Peruch Family in Germany Part One

We have been so busy. Sorry for not posting sooner. There was a whole drama of getting the computer to work here in Germany. So we only had the IPad for a while and blah blah blah….the outlet converter did not work properly and we blew the power out in the hotel three times. Then we realized that the battery charger for the computer got fried and we had to order a new one. Anyway here is a brief history on what we have been up to while in Germany.
The plane ride there was an interesting experience. We flew some Russian Airline to Moscow and then to Hannover Germany. Once in Hannover we picked of the rental car. They did not have a GPS that we could use, we had to pick the GPS from the rental office in Celle. So the people at the rental agency explained how to get to our hotel in Celle on a map that was printed off the internet in black and white. It should have only take us 20 minutes to get from Hannover airport to Celle but it took us just over an hour. After many wrong turns and a few prayers we made it there. We were all tired and cranky but for the most part the kids did great and it was not a horrible experience at all. As Grandma Peruch would say, “Thank you God”. I was not looking forward to the long day of transportation with two little ones.

We arrived in Celle and got settled into the hotel where we are currently staying. It’s a nice hotel suite with a kitchen and two bedrooms. Cosette soon made her room home by unloading all her fisher price little people Disney Princesses. She has them all lined up over her bed. I will have to get a picture of that to post soon. So after we got a little settled the person in charge of showing us around Celle and helping us with all the paperwork involved with moving and such came over to meet our family. The next few days after that were spent traveling Celle to figure out where to get groceries and stopping at government buildings to fill out paperwork. We were also shown the housing options that we could choose from. We saw three places. The first was a town house that was BEAUTIFUL in every way. We loved it. It had everything we could ask for and such charm. Then we saw two places in town. They were alright but nothing compared to the farmhouse we saw first. So we picked the farmhouse. Then they notified Nathan that we were getting one of the apartments we saw downtown instead. Bummer. We are still wondering why they bothered to ask us what we wanted if they were going to choose for us. Oh well, life goes on. So here is the story. We are in this hotel until March because the apartment we are moving into is still occupied. It’s strange living in a hotel but it also has some perks (they clean). One of the biggest things that is annoying about all of this is that we have to do our laundry in the tub and hang dry it. The laundry service at the hotel is outrageously expensive. No joke, it costs us 4 euros to get one of Cosette’s sweaters washed. No thanks. So we do it the hard yet cheap way and well, you’ll see pictures of that soon.

Let’s see, we have been traveling every weekend and try to see something new and exciting or old and historic. We are learning a lot and I am so glad that Nathan is the one driving because it looks overwhelming. Germany has so many road signs and we don’t know what most of them mean. I will post more as you view the pictures we included. I know this is a really long post but this is the first chance I had to do so. Enjoy the pictures!

 When we arrived we went for a walk around Celle. These first few are from our first week there. It was snowy and cold. The above picture is of Celle Palace.

 Overlooking the moat around the Palace. (Winter View)

 A view of one of the churches in Celle from the Palace.

 We took a tour of Celle Palace and here are some of the pictures we took. Above: Mom and the kinder in an old fireplace.

 Random chest molds on the tour. Check out those historic abs.

 There was beautiful woodwork all around the Palace. Nathan and I really loved this old wardrobe. The detail was amazing and the pictures don't do it justice.

 Sorry for the nude picture but there is a story behind this little guy. There was amazing artwork everywhere in the Palace and as soon as Cosette saw this little guy she pointed to him and said "Mommy, little boy no clothes on! He need diaper!" "He need pants! Where his pants Mommy!" As a two year old she was really concerned that he was not wearing clothes and a diaper. I'm glad she is aware of modesty and knows that it's a NO NO to urinate in public...at least without a diaper.

 Cosette all dressed up in her royal robes and crown.

 Tyrus is rolling all over the house how. He is pictured here in the hotel room just rolling! Started off on the blanket and now he's in the kitchen. There is no stopping this guy.

 This was Cosette's "Office" when we were in the hotel. She went to work during the day reading her books and writing papers.

