Our new favorite treat

 

It's a Lippischer Pickert!

This hearty German pancake was considered a "poor man's food" but is now a favorite for a lot of people. We saw a sign at a bakery recently advertising pickert two days a week so we went to try them last week. We are delighted! (These are big enough to share :)

We finally met "Hermann the German"

 On Saturday a few weeks ago when the weather was sunny but cold and windy, we decided it was time to go meet "Hermann".

We have heard about and read about this famous warrior who defeated the Romans by uniting the Germanic tribes for the very first time. The monument inspired by him is here in Detmold and apparently we should be prepared for many folks who will come and visit him during the summer months. He is not far from our apartment and we see him up on the hill everyday.

We found our way up the hill/mountain driving through the bare Teutoburg Forest and found the parking lot quite empty probably due to the cold. Ed stayed in the car while I braved the cold and wind to get as close as I could just for my first experience with the big guy knowing we would come again and go through the museum and get up close and personal with him later on.

The view from the mountain to the little town where we live and work was a little foggy but still charming. 

I had to scoot around some barriers to get this photo, but it is an impressive monument and holds a great deal of significance to the German people. 

Hermann ("Arminius" in German) was a chieftain of the Cherusci people and an auxilliary cavalry commander, who turned against his Roman allies and led an alliance of Germanic tribes against three legions. The legions were destroyed in 9AD and it seems to be a vital turning point in Middle-European history by stopping the Roman advance. 

(There is much more to the story of the building of this monument, but no time to share it here.)

The building of this statue was begun in 1838 and was not completed until 1875. (Statue is about 175 feet tall)

This photo is from the Hermannsdenkmal website. 

In 1897 another monument was built to unite the thousands of German immigrants who had come to the United States in the 1840's but were being subjected to anti-immigration resentment. A man by the name of Julius Berndt spearheaded the construction of this smaller version of Arminius/Hermann in New Ulm, Minnesota. (This statue is about 102 feet tall.) 

This monument is a little different than the one in Detmold, but is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been recognized by Congress as a national symbol of the contributions of Americans with German Heritage. 

This photo is from the New Ulm, Minn. website.

I have never spent much time in Minnesota, but it looks like this may be a place to visit!

Spring is here!

 Springtime so far is still a little chilly, but sunny and beautiful. We will possibly be getting some rain this week but it is needed. Now that winter has ended, so many people are out and about walking, biking, and pushing their babies. We love seeing the many older couples out walking together and everyone is holding hands! 

I really enjoy seeing the little children learning how to use those little bikes that don't have pedals. They are called balance bikes or learner bikes or other names. Family members are really engaged in helping them learn how to bike very early on. It is so fun. 

This was a quick shot I took as the mom and small biker passed us by. Not a great shot but maybe you can see the balance bike with no pedals. It is very helpful to teach children to learn how to balance on two wheels. I have seen many just in the last week. 

Today while driving to church I realized that it has only been about four days of warm weather and there are beautiful colors already bursting about. I couldn't stop to take photos but when I arrived at our building I was happy to see some color there. 

Not long before the warmer weather will welcome these beauties. 

I also have a precious photo of a new lamb. I went walking not long ago on a Saturday and was surprised to see an addition to what I call "my sheep". We drive by every day and I say :"Hello Sheep!" (Ed just rolls his eyes) so I sort of feel part of their family, but I didn't know to expect this! How wonderful! Way to go mom!

Then there are the waterfowl along the pedestrian pathway around the castle.

I think these two are courting...but I am not very educated about ducks.

However, I can tell these two pigeons are fond of each other! I walked by them on the sidewalk one day and they didn't even move. I stood there and watched them go through this little dance and then the beak thing for a few minutes but they were not distracted by me at all!

It is so exciting for us to see what spring is like in this part of the world. When we arrived in October the fall colors were a real treat. Winter was beautiful and not so cold we couldn't bundle up and get were we needed to go. Now we look forward to adding one more season to our experience here in Detmold, Germany. 

We are so happy to be here!