Lindsey Unedited: Day 4 in Germany

Manuel's Dad lives in a little town in the house he was raised in which is about 200 years old. Every time we visit him we have to check out the creepy cellar. Gabe loves it! When it rains there is a little duct that fills up with water and usually fills up into the cellar, so it smells musty and wet. You can see, everything is made out of stone.

I always joke that the house was designed for hobbits because the doorways are so small - a tall person would have to duck. It's a tiny little house with low ceilings and tiny rooms. So cute!

While visiting Opa we went and visited the cemetery by the church. Did you know that in Germany most people are cremated? Casket burials are not as common because they are much more expensive and you only get your grave plot for 10-30 years before having to give it up. There is a family grave plot where the entire family has their ashes put. The grave stone just has the family last name on it - not always with the names of who is buried inside or any dates. The family members have to pay a fee (kind of like rent) to keep their loved one buried. When the money or allotted time runs out, the cemetery throws the ashes and tombstone away and the plot goes to the next paying customer (unless you can afford relocating to another cemetery). No one is allowed to keep the ashes.It's like the dead are wiped from history and forgotten.You can read more about it here http://www.german-way.com/germany-postmortem-rip.html

So, usually great grandchildren have no interest in paying for the graves of their great grandparents so all those graves have been thrown away. The oldest grave we could find was from 1907 and the cemetery is hundreds of years old. So much for family history efforts.

It's very different from America where bodies are buried in caskets and once they are buried in the ground it becomes their final resting place permanently. The tombstone has their first and last name and the dates of their birth and death. I can visit my pioneer ancestors anytime.

After visiting Opa we went to Marcus's soccer game and watched him play. He was team captain that day and we had fun cheering for him. Marcus is Manuel's older bachelor brother. He lives upstairs above his mom (they turned the attic into a nice apartment) and Manuel's older sister lives down below with her daughter (they built a house for her onto the original house) .

We spent the evening watching the kids play and enjoying a nice dinner together!

With Opa in his cellar

The little water canal that fills up and floods. There is water in right now.

Spiral stair case leading up to the second floor

staircase leading up to the attic

Manuel, Gabe and Opa in front of the cemetery gate.

The Lutheran church

A house near Opa's house

Manuel's grandparents on the Rietzsch side. Their grave had their names and dates listed.

Marcus in the gray shirt

Onion cake with bacon. Mmmm!

Yummy salads!

A berry I have never seen before kind of like a grape but with a unique flavor. It grows in my in-laws' yard.

Manuel's sister Daniela makes these cute cones. In Germany on the first day of kindergarten the kids get one of these cones filled with candy and treats form their parents. It eases the fear of starting school and is an old tradition.