A step further back in family history

Our Grandfather was a gypsy!  No, Johanna and Franz weren't making a statement on his nationality (he was German) but rather his disposition.  It blew me away.  I guess that blood skipped the whole next gerneration because all the Lochers I know were the quiet, stay at home, type.  Growing up my siblings and I could never figure out how strong the motivation must have been  to get Dad to pack up his young family and move across the ocean to a place where he knew very few people, did not speak the language and didn't know the customs.  Anyway, Father Locher (and grandfather was always referred to by my Mom) packed up his machinery and animals every few years and moved on to be a lease-holding tenant farmer in a new spot.

Today we visited Neresheim where the family took care of the Count von Thurn und Taxis' fields around the convent of Neresheim from 1908 to 1924.  My Dad was born there in 1912.  His early schooling was probably by the priests of the Benedictine order.  The church was restored in 1999 and is a spectacular example of Baroque architecture.  With many tiers of windows and a white interior, it is an incredible light worhip space with beautifully painted ceiling frescos. Sorry, no phtos allowed inside.

The fields and local hotel and restaurant on the premises are  now in another tenant's hands and we had a delightful lunch. I enjoyed a steamed dumpling with plum filling and vanilla sauce.

On the way back to Stuttgart we stopped in Aalen where Franz and Inge's older daught lives in a beautifully restored house from the early 1900s.  Ian was delighted to converse with an english speaking home owner where he could ask all those questions about living in Germany, taxes, mortgages, etc.