We’re back! Knitting Daughter and I had a great time visiting Claudia and her family in Germany. What a treat! It is taking me a bit of time to get my head out of the jetlag clouds and back into work, so I figured I had better write this post this morning while it might still make sense.
We left on Tuesday and arrived on Wednesday morning. Claudia picked us up at the airport and took us home to catch breakfast and a few hours of sleep, before heading out to explore. Germany is GREEN all over the place. It is absolutely beautiful. Lots of rain and cool weather while we were there (which you know I like). We saw lots of fields of hops growing in Claudia’s town. Hops are 
used in the making of beer and you don’t see hops around here. They grow up the lines attached to the poles, and are harvested later in the summer. It’s a good industry for their town. The other thing that we saw growing all over was Spargle – which translates to Asparagus. Did you know that when the asparagus turns green, it is over-ripe and bitter? I’ve always liked asparagus, but the white asparagus that you get in Germany (before it turns over-ripe green) is so much better.
We spent the week being shuttled to and fro through the beautiful countryside by Claudia and/or Andreas. They are awesome hosts. We went to Munich a couple of days, to tour the famous Neuschwanstein Castle another day (see the photo? And to think the King lived in that castle for less than 150 days before his death). We also spent an afternoon tracking down my roots in a small village a few hours away. (Zipped down the Autobahn to get there. Not sure I’m a big fan of those fast speeds and crazy highways, but we had good drivers in Claudia and Andreas, and we 
lived to tell about it!) My grandparents came to the U.S. from Germany when they were in their 20’s, and it was fun to be in their town of Schnaitheim (near Heidenheim), see their old stomping grounds, and have coffee in a shop around the corner from their neighborhood. This is the photo of the schoolhouse that they attended. We found my grandpa’s house – or rather, land. The original house has been torn down and a four-family flat built in its place. It’s always sad to see that happen.
Now for the Mini Contest – where do your grandparents come from? I have a set of grandparents from Germany and a set of grandparents from here in the U.S. How about you? Leave a comment and I’ll randomly draw one winner in a week. (That’s what makes it a mini contest – just one winner. You know we usually draw a prize for every 250 or so comments in our regular monthly blog contests, but this time I have just one big skein of Wollmeise Lace to give as a prize!)
On Monday I’ll share photos of our time at the Wollmeise brick and mortar shop, as well as a photo of Claudia’s beautiful garden-filled backyard. It almost made me want to garden! (But not quite. I kept thinking of the heat and humidity that always arrives in St. Louis in July and August….)
Sheri hopingyouhaveagreatweekendandhavetimetoknit
My granbpa came from Michigan- everyone else was born and bred Memphis. My dad’s side is hundreds of years in the US, but my grandmother’s parents came over from Croatia. Mama arrived in Atlanta but when it was decided she was old enough, she was told to go to Memphis “that is where the Croatian men are” so she went and got married in a week! I guess things were easier then.
My paternal grandparents are/were from the US and my maternal grandparents were Korean.
Your trip sounds awesome! I have grandparents from Germany, England, Scotland, and Norway. The first three have been here several generations, but my grandpa from Norway was an immigrant.
My Grandparents on my father’s side were both born in Italy. On my mother’s side, my Grandmother was born in the USA (To Italian immigrant parents) and my Grandfather was born in Puerto Rico but is of German descent. Whew.
My dad’s family came here in the 1600’s as indentured servants. Hessian. Intermarried with the local Native American s. My mom’s family is Scottish, Welsh and German, but no one emigrated in recent memory.
My maternal grandparents came from Ireland and Germany and met in Chicago.
My paternal grandparents came over separately from one another from Czechoslovakia and met when they were teenagers in North Dakota.
Your trip sounded wonderful. I’m so glad that you got to go with DD!
I have grandparents from England, Scotland, Ireland and America! My Great Great grandmother was full blooded American Indian (Cherokee).Most of my family has been in America for many many generations, so its my great great great great grandparents that were immigrants.
My family has been here for several generations, so all grandparents haled from the US. To be more specific, we’ve got IA (this is a two-fer), MS, CO. The family that did make the Great Voyage came from Ireland, Wales and England way back when.
My grandparents are all Canadian but our heritage is English, Scottish, and Irish.
My mother’s parents are originally from Ostpreussen (East Prussia – part of Poland and Russia now) and fled the Red Army during WWII to settle in Germany (Dusseldorf), where my grandmother still lives. My dad’s parents were both born in Cleveland, but each of their parents were Irish immigrants in the early 20th Century.
Both sets of grandparents are from here in the US. My great grandparents, however, are a different story. My maternal great grandmother came into Boston directly off the boat from Dublin, Ireland. My maternal great grandfather is from the US and is part Native American. My paternal grandparents both came from Nova Scotia, Canada.
My grandparents were all born in New Jersey. Not very exotic, lol, but I have some German, Scottish and Irish great great grandparents.
We come from all over the place. All four grandparents were born in the US, but my maternal grandfather’s parents came from Germany, and my maternal grandma’s father came from Denmark. My dad’s history is harder to track, but there’s a lot of Danish, German, with British and Irish and a few others scattered in.
My mum’s parents are from England and my dad’s mum is from England and his dad was from Italy.
The photos look great! I hope to visit Germany one day.
My mother’s family is from Germany and my dad’s were from Mexico. Sounds like you had a wonderful time!
