We are Cuckoo!

Our son, Ryan, has been fascinated by cuckoo clocks for a long time.  Among the many promises we had to make in order to get him on board with a move to Germany (also visiting the Eiffel Tower and going to LEGOLAND), we also promised that we would buy an authentic German cuckoo clock. 

 

Our original plan had been to make a trip to the Black Forest (the cuckoo clock capital), but who knows when that will happen.  While we were in Rothenburg amongst all of the tourist tchotchke shops, there were a lot of cuckoo clocks to choose from, so we decided to make Ryan's cuckoo dreams come true. 

 

By the way, cuckoo clocks are NOT cheap.  I think that Ryan really knew what he was doing when he started his pre-Germany-move negotiations.  There are small battery operated clocks, which are cheaper, up to big clocks with multiple moving parts, which can cost over 1,000 Euro.

So now we have our little cuckoo bird who tells we (quite loudly) what time it is, and luckily we can turn him off at night.  Besides the bird that pops out, there is also a little girl who pulls the rope that is attached to a bell on the top of the house. 

The pinecones are weights that slowly go down through the day to power the clock, and they need to be pulled back up every day.  I think that pulling the pinecones up has become a compulsion for all of us, and anytime someone walks by, we pull the pinecones, even if they are still close to the top. 

We have had the clock up for a few weeks now, and the kids still love it and stop what they are doing to count the cuckoos on the top of the hour.  I also find the tic-tic sound relaxing during the day when I am home alone.  While it was an expensive purchase, I think we will have it for a long time, and it will be something that will remind us of our time here in Germany after we move back to the US.