Germany--back to England---and home at last!

Saturday morning, Sept. 24 - After spending the night in what we not-so-affectionately call the "My Cousin Vinny Motel" near London's Stansted airport (if you've seen the commercial about customer service that Capital One is airing, you'll understand--transfer, transfer, transfer, transfer, this is Peggy), we boarded a Germanwings flight headed to Stuttgart, Germany in search of family ancestors.  Der Deutsch Bahn est wunderbar!  In no time we took two trains to Baden-Wurttemburg area and settled into our B&B in Baden-Baden, Rathausgloeckel, a 16th century guest house.  Didn't have to worry about setting an alarm clock--the church bells started ringing at 6:00 am every morning!  Quaint cobblestone, narrow streets, and a relaxing stroll along Lichentaller Allee along the Oosbach River.  Found Decker Art Gallerie but it was already closed for the day and was closed on Sunday as well, so we left our card in the door.  We found several Deckers in the local phonebook but decided to write letters (in German) when we got home rather than trying to call them--very few people spoke English in this part of Germany :))  Had a lovely dinner at the B&B.  Did you know that dogs are allowed in restaurants in Germany?  Dogs in restaurants, dogs on trains, baby strollers on bikes, shopping baskets on bikes, bikes everywhere, no fat people in Europe--everyone walks or bikes, no fast food.  Also no sheets--in Ireland, England, and Germany all the beds were made with fitted sheets and duvets--no top sheets or blankets.  Sunday morning we beat the crowds and visited the traditional Roman baths at Friedericksbad.  What an amazing experience--17 steps which were a combination of warm air rooms, hot air rooms, sauna, hot pools, jacuzzi pools, soap and brush massage, more pools and saunas, and finally the icy cold plunge into 65 degree water.  Yes, we did it!  Then the creme massage and 30 minutes wrapped up like a burrito in a warmed sheet and blanket in a quiet room.  The entire process took 3 1/2 hours.  Sweated off at least 2 pounds!  That afternoon we took the cable car up to the top of Mt. Merkur overlooking Baden-Baden and the Black Forest.  It's a popular spot for paragliders and it was a perfect, sunny day.  We saw lots and lots of people paragliding.

Monday morning - time to hop the train again to Karlsruhe to visit the genealogical archives.  Herr Louber was gracious enough to help us look through church records going back to the late 1700's and we found Ed's great-great and great-great-great grandfathers listed from Langenalb.  Herr Louber also phoned Herr Herbert Kling who has done extensive research on the families of the Langenalb area and actually published a book in August 2011.  Herr Kling agreed to meet with us at his home the next morning.  Took the train to the end of the line at Ittersbach and then hitched a ride to Langenalb.  No place to stay in Langenalb so we walked 3 km to Conweiler (Ed kept calling it corn muffin) and found the Rossle Gasthaus in Ottenhausen.  He picked us up from our guest house the next morning and took us to his home.   We bought a copy of his book and now have information to continue research back into the 1700's.  But it will mean another trip to Europe - to Bavaria!  That's where the Deckers originated from.  One of Ed's great-great grandmothers was from Bavaria and one was from a different town in Germany.  Herr Kling has also done research forward into the 1970's so we will be corresponding with him to find family members still living!  He was ecstatic to get the Decker family genealogy information from us about Ed's great grandfather, Karl Friederich Decker, who came to America in the 1850's and established the famous Decker pottery in Tennessee.  After looking through records, Herr Kling was gracious enough to drive us around Langenalb and showed us the school building where Ed's great and great-great grandfather went to school, the road with the sawmills where the Deckers worked, and the church they went to. 

Tuesday afternoon we took trains to Bacharach on the Rhein River and walked the 400 steps up to the Stahleck Castle which has been converted to a youth hostel.  They also allow old folks :))  It was SO cool.  We had a great view of the Rhein River and Bacharach from one of the terraces.  You had to be careful walking because all the courtyards and stairs to the rooms were original stones and very uneven.  

