Thanksgiving in Germany

Unlike Halloween, Thanksgiving is not really on the German radar at all. So when hubby went back to the U.S. last month, we had him bring the necessary items for an American Thanksgiving feast. Turkeys they have here...I was surprised that it was already all trussed up and even had the little "pop-up it's done" thingy on it. I had brought our Turkey Roasting pan from America, so we were all set with that.

Hubby was assigned to bring back Libby's Pumpkin, Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce, Arnold's Corn Bread Stuffing Bread cubes, and Karo Corn Syrup (for Pecan Pie).

Germans do not have frozen pie crusts at their grocer's freezer and do not sell pie pans! We had one with us and used a tart pan for the other pie.

We ended up having:

• Turkey
• Giblet gravy
• Cornbread Stuffing
• Baby Peas
• Broccoli
• Crescent Rolls
• Mashed Potatoes
• Cranberry Sauce
• Fruit Salad
• Pumpkin Pie
• Pecan Pie

I discovered at the last minute that the stuffing pan would not fit in the oven with the Turkey...so we asked our Landlord/Neighbor if we could use her oven. As we were eating earlier it was not a problem.


The only nod to Germany was that we used Nuremberger sausages in the stuffing instead of Jimmy Dean!


(unfortunately picture was taken after turkey was carved)

Ruine Neideck

It was getting to be fall time here in Franconia and I was itching to get out and enjoy the autumnal splendor. I wanted to go on a hike but god-forbid I make my girls go on a hike...so I said How about we go on a "Photography Expedition". Our goal was "Ruine Neideck", an old castle ruin set picturesquely atop a hill...sort of the symbol of Franconian Switzerland. Don't tell them it was a hike.

http://www.burgenstrasse.de/ tells us:

The name „Neideck“ was first mentioned in 1219. It became the private property of King Konrad II of Schlüsselberg in 1312. After his death in 1347 the castle was in the possession of the bishops from 1348-1553. In 1553, after a voluntary handover of the castle, it was destroyed and
burnt down.

Here are some of the results of our photography.

Approaching the ruin...you can see it on top of the hill in the center.





Which way???

Watch out for falling rocks!



Approaching the ruin from below.

View from the castle wall

Approaching the ruin...

I think this used to be one of those cross-shaped cut outs for them to shoot arrows through.

Fall leaves...

20th Anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down

November 9, 2009 is the 20th Anniversay of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Wikipedia tells us: The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a concrete barrier erected by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (East Germany) that completely encircled the city of West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The Wall included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses.

There will be many activities and celebrations including U2 singing a free concert at the famous Brandenburg Gate. Ironically the concert organizers are building a wall 20ft high barrier around the free concert so only people who have (the free) tickets can see!

From our trip to Berlin in May 2008: In Berlin they mark where the wall was using bricks and metal markers that show where the wall used to be.




They have pieces of the wall on display in Potsdammer Platz.

The wall used to be in front of the Brandenburg Gate.



Near the Check Point Charlie museum is a replica of the Checkpoint. This is how you would get from the American/British/French sectors to the Russian Sector.

BonusHasselhoff: David Hasselhoff did not bring the Berlin wall down, but he was there to sing over the ruins.

Halloween

I wasn't sure how much Halloween there would be in Germany. In the supermarket, they sold some pumpkins. There was a Halloween display with some decorations, but sort of in the back.

I asked on my "German Way" ex-pat mailing list what the chances of Trick-or-Treaters were and they said:

"Depends on how many kids you have in your neighbourhood and whether they know that you "do" Halloween. When my boys were in elementary school, a few kids, mostly Turkish and Russian, would come to our house trick or treating, but in the past few years we've had no one show up despite the jack o' lantern outside the door.

"As others have said, not very likely. Although Halloween is more common in Germany these days, trick-or-treating is not."

So we got some pumpkins (they have many varieties, see above) from our local OBI (think Home Depot German Style) and carved them so we could show we "do" Halloween. I bought a couple of bags of candy "just in case". They don't have giant bags of candy for sale like in the U.S., but we could find some "fun" size candy bars.

As soon as it was dark and I lit the pumpkins and put them outside we had our first trick or treaters! In Germany they don't say "Trick or Treat", they say "Süßes sonst gibt's Saures" , that is, Sweets or we give Sours. I even saw some little boys prompting other little boys to say "danke"!

After a bit I had to drop the little one to go trick or treating with her friends...she said they would go up to small apartment buildings and push all the intercom buttons and when someone answered they would go up and who ever opened the doors would give them candy. Not everyone was really doing trick or treating so they got this one older lady who was sorry that she didn't have anything for them, but you know how all old ladies are required to have a dish of hard candies? She gave them "schwarz krauter" flavored hard candies...that means Black Herb and tasted like menthol to me.

When I got back we quickly had given away the last of the candy, so I went on a candy run. There was not much left at the store! Of course when I got back we only had one more group of kids come to the door...but hey! leftover candy!

I had also tried to see if there were any other Halloween activities...like pumpkin picking or Haunted Houses. The only thing I could find was a haunted house as the real Castle Frankenstein but you needed tickets for that and it was sold out. We did end up going to the Theme Park "Europa Park" over fall break and they had Haunted Houses and themed rides, but that is for another post.