I remember taking Civics class in Junior High School and learning how government works. Government has always fascinated me and later, in law school, I took both local government law and international comparative law, studying the interplay within the United States’ governmental hierarchy, as well as the different systems and forms of government around the … Continue reading
If there's one thing Austria is known for above all else, it would have to be music. And while we Americans might immediately think – Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music – the hills around here are filled with much, much more than that. We first visited Austria in 1983, just after marriage and … Continue reading
The Hofburg Palace complex contains several museums, in addition to one of the two royal residences, the treasury and the Spanish riding school. It also is home to the Austrian National Library, the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. Around the back side of the National Library, and somewhat hard to find, is the Prunksaal (the State Hall) that … Continue reading
After spending a couple days just walking around the city center getting our bearings and looking at magnificent structures from the street, we finally settled on our first excursion, the Hundertwasserhaus. According to Wikipedia, the artist, Friedrich Stowasser, was born in Vienna in 1928. After World War 2, he studied art briefly at the Academy … Continue reading
We will be living in an apartment in the Neubau district in the heart of Vienna (“Wien”) for the month of May. Our apartment is on the top floor (we would call it the 4th floor, but in Europe it's called the 3rd floor, that is, three floors above the ground floor). Street level is … Continue reading
I have to say that I really love the beer, pretzel bread and wurst here but my favorite Swabian food is Spätzle, a boiled dough that looks and tastes a little bit like spaghetti. Dale asked Heike to show her how to make it, so when we got back to the house, Heike and Dale … Continue reading
Friday, May Day, turned out to be a rainy day – like what we would expect in Bellingham, Washington, this time of year. In fact, Bellingham and Schönaich are at just about the same latitude which explains the similar weather and vegetation. In preparation for our visit to Germany, Manfred had sent me a list … Continue reading
Thursday afternoon, we decided to go for a long walk to burn off some of the calories from the Frühlingsfest. Dale had already been on the trail that runs below and behind the Langner's (Jörg's and Heike's) house, so she knew the route. The trail has been adorned with outdoor art. This piece is probably … Continue reading
Everybody has heard of Munich’s Oktoberfest, but did you know that it has a rival in the Spring? Well it does: the Stuttgarter Frülingsfest, also known as the Cannstatter Wasen, held every year in Stuttgart between the middle of April and the end of May. Its the largest Spring festival in Europe! And we were … Continue reading
Leaving Ulm, we traced the Blau River ten miles west to its headwaters: the spring at Blaubeuren known as the Blautopf (the “Blue Pot”). Blaubeuren is also home to an ancient Benedictine monastic village, obviously located here for the spring water and mill power it provides. Blautopf is the second largest spring in Germany and, … Continue reading
Early to bed Sunday night, we were up bright and early for a daytrip to Ulm with another Ulmer relative, Manfred, and his son-in-law, Henrik Sachse. Henrik is married to Manfred’s eldest daughter, Simone. Simone and I are third cousins which also means that Manfred and I are second cousins, once removed. Henrik, Simone, Manfred … Continue reading
Sunday morning, we walked to church with Jörg and Tobias. Heike, Christopher and Dorothea had gone on ahead because they were all involved in the ceremony. Heike is the choir director and Christopher, in addition to playing in the church band, was playing a solo on his piccolo trumpet. Dorothea, of course, was the star … Continue reading
It felt like a homecoming to be back in Schönaich again. This village of 10,000 (the same as our hometown of Miami Shores) is a little southeast of Stuttgart and has been the home of my Ulmer ancestors back to the time of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) – and the family is still here! … Continue reading
We returned to Florida in October to spend the holidays with our kids, help with wedding planning and attend Dale’s high school reunion. On New Years Day, we flew back to Washington to take care of some unfinished matters (rebuilding the deck and adding a spiral staircase between floors) and to get in a little … Continue reading
Well, we finished. But, in our rush to winterize the house, pack and leave Bellingham, I neglected to take photos of the completed house yesterday and last night a storm rolled through, spraying the yard and driveway with leaves and needles from the firs. However, I did get a chance to walk around the property … Continue reading
With the house now on its foundation, it was time to get to work finishing the 1/3 of the basement that will house Dale’s ceramic studio and my workshop; the other 2/3 of the basement will remain unfinished storage space, technically a “crawl-space,” although it could easily be finished living space someday. Here’s a photo … Continue reading
After learning that the two big modules had been transported to Mount Vernon for the final move and set the following day, we decided to drive down to visit. It was a little odd seeing the house in pieces on trailers in a field: We had scheduled everything to start at 9:00 a.m., July 30, … Continue reading
With all the concrete work now finished and the road side of the property back-filled to the retaining walls, it was time for Rob’s crew to start framing the rest of the basement and foundation. While Rob’s carpenters were busy getting their saws and work areas set up, Jesse placed the big stones on our … Continue reading
Anxious to get to work on the house, we stopped at what has to be one of the world’s premier hardware stores (appropriately named “Hardware Sales”) to look for tools. Now, that’s a wrench! But we didn’t need a wrench to put in the drainage system around the foundation – it’s all PVC. All of … Continue reading
While the foundation was being built, there wasn’t much for us to do so we took time to go to the Bellingham Roller Betties Roller Derby Championship Match at Whatcom Community College: …and then the Bellingham Scottish Highland Games in nearby Ferndale: …then down to Seattle as guests of our friends Rich and Susan (they’re … Continue reading
With the excavation complete, it was time to get started building. We had originally intended to put the house on a low stem-wall foundation with a 2 foot crawl space underneath the house and a separate garage/studio/workshop building, but the land didn’t lend itself to that configuration. So, we decided to put the house on … Continue reading
The first step in building our foundation was to survey the property. This was more of a challenge than I had anticipated because the plat our land was in had never been properly monumented, so I joined the survey crew looking for the government corners to start the process. The surveyors had to run bearings … Continue reading
We flew back to Miami from Seattle the beginning of March and were welcomed home to the Keys by a visit from Kelly and Casey. We gave them both big, congratulatory hugs on their engagement, then spent a couple days together in the Keys before going bike riding in the Everglades. Before flying out to … Continue reading
The day before our real estate closing, I stopped by the city building department to take a look at the plans and permits for the house and to find out what the permitting requirements might be to raise part of the carport roof to accommodate our motorhome. In response to my request for the permit … Continue reading
I mentioned that we’ve been looking for a Summer home on this trip. Well, we found one and we’re under contract, hoping to close next week! The house is a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath, beauty, nestled in the woods and feeling more like a treehouse than a regular house. Here’s Dale on the boardwalk that … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 