March 18, 2012

2012 March Girls Trip–Freiberg, Germany

On our way from Dresden back to Seiffen we stopped to take a look at the Freiberg, Germany temple.

Temple facts (from ldschurchtemples.com):

The Freiberg Germany Temple was the first temple built in a communist nation and the first built on German soil.
The Freiberg Germany Temple was originally named the Freiberg DDR Temple.
At 7,840 square feet, the Freiberg Germany Temple was the smallest temple the Church had ever constructed.
Following diligent efforts by the Church to obtain permission for its faithful couples to attend the Bern Switzerland Temple, the government asked if it might consider building a temple in East Germany. The Church gratefully accepted the invitation and built the Freiberg Germany Temple.
Though just 40,000 Germans called the city of Freiberg home, crowds of 89,871 attended the two-week open house of the Freiberg Germany Temple—some waiting up to three hours in the rain for a chance to get inside.
In 1990, five years after the dedication of the Freiberg Germany Temple, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was reunited with the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).
An angel Moroni statue was added to the Freiberg Germany Temple 16½ years after its dedication on December 20, 2001, as part a major renovation and expansion project.

March 17, 2012

2012 March Girls trip–Boleslawiec, Poland

After a long late lunch with lots of chatting and a few more shops we packed the vans and drove the three hours to Boleslawiec, right across the border into Poland. Boleslawiec is not the cute little town that Seiffen is. This area of Poland is very poor and a little run down although has been much improved over the last several years – so we’ve been told. In ‘American Military Wives Pottery Trips’ in the past, one woman would have to stay in the vehicles (with doors locked) to keep watch on the vehicle and belongings so it wasn’t broken into or completely stolen. Even still we saw a wanderer asking for a Euro to ‘watch’ our car while we went in to shop… also a man cleaning car windows hoping for some change.

Emma reserved a nice little hotel for us for two nights. Geneva and I roomed with Megan. I spent the night chatting with Melissa, Emma and Brittany in their room until way past bedtime. The next morning we were up bright and early by 6:00 and out the door by 7:00am. It gets light here at 4:00am and the stores open early. We headed to the pottery warehouse with our favorite ‘line’ first hoping to beat the crowd. By 8:00 the place was packed with shoppers and luckily we had already chosen what we wanted. 5 of us all like the same line so we had fun sitting on the floor with piles of pottery around us looking for the perfect scalloped edge bowl and trying to figure out why on earth we didn’t need everything in front of us. My biggest bowl cost 162 zloty which equals about $50. It's an expensive line because all polish pottery is hand stamped/painted and this line has quite a few colors. I got several pieces, including some square dishes shown at the bottom.

By 9:30 my shopping was done for the day but I went along for the ride and checked out several more pottery shops with my friends.

One shop was further into the country so I wandered around and took a few pictures…

We had lunch at a great Polish restaurant. Almost all of us ordered perogies. Mine were potato filled. Delicious.

Since the stores closed by 3:00 or 4:00 we headed back to the hotel to hang out and relax. I ‘powered down’ and took a short nap, then we went to the Blue Beetroot for a late night dinner. Back at the hotel, everyone came into our room to talk for a couple hours before bed.

March 16, 2012

2012 March Girls Trip–Seiffen, Germany

The perfect little Christmas village – the home of all traditional German Christmas items – with the best price. Not cheap… just cheaper and well worth a trip or two or three. This was my third trip to Seiffen and I had a list of for sure’s and some maybe’s dancing around in my head. We met on base at 4:00 and were in Seiffen by 9:00ish. We checked into our hotel (below), right on main street in Seiffen, talked until midnight and went to sleep. At 8:30 we met for breakfast and were ready to shop at 10:00am when the stores opened.

A lot of the shops we know well by now. The one below has the collection of miniatures that Mindy loves and the Minor and Minor’s wife that I’m still wishing I got. It’s in the same parking lot as the yellow store with a good selection of nutcrackers, especially the small size.

