Karl Heid will turn 80 in a couple of months but he’s still busy making wicker baskets the “old-fashioned” way in the village where he was born along the Rhein River. His hometown of Neupotz has a history dating back to pre-Roman times. Surrounded by the serpentine “Old Rhein,” the village has maintained an uneasy […]
Category Archives: Germany Tours
Germany Tours
Falkenstein on Donnersberg
Every family historian should have a castle or two in their genealogy. Virginia (Gini) Packwood now has one, and it’s the former “Reichenburg” fortress located in the hamlet of Falkenstein, located in a high valley on the Donnersberg, Rheinland-Pfalz. We drove there on the 27th on a narrow road which was being worked on and […]
Weitersweiler Secrets Revealed, Why Bury Our Dead In Dreisen?
Gini and Bill Packwood had a question for the mayor of Standenbuehl when we sat down with him in his dining room one sunny day recently. It’s sort of an odd question, but it would make perfect sense to a family historian. “Mr. Mayor. Our ancestors lived in Standenbuehl. They went to church in Weitersweiler, […]
Genealogy Success in Standenbuehl and Roland Geiger Does it Again
Thanks to genealogy research Roland Geiger, who is headquartered in the lovely town of St. Wendel, Saarland, Bill and Gini Packwood were able to break through one of their “Brick Walls” in genealogy and find the origin of their emigrant ancestor, Johann Merkel, of Standenbuehl and later, Stetten in Donnersbergkreis near Kirchheimbolanden, Germany. We also […]
European Focus Home Away from Home
Our home base in Europe is the medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Have a live look here: http://www.rothenburg.de/index.php?get=121 at the web cam view of the ancient marketplace.
Dr. Jose Rizal Statue in Wilhelmsfeld, Germany
Not many people from the Philippines realize that there is a statue and park dedicated to their national hero, Jose Rizal, located in an out of the way village buried deep in the Odenwald Forest about 25 kilometers from Heidelberg. I brought my current clients there and we enjoyed seeing the statue, erected in 1978, […]
Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany
Walt Disney used Neuschwanstein Castle as inspiration for Sleeping Beauty Castle. A stunning late fall day at Neuschwanstein Castle, near Schwangau, Germany. The temperature was right at 1 Celsius, but the sun and the total lack of any wind made it bearable. The visibility was unlimited, with villages and lakes stretching off to the horizon […]
Potsdamer Platz in Berlin
Left a barren wasteland after WWII, Potsdamer Platz is once again the vibrant unofficial heart of Berlin. Tall skyscrapers built with cutting edge designs and sponsored in part by Sony Corporation, the area is full of light and color and activity until late in the evening. A huge train and underground station takes up acres […]