Mama Heissinger was born and raised in a little town in southern
Germany called Geisenhausen. It's less than 1 hour from Munich, but it's very much farm
country. I wonder how many people not from Geisenhausen have honeymooned in Geisenhausen?
It's a great little town where Stefan spent many summers with his family. We stayed with
Uncle Franz and Aunt Marianne in their home... the same house where Mama Heissinger was
born and raised.
Geisenhausen, Germany (population about 3,500)
The entrance to Uncle Franz and Aunt Marianne's house. There's an amazing
6' hedge surrounding the entire yard!
Lunch at the Janker's with my Uncle Franz, Aunt Marianne, Cousin Petra and her
boyfriend Franz.
Word spread about Jenny's new dress even before we arrived in Geisenhausen!
Everybody wanted to see, so Jenny had to put on a little fashion show.
The dirndl Jenny bought in Salzburg! She even got all the accessories to go along
with it... except shoes because they didn't have any her size.
Out in the forests are many stands like this built by hunters. To this day, Stefan still
has to climb onto every single one he comes across. Jenny had to try it too!
Jenny and Stefan walking in the forest around Geisenhausen. Going for a nice long
walk with Uncle Franz has always been one of the highlights of Stefan's visits.
Uncle Franz loves to go for a swim, and one cold and overcast morning Stefan
and Jenny joined him! That little dot in the water making waves is Jenny. She
had a great time, and Stefan told her that's exactly why he married her...
because she's the kind of girl who'd actually enjoy a rural German town and
a swimming pond on her honeymoon.
Dinner with Stefan's cousins, Birgit and Sigrid, and their families. The weather
was perfect, we had a great time and a wonderful meal!
We were also invited to dinner at my cousin Renate's house.We had a lot of
fun, and my 82 year old Aunt Gretel rode her bicycle 30 minutes to join us!
And something very important happened this night... we discovered that
Renate recorded all the best scenes from our wedding, including our tango!!
We figured somebody would do that, but we thought nobody had. But Renate
did! It was so exciting to watch the video and relive the best day of our lives.
A view of Landshut from Castle Trausnitz. The giant church, St. Martin's church,
has the tallest brick tower in the world (over 400 feet). See those buildings
around it... they're all about 5-8 stories tall! The church was built to be taller
than the castle on the hill so the king would always remember that The Lord
was bigger than he was! Click here to enlarge this picture!
A corner of Castle Trausnitz on the hill overlooking Landshut.
Scenic downtown Lanshut with a view of St. Martin's church.
Landshut is also famous for a gigantic festival every 4 years celebrating
the marriage of the Duke of Landshut to the King of Poland's daughter in 1475. Here's a
nice video I found on YouTube showing the parade. The festival lasts about 3 weeks,
and the parade is just one small part... the entire downtown gets transformed! If
you want to learn more, check out www.Landshuter-Hochzeit.de
and Wikipedia
Jenny enjoying a beer at a cafe in downtown Landshut. We sat here most of the
afternoon relaxing, watching people, and laughing at this guy in the next picture...
This street performer in Landshut usually stands around still as a statue, but in
this picture he's taking an ice cream break. The waitress at the cafe we were
at brought it to him (he probably attracts a lot of business). We had a lot
of fun watching him interact with the people. He stands still until he sees a
chance to freak an unsuspecting somebody out, or until somebody puts some
money into his pot.
Europeans wear their wedding bands on their right hands, so we switched ours
around for fun... "do as the Romans do"
A funny old BMW at a dealership in Geisenhausen... it has 3 wheels and the door
is the front of the car!
And that's it for the
Geisenhausen, Germany portion of the honeymoon.... next stop Freising,
Germany!
