Rose Tour of Hildesheim: St. Andrew's Church and the Upended Sugarloaf

We thought we should get to know Hildesheim a little more since we will be living here for the next six months. We have been to the historic Marketplace several times, but that is about the only tourist site we’ve seen so far. The Hildesheim tourist office offers historic guided tours of the city daily at 2:00 pm but only in German. So we did a little research and decided to give ourselves a little tour of the city. The tours always follow the “Rose Path.” There are white spray-painted roses numbered throughout the city for you to follow. It starts at the Historic Marketplace in the center of town and takes you by some of the most historic monuments in the city.
We joked we felt like we were in the Davinci Code…following the “Rose line” around the city. We didn’t follow the rose path exactly, but saw most of the sites along the way. Ainsley had a blast looking for the next rose each time. It was like a scavenger hunt for her and kept her engaged and distracted from the long walk. She behaved much better than normal which made it easier on all of us. So here are pictures and a little history from what we learned about Hildesheim.

The first site we visited on our Rose Tour of Hildesheim was St. Andrew’s Church which is right in the center of town. It is the tallest building in the city so we are always using it as a reference point to figure out where we are.

We learned it was the first and now the principal Lutheran church in Hildesheim. It was built in the 13^th century. It is gothic basilica style. Its tower is 376 feet tall and it is the tallest church tower in our state, Lower Saxony. The tower also holds four giant bells that you can hear throughout the city. When the weather gets nicer, we plan on climbing it because we’ve been told you can see a view of the entire city and surrounding countryside. Like most of the historic buildings here, it was bombed on March 22, 1945. Only the outer wall remained standing. It was completely rebuilt as almost an exact copy of the original.

Inside the church, there is the largest organ in Northern Germany. It has 63 registers and 4,734 pipes. They regularly hold organ concerts in the church. Hopefully we can go to one while we are here.





Across from St. Andrew's church is the “Upended Sugarloaf” the smallest half-timbered house in the city. It has a very unusual shape and is really cute. It is just off the main shopping street we go to every week and one block from the historic marketplace in the center of town.

Next on the Rose Tour: St. Michael's Church

Happy Valentines and Puppy's Birthday!

Remember this chubby girl? How about that shiny, clean looking stuffed doggy? Look familiar...he's not looking so great these days with a torn tail and stitched nose but it's Puppy! Those pics were taken three years ago when Ainsley received Puppy in a Valentines package from Grandma Butler. I'm sure those of you who read this blog regularly know all about Puppy and how much he means to Ainsley. She sleeps with him every night. He has been on every vacation, plane ride, doctors visit, etc. We've nearly lost him a dozen times (the closest call being our trip to Nauvoo with the Bauers. Ainsley dropped puppy out of her stroller somewhere along the road. As we were driving back to the hotel that night, Tom spotted him on the side of the road...came to a slamming stop and jumped out and ran across the street. All the while, I had no idea what where he was going...and was really confused. When Tom got back in the car, he was a hero with Puppy in hand.) So, yes Puppy is a member of this family. If we ever did really lose him, I think Tom and I would be just as sad as Ainsley. We always joke that one day Puppy will just disintegrate from too much love.

Anyway, for Valentines this year, Ainsley and I threw Puppy a Tea party for his third birthday. We used her tea set and had brownies, wafer cookies, and Orangina soda. Puppy even got a plate, and Ainsley helped him eat it. We sang "Happy Birthday" and talked about all the fun things she'd done with Puppy over the years. She had a lot of fun.


That night, Cupid rang our doorbell three times and left a little surprise for Sam, Ainsley, and I. Tom had stopped at the store and gotten each of us a little gift and made a card. It was so sweet, especially since we weren't expecting anything. Ainsley got a doctor's kit, Sam got a stuffed horse, and I got flowers and chocolate. Tom is so sweet and I felt bad we didn't get him anything but a homemade card...but I don't have a car and am home by myself most days. After opening our gifts, we decided to go out to dinner. We hadn't been to a nice restaurant in Hildesheim yet and decided to try one. They don't have chain restaurants in Germany, but there is two in our town that are owned by the same company and have a few locations throughout the country. One is called Bavaria Alm and specializes in Southern German food and the other is Cafe del Sol which is mostly American and Mediterranean/Spanish influence. We decided to go to to Bavaria Alm. We had heard that many people don't celebrate Valentines in Germany and so didn't know whether or not it would be crowded. Luckily it wasn't even though we didn't have a required reservation. The atmosphere was very quaint and the restaurant was designed to look like a wooden lodge. The waitress was nice, spoke english, and even brought us English menus without our asking. Tom tried a pork leg with saurkraut, and a matza ball. I had something called "Flammkuchen" which was kinda like a thin crust pizza. It had a cracker-like crust, with tomato sauce, chicken, hollandaise sauce, gouda cheese, and green onions. It was delicious. Ainsley just had a soft pretzel. It was delicious!


