After many planes, trains, automobiles, and buses we are back hOMe from our month long European trip! Andrew, the kids and I traveled to Germany, Denmark, Sweden, England and Scotland and had a truly remarkable journey visiting family, connecting with our heritage and showing the kids theirs. Both Andrew and I are first generation Americans and were raised by immigrant parents so we have a lot of family abroad and spent a lot of our childhood visiting our parents’ home towns. It was wonderful to be together as a family for such an extended period of time, especially since our son is headed out to college in two weeks and our daughter leaves soon for an international gap year program.
The family adventure was inspired after Andrew and I accepted an invitation from our dear friend Madeleine Krenzlin (one of our Philly tiny house workshop grads that we hit it off with) who is on the forefront of the tiny house movement in Germany. Her website is MyTinyHouseProject.de and if you’re looking for info about the legalities of tiny houses in Germany, she’s an amazing resource!
Nothing could have prepared us for what an amazing workshop we would have in Cologne…truly nothing. Our workshop filled so quickly and unexpectedly that we had to book a larger venue to accommodate all the people on the wait list…and even then we ended up being filled to capacity. Participants came from as far as Spain, UK, Denmark, France, and Holland and this group’s enthusiasm, kindness, and love for tiny houses was not only inspiring but contagious. Though Andrew and I were riddled with jet lag by the time the workshop began, the collective energy was so lovely that we forgot about any fatigue.
Our instruction was led in English but Madeleine had also organized the attendance of Christian Bock (a highly skilled tiny house builder in Germany) as well as Germany’s (Europe’s??) youngest tiny house builder, Leopold Tomaschek, who is authoring a book on how to meet the current legalities of tiny houses in Germany and beyond. With that level of expertise in the room, a LOT of information was covered and we have a strong sense that this group is going to be able to turn the European tiny house movement into a bona fide housing option.
Funnily enough, on our second workshop day, a Facebook memory popped up in my profile. It was a photo of Andrew and I with Madeleine from Philadelphia on the same day that she asked if we would be interested in teaching a tiny house workshop in Germany. And there we were….exactly one year later, making our dream come true!
I’m gushing and could go on and on, but I’ll close by saying that we left with our hearts full beyond measure. Danke Deutschland!! You can find out more about our workshops here!
With Madeleine, Leopold, Christian, and the amazing graduating class!
Hi Gabriella & Andrew, I’m so happy to hear that you keep Europe in your focus! If you’d like to consider Austria, please let me know. I’d love to be your contact in Vienna 🙂 Until we meet again, lots of love, Barbara
Hi Gabriella,
are you planning another workshop in Germany or in the vicinity?
Thanks, Jan
Hello Jan! We are planning on coming and teaching in Spain in 2018 and also in the UK.
Hi Gabriella & Andrew,
I’m so happy to hear that you keep Europe in your focus! If you’d like to consider Austria, please let me know. I’d love to be your contact in Vienna 🙂 Until we meet again, lots of love,
Barbara