Happy Syttende Mai!

May 17th, for all of you who didn't know, is Norwegian Independence/Constitution Day!
And luckily my running buddy, Ingrid, happens to be half-Norwegian. Her nationality is so convenient because my husband also considers himself to be partially Norwegian (he spent a year of high school there), but I had no clue May 17th was such an important day!
So, as Ingrid and I were jogging along we devised a plan. I would collect a few odds and ends, she'd make a trip to the grocery store, and then we'd meet up to create a traditional Norwegian Independence Day extravaganza.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of our extreme cooking session (my hands were too covered in flour and potatoes to touch the camera), but the end results are shown below:
As we listened to traditional Norwegian Folk music, we enjoyed (from the top left, proceeding clockwise):

• Fruit salad (which we were actually too full to eat)
• Lefse (tortilla-like potato cakes made from SCRATCH)
• Scrambled eggs
  
• Brown bread
  
• Sausage (a poor, English subsitute for pølse)
• Emmantel cheese with fenelar (smoked/cured meat)
• Smoked salmon w/ cucumbers and dill.

Det var deilig!

Getting back to my Roots

To finish off our trip, we headed over to Germany to visit some of my Grandmother's cousins near Wurzburg. On the way, we made a few stops.

First we stopped in Fussen to see Neuchswanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles, homes to 'Crazy' King Ludwig of Bavaria. He was an eccentric king with a passion for building extravagant castles- a very expensive hobby. 14-million marks of debt later, the Bavarian Cabinet decided to depose Ludwig by having him declared completely insane via a fabricated medical report.
After being deposed, Ludwig was banished to a remote castle south of Munich. The next evening, he and his doctor were found dead, floating in the lake. Officially, his death was declared a suicide, but since Ludwig was known to be a strong swimmer and had never shown suicidal tendencies, the actual cause of death remains a mystery.
We didn't come up with any new theories, but we did enjoy the fruits of King Ludwig's elaborate imagination. Neuschwanstein Castle is really a fairy-tale castle, complete with a secret grotto, a fancy throne room, and romantic paintings covering the walls.

Next, we drove up to Gerolzhoven (with a sobering stop at Dachau Concentration Camp) to meet the relatives and begin 3 days of feasting.
Hanne-Laurie (Grandma's cousin), Waltraud (a 2nd cousin?) and Michael (Hanne-Laurie's son) were great hosts and tour-guides. We visited the birthplace of my Great-Grandma Katie as well as the church she used to have to go to 2 or 3 times per day (Grandma Emma told us Katie used to hate having to go so often). It felt like we were stepping back in time because the church hasn't changed in over 200 years.

The church is on the left, and her birthplace is on the far-right (no wonder she went so often)

We also saw the house and farm where my great-grandpa Adam was raised, and a winery/pig farm that's been in the family for hundreds of years. So, while Rob's ancestors were European royalty, mine were salt-of-the-earth farmers. I guess I married up in the world!
Hanne-Laurie and Waltraud managed to teach me a few German culinary secrets (like how to make delicious German potato salad) even though most of our communication was like an extended game of Charades. I invited Waltraud to visit me in Texas next year, but she said I have to learn German before she gets there...so I need to get cracking!
The last afternoon we were there, they organized a big family reunion for all of Grandma's cousins and their families. We got to know a few of our 3rd or 4th cousins who are part of the younger generation, and it was fun to see what my life could be like if my great-grandma had never left Germany.

Grandma Emma and her German cousins

At the end of the trip we said good-bye to the relatives and my family, and went down to the Rhine Valley for a few days before we had to head home to Cambridge.

We obviously enjoyed ourselves!

The Hills were Alive

We picked up Erik at the Vienna airport, and our party was complete! I'm pretty sure Rob was very glad for Erik's company so he didn't have to be the only man accompanying 6 bossy females.
Austria was a little rainy and wet, but the weather didn't stop us from enjoying lots of great food like authentic wiener schnitzel from Wien (Vienna), potato dumplings (kartoffelkloesse), and lots of delicious sauerkraut.
We took advantage of a little break in the rain to see the Schonbrunn Palace, the Hapsburg family summer home. It's a huge, sprawling complex with rooms full of ornate, intricate artwork and sculpture. Even the floors were beautifully decorated with really complicated inlaid wood designs. If anyone's planning a trip to Vienna, I would definitely recommend stopping here!
After a few days in Vienna, we drove to Salzburg and watched the Sound of Music to prepare for a day of movie-sightseeing.

We're really excited about doe, a deer, a female deer....

And ray, a drop of golden sun.

Salzburg is also where Mozart was born and raised. They have his old house set up as a museum, displaying his instruments, compositions, and family portraits. Although Mozart was recognized as a child prodigy, his dad was quite the taskmaster. He took Mozart and his sister on performance tours through Europe that lasted for multiple years. I'd say all that hard work paid off in the end though.
My 80-year old Grandma was such a trooper! We stayed in hostels for much of the trip (b/c some of us are on tight budgets), and Grandma didn't complain once....even when one of our 8-person rooms felt like we were sleeping in a submarine!