread waiting to be baked

More bread dough

Huge loaves of bread

If I form my arms into a circle, these loaves would be larger.

Some sort of wheat bread

Pretzel rolls before...

And after

Pretzel makers at work

Non-pretzel makers attempting to twist the dough into the shape of a pretzel. If you zoom in on mine, I'm not sure what I was doing!

Our sheet of pretzels pre-oven

And post-oven!

Berliners in the fryer

And on my breakfast plate!

Derek and Opa enjoying coffee and Berliners in the bakery's storefront

Any kind of bread you desire!

Decorative Gingerbread

And our bakery collection on the table for a second breakfast!

Look out for another post soon of our adventures with Opa and Rachel! Happy Thanksgiving to all!