LEAVENWORTH -- A BAVARIAN TOWN

My great grandmother Anna Maria Simon was born in Mehring, Altotting, Bavaria, Germany.  I have heard many wonderful things about Bavaria and would love to visit there one day even without any genealogical connections.  So, you can imagine my delight when I discovered that there was a small Bavarian town in the state of Washington.  Now, I realize it is not the same thing as visiting Germany, but it is much closer and easier to travel to.

So, my daughter and I, who were already planning a trip up to Seattle, decided that a few days visit to Leavenworth, in addition to Seattle, would be a great idea. Ten days ago, we visited this darling town of Leavenworth.  First stop for us, of course, was the bakeries.  Yes, there are 3 in town.  We made it to 2 of them.  It's very hard to choose between a creme brullen (pastry filled with Bavarian cream and then topped with rich chocolate), a cinnamon krisp or a very large Bavarian pretzel.  Oh, just give us one of each!  After eating, it is time for shopping.  Our first store will be "Kris Kringl".  I always need more Christmas ornaments especially since I decorate 3 trees!  After purchasing ornaments for my silver/white tree and my "Around the World and Space Galaxy" (yeah, don't ask!) tree, we headed over to the Nussknacker Haus.  For those of you needing a translation, it is a shop filled with nutcrackers.  I purchased a "Yoda" nussknacker for my son.  Maybe now you are understanding part of that "Space Galaxy" thing.

We visited Leavenworth too early in the year for the Oktoberfest or the annual Christmas Lighting Festival but that just gives me 2 more reasons for a return visit.  I don't think I got much genealogy done on the trip, but the town was delightful and the people were very friendly and welcoming.

Hmmm .... now for that trip to Germany ...

TREASURE CHEST THURSDAY

      I am always afraid that I am going to run out of topics to discuss on my blogs.  Of course, if you asked my husband and kids, they would say that it was impossible for me to run out of things to say!  I guess my worry is due to my finite collection of photos. I always like having a photo with my post. So, what happens when I have utilized my entire collection. I forget, however, what other gems I have besides the traditional  photos of ancestors.

      A perfect example is this photo above of a note written by either my Grandma Theresa or perhaps even her mother, Theresa Homrich Nebgen.  On the page is listed all the descendants of Sebastian Homrich.  You see he married twice (his first wife died the day after giving birth to their 3rd child).  Sebastian then married Anna Simon, who gave birth to 14 children (including a set of twins).  Great Grandma Theresa was one of those twins along with her sister Josephine.  I always thought it was interesting that Theresa died six years and one day after the death of her twin sister.  

    This paper was filed in our family bible and I received it as the family bible was passed down to me.  It was a huge treasure find and started off my genealogy research of the Sebastian Homrich family very nicely.  It probably saved me many hours of research.

    Okay, maybe I need to do a bit organizing and planning and then won't have to worry about running out of topics!