Book Board Chat

Hi all,

you all mentioning the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, made me a bit homesick. I was born in Hanau, Germany, birthplace of the Brothers Grimm, and I grew up on their fairy tales. Yes, by today's standards I guess they are scarey, but I loved them as a child.

I also loved seeing the statue of them in the town center where a farmer's market was held twice a week. Grandma used to tell me that at the stroke of midnight, the brothers would switch places (one is sitting, one is standing).

Here is a great website with pics if you'd like to take a virtual tour of my hometown. It brought back so many happy memories.

http://www.germany-insider-facts.com/hanau-germany.html

If you scroll down a bit or check out the embedded video, you will see the statue several times. The beautiful castle pictured there was a big part of my life as a child. One of the wings was converted into apartments and my uncle rented one of them, top floor, overlooking the beautiful park that is in the back. There also was a yearly festival held in t he park, a roller skating rink for us kids, and just enough small hills to have a blast with our sleds in wintertime.

My step-dad was stationed there in the late 60's and met my mom there. We came to the US in 76 and I haven't been back since, there is no more family left to visit there. Still, seeing so many familiar places makes me wish that I can go back at least one more time, and with much more appreciation of it all, than I had as a child and teenager growing up there 🙂

As to scarey fairy tales, these are the ones that used to scare the heck out of me as a child, called Struwwelpeter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter