Upcoming Plans - Tracing Family Roots

I have been a bit under the weather this week. Although it is still August, our area of Germany has decided summer is over and fall has arrived. Every day has been in the low 60s with rain. I am not a heat person, but I'm not sure if I was ready for the summer to be over so quickly. Accompanying the fall weather has been my first cold of the season (or what I think is a cold - it could just be bad allergies). Generally blech. Despite this, a highlight I was looking forward to was Josh was suppose to have Friday off, and I had Friday off as well. We were planning a trip to Munich with a friend to do our own personal brewery/beer tour of Munich. Essentially drink our way through Munich. When in Rome...  But, Josh ended up having to work, and it would have cut our time in Munich down by an entire day, making the trip not worth it (since Munich is about a five hour drive for us). SIGH. That seems to be how our summer is going. We make plans, only to have something come up or get in the way. I am trying to not be frustrated by this. The way I am distracting myself from the situation is putting the finishing touches on upcoming trips.

And with that, I will announce and unveil my upcoming plans for my parents' visit.

After we found out Josh was going to be able to stay in the military and we would be completing our time in Germany, my parents started talking about their next trip over to visit. They were waiting to hear what our future plans were as well before they planned a trip. Once we received our good news, it was the green light to start planning a trip. We have found Thanksgiving is a good time for visitors - plane tickets are cheaper, Europe is not in "high" season and is cheaper, and visitors can get a taste of the European Christmas season. My parents were saying Thanksgiving would be a good time for them to visit again this year. We were discussing what areas/where we could travel while they visited. My great grandfather on my Mom's side is from Germany. We have talked about going to the area of Northern Germany where he immigrated from many times. However, winter is not a great time to go to Northern Germany - winter on the North Sea - it would be cold, windy, and generally miserable. My Mom brought up the idea of visiting the North Sea again when we were talking about Thanksgiving plans. I reminded her of my concerns of the North Sea in winter. To which I reminded my parents of a proposal I made months earlier: join Josh and I on our cruise up the coast of Norway and visit Northern Germany at that time.

I had found an amazing deal on a 7 day cruise with four stops in Norway leaving from Hamburg, Germany at the end of August. I thought this would be perfect - a cruise would be a cheaper way to see multiple places in Norway, leaving from Hamburg means no airline tickets since we could drive, and we could swing by the area where my great grandfather was from. When I booked our cruise (back in January) I tried to get my parents to book with us then, but they weren't ready to consider it. But. When the talk of trying to see Northern Germany and the idea of enjoying a cruise to Norway (a place they have always wanted to see)... well, I think I had talked them into it. My Dad agreed if I could find a decent deal/price on our cruise, they would come. Challenge accepted - and I won - finding them a good price to join us on our cruise. Dad cashed in some of his hard-earned airline miles to get flights over here. Now it is less than a week until they arrive. Normally I have a few months to think/plan visits. This time I have had less than two months. Not that I can't plan it, I am just used to having more time to figure out details.

Mom and Dad arrive next Thursday after 24 hours of travel. As usual, my plan is just to keep them awake - which usually isn't too hard. We have plenty of shifting around to do getting everything ready to leave for the cruise. I have an appointment for Mom and I to get pedicures as cruise prep, and I am sure we will visit my parents' favorite local restaurant. The next morning, we will leave for Hamburg. The cruise leaves and returns to Hamburg, which is a place none of us have been to before. Our plan is to leave in the morning and arrive in the afternoon. For the first day in Hamburg I don't have any set plans, as you can never be sure with traffic what will happen (I am reminded of our journey to Berlin, which was suppose to be 6 hours that turned into almost 9).

The second day in Hamburg I have found an all-day walking tour, which will take us around to the major highlights of Hamburg, including a harbor cruise and the sites where the Beatles played. Basically a tour which will go to each place I want to see in Hamburg. The next morning we will check out of our hotel, get the car parked, and board the cruise ship. I am excited to share this experience with my parents. Josh and I usually travel alone, and we enjoy each other, but it will be nice to have other people with us.

Our cruise stops in: Oslo, Stavanger, Geiranger, Aalesund. For this cruise I have booked quite a few excursions through the ship - which isn't something I usually do. However, these excursions just work better for the times we are in port, and for the things I wanted to see/do. I have planned for us to do our own traveling in Oslo, so I have spent quite a bit of time researching what to do while we are there. Rather than detail what our plans are now, I'd rather give you the re-cap afterward. But, here are pictures of the places we are going, which I keep drooling over every night on Pinterest.

One week after we lose, we return to Hamburg. After we retrieve our belongings and car, we are traveling to Bremerhaven, Germany - a smaller port city on the North Sea. To our knowledge, this is the port where my great grandfather left Germany from. Bremerhaven is also an area where I could find a hotel, as the small farming town my family is from doesn't have many housing options. In Bremberhaven there is a an immigration museum, which is something I want to see, a for-sure stop. There are many other sightseeing options in the area I have researched - it just depends on what everyone wants to do and how much time we have. The main focus of our trip will be going to Holtgast, my great grandfather's hometown.

When I was researching our time in Holtgast, my Mom had asked if I was planning to find or research any extended family which still lives in the area. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find anyone who was family, or who would remember who my grandfather was. I was looking on Google one morning, and typed in my family name with Holtgast. I found this link - which, if you open in Google Chrome it will automatically translate it, or you can use Google translate. The link shows a picture of my great-great grandparents, and the farmhouse where my great grandfather grew up. There on the page shows my great grandfather's family tree. I was blown away. There, plain as day, easy to see and find, was my family history. As I looked through the site, I was hoping it would list an address where the farm house was, so it would give me a way to get to it. I didn't find an address. However, on the main page for Holtgast, there is an email address where any family history inquiries can be sent. Well. What did I have to lose? I sent off an email (with the help of Google translate turning my English into mediocre German) with the link, explaining how I was related to the family, and asking for the address to the farm house. I thought I may never get any sort of response.

To my surprise, I had a response in less than 24 hours. Even more surprising, the town historian responded informing me my great-grandfather was his uncle. Although I had to put his response into Google translate (as he wrote back in German), I got the basic jest of his letter. I think he was as surprised and excited to have heard from me as I was from him. We have emailed back and forth a few times. Our tentative plans are to meet up with him in Holtgast, and he has agreed to show us the family home. My Mom is bringing family photos for him to keep, as well as some Montana momentos. I am excited to be tracing my roots - something I have dreamed about doing since we moved here, but haven't known where to start. Our meeting will be interesting as I believe our relative only speaks German, and the only person who speaks German is my Mom, and she isn't super confident in her skills. But, I am hoping we will find a way to communicate. It is still exciting, even if there may be a huge communication barrier. 

After two days in Bremmerhaven, we will return to our house. My parents will only have that evening to see their grand-kitties and repack their bags before they have to leave the next day. It will be a whirl-wind, like most of their trips over here are. I am excited for all the moments we are going to share together.

Many people I have met and spoken to in my time here have never had family members come visit. There are many reasons for this - financial, time, family ties and relations, excuses - many combinations of all of the above. This will be my Mom's fifth trip here, and my Dad's fourth. I am extremely lucky my parents are willing and able to make the trip over to visit us. I am luckier than most. I am excited for this coming week to hurry up and pass so my parents can get here!