Deutschland

View Larger Map

I am off exploring Germany before my sister's wedding next week. Some highlights:

1. Berlin is big and gritty.  Apparently, my choice of hotel, Hotel Berlin, is also the choice of many prostitutes.  
2. Don't sleep in Poland.  I got lost on some side streets, ended up in some fields, and asked for directions 4-5 times.  This is how desperate I got: I went to a liquor store and asked a man to get in my car with me and drive to the neighborhood I was looking for.  Of course, once I got there, this supposed relative gave me the cold shoulder.  Anyway, I was glad to get back to the German side of the border--call me racist.
3. I got bumped up to an Audi A5, which is a really fun car.  Driving on the autobahn is both relaxing and nerve-wracking--everyone follows the rules much better, so it is more predictable.  However, sometimes spiking up to 220 kph (~140 mph) but always over 180 kph (~105 mph) meant that I was pretty alert, for hours on end, which is more tiring than normal driving.
4. Had dinner with Willi Kerksiek and learned a lot of new tid-bits about the Kerksieks, which I will record here because this is already open and I don't want a new document.

• Kerk = church, siek=small valley, gentle draw, small pond.  
• The first Kerksiek from this area show up in 1566, when some greedy duke living in the Netherlands wanted to tax the area, so we show up on tax records then.
• Around 1600, my ancestors rioted after the 30 years war and burned everything inside the local church, or something to that effect.  That's why there are no real records left to research.
• The Kerksiek hometown was Wallenberg, where a large Kerksiek farm was.  Most all Kerksieks that you can find came out of this little farm.  The tricky thing is that some people adopted the name Kerksiek (because it was really a place name, like "what's your name?"  "My name is Henry."  "Henry what?"  "Henry from the Church Little Valley."  That is how Johan Kerksiek showed up in 1566.  It's possible that the area just wasn't settled before then.  But apparently people took new names and we have no idea where they immigrated from.
• At one point Wallenburg was divided between the French and the Germans, divided by a little creek.  Some people still crossed back and forth at night to share food.  One of the Kerksieks was caught and he was sent as a conscript into the French army in Napoleon's era.  Never to be heard from again.
• I asked him about this Yale Biologist with the last name Kerksiek, which seems so uncommon, that we should probably share it, but he didnt know her.
• Notes: contact Ken Johnson, he has lots of genealogy information.

Tomorrow on to Frankfurt, and then train to Zurich Saturday morning.

Sorry I don't really do pictures.  I will sort some out later.