The German Caspersmeier's

Standing:  Auguste and Karl-Heinz Caspersmeier
Seated (from left to right):  Grace Caspermeyer, Vanessa and Martina (Caspersmeier) Sander, Verena Caspersmeier, Matt Caspermeyer

Riding the Carousel in Paderborn

Touring Paderborn - Part Three

The door below leads to the Chapel of Bartholomew.  It was built in 1017 and is the oldest vestibule church north of the Alps.  Very impressive acoustics inside.

The knob is the peacock, which was the symbol of the Saint Liborius, and can be seen throughout the church.

I didn't get a picture of the inside, but here is one I found online:

 

This building is the Imperial Palace.  This is where Charlemagne met Pope Leo III, who escaped from Rome, in the year 799.

Grace and her new best friend cousin, Vanessa.

Below is the inside of the Market Church.  The altar was destroyed during the war, but was completely restored to it's original design in 2003.

Touring Paderborn - Part Two

Examples of Timbered architecture in Paderborn.

This house is known as the Adam and Eve House.  It is one of the oldest Tudor-style buildings in Paderborn.  It was built around 1560.  The facade is decorated with colorful wood carvings.  One of the carvings reflects the expulsion from paradise, and how the house received it's name.

Another beautiful building is the Town Hall.  If you look closely at the windows on the bottom, you can see pictures displayed.  This served as the town's Advent calendar.  Every day they turned over a new picture leading up to Christmas.

I'm not sure what this building is (maybe Martina will send me an email and remind me), but I just thought it was pretty, with beautiful details.

Touring Paderborn - Part One

Tuesday morning we took a tour of Paderborn.  From Martina's house, the city center is only about a 20 minute walk along the very nice pedestrian paths along the river Pader (shortest river in Germany).

First up, the Paderborn Cathedral, which is about 700 years old.  The first church (there have been 5 on the same site), was built by Charlemagne in 777.

The creche/crib, carved from wood.

The cloister of the cathedral houses the 'famous' Three Hares Window, which dates back to the 16th century and depicts three jumping hares in a circle.  The picture only shows three ears, yet each of the hares appears to have a complete pair of ears.  The circular movement is the ancient symbol of the cycle of the moon; rising, descending, and becoming invisible and rising again.  Thus, the hare window is an image of the beginning and the ending of life, but also a sign of new creation.

Replicas of the Hare Window can be found throughout town, and have become the symbol of Paderborn.

Trip to Germany

Monday we set off on a 4 day adventure to Paderborn, Germany.    Paderborn is where Matt's grandfather was born, and he still has relatives that live there.  We were going to visit and stay with Matt's cousin Martina, her husband Burkhard, and Grace's new best friend cousin, Vanessa.

Paderborn is about 4 hours from Brussels.  We left a little before 10am, and got a good 2 hours in before we needed to stop and feed Audrey.  So we made it a lunch date for all, and had our first McDonald's in Europe.  And it tasted just about the same.

We got to Paderborn a little after 2pm.  After a quick introduction to the family, we took a walk around Lake Pader.  Grace needed to let out some steam from being cooped up in the car, so it was good.  I wish I could say the weather was good.....but I guess that's Europe in the winter for you.

When we got back to the house, Martina's Dad, Karl-Heinz, her Mom, Auguste, and her sister Verena were waiting for us.  Verena and Martina speak very good English, but their parents do not.  But that didn't stop them from talking to us!  With some translation help, we were able to understand them ok.  Karl-Heinz is Matt's father's first cousin.  They are also Caspermeyer's, but spelled Caspersmeier.  It is likely that Matt's grandfather adopted the new spelling when he arrived in Ellis Island, because his cousin John, who was already in Illinois had changed to Caspermeyer.

Everyday at 4pm they eat cake!  Isn't that awesome?!  So we all sat down and had some cake.  Yum!

After cake, we sat around and sang Christmas Carols.   Verena played the guitar, and Martina and Vanessa played the recorders.  It was so nice.  And some of the songs are universal.  A few were unfamiliar, but most we knew....in English, at least. 

Afterwards, Martina's parents and sister went back to their house (which is right behind theirs), and we had dinner, put the girls to bed, and watched some slides of their trip to Australia.

Tuesday, we toured Paderborn with Martina and Vanessa.......see next series of posts (4 in total).......