Umm, Ireland, Ireland, Illinois & Massachussets…
Both sets of grandparents are from St. Michael, and island in the Azores. Both sets are also from the same village called Furnas.
I was lucky enough to visit Furnas and it is a beautiful place!
It sounds like you had a wonderful trip. š
My maternal Grand father came from Alsace-Lorraine which was German/French depending on who occupied it . My Grandmother was of Scottish decent. My father was First Gen American. His parents came from Russia at the turn of the 20th century
my maternal grandparents came from greece & my paternal grandparents came from italy š
I’m a Heinz57… On my mom’s side Oma is from Germany (love!), my Opa is Czech, but burned his papers during the war after escaping a concentration camp, and declared himself German.
On my dad’s side, My grandma was Scottish and my grandpa was British.
My Grandparents are all from East Yorkshire in the UK, one set never moved from the small town they were born in and one set moved about 20 miles from their original homes so were the ‘big travellers’ of the family lol!
My grandparents were US born, but my great-grandmother on my father’s side is from Germany. I don’t know much about any one else, except I’ve been told there is Irish, Dutch and Swedish all mixed in there!!
All grandparents are US born. One set eastern Kentucky. The other set central Indiana. Honestly not sure how far back you have to go to get immigrants.
All of my grandparents were born in the US. Their parents were born in England, Greece and Switzerland.
Huh….mine are all from here in the US…Wisconsin & Washington. Never thought about it that way before because I tend to trace back their lineage to the various parts of Europe their own parents & grandparents emigrated from.
Love the shots of the Rohrspatz & Wollmeise brick and mortar from the next blog post!
My maternal grandparents were both born in the US, but both of their parents were from Germany, making my mom 100% German.
All born and raised here in the U.S. The closest relative I have from across the pond is a great-grandfather who came to the U.S. when he was 2.
.My grandparents are from islands off the coast of Sweden, New Scotia and Maine.
On my Dad’s side, both my grandparents were born and raised in New York City. On that side, we’re mutts from pretty far back – I think you have to go back another two generations before you find the immigrants, and on my grandfather’s side, I know they came from Germany or Austria.
On my Mom’s side, my grandmother still lives in the house she was born in (unless I’m mis-remembering, and she was born where my aunt lives now, which is a kitty corner neighbor to the house she lives in now – and that is in rural eastern CT. My grandfather on that side was born in New Hampshire and moved to CT when he was a young man. They are both of French-Canadian descent if you trace it back.
All of my Grandparents were born in eastern Canada.
My grandma was the first of her family born in the US. My other grandma emigrated here from Austria. One of my grand-dad’s was born here, and the other came from Hungry.
One grandmother came direct from Germany. One grandfather is from Tennessee. My other 2 grandparents are from Illinois.
One set of grandparents came from Scotland, the other Poland!
My grandparents are Scots. I love my Scottish heritage! š
my mother’s parents were both born in the USA of French & English decent. my father’s parents came from Germany.
Both sets of grandparents were born in the US. My maternal grandparents are Mexican and Irish decent and my paternal grandparents are of English decent. Such fun to research family history!
I have one set from the Philippines that I never got to meet. The other set was in St. Louis. Gone as well….
Grandparents all fromthe US – Memphis and LA – in fact on my Dad’s side, we’re from the US since the 1600’s!
All of my grandparents except for my mother’s father were born here in the states. He was born in Poland and came here via Canada in his 20’s. Somewhere along the way he changed his name and while I’ve been trying to do a litle research lately about how he ended up working as a barber in Cleveland I haven’t been able to find out very much. Unfortunateley he passed away when my mother was very young so I never got to know him.
I was born and raised in Brazil and both sets of grandparents were too. However, their parents were almost all immigrants. Born in Italy, Portugal, and one Native Brazilian.
Hi Sheri and everyone!
I’m definitely ‘green’ (with envy!) at your german visit-but I have discovered that Claudia is bringing yarn to a knitting event -Knit Nation-I’m going to in London in july which is great news-so i might actually see a whole load even if I’m at the back of the queue and it’s all gone by the time I arrive at the table….
my grandparents-my grandma was swedish (but her parents were german, and became swedish nationals in the 19th century. She met my grandfather in edinburgh before WW1-so around 100years ago! He was scots, and my father’s family are all scots too-and so am I, although I’ve lived all bar 4 and half years in england.
suex
Italy and Germany.
Both sets of grandparents are from China. The interesting part is how they each got over here. š
My grandparents came from Alabama and Minnesota. Great-great-great grandparents on one side were all from Germany, and on the other side, slaves descended from Africans.
My dad and his parents came from Bosnia and my Mom’s parents were from Illinois.
All of my grandparents are from the US, but I have great-grandparents from Czechoslovakia. Thanks for the giveaway!
My grandfather on my mothers side came from Poland as did my mother. Don’t know about my Dad’s side – but my Father was born in Canada….
One set came from Italy, the other were from German families who settled in Illinois in the early 1800s.
My grandparents on my mother’s side are from the US. Both grew up in mining towns in the American West.
My grandparent’s on my father’s side immigrated from Lithuania to Wisconsin around 1910.
Both sets of my grandparents live in the United States. They both have lived in Southern California for the last fifty years and I am so blessed to live close to them. My parents live 2,000 miles away, but I live two blocks away from my paternal grandparents and five miles away from my maternal grandparents. I love it!