Nordseeurlaub Woche 2 - vacation at the North Sea week 2

The second week at the North Sea we were joined by Andy's parents for some quality time together. Joshua especially enjoyed the extra attention! Andy and Emily also felt spoiled, as Oma and Opa gave us a few chances to go on "dates"!
In der zweiten Woche unseres Nordseeurlaubs kamen Andy's Eltern auch nach Berumerfehn in unsere Ferienwohnung; das war eine tolle Zeit fuer alle. Auch Joshua hat es genossen, von noch mehr Leuten verwoehnt zu werden.




Here are a few impressions of our day in Greetsiel, a fishing town right on the coast. Greetsiel is famous for its windmills, and we even got to visit one that is still in operation. The area reminded us so much of the Netherlands, and indeed, we weren't far at all from that neighboring country.
Hier ein paar Eindruecke von unserem Ausflug nach Greetsiel, einem kleinen schnuckeligen Fischerdorf an der Kueste; sehr bekannt fuer seine Windmuehlen, die immer noch funktionieren, wie die Bilder zeigen.


The harbor of Greetsiel, with fishing boats, as well as Dutch-style houses (see the roofs), cute tea shops and fish restaurants.
Der Hafen mit den Fischkuttern, es gibt exzellenten frischen Fisch in den Restaurants...


Speaking of tea, the day would not have been complete without a stop at a tea house for a cup of the region's black tea. In Greetsiel we found a tea house decorated like an East Frisian home a hundred years ago. In low German, it was called "Teetied", which means "tea time". They had the most delicious rhubarb cake we had ever tasted, and Emily fell in love with the traditional china pattern of the region, on which we were served.
Natuerlich kann man in Ostfriesland keinen Tag verbringen, ohne eine gute Tasse schwarzen Tee. In Greetsiel hiess unser Ziel daher "Teetied", eine gemuetliche Teestube aus alten Zeiten mit super Rhabarberkuchen! Emily hat sich in das Teegeschirr verliebt.

And to close, below you see yet another tea house in the region. Since the weather wasn't the greatest a couple of days, drinking tea seemed like the best thing to do!
Hier als Abschluss noch ein Foto aus dem "Teehus" in Dornumersiel, in dem wir neben den alten Butzenbetten mal wieder leckeren Tee getrunken haben. Bei wechselhaften Wetter draussen war es genau das richtige.

North Sea: The Weekend

Our week continued with more interesting sleep adventures on Joshua's part . . .

On Friday we took it easy. It rained all day, but cleared in the late afternoon. We took a walk at the Ewiges Meer, a nature reserve and Germany's largest moorland lake.

Saturday we visited another port town, Neuharlingersiel. The weather had gotten too cool and windy for the beach, but we enjoyed the almost Dutch flair of this small harbor.

On this house was a plaque with "We put all our trust in God's blessing", a demonstration of faith in God's provision for the harvest, on land and at sea.

That afternoon, we enjoyed authentic East Fresian tea time back in Dornumersiel at the Sielhuus, a historical house in the region. We learned that the East Frisians drink the most tea in the world after England and Scotland!

Joshua helps his mommy write postcards!

Sunday we continued the tea theme by visiting the Tea Museum in Norden.

In the historical tea kitchen, a volunteer explained the ceremony of tea drinking in Ostfriesland.

The East Frisians start with a large sugar crystal in the bottom of the teacup, then pour their strong Asam blend over it, enjoying the crackling sound of the sugar, and top it off with a cloud of cream. They DO NOT stir, but have a three-tiered experience for their tastebuds.
(Do I sound like a connoisseur?)

On the way home Sunday evening, we passed by Norden's town hall, where a man celebrating his birthday was being "roasted" by his friends. Yes, that's a man, dressed up as a woman, and using an impossible, floppy broom to clean up hundreds of bottle caps from the town hall steps. And the kids kept putting the mess back on the steps to add to his work!

August 7th -- Day trip to the Island Langeoog

Setting sail -- Andy, Emily, Joshua, with the buggy in tow, got on the boat early Thursday morning for a small cruise and a day visit to Langeoog, one of the seven East Frisian islands.

