From Erik –

Way back in 1989 my family lived in Cape May, a bustling beach town located on the southern tip of New Jersey. What made that summer especially memorable was the unexpected (to me) visit of my cousin Peter from the mythical land of Germany! His parents were taking a long journey through the United States, and poor Peter got to spend his summer vacation visiting a variety of unknown-to-him relatives, yours truly included.

 

My first recollection of Peter involves an attempt at explaining, and then trying to play, the American pastime – baseball. After explaining the rules, as clearly as my 9 year old self could, to a 14 year old German boy who up until that point had only learned English in school, we got underway. Things quickly went sideways when Peter thought that you could get a runner out by pegging him with the ball. I was the unfortunate recipient of a baseball in the back, and that naturally ended our game that day.

Over the years Peter would continue to visit us during his summer breaks, and we spent time together going to amusement parks, fishing with my grandfather, and attempting to share various decidedly American experiences. When I was an exchange student we connected again as his parents, Dieter and Karin, constituted my host family. Today, Peter and I got to reconnect, introduce our families, and enjoy a good old fashioned pizza night! But, we made a little detour first!

After packing the car to brim once again, we made our way toward one of the most well known Germany cities – Heidelberg! This relatively small university town is revered for its beauty, renowned for its history, and the cherry on top is the world’s largest barrel (which holds 58,000 gallons of wine).

After some small problems with the GPS, we made our way to the parking lot and made the trek over to the castle. This time, I successfully purchased the English language tour, and while we waited for it to begin, we did a little exploring. It turns out that on the Heidelberg Castle site, there is a Pharmacy Museum, and quite frankly, we couldn’t figure out the connection, but it was interesting none the less.

Upon the completion of our tour we took the Bergbahn down into the city. At this point, the kids were beyond hungry, and try as I might, I sometimes struggle to tap the breaks and take the time to meet their basic needs. I became a little bit fixated on finding the Alte Brücke, and you’ll be glad to know that I did (much to the chagrin of the other 5 people on trip)!!

Having scratched that itch I was willing to permit pretty much any restaurant selection, and so went Italian again! I warned everyone that it was Pizza Night at Peter’s house, and they all acknowledged that fact and agreed to behave in a very lovely manner (which I’m glad to report they did).

Upon arriving at Peter’s house, the kids had the opportunity to meet Peter’s wife, Kathe, and their cousins Arthur and Oskar. The boys were very shy that first night, but during the course of the evening, the children were able to overcome the language barrier and make a connection, over video games…

As I watched the kids develop a bond over the next few days (by the end, Oskar really wanted to invite Juliette to his birthday party), I felt incredibly grateful for this opportunity that we have. It’s all too easy for extended families to lose touch over time and to have those bonds and relationships simply vanish forever. By fostering that connection we have ensured that at least one more generation has first hand knowledge about where some of their ancestors came from or where some of their ancestors went.

June 9^th

After Peter laid out all of the options for our adventures on Saturday (and there were a lot!) we decided to head into Frankfurt and do a walking tour of the city. The group of 10 loaded up, and my crew tried to keep up with Peter and Company. It seems that his BMW accelerates, handles, maneuvers, and pretty much anything else a car can do, much much better than my Ford Galaxy. We managed to stay on his tail and after parking downtown we head to the Main Tower (named for the river, not the synonym for primary). We took a speedy little (pretty tight quarters) elevator to the top, and we were treated to incredible 360 degree views of the city.

After making our way down to the street level, I put into practice the lessons of the previous day and halted the whole operation to make sure everyone got their lunch before the wheels came off the whole operation! Everyone in my party was able to find something at the Café, except for Charlie, which he kindly reminded me of an hour later when he asked me, “When are you going to feed me lunch?” In that moment we happened to be in lovely Kleinmarkthalle, a culinary wonderland consisting of the finest meats, cheeses, produce, and flowers. The trouble was, they didn’t have any food, at all, prepared. He and I walked that darn market twice, and we couldn’t find anything that resembled lunch. I fed him blackberries.

After checking out some more Frankfurt landmarks (Opera House, St. Paul’s Church, and the Stock Exchange) we headed down to the river where the kids had the chance to burn off the little energy they had left after all the walking we did. Again, sitting on my bench and just observing, it’s clear to me that play is a universal language! Unfortunately so is “I-fell-down-and-hurt-myself-and-now-I’m-in-pain.” With that we headed back to Peter’s place for a little barbecue.

Sadly, the weather didn’t cooperate, and we had a little (a lot) of trouble getting the charcoal going. Kathe did a great job of getting all of the food organized, and Peter stood out in the rain and made sure we all got hot food to eat! The most interesting offering was the cheese! They looked like chicken patties, i.e. they were breaded, and then they went on the grill, finally to be served with a sort of cranberry sauce; Juliette just couldn’t get enough!

After the long day in the sun, we got all of the kids to bed, and then Kathe, Peter, Liz, and I just chatted into the night. We discussed parenting (they have helicopter parents in Germany too), memories (my mom once took Peter to get sauerkraut when he was homesick), and the wide world at large. I had so much fun learning and laughing, I was sad when it was time to hit the sack. Luckily, the fun would continue tomorrow!