Wednesday we took a 1-hour cruise on the river to St. Goar and did the walking tour of Rheinfels Castle.  Saw the famous Lorely Rock along the river.  We wanted to spend another night at the castle hostel but they were fully booked for the second night so we found Ursula Ort's B&B on a tiny side street in Bacharach.  Had some heavenly Schwarzwald Torte (Black Forest Cake) at a local bakery and walked all the tiny streets of town.

Thursday, Sept. 29 - time to head back to the airport to return to London and the Rifle Club to pick up Ed's shooting gear which we stored there while touring Europe.  Got to see London at night when we took a taxi

from Liverpool Train Station to Waterloo Train Station to catch the train to Surrey County where the Rifle Club is.  So beautiful!  And so scary--that taxi ride was scarier than any amusement park ride I've ever been on!  Got in trouble for sitting in the First Class car instead of the Ordinary People cars :)) 

Friday, Sept. 30 - repacked our bags and walked around Bisley some more.  Got a taxi to a Best Western at Gatwick Airport.  I think jetlag finally caught up with us.  Ed poured his potato crisps (chips) into a coffee cup and tried to drink them :)) 

Saturday, Oct. 1 - the flight home!  it sure felt good to touch down in Atlanta (especially after all the turbulence the last 30 minutes of the flight).  My cousin Angie was there to pick us up.  Thank you Angie! 

It was an amazing experience to see how another part of the world lives.  The lack of commercialism was in stark contrast to the excessive commercialism in America.  Very few cars--people walk, bike, or use public transportation.  They recycle everything!  Shops open at 9:00 or 9:30 and close at 5:00 or 5:30, no if's, and's, or but's.   I've posted some more pictures on the blog.  Go to http://miss-arleen.blogspot.com/

Ed and Arleen

At Shannon Airport

finally...a little time to unwind while waiting for our flight.  miraculously we returned the rental car with nary a scratch.  never hit a curb.  i think my posture may be permanently rearranged to lean to the right--it was hard getting used to being a passenger on the left while driving on the left side of the road.  Ed did great on the driving.  he's glad it's over with though.  Ennis was such a charming little town.  check out one of the pics in the picasa web album showing a Mack truck driving down one of the streets!  we stayed at the temple gate hotel--a renovated convent.  well, time's about to run out on this computer.  love, arleen and ed

Finally - an update!

The advice we got about there being internet cafes everywhere in Europe weren't exactly true!  On our last post the shooting competition was about to begin.  Ed did very well at 300, 500, and 600 yards individual competition and medaled 4th and 5th out of 72 competitors from 11 countries at 300 and 500 yards.  He got the short end of the straw and had to shoot Tuesday afternoon in driving rain and gale force winds so he was quite proud of his scores.  Wednesday was 600 yards individual and then mid-range team practice in the afternoon.  The captain added Ed to the mid-range team.  The weather settled down a bit and there was  no rain on Wednesday.  Thursday was mid-range team competition.  Unfortunately, the US team didn't place in the top 3, we came in 4th but there was only a few points separating us from the top.  It was a very tough competition.  We ate most of our meals at the North London Rifle Club--Toad in a Hole, Fish & Chips, Lasagna, Shepherd's Pie.  Friday was long range individual competition and Saturday long range team competition.  Our team won silver at 900 yards.  Two of the team members had rifle problems at 1,000 yards and the coaching scheme was disrupted so we didn't do as well as we had hoped.
The Awards Banquet on Saturday night was a lot of fun and we made many new friends during the week from the other countries.  We've been invited to stay with one of the South African team members in 2013 when the match is held there!  One of the English team members, Mike Alexandre and his wife, are going to visit us in November when they are in the States.