Some other pics of our days around the house:

Ainsley dancing to her "Bella Dancerella" DVD

REAL, our Walmart-like store is doing a promo right now with "Funky Beans" Each time we spend money there, you get a handful of these little beans. There is a weight inside it which makes it so you can bounce them and do tricks with them. They each have a different name and face. Ainsley has 16 now and loves collecting them. Don't know what we will every really do with them, but it gets her excited to go to the grocery store every week.

My chubby boy! His favorite time of day is bathtime. I think for his bday I'll let him take a couple of baths that day. That is when he is most happy.

We needed to buy an ironing board, and this was the only one we could find that wasn't gigantic. Little small if you ask me, but Ainsley loves it and thinks it is a play one just for her. So I pulled our our mini iron we had brought and let her have fun being domestic.

Samuel 8-10 months

9 month apt:

19 lbs. 13 oz.

28 inches long

Sam learned how to crawl the week we were getting ready to leave for Germany. He was about 9 months old. For the past few weeks, he has been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. He looked as if he was so close to figuring it out. Tom’s parents came out to visit Jan. 14-16 before we left. We were sure he had waited to show them for the first time. He made his first movements forward that weekend, but never did more than two or three steps. Each time he did, we would all shout in excitement, which would scare him, and he would stop. We were really busy packing and cleaning the next two days before we flew out so he spent a lot of time being babysat at the Carlstons. He seemed to make a little progress, and she captured a video of him crawling and posted it on her blog. When we got to Germany, our new apartment has all wood floors throughout the entire apartment. We love it, except for the fact that it makes it nearly impossible for Sam to figure out how to crawl. He gets up on all fours and tries to go forward, but all he does is slide. His knees give out from under him and he can’t seem to stay up. He ends up pushing himself backwards. He’s been pushing himself into corners and under the furniture all week. Once he’s under the furniture, he can’t seem to figure out how to get out and he’ll yelp for help. Its pretty funny. If I leave on his shoes, this seems to help a little bit by providing a little traction. I’m not sure he’ll ever learn how to crawl successfully in this apartment, we’ll see. He is getting more mobile though. He is starting to pull up on things and get up on his knees. It probably wont be long before he is pulling himself up to standing and walking along the furniture.

*This was written a few weeks ago, he is now 10 months old and a crawling machine! Which also means he is into everything! He has certain places in the apartment he loves to play (the bathroom trash can, our shoe shelf, and the pot/pan cupboard.) When it gets really quiet and I notice that Sam is not in the same room as me…I know right where to look. It makes me wonder why I ever encouraged him to crawl in the first place.

Other funny milestones and traits right now:

-Sam loves to grab faces and give kisses. If you get close to him, he will grab your face and pull you in for a big, open mouth, slobbery kiss. Its cute, but wet. Grabbing is not so fun. I have to keep his nails really short, because he has scratched my face many times trying to give me “loves.”

-Sam is fascinated by his sister Ainsley. If she walks in the room, he lights up and follows her every move. He thinks she is the funniest thing ever. If she does anything, he will start to laugh. She loves this, and tries to do more silly things to keep him going. They share a room and many mornings I will hear them giggling in there. When I open the door, I’ll see Ainsley sitting next to Sam’s crib making faces at him and making him laugh. I love to see them get along. Sam also wants whatever Ainsley has. He is constantly trying to hold her princesses or dolls. This does not fly with Ainsley. If Sam even dares touch one of her toys, she has a fit. We are working on getting her to share, but her argument always is, “He’s a boy, boys don’t play with princesses.” Can’t really argue with that…

-Sam loves music. Whenever you turn music on, his little body goes up and down in rhythm like he is dancing. It is really cute and one of my favorite things about him.

-Sam is eating more and more solid foods everyday. He loves crackers, raisins, bread, yogurt puffs, etc. His favorite is French fries. We gave him one to distract him while we ate out once because he was really grumpy. He loved them, now whenever we have them he will eat more than Ainsley. You can’t feed them to him fast enough. He loves to eat off my plate too, he will eat almost anything we are having for dinner. I still make his own baby food, but he is getting more and more picky. He doesn’t seem to like vegetables as much anymore…probably now that he’s had so much sweet fruits and other yummy things. He has such a big appetite lately. The other day he ate an entire grilled cheese sandwich (broken in pieces), where as his sister ate only half of hers.

-Bathtime is still his favorite time of day. He is a fish in the water and absolutely loves it. I get drenched everytime I bathe him because he kicks and splashes so much. I used to use the shower curtain as a shield to block the water as I watched him play in the bath. But here in Germany, there is no shower curtain so I get drenched. Ainsley usually bathes with him, but she doesn’t like his splashing either. She is always getting mad at him for getting her wet. She is not as much a fan of the water. We still struggle to pour water on her head just to wash out her shampoo.