 Cosette is showing off our old school way of doing our laundry. It costs a little over 3 euros per shirt to get cleaned through the hotel so we did the washing ourselves.

 And the drying too! It was not fun but it was a humbling experience and we are glad that he have clothes to wear and a place to wash them.

 Downtown Celle. Check out those half timbered homes! Beautiful!

 Sleeping Tyrus. He often falls asleep on our walks into town each day.

 Another picture of Celle.

Cosette enjoying Celle! 

 Above is a picture of the first place we went to visit since the move to Germany. Wolfenbuttel was a beautiful little town. We visited the Castle and took a tour while we were there.

 Cosette called this a Hobbit door. Just her size too.

 This is a view of the Castle courtyard.

 Another courtyard picture.

 Tower of the Castle.

 This is Wolfenbuttel library known as Herzog-August-Bibliothek. It holds the most valuable book in the world. (Heinrich Der Lowe's Gospel book.

 To enter the library you must first get past these ferocious beasts.

 Another picture of the Castle.

 Take a close look at this picture. This guy had the longest dreadlocks we have ever seen.

 This is a picture of a church in Wolfenbuttel. Hauptkirche, it was built in 1608.

 This is a picture of some of the housetops in Wolfenbuttel.

 The town square with this statue.

 There they are! Tyrus in the stroller and Coco in the backpack. All bundled up and ready to explore.

 More housetops! The sky was beautiful that day!

 Cosette celebrated German Karneval with her church friends. She was a fairy princess and ate candy any chance she could get.

Ok so she also played some games too.

These next few are from our second week in Germany. This is Hildesheim. The church in this picture is Kreuzkirch. 

 This is Andreaskirche. Another church in Hildesheim. It was beautiful with a tower over 377 ft high.

 This is a view of the carved door on the church.

 Hildesheim also has the Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum, an Egyptian Museum, known for being one of the best in all of Europe. It was filled with amazing artifacts. Here are pictures of some of our favorites.

 A little family of Egyptians.

 A visual of the tombs layers.

 These two little guys make me (Rachael) laugh. Even the ancient Egyptians knew that a little jig was essential to human happiness every once in a while. So just dance!

 The museum had a whole crocodile there. It was mummified and about 10 ft long. Sorry I got a bad angle.

 This one will put a smile on your face. These little carved people are showing the proper technique to slitting a cow's throat. "watch close kids, you will have this responsibility one day!"

 So buff. Maybe I should get one of these of Nate. LOL

 The museum also had some animal exhibit. Here is Cosette showing the scale of this beast.

 Lookin good!

 Not so sure what kind of bird this was but Cosette did not seem to care. They became quick friends.

 Inside this is a 35 year old woman. This was how the Inca's buried some of their dead. Crazy that she fit in there.

 In Hildesheim we went to several churches. This is Michaeliskirche. It was built in 1058 and destroyed in the war, after which was rebuilt. Inside the church was a ceiling mural that was taken down and preserved during war time and then put back in after the church was built up again. I will post pictures of that when we get them from a friend. Sorry!

 Amazing towers!

 This was from the first church I posted about in Hildesheim.

 This is Godehardkirche. Built in 1133.

 Notice the white rose on the walkway! The roses around one of the churches are said to be over 1000 years old. It was winter so we don't have pictures of the actual plants.

 Cosette got really cold.

 These are the Sister missionaries from our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). They are amazing and we are so glad that we are members of this church because it made making friends much easier. We feel very welcome here in Celle. It's also nice to have other English speaking people to talk to!

 The next few are from our trip to Wolfsburg. We went to the Volkswagen museum and factory. The glowing globes showed different facts and stats on the whole world.

 Ty had fun just chilling in the BOB stroller watching Coco play.

 Cosette got her drivers license that day. She is now a certified plastic VW car driver. Watch out!

 Here is a life-size clay model of a car.

They had a small modeling example there as well. It was neat to see it carve out the car.

Cosette enjoying a snack while we walked around.

