Month: May 2015

Surprise at Lake Chiemsee

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Finally, my birthday trip came to a close, but it sure went out with a bang! As you read in my last post, we cut our time in Salzburg short and started our way home with an overnight at Lake Chiemsee. As we pulled off the autobahn I saw a sign pointing towards a castle. Immediately I decided I needed to convince Fil that I needed one more thrill for my birthday trip ;). That wasn’t too hard to do and after checking into our hotel we were back on the road headed to the castle.

Hands down, best part of the whole week.  Continue reading →

The Sound of Salzburg

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For two weeks I totally nerded out about going to Salzburg, Austria to tour all things Sound of Music, and after a fantastic day in Bavaria we were on our way! First thing before we got to the border was to buy a “Vignette” at a gas station and stick it on the windshield. A vignette is essentially a toll pass. Instead of stopping to pay tolls on the highway, vehicles not registered to Austria can buy a 10 day vignette. It was only 8 euro which is much better than the ticket you could get for not having one.  Continue reading →

Returning home to Dreisen

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Sorry for the premature posting last week, here is the true post:

With much thanks to my cousin Darren and other distant relatives who shared their findings online I have been able to trace my fathers bloodline to Dreisen Germany, which amazingly enough is within an hours drive from where we are living! From the records I have seen so far, my family has a strong connection to Dreisen and the neighboring villages of Standenbüh, Göllheim, and Marnheim. My 4th Great Grandfather, Martin was born in Standenbühl on February 9, 1783 and spent his life in Dreisen with his wife Maria Katharena. They had three children. The first two, John Martin (1818) and John Jacob (1833) were born in Baden-Baden Württemberg and the family returned to Dreisen before the birth of Katharina Margaretha (1839). The boys immigrated to New Jersey in 1852/53 and Katharine married and stayed in Dreisen.  Continue reading →