Emma and I did some damage at one of the best nutcracker stores. Emma found another pyramid she loved and I got a couple more nutcrackers for my growing collection.

The big décor outside each of the stores help make Seiffen adorable. Because it’s close to Easter we got to see a lot of the traditional wooden rabbits they have on display with plenty of small ones to buy.

a minor, a pyramid and some Easter bunnies

This one was a store we can’t be in yet, although we’d seen a lot of the store’s merchandise in other stores. It was a beautiful store. You can see the Minor’s Wife/angel in all the upper windows.

Oh my goodness, aren’t these the cutest little girls you’ve ever seen. Too bad they’re 158 Euro each. I want all 3!

A little history about my big purchase -- “Seiffen was originally a mining town. Christmas was the only time in the year when the heard and dangerous work in the mines came to a rest. The miners after their last shirt hung their lanterns at the entrance of the mine and the lights formed an arch of light. It is believed that the Schwibbogen is created from this tradition. As the silver and tin deposits declined, former miners had to look for new ways to feed their families and went into wood carving. The lighted arches tell the story of the towns proudly remembered mining history. Nutcrackers, ‘Smokers’, Pyramids and schwibbogen are some of the many Christmas goods made in Seiffen.”

One of the maybes on my list was a Schwibbogen… but but I hadn’t previously seen one that I really loved – until I saw this one high on a shelf in this store that I couldn’t stop thinking about and finally (on the last day) went and bought. It’s called ‘ALP VILLAGE’. I guess I loved it because it reminds me of the churches I see in the distance everywhere I drive – but mostly in Bavaria. I showed some of my experienced German friends (Heidi and Yvonne) my interest and they told me it was the highest quality Schwibbogen brand – Muller - known because of it’s scalloped arches, and was on a really good sale. Normally 428 Euro on sale for 247 Euro because it had been sitting out on display. With a VAT form (to exclude me from paying 19% German taxes) it cost 200 Euro. Even better.

Chris coaxed me into buying it over the phone. I think it’ll be fun to pull out each Christmas as a fun memory of Germany.

Later that day Geneva and I found the Muller showroom and I spotted my regular priced Schwibbogen in the window. I love that the houses light up too. It’s tradition to stick your Schwibbogen’s in your windows so the lighted arches can be seen from outside but I think I’ll just put it on a shelf or buffet. This store was filled with gorgeous wood carved pyramids too.

Lunch at the Italian place attached to our hotel… fabulous bruschetta here!

From here we headed on to Poland… but on our way back we spent one more night in Seiffen. After we checked into our same hotel we went for a night walk on main street and had fun peering into the lit shop windows. Definitely window shopping – and getting ready for our last hurrah in the morning!

After breakfast we split up and really got serious about our Seiffen purchases… anything we had been thinking about during the trip we went back and looked at – and usually bought! At 1:00 we met to eat fried potatoes and bratwurst and then hit the road for home. What I should have taken a picture of was the unloading. Shopping bags with names of 10 ladies written in black sharpie helped us know who’s pile they all went in. Someone grabbed them, someone read the name and handed them off to others who put them in the right piles. Luckily we had put our hardtop car carrier on top of Emma’s van because we filled it right up. Good trip.

March 7, 2012

New ‘Catch-up' Posts…

Edelweiss and Alpspitze with Grandma and Grandpa Walton September 26th
Linderhof Palace September 25th
Oberammergau… in Bavaria September 25th

It’s been so fun catching up on these pictures. We had such a great time! More to come soon.

Mid-week Day off at Luissen Park

We had a random Wednesday off from school and decided to go with some friends to Luissen Park. It’s our third time to Luissen Park and each time we end up doing something different. This time we spent at least half of the time in an indoor playground, which is open just in the winter months. Climbing equipment, sand to play in and a giant chalkboard wall all the way around. I love that idea. Below, Ryan with his two buddies, Mark and Tate.