The whole gang. Our friend Nakita is our traveling buddy. She also works for Baker Hughes and we enjoy getting to know her and have become friends.

The museum had cars from all periods of time. This is the first car with four wheels.

The picture above is a model of the first car (it had three wheels). It had no breaks! Talk about scary!

I don't think so Nathan!

This is a Silver platted Bugatti. It was displayed in its own building.

There was another building where kids were allowed to get in the cars and play. Cosette loved "driving".

Now this is more like it! She did not want to get off this little car. She loved it.

The little glowing ball in Cosette's hands was from the Audi building. You put the ball into a special spot on the wall and it would explain about the various cars. Cosette probably dropped ours about 5 times but she had lots of fun with it.

Nathan and I outside in front of the car parking deck. The cars are all stored in the parking deck and when a customer is ready to pick up their new car the machine retrieves it from the parking deck and brings it out to the customer to drive off the "lot" with zero miles, because all the moving was electronic and no miles spent actually driving it anywhere.

An inside view of the parking deck

We were so tired by the end of the day. And you are probably tired of pictures so hang in there. Here we go.

Cosette liked this set of squares on the ground. When you jump on them they make notes and thus MUSIC when you jump over and over again.

This is the Porsche building and the quote above was from the founder of Porsche.

That's Right Rachael drives!

We picked up some little models for the kinder. Cosette picked out a yellow VW "bus" and Tyrus, with some help from Daddy, picked out a little black Bug.

The next set of pictures are from the Burgen-Belsen concentration camp. It's only a short drive from Celle and was an experience that we will forever remember.

The mass graves are marked only by a date and a number. Individuals are not listed.

People put rocks in various places throughout the grounds as a way of remembering and honoring those who suffered there.

Although her actual body lies in one of the mass graves there is an individual stone for Ann Frank. Cosette found a small pebble and put it on her grave site to show that she remembers her. There were gravestones in memory of other individuals too.

We hope that our children will remember the suffering of others and strive to be people of humility and kindness. I know they might not remember being there years from now, but we hope that they can learn from their stories of bravery and be changed for the good. 

Rachael has been practicing her camera skills on the children during the day. They are great little models. It's fun to see their personalities come out in the pictures.

We also went for a drive on the Weser Renaissance Route. The first stop was in Hamlin Germany where the Pied Piper was from. It was in interesting experience to walk the town and see how the children's tale was actually based on a real event. over 130 children in the town went missing.

Check out the size of that rat at the feet of the old woman.

And here he is the Pied Piper himself.

And here we are all together. Check out Nathan's pants. Yep, those are sweat pants. He sent his pants in to get washed at the hotel and they had a problem with the washer and said that we would not get them until Monday. So all he had left were sweatpants to wear. He took it like a champ and went Rocky Style through Hamlin!

Tyrus all bundled up.

There was a beautiful church in Hamlin.

It had bells that rang!

Looking good Nate!

Nakita and Rachael just dancing with some townspeople.

The castle Hamelschenburg was also along the Weser trail. It was BEAUTIFUL! It was built in 1588. Too bad it was closed until April.

The Bevern castle was built in 1602 was also along the Weser Trail. It was neat but not open either. 

We sneaked into a room and got a picture of a Knight.

The doors to the Castle were amazing.

And even the outside ceiling was beautiful.

The last few are from our last stop on the Weser Trail. It was a cute little German town called Munden but there were not many people out and about for a Saturday.

The Germans know how to make a doorway. It was so colorful and detailed.

Cosette always seems to have a good time even when it's really cold and time for a long drive home.

This last picture is of our Ferry Ride. We were loyally following the GPS in the car when it said turn  left and "Board Ferry" We got scared and thought that something must be wrong. So we stopped and asked for directions. Sure enough there was a ferry. We got on and just had to laugh. Our poor GPS just kept saying Board Ferry, Board Ferry. We should have had better faith in her.

Look out for more posts to come. We just moved into our apartment so now we can use blogger and will try very hard to update weekly so what the posts are not as long. We love you all.