Introduction


This blog documents the tour a few current and former residents of Freeborn County, Minnesota made from June 10-24, 2012, to Germany as they traced their family roots back to that country.


Many on the tour were related to one-another but all had ancestors who immigrated from Germany and eventually made permanent  residence in Freeborn County, Minnesota in the townships of Pickerel Lake, Nunda, Alden and Mansfield.


The blog owner has never done a blog before so this may appear "thrown together", which it was.  For example, he has yet to figure out how to reverse the sequence of the blog posts so they appear more in chronological order.  However, it is hoped that this blog will provide sufficient information to educate other family members or friends who are interested in the trip what happened. In addition, for those who DID participate in the tour, it should help our finite minds remember all the important things we saw and did.  


We went to so many places, from small villages like Vasbeck to large cities like Berlin; we clearly understand the diverse nature of this country.  It seemed like we were a "skipping stone" thrown across the surface of a still lake as we hopped from one place to the other taking in the sights.   I think we all came away with a new found loyalty to the motherland of our ancestors.  If the means are available, most will eventually come back to visit and take the opportunity to focus in on places in Germany that most interested them.


For those who attended, if you find errors, please let me know so that I can correct them.


I have attached a video of the typical beginning of a new day on the tour.  It was our introduction for the day by our outstanding tour guide, Xenia.  She said she had "never quite had a tour group like ours".  We'll leave that open for interpretation.  


Unfortunately, in uploading this video, I could not get it rotated properly during the conversion.  But you will get the jest of the content by the audio portion.


Danke,
Roger

P.S.  We made the news in the Bad Arolsen newpaper

but you better know German to read it.