Sunday morning was time to pack up our things and figure out how to carry enough clothes and necessaries for two weeks of touring in Ireland and Germany into our daypacks on our backs.  We caught a ride into Brookwood with one of the Australian shooters and caught the train to Waterloo station.  Then we did a walking tour of London and ended up at Liverpool Station to catch the express train to Stansted Airport.  I got chill bumps when we turned the corner and saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.  Just as we approached Westminster Abbey the bells started ringing and we thought we were going to see a wedding party come out.  Turns out it was Veterans Memorial Day and they were ringing the bells to honor veterans.  Then some Spitfire planes did a flyover!  We walked along Victoria Embankment on the Thames.  Arleen tripped and bummed up her knee and elbow but no serious damage was done.  We walked along Fleet St. and saw the Royal Courts of Justice, St. Paul's Cathedral, Lloyd's of London, ate lunch at Ye Old Cock Tavern.  Monday morning it was off to Ireland! 

We landed in Shannon Airport on a, guess what? rainy day, of course.  picked up a rental car and drove to Roscommon.  Imagine Ed driving on the wrong side of the road, sitting on the wrong side of the car, and using a stick shift on the left-hand side.  it's a miracle we're both still alive to send this message hahahahaha!  We came to dread the roundabout signs, and they're everywhere!  The best strategy is to gun it and let everyone else get out of your way!  i feel right at home--there are tons of freckle-faced redheads here :)))))

We stayed Monday night at a 12th century abbey turned into a hotel in Roscommon.  Visited the Sacred Heart Church and pored through records dating back to the 1830's looking for Hanly's, Arleen's great-great grandfather's name.  We learned that there were over 50 Patrick Hanly's in Roscommon during the 1830's and 1840's so it's going to take some more research to narrow down the right one.  I did copy a bunch of names and addresses from the local phone book and will write letters when we get home.  Same story with my great-great grandmother, Catherine Fitzgerald.  There are tons of Fitzgeralds in the Limerick area.

Visited the Strokestown Park House and Famine Museum on Tuesday morning.  Such a sad time in Ireland's history.  It's no wonder that Irish Americans have difficulty tracing family heritage. So many people shipped off at a moment's notice onto so many different boats going who knows where.  A delightful drive through the countryside to Westport on the west coast.  we happened upon Clooneen's B&B and heard local music at Mike Molloy's Yard Bar (mike's a member of the Chieftains).  a local man regaled us with songs, stories, and a joke or two.  The wind came up during the night and we awoke at 2:00 am to our wood shutters slamming against the house.  sounded like a truck hit the house.  drove along the coast road Wed morning and visited the Grace O'Malley Museum in Louisburgh.  She was a famous pirate queen in Ireland.  we worked our way through Connemara National Park and visited the Sheep and Wool Centre.  The Sky Road was spectacular! 

we navigated our way to Galway and Berna Kelly's lovely Devondell B&B in Lower Salt Hill.  We tried to find some local music that Berna recommended but driving at night we got lost and decided to head back home.  Thursday was The Burren, what an eerie landscape, and the Cliffs of Moher.  Settled into Ennis late Thursday afternoon after winding our way through a maze of medieval streets (see pics) and had dinner at Brogan's Pub and later had a pint and listened to more local music.  Today we're headed out to Shannon airport to fly to Germany.  Will check back in once we get to Baden-Baden.    check the picasa web album link in the previous post for more pics.  I couldn't load all the pics because this internet cafe computer will only let me load one picture at a time \(a money-making scheme I'm sure).

love,
ed and arleen

Finally - Pictures!

