On our drive home from our family reunion, we were elated. Reconnecting with extended family, telling stories, and looking through old photos inspired us to continue further. I suggested to my family that we begin retracing our roots and learning more about our heritage. The kids were beyond thrilled, and the moment we arrived home began rummaging through the attic for history and called Grandma and Grandpa for help drawing up our family tree.
My husband and I had never been to Austria or Germany, but I had always wanted to travel to the places where my parents were born and relatives had immigrated. So, we embarked on a family vacation, for my parents to be able to show the entire family their roots. The heart of our trip would be Vienna, where my mother had lived, and Berlin, where my father grew up.
Vienna is wonderfully walkable and amazingly scenic. My mother’s family lived in an apartment in Landstrasse, near the Ringstrasse, a road which encircles the old city of Vienna. We rode buses and trams, and explored neighborhoods on foot, stopping in Kaffeehäuser, sampling cakes and little sandwiches everywhere we went. We walked along the Danube and the canal, just as Grandma had on her way to school, and made visits to stroll the lanes of the old city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and closed to automobiles.
I tracked down a coffee house in Löwengasse, near the remarkable Hundertwasserhaus, where we have a picture of Grandma’s aunt and uncle playing cards. We took a day trip down to beautiful Wolfgangsee, a lake where my mother’s family had vacationed back in 1936. If the sense of history we got from Vienna was not strictly our own, it was rich and rewarding nonetheless. Music, architecture, parks and wonderful scenery is everywhere, treasured and preserved for posterity.
Our excursion to Berlin was equally fascinating. Grandpa had a shop in Rosengarten in the 1930s, not far from where the Berlin Wall later stood, where he sold ice cream in the summer, and geese and other meats in the winter. His family left Berlin before the Wall was built, but the Berlin Wall Memorial was fascinating to all of us. We walked through the Holocaust Memorial and also visited the Jewish Museum – an architectural wonder that houses compelling exhibits – and the engaging Kindercity, a science museum for kids.
Our trip was truly educational, moving and deeply rewarding. While we knew that the landscape of these cities would be much changed from the early 20th century, we nonetheless captured some of the flavor of our history. During our two weeks together, with old stories told and new memories forged, our family grew closer in a way I believe we will all treasure for years to come.
WHERE ARE YOUR ROOTS?
If you’re planning a trip to explore family roots, a great start is to interview family members. Ask them to recount stories, and recall names of towns, streets and even neighbors. Write everything down. You may be amazed at how each person holds separate threads of your family story. You might also find clues in photographs – a house front, a monument, a street scene that you can use as a guide on your trip.
Most people have the best luck working backward from what they know – a family name, country of origin and, perhaps, arrival date in the U.S. There are vast resources online and through family researchers. Once you are inspired, come to us and we’ll help you pull together the details to craft a tailor-made experience to explore your roots. Plus, remember to continue the conversation with people you meet on your trip – it often leads to many more exciting discoveries.
Our travel specialist are ready to help you plan a family tour or vacation package.
