Old home on busy corner in Darmstadt, Germany.

Cafe Chaos in Darmstadt - town of Melius roots

This is the menu at the Chaos Cafe in Darmstadt, Germany. We did not know how to read it. The waitress helped us with suggestions; thankfully, she was bilingual.

We ended up having a pita sandwich and pizza with coffee and tiramisu for $20 Euro.

Coffee at the Chaos Cafe in Darmstadt, Germany was delicious. The coffee was served this way; no creamer was ordered.

If we had ordered water, we would have been charged. 

The Darmstadt, Germany phone book had no Melius names. The closest was "Melis" (pronounced "Mell - is").

We suspect the spelling of our Melius name was changed. Does anyone know the original spelling in the 1800's, when the Melius' emigrated to the United States?

The specials of the day are on the blackboard in the Chaos Cafe in the Darmstadt, Germany. While I was taking an exploratory walk, Kevin sighted the ad for Tiramisu atop this menu. Hmmmm . . . 

At Darmstadt's Cafe Chaos, Kevin surprised me with a serving of my favorite dessert Tiramisu.

Finding a parking place in Darmstadt is almost impossible. Public transportation is the norm. We finally found a place to park in densely populated Darmstadt. After an hour in the Cafe Chaos across the street, we returned to our car.  We were going to continue walking over to the church in the left rear background of this photo. However, a German woman caught our attention and pointed to this sign, saying, "Much money!"  We then saw this sign and recognized it as a Handicapped Parking area. We Melius descendents left the area quickly!

"Home Depot"

Germany's Hornbach store is very similar to Home Depot. However, the home improvement store has many variations:

     Wood is measured in millimeters, ceramic tile is often bright blue, textured white wallpaper is used throughout homes, fewer hand power tools.

     We looked for carpet padding. They sold polyester-backed carpet but no carpet pad. The carpet was not jute backed. 

      The prices were higher. For example,  the German Bosch tools were more expensive in Euros, but even higher since the Dollar is 0.77 of a Euro.

There was a smaller selection for each type of item.

But it was an attractive "box" store full of orange signs.

Our Budding Musician

Michael David gets his love of rhythm, singing, and dancing from his mother. Kristin is preparing for a Christmas concert. While dating Ryan, Kristin studied at Notre Dame under a music scholarship. Kristin's father is on the music faculty of Eastern Illinois University. Kristin's mother teaches music to young children.

Wheneven Michael David hears a song, tapping sounds, or a  french horn tone, he stops whateven he is doing to sing and/or dance.

Thanksgiving with Americans in Germany

Kevin & Sharon at Ryan and Kristin's church for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. We travelled across the Atlantic Ocean for this celebration.

Michael David Tanner, 9 months old, is enjoying his first Thanksgiving chewing a turkey leg bone. Bompa is holding him.

Ryan, background, made this rose for me. He used our Thanksgiving dinner napkin. He had used the same technique to make roses for his wedding to Kristin three years ago.

Buchenwald - Never Again!

     Today, Ryan, Kristin, Michael David, Kevin, and I (Sharon) went to northern Germany to visit Buchenwald.  Ryan drove us on Germany's famous Autobahn - which has no speed limit. 

(The speedometer is set to kilometers.)

     We left with heavy hearts,  and returned with heavier hearts. However, we were deeply satisfied to walk the same steps Dad Tanner did to serve our nation and the birthplace of many gripping stories passed on to Kevin as a youth.

      May we never forget.

Kevin's father, Willard Tanner, helped liberate the 21,000 Holocaust victims at Buchenwald. Throughout Kevin's childhood, Willard talked about his unforgettable experience on April 11, 1945. The following pictures tell some of his story.

Military patch like Kevin's dad Willard wore on his army uniform the day he helped liberate Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Willard served under General George Patton.

 This patch was displayed in the museum at Buchenwald. 

How can I explain this one? A victim from the Buchenwald Concentration Camp enters into a sterile medical area with an eye chart, human anatomy chart, personnel with white bands and a red cross on their sleeves. The Holocaust victim stands up against this measuring stick to "have his height measured." He is shot in the spine by a gunman on the other side of the wall. This murdurer  shoots the bullet through the little slot on the measuring stick 

Jenny should have lived long enough to outgrow this shoe .  .  .  .  .

Buchenwald Concentration Camp

Kevin examines the ovens at the crematorium at Buchenwald Concentration Camp. There were 6 ovens on this side and a similar number behind this wall. The ovens were not able to keep up with the number of corpses available for cremation.

Ashes were indiscrimately placed in urns. 

Kristin by the crematorium at Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Numerous corpses were incinerated simultaneously, until the liberation on April 11, 1945. When Kevin's Dad Willard entered Buchenwald that day, stench filled the air as the crematorium was in active use. Those American soldiers never forget that stench.

MERRY_CHRISTMAS

What beautiful holiday wreathes. God's gift of a Son to be our personal Savior, for our sin.

Suzanne shares my middle name. This Holocaust Victim is not forgotten. Her hopes and dreams were destroyed by evil.

A soup bowl and silverware used by a holocaust victim. Each day's food was a bowl of thin soup, piece of bread width of a thumb, and a slab of butter equal to 3 sticks of gum. Out of this, they were expected to work hard (to avoid summary execution) and to keep warm (colder longer winters with latitude north of Faulkton, and no heat!). This photo is a tribute to each victim's suffering: 

NEVER AGAIN!

Preview of next posting

Today me went to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in northern Germany. It was both  a grim and a personal experience. Kevin's father Willard liberated Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. I will post a few of the pictures soon. 

Daily life in Germany

Ramstein  AFB's commissary is the busiest grocery store I have ever seen. With the dollar going go against the Euro (this week anyway!), military personnel are shopping on base. Plus, it is hard to shop for foods they are accustomed to in Germany's civilian grocery stores. Kristin is walking toward the camera.

Patriotic Milk at Ramstein's commissary. USAFE headquarters is at Ramstein.