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