The Sandbur is an old family house, home of the Elsensohn family, the oldest family on the Tannberg, as my elementary school teacher and Lech local chronicler Herbert Sauerwein repeatedly told me in our encounters.

When I was a child, our family always talked about the old Hus, while we ourselves lived in the newly built and far more comfortable pension, today's Hotel Schwarzwand. The name "Sandbur" was not at all familiar to me at that time.

My father had grown up here in the Sandbur, in the years when the life of the farming families was anything but easy. Those were probably the years of great thrift, privation and even greater modesty. Sometimes it was so cold in the winter months that the children woke up in the morning with a thick layer of frost on their bedspreads.

The grandparents continued to live in this modesty, and by renting out the simple rooms to guests, the family's household budget was somewhat improved. The concept of the Fürstenzimmer (prince’s room) on the first floor gives an idea of the importance guests had in the house at that time, even though there was no trace of princes.

My father told us many stories from the past about this beautiful place and this house and after many years abroad, I was now allowed to take over this wonderful estate of my ancestors.

The Sandbur is a place with a story to tell and where stories are still being told.

In all modesty, then and now.

Birgit Elsensohn