An Account of the Tenth Family Reunion and 800-Year-Anniversary of the Name Arenswald, celebrated at the Residenz Hotel at Bad Frankenhausen from October 19 to October 22, 2017
At the 9th family reunion in Freiburg, it had been decided to celebrate the 10th reunion in conjunction with the 800 years of existence of the name Arnswald near the original location, to be held in mid-October 2017. After a thorough search that began in the spring of 2015, the Residenz Hotel at Bad Frankenhausen was selected from among 5 hotels.
The first to arrive at the reunion were the Arenswalds from Berlin, and from Hawaii Helen (Lei) and Douglas Yap and Chuck Von Arnswaldt on October 17. The next day, Klaus-Peter and the 'Bureau Arnswald' checked in. In addition, the Stoehr family of 5 persons from Chicago arrived with the youngest participant, Charlotte, who was born in July 2017. October 19 saw most of the arrivals, with a rear guard of 3 participants on August 20.
Our program began on October 20 at the church at Kelbra where Pastor Dräger led a tour that also showed our family coat of arms. We then visited the origin of the Arnswalds, Burg Honstein, where we consumed soup together at the inn and then explored the castle. On Saturday, October 21, the climb to the ruins of Arnswald castle was on the agenda. Those who could not join, visited the Heimkehle, a cave 700 meters long, with an adjoining restaurant. The arduous hike to the castle site took about 3 hours, and then the group met with the rest of the family at the restaurant. It only started to rain after the last hikers had returned from the hills.
Every evening, we enjoyed a rich dinner and the opportunity to get to know each other more closely. Special mention should be given to the close relationship of the children Charlotte, Sophia and Richard. Klaus-Peter took special care of the Von Arnswaldts.
After a grand buffet dinner, we said our farewells and already look forward to the 11th reunion from October 3 to October 6, 2019 at the Weissenburg resort near Billerbeck.
credit: MZ/Jürgen Lukaschek
Pictures of our Family Reunion
The “Bureau Arnswald”
Gabi and Peter