Germany - Part 1

Last month I had the great opportunity to travel to Germany with my Dad as part of the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection "Journey to the Homeland Tour" through North Dakota State University. 

So first a little ancestry history (skip ahead if you just want to see pictures!): My ancestors on my dad's side (Hochhalter and Sackman) were originally from Germany, but right around 1809 they immigrated to Russia (the part that is now Ukraine). Catherine the Great had originally invited Germans to settle newly acquired Russian land in the 1700s, but my ancestors came there after her grandson Czar Alexander repeated the invitation. They were allowed religious freedom and cultural autonomy and began to settle and develop the land on the steppe. The Russian government later changed their mind and began to remove many of their freedoms (sound familiar?). That began a large immigration of German Russians to the US, specifically North Dakota, to take advantage of the Homestead Act, and my great-great grandparents and my great grandparents came to America in 1884.

This tour was originally to include Ukraine where we would be able to visit what is left of the villages our ancestors, but with all the instability in Ukraine, NDSU chose to cancel that part of the tour. It was obviously disappointing, but definitely the right call. Here's hoping the region will stabilize, and someday we will be able to try again.

So instead, we got to do a little more German sight-seeing in addition to our culturally-significant stops.

Now on to the pictures! :)

Rottenburg

Dad and I were going to meet up in Frankfurt a few days before the tour started so we could burn off the jet lag in beautiful Rottenburg. Unfortunately, due to smoke in a bathroom at the radar center in Chicago, Dad's flight was cancelled and he wasn't able to get out until the next day. I was nervous to get there on my own, only because I was completely riding Dad's coattails on all this and hadn't done a lick of planning or preparing. But I had no trouble getting there, and enjoyed a day to myself exploring. 

Rottenburg is a Medieval city and still surrounded by a wall

Nightwatchman's Tour (very entertaining)

Yay! Dad's here!

One of the most photographed spots in Germany

Frankfurt

Romerburg - most of Frankfurt was destroyed in WWII and this is about the only section they rebuilt to be historically accurate

One of my favorite meals of the trip: potato pancake with schnitzel and apple wine (the apple wine was so-so, but fun to try something besides beer)

We took a river tour down the Rhine

Part of our group at dinner after the river cruise

Regensburg

On the Danube River

The group with a representative from the national German Russian society

Walhalla and the Danube

Arthur, our guide in Regensburg. He was fascinating. He also has German-Russian heritage, but his family stayed in Russia until the Germans in Russia were deported to Sibera after World War II. Arthur was born in a work camp in Siberia. When communism fell, his family returned to Germany (after 200 years) and he's now a physicist for Audi.

Another one of my favorite meals: takeaway sausage sandwiches from  a place that had been around for 600 to 1,000 years (depends on who you ask)

Munich 

Next stop was Munich. We got a tour of Dachau concentration camp. Definitely sobering.

"Work makes you free"

A beautiful display in a chapel in Munich

Pretzels, cheese, sausage and beer in the beer garden at Viktualienmarket. We chatted with a German couple next to us, and the man told us we were sitting in the center of the universe becaue Europe is the center of the world, Germany is the center of Europe, Munich is the center of Germany, and Viktualienmarket is the center of Munich.