Four years ago, we were invited by my Hubby’s family to go to a reunion in Tübingen, Germany. We really enjoyed getting to know the main trunk of the family that stayed in Germany. (His branch immigrated to the United States in the 1880s.) I have never met such wonderful and welcoming people. We learned so much about his family at the reunion. We couldn’t wait for the next one. When it was decided that the next reunion was going to be in Bremen, I was so excited! I had never been to Northern Germany and I dreamed of seeing the old Hanseatic Towns. I remember seeing photos of these towns in textbooks from my German courses and couldn’t wait to see and photograph them.
First we had to decide where to fly into and how long to stay. We landed on 11 days and finally figured out Hamburg was going to be the place that made the most sense to fly in and out of. From Hamburg we went to Kiel, Lübeck, Lüneburg, Stade, Cuxhaven, Bremen, Bremerhaven, and back to Hamburg. We were going to originally do day trips from Hamburg, but lodging in Hamburg was expensive and we didn’t want to have to go back to Hamburg every night.
The first leg of our journey was from Columbus to Newark. If you sit on the left hand side of the plane, you can see the Manhattan and most importantly for this trip – the Statue of Liberty. It is so meaningful to me to see her from the air when we go to Germany. We know that both of our sides of the family had ancestors come through Ellis Island. For example, I found my Hubby’s Great-Grandmother’s record on the Ellis Island Site. The ship’s name was the Konigin Luise and it left from Bremen. We also found my Great-Grandmother’s record. The ship arrived on was the Havel and it also left from Bremen. This will become interesting later on. I can only imagine the awe of seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time after being at sea and feeling the wonder of what she represents.
Every time I see this saying it gives me chills:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Our ancestors had to be brave people to leave their country, family, friends, language, customs, culture and all that they knew for hopes and dreams in new world.
The second leg of our journey was an overnight flight from Newark to Hamburg. It was a pretty uneventful flight. It was cool watching the sun come up over Ireland/England and seeing the northern coast of the Netherlands and Germany.
The Adventure List 
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