-He has a funny “pirate face” that he makes all the time. He scrunches his face up, closes one eye, and one eyebrow raises. It is the funniest thing. I’ve had a hard time capturing it on camera though.

-Sam has learned how to sign, “more,” “all done” and sometimes “milk.” I try to do a few signs with him since we had such success with signing with Ainsley. He’s never watched “Signing Time” but has picked up on a few. He has also learned how to wave goodbye. He also loves to shake his head “no” or “yes.” It’s really cute.

-He still takes two naps a day. But church is right during his morning nap, but he will no longer fall asleep in my arms. He is very squirmy and loud during church. Tom and I take turns “battling” him the whole block. He is the youngest baby in our ward right now so he is also the loudest. It is a little embarrassing at times

-He loves cars and balls. His favorite thing to do is push his little squishy IU ball around and crawl after it. He also loves to push his cars and crawl after them. His other favorite toy…it whatever Ainsley happens to be playing with at that moment. He’ll try to take it from her and it drives her nuts.

-Sadly, has two not so great habits. The first is his uncanny ability to find any electrical plug nearby. Whenever he sees one near, he goes straight for it. In Germany, they are squares with a cut out circle in the middle and he is fascinated by them. He immediately wants to stick his finger in it. This week we went to a playgroup in the city. We were in a huge room with balls, pillows, and stuff to crawl on. But somehow, Sam found the only plug in the room and spent most of the time trying to make his way over to it. I had to keep pulling him away from it. The second is his fascination with cords. He loves to grab and pull any cord, the computer cord, ipad cord, or cords behind the tv. We are constantly yelling at him to stop.

-Sam got his first two teeth at the exact same time. He was being especially cranky about the second week we were in Germany. He kept waking up crying in the middle of the night. This was very unusual for him. One night, he woke up crying. I pulled him in my bed because I was so tired. Tom asked me, "Why is he so upset?" I said, "I don't know." Tom then asked, "Could he be teething?" I checked, and yep...two teeth were poking through. I hadn't even noticed. But as soon as they were in, he was so much happier.

-He is beginning to say little words. When asked, he can say “Dada.” When he is in his crib or crying, he always says “Mama, Mama.” And when he sees Ainsley, he makes some jumble of “A sound.”

We love our Sammyboy! He is such a happy little guy and he brings such joy into our home. He is a wonderful child and mild tempered. He is such a flirt in public. He is a momma's boy and loves to be held. Now that he can crawl, he follows me around the house...whining for me to pick him up. We love him and are so grateful to have him in our family.

Hanover, Germany

Last weekend we decided to drive up to Hanover. Hanover is the capital of Lower Saxony, the state we live in. Hanover and England shared the same ruler from 1714-1837. There is still a royal family, although it is only an ornamental title without any actual power. Hanover is only about 40 kilometers north of Hildesheim and takes only about a half hour to get there. We flew into Hanover when we moved here. It has been really cold, so we bundled up and headed up there. We drove to the center of town, found a place to park and walked around to see a few sights.

First we went to the Marktkirche. It is one of the oldest churches in Hanover. It was built in the 12th century and named St. Georg's Kirche. It was rebuilt in the 14th century and renamed "Kerk Sinte Jakobs und Jurgens." After the reformation in 1533, it was converted to a Lutheran church. Now it is called the "Church of St. George and St. Jacob." It was destroyed by bomb raids in World War II but was rebuilt as authentic as possible. It features a 14th century style nave and characteristic four pinnacled tower. The most valuable object is the Gothic altar built in 1480 in linden-wood. It has scenes of Jesus' way to the cross, the Crucifixion, and the triumph over death. It was based on copper engravings by artist Martin Schongauer. There are two fonts n the Marktkirche. In 1450 Hildesheimer plaster casters are thought to have cast the 141 individual pieces of which this brass font consists. Only 2% of the leaded glazing from the period around 1400 has survived the centuries.




After walking around the Marktplatz, we walked a few blocks to the Opernhaus. This opera house was built in 1845-47 by George Ludwig Friedrich laves, Hanovers most important architect. It is a Neo-Classical design with charming portico columns and facade.

Next we walked to this bombed out church. It was destroyed in World War II and has never been rebuilt. It's shell is a reminder of the horrible destruction all German cities experienced during the war. We've learned that almost every historical building in Germany has had to be rebuilt after the war.



The last stop we made was the Neues Rathaus, or "New Town Hall." This is a gorgeous building. It was built in 1901-13 on more than 6,000 beech pillars modeled after a Baroque palace with a central dome. There is a unique elevator that travels sidewards to carry you up to the top of the dome to see a beautiful view of the city. It was closed the day we went so we plan to come back in the spring to see it.

While we were in Hanover, we saw two different Mexican restaurants. We wonder what Germans think is traditional Mexican food so we hope to check them out sometime in the future. We are already craving mexican food and its only been three weeks! It is going to be a long six months:)