Hey Everybody,
Here's some pictures in a Picasa web album.  Just click on this link
https://picasaweb.google.com/onceuponatimetwo/Europe2011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPPzjLeB6OWSKw&feat=directlink

Sorry I've been absent for a bit.  The WiFi at the club quit working a few days ago.  I guess you've heard the news by now--Hurricane Katia arrived over the weekend.  Can you believe that?  They say they've only had 3 hurricanes in the past 40 years here.  The guys practiced on Saturday in between rain showers.  The winds were switching and swirling so it was interesting.  It gave everyone a chance to get rid of the jitters and settle into shooting.  Sunday we visited the Wisley Royal Horticultural Gardens--beautiful.  Experienced our first "roundabout."  It's kinda like those 60 mph crazy turns on a roller coaster!  The Grand Opening Ceremony for the match was held Sunday evening.  There are competitors from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, England, and the good ole USA.  Monday was the official practice day at 300, 500, and 600 yards.  This time the winds weren't switchy--they were constant 25-35 mph!  No rain--hurrah! For those familiar with shooting lingo, anywhere from 12 - 20 minutes of left windage were needed.  Today is the start of competition.  Individual Competition at 300, 500, and 600.  I'll try to upload some pictures later.  Gotta go and keep statistics for our guys.

Arleen

A Bacon Butty

Our first English breakfast:  bacon is Canadian Bacon and a butty is a sandwich.  Chips are fried potatoes.  Tomato sauce is ketchup.  Biscuits are cookies/sweets.  Didn't make it into London today--still a bit jetlagged so we decided to walk around the shooting range and visit the NRA Museum.  We saw the actual target that Queen Victoria shot in 1860 at the grand opening of the new Bisley range (called the new Wimbledon back then).  She scored an "X" which is very impressive, but then we saw the next exhibit which was a bench with a vise grip.  They lined the rifle up and shot some practice shots to  make sure it would hit the "X" ring and then let the Queen take the shot at the ceremony.  Kinda like what the guys do today for newby muzzleloaders--they always seem to hit the "X" ring, and then they're hooked on the sport!  We ate supper last night at The White Hart in Brookwood.  The restaurant was built in 1650 and was so charming.  Tonight it's the Target Hut at Bisley?  Should be interesting.  More later.

Arleen and Ed

Day One/Two

We're here!  After two years of anticipation and planning, and after many hours of deliberation and studying TSA guidelines about what you can and cannot pack in your carry on bags, and check-in bags, weighing and reweighing suitcases to make sure they're under the 50-lb limit--the check-in process and security check at the Hotlanta airport for transporting a firearm on a plane was a breeze!  We arrived safely at Gatwick airport in London this morning and George Arnold, Match Director, was kind enough to pick us up and transport us to the National Shooting Centre/Camp Bisley in Woking, Surrey.  If I had any ideas of hiring a car in England, those ideas are DEFINITELY a thing of the past.  We'll stick to trains and buses!  We're settled into our room at the North London Rifle Club.  Tomorrow we'll venture into London to do some sightseeing.  We've already made our first ATM transaction to get British pounds and did our first grocery shopping at the local store.  I could spend a month just in the cheese section!  And there's an entire aisle for tea :))  Everyone is so friendly.  No pictures yet.  We mistakenly packed our camera in the check-in bag on the plane but we'll get busy taking pictures and have some to post tomorrow.

Our son Bryan advised us NOT to sleep when we got here.  To try and stay up all day and get on our normal routine, even though we were basically awake all night on the overnight flight.    I must confess I didn't quite make it.  I snuck in a 1 hr nap this afternoon :))  But Ed's still going strong!

For those of you who asked for more details about why we're here--Ed is on the US Long Range Muzzleloading Team and is competing in the World Championships at 300, 500, 600, 900, and 1,000 yards.  He is SO excited!  We've been looking forward to this for two years.  After the competition, we're going to spend a week in Ireland and a week in Germany to research family ancestors and do some touring.  We'll be in West Ireland (Galway, Connemara, Roscommon, Ennis) and in the Black Forest of Germany (Baden-Baden,  Freiburg, Karlsruhe for ancestry research, Rhine River cruise and staying in a castle).
Any suggestions for places to eat and listen to good music are welcome!

Oh!  It's time for tea.  They take that very seriously here in England.

Keep your powder dry.

Ed and Arleen