Germany – A visit with Family

In our last blog, we discussed our return to Paris after several years being absent and that our sons had both moved to Europe. In this posting we will highlight time spent in Wiesbaden Germany saving our visit Livarot France for another post.  Jason and family moved to Wiesbaden March 2022.  They are established in a nice rental apartment with our two granddaughters so started to get familiar with the area.  While in Wiesbaden, the granddaughters were in school – so during the day we spent time with Terri, both discovering parts of the area and enjoying our time together.  

Additionally, both of our granddaughters have various afternoon activities and we were able to join with the family to watch our oldest earn her yellow/white belt for Taekwondo.

After arriving Friday evening, we just relaxed and enjoyed spending time with our family.  Unfortunately, most of the time we were visiting in Germany it rained!  Nothing huge but it kept us inside much of the time.  On Saturday, we out after bundled everyone into two cars and went into Wiesbaden central to wander around and have lunch.  There was a farmers market happening with a variety of stalls and a celebration happening in the main square.  

Jason and his youngest Banshee.

Morning coffee acquired (Nespreso machine) and lunch done, Wee Banshee #1, the 7-year old, headed off to a birthday party for a friend and the rest of us went home for a nap and relaxing time.

Tuesday, while the girls were in school, Terri took us to the Niederwald monument.  It is located close to where they live and was built to commemorate the Unification of Germany between 1871 and 1883. The monument is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and overlooks the Rhine Valley and the town of Bingen on the far side. To get to the site we took the Cable Car.  Originally, to accommodate the numerous people wanting to visit the monument, a rack-and-pinion railway was built in 1884, the forerunner of today’s cable car, which transported visitors through the vineyards to the monument.

The monument was constructed to commemorate the founding of the German Empire in 1871 after the end of the Franco-Prussian War. The first stone was laid on 16 September 1871 by Kaiser Wilhelm I. The monument was inaugurated on 28 September 1883. The 125 ft tall monument represents the union of all Germans.  The central figure is the 34 ft tall Germania figure. Her right hand holds the recovered crown, and her left holds the Imperial Sword. 

Beneath Germania is a large relief depicting Kaiser Wilhelm I riding a horse with the nobility, army commanders, and soldiers. The relief has the lyrics to “Die Wacht am Rhein” (Watch on the Rhine) engraved.
We had a lovely time visiting the monument.

Evenings with the family were relaxing with G’Ma reading portions of Anne of Green Gables with Banshee #1 and G’Pa playing with Banshee #2 (3-year old).  It was a very nice way to spend quality time with our girls.

Saturday, with Jason’s work week finished, both cars drove downtown Weisbaden  for lunch at the Ratskeller and a visit to the  World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock Shop. 

Celebrating the start of Oktoberfest

 For several years, Jason has been talking about buying a cuckoo clock and he finally pulled the trigger.  This place sells LOTS of clocks of all varieties, the shop is the biggest and only one of its type. It is one of the major attractions in Wiesbaden, and is now well over fifty years old. It offers cuckoo clocks, beer steins, nutcrackers stuff toys and a variety of other things.  Inside there must be a hundred clocks on the walls, fortunately not all ticking, or it would have been a madhouse when they all chimed.  Jason spent quite a long time discussing with the owner what he wanted and this resulted in the owner calling the factory to see if they could accommodate his request!  Talk about service.  Of course, the clock won’t be ready until November but that isn’t an issue for them as they live there now.

Sunday the 18th we drove back to France to hook up with Ryan and Chris in their new hometown Livarot.  But that is for another blog.