Along the way we passed seals sunning themselves at sandbanks the low tide had exposed.

There were some pictoresque, old-fashioned fishing boats as we approached Langeoog harbor.

While still on the boat, the captain's assistant did show-fishing for us, and then presented the various crabs, fish, clams, worms, etc. that he had drawn from the ocean. Emily got to hold this friendly crab, and provided him with a walking surface by continually changing hands.

One we arrived at Langeoog Harbor (see our boat at the end of the dock -- the "Freia"), we had a walk ahead of us. As the island's name would suggest, Langeoog is very long and skinny. All along the way, we passed sea grasses, lush rose hip bushes in flower and quaint island holiday bungalows. Cars are not allowed on the island, so we were joined only by bikers (residents and vacationers heading to town for bread or the morning paper) and other pedestrians.

Then we reached the town, with its tea shops, cafes, bookstores, groceries, and various specialty shops. After a quick Tchibo coffee (yes, they even have Tchibo on Langeoog!) to take off the edge of the early start, we continued on to the "Wasserturm" (water tower) and then across the dunes and onto the beach.



The "green dunes" between town and beach.

"We made it! What's the view like out of my stroller? I'm getting sleepy . . ."


Once arrived, Andy got busy setting up our "beach tent", the latest family beach gear over here: since the average temperature at the North sea is 20 degrees Celcius in August (low seventies F), it protects from cool wind if the sun goes under a cloud, but also provides cover from the sun for small children. It was by now Joshua's naptime, so he signed off for two hours!

Nice work, Andy! Unfortunately, after all that effort, we only got to swim and relax for about an hour before a thunderstorm came up. Everybody cleared the beach at Olympic speed and ran for cover. We found it in the Catholic church with dozens of others!

Storm? What storm? I slept through it all!
Thankfully, the storm blew over, and we had more time to walk around and enjoy the island flair.

We caught the late afternoon "Inselbahn" back to the harbor to catch our boat back to the mainland.

Goodbye, Langeoog, we'll be back!

Our North Sea Vacation and Visits to Family, August 2-17

Yahoo! We finally made it through the crazy month of July and were ready and raring for our two weeks in the north! We split up the drive to the North Sea (all the way at the other end of Germany) into two days, stopping Saturday, Aug. 2nd, in Bielefeld (6 hours north of Munich) for visits to Andy's Oma Krause and his mom's first cousin, Lothar and (wife) Heidrun Gross. It was great to get caught up and introduce everybody to our quickly growing Joshua!

Sunday afternoon, after brunch and a walk with Oma, we continued northward, passing through Oldenburg for a short visit to Daniel, Andy's brother. He was threre for about two weeks as an organizer for "Teen Street", Europe's largest Christian camp for teens taking place at a huge convention center there. Daniel works for Operation Mobilisation, the organizer of this event.

Then it was "Vacation, here we come!" Sunday evening we arrived at our destination in East Friesland near the North Sea coast. We rented a vacation appartment out in the country 15km from Norden and about 30 minutes from the ocean. My first thougths were, "Boy, it's flat here!" Indeed, the scenery was very different from the rolling, Bavarian hills and farmland surrounding Munich. There were lots of windmills new and old, and wide, green fields of Holstein cows, juxtaposed with sea grasses, red brick houses, and then, getting closer to the coast, dikes, harbors, and vast sea! Here are some impressions of our first week:

Dutch-style houses in the town of Norden.

The beach at Norddeich -- ahh, the open sea!

A walk on the dike at Dornumersiel. What wonderful shades of green!

Baby Joshua stops for a break.

The harbor at Dornumersiel, where we had the freshest, most delicious fish of our lives at Fish Rinjes (in the background) - straight off the boat!

Joshua's nocturnal adventures -- amazing what a charmer he can be in the middle of the night! In the past few weeks, Joshua has begun spinning about and moving to the opposite end of the bed. How, we're not sure! When he got stuck one night and woke us up to let us know, we grabbed the camera, and he turned on the charm!

The church at Dornum displays typical East Frisian style.

The inside of the church almost evokes the feeling of a ship.

Setting off on our day-trip to the island, Langeoog. To be continued . . .