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Germany and a Family Reunion

Two years ago we spent almost a week with Adam’s family in Klein Nordende, just outside of Hamburg. We had such a great time with Adam’s cousins Matthias and Benni (and their parents and families) so we were really excited to return to Germany and hang out with them again. While we loved all the sightseeing we did in the first part of our trip, this part of our trip was planned as a vacation - relaxing and just hanging out in the summer.

We first went to a small town outside of Dresden where Benni and his family live. Benni’s three young kids and our girls got along fabulously. The entire week our kids had such a great time with all the kids and the language barrier posed no issue. We took a trip into Dresden one day just to see some sites, but it was much more relaxing than our visits to some other cities.

We first saw the Zwinger, a former palace that had an orangerie. The building and inner courtyard was lovely. The kids ran through the gardens and splashed each other with fountain water while the adults marveled at the architecture. We then visited the Frauenkirche, the famous church that had to be completely rebuilt after the bombing of Dresden in 1945. In fact, most of Dresden was completely destroyed in the two days of raids near the end of World War II and had to be rebuilt after the war. In front of the new church is a piece from the dome of the original church that serves as reminder of what was lost due to the war.

It was another hot day on our trip so we were happy to sit down and have some pizza for lunch and make a plan to visit the Hygiene Museum. While it sounds boring, it was definitely not! This museum was more like a museum of the human body and had a children’s museum as part of the regular exhibits. The children’s area focused on the five senses and had lots of hands on activities. The kids (and adults) were able to touch, smell, hear, and see all sorts of exhibits that show how our senses work and how they can be tricked. The kids loved it all and had a great time playing. We then went to the adult part of the museum that still had a lot of hands on activities. The museum had exhibits about the human body from conception to death, a history of what we know about the body and how we learned it, and exhibits that explained different diseases and treatments. It was all fascinating and even the kids found ways to enjoy it and learn something. We couldn’t leave Dresden without a stop for ice cream at the place Benni claims has the best ice cream in town. It was a really fun day in a town packed with history.

The following day, despite planning for a more relaxing day, we decided to hop on an hour train ride to Goerlitz. Our main motivation was to walk over the bridge in Goerlitz into Poland so we could say that we’ve been to that country. Our mission was a success. We crossed the bridge, played near a fountain, walked around a small park, cooled down for a bit and then crossed back into Germany. Benni and Maria thought we were ridiculous for wanting to make this trip but it was fun and now we can say we’ve been to Poland!

On Sunday we were excited to leave Dresden and head to Klein Nordende. Benni and his kids were able to join us for the week so it was really exciting for all of us. The train ride was about 5 hours and really uncomfortable at first since there was no air conditioning for the first two hours, but once the train changed engines and we had air conditioning we were much happier and arrived in Klein Nordende ready for several days of fun.

The week was simply wonderful. My favorite part of the week was sitting in the backyard with Matthias, Martina, Benni, and Adam while the seven kids just played together. A small kids’ pool, a trampoline, and a sandbox provided plenty of entertainment for the kids and they got along great and played in different combinations throughout the week. Everyone learned some words in a new language or figured out how to communicate without words. Adam and his cousins played basketball and cards and reminisced about their visits when they were younger. We ate traditional German food and enjoyed a variety of cheese, bread, meat and potatoes.

On Tuesday a large family gathering was held because we were in town as was Adam’s cousin Jeanne and her sixteen year old daughter, Sophie. Twenty-seven members of the extended Radday family (all descendants of siblings Franz Radday (Adam and Jeanne’s grandfather) and Anna Janutta (Benni and Matthias’ grandmother)) gathered for lunch at a great restaurant. So much food was provided and we were able to meet all four of the boys of Anna Janutta - these are all Adam’s dad’s first cousins. Their children and grandchildren were also all there to meet us and celebrate just being together and joining together as a family from both sides of the ocean. The celebration continued at a different restaurant for cake and coffee later that afternoon. This was a great idea since this second restaurant was a former barn and had all sorts of things for the kids to do outside - seesaws, a trampoline, ride on toys, and a huge hutch with bunnies. While the kids played the adults were able to catch up on our current lives, but more importantly could share stories of the family history, look at old photos and re-connect. It was a truly idyllic and beautiful day of being with family. We toasted to Gil and I’m sure he was looking down and smiling. I kno he is so happy we could all gather together - his German relatives were always so important to him and to have his son and granddaughters continue the family connection was always a point of pride and joy for him.

The rest of the week in Klein Nordende was exactly as we hoped - relaxing and fun. We took the kids to a small zoo full of local animals one afternoon. We ate meat from a Greek restaurant as per my request from our trip last time. We bought lots of gummy bears because they are made differently in Germany. The girls had a blast and were sad to leave. We couldn’t have asked for anything more from this week (except perhaps some cooler weather). We are hoping that we will have a visit from Benni and/or Matthias and their families in the US in the next few years! We can’t wait to show them around and extend our hospitality to them.

Even though we are pretty tired from all our travels we have one final stop before we return to the US. We chose to fly home via Icelandic Airlines because you can stopover for up to seven days without changing your flight cost. We decided to take advantage of this opportunity and have 3 days planned in Iceland. We are looking forward to some cooler temperatures and a final few days of just the four of us. And away we go again!

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