Frankfurt Monday, July 26, 2010

On Monday, July 26, 2010 we spent the day in Frankfurt, Germany. Frankfurt is only about a 30 minute drive from Friedrichsdorf. It is an ultra-modern city with much old mixed in, which makes for a very interesting city.

This fountain is in the middle of Old Frankfurt. We stood in this very same spot 8 years ago when we were serving our mission in Albania. We went to Frankfurt for a Humanitarian Conference and spent some time sight-seeing.

This is also Old Frankfurt.

In the background is the Rat Haus--which means the City Hall. Interesting that they call it "Rat"--actually it is pronounced Raat.

Alte Nikolaikirche

While we were in the market place by the Rat Haus we could hear organ music. We went to investigate and heard some beautiful organ music and there was a man practicing for a concert. He could really sing. It was wonderful. And the sound in the Church echoed. Parts of the Church dates back to the 12th Century.

On the docks of the Rhein River in Frankfurt.

This is the St. Bartholomew's Cathedral. It is huge and amazing. The first building on the sight was erected about 680 AD. It has been built onto many times, and the rest of the building dates back to the 15th century.

This was a picture that was taken after the bombing in World War II. The portion of the cathedral is in the center of the picture with massive destruction all around it. When we see these pictures we are amazed that everyone wasn't killed. All of this has since been rebuilt and restored.

A town square in Frankfurt

This is part of the old wall of the city. Notice the modern buildings in the back. There are things like this throughout Frankfurt--or for that matter, throughout all of Germany.

New and Old together

Train Station

Missionary Party

We had a wonderful garden party in our backyard with all of the temple missionaries. It was very hot that day and we didn't think that it would be much fun, but just as the party got started it cooled down about 20 degrees and was very pleasant. We thought that we would introduce you to some of the wonderful people that we work with in the temple.

Our Temple President, President Berkhahn

Karl Bartz--he is the only single brother that is serving a mission here in the temple. We found out that single brothers can serve missions in the temples.

Sister Voigtlander--she is a single sister and speaks a lot of English, but it is with a Austrialian Accent. She has been a lot of help to Karen in learning the duties throughout the temple.

Brother and Sister Stein. They were quick to invite us to dinner after we arrived here in Friedrichsdorf. They have served in the temple for many years.

Brother and Sister Rehse. He is the assistant recorder in the temple.

Sister Kenner--she is a single sister--she speaks a little English, but wants to learn more. So Karen and Karin (her first name) speak together--Karen speaks German, and Karin speaks English and they correct each other.

Brother and Sister Mohr. They have only been here for about three weeks.

Brother and Sister Frost--you have already met them through our other postings--they are so generous and kind and take us many places in their car--they rent the car. We have a very good time with them.

The Stoja Family

This last week has been an especially wonderful week for us. This family, the Stoja family is from Albania. Even though we didn't know them when we were in Albania we had an instant connection with them. They told us before they left to go back to Albania that now they have two missionaries from their family--we are their family now.

The Stoja Family in front of the Frankfurt Temple

In the temple, we met a wonderful family by the last name of Bushman--imagine that! They are distant relatives of Don's. They invited us to dinner in their home in Wiesbaden on Sunday. The picture above was taken from their balcony--it is the Rhein River. If that was were we lived we wouldn't get anything done because we would be watching the boats, the barges, the cruise ships, etc. going up and down the river.

Don, Karen, Lonette and Sam Bushman

Cousins, Sam and Don Bushman. Sam works for
the United States Government and is attached to the military. Because of that they have PX privledges and so they bought us a couple of sacks of groceries of things that we can't get in Germany. We were thrilled with our goodies.

On Monday our day of rest from working at the temple we went with the Frosts on a little road trip. We first went to Darmstadt. The picture below is of an apartment house that Don says looks like Aladin's house. It is very interesting. They say there is a waiting list of people that want to live there. There is not a square corner in the whole place.

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We went to Heidelberg.

A large church that sits in the middle of the town square. There are eating places and shops surrounding it.

This is a soccer field made out of gummy bears in the gummy bear store.

Carol Frost and Karen on a street in Heidelberg.

This is the Heidelberg Castle. It is being slowly restored. It sits on a hillside above the city and is a very impressive sight.

Karen and Don Bushman, Carol and Ron Frost

We were standing on a bridge above the Neckar River. This barge passed right underneath us.

We left Heidelberg and drove to Ladenburg. This is a city that is built within a very old city wall. They have preserved most of the wall and the homes within the wall. They have also added new within the old.

Don on one of the streets in Ladenburg. Notice the cobblestone streets. Most of the streets in Ladenburg are cobblestone--they are narrow and yes, cars do go down these streets. Notice also the old buildings next to newer buildings.

This building was built about 1500. We were interested to note that some of the buildings no longer have the wood decoration as in this building, but where the wood was, they painted stripes to make it look like wood.

Gate through the wall of the city.

We left Ladenburg and went to Bensheim. This is a more modern city, but still with much old within it.

This tower was built in 1300.

We took a hike to Furstenlager--it is a city park that was the summer getaway for Prince Ludwigs wife. She was English and he wanted her to feel at home, so he built a home exactly like her home in English and surrounded it with a beautiful park that they call and English Park. The swan in the picture above was upset because there was a big black dog swimming in the pond--that is why the swan's wings are raised.

These two geese thought Don was going to feed them so they were checking him out as he took their picture.

Pathway to the home.

There are little houses like this along the road to the home. Now they are used as places for tourists to stay--the home has been turned into a hotel and resturant. We check it out to see if we would sometime what to stay there--NOT--way too expensive for our wallets.

Some of the beautiful park surrounding the home.

Until next time--thank you for letting us share with you!

More Trip

We are back in Switzerland in a little village near Zollikofen. Zollikofen is where the Swiss Temple is loacated. We were facinated with the homes in the village. Most of them are big barns at one end the the homes at the other end.

The people that we were staying with took us to feed the goats. The goats saw us coming and welcomed us. I really think that they wanted the bread that they knew we had.

The cows in the village wear cow bells--it is wonderful to listen to all of the different tones that come from the bells. When we went to bed that night we could still hear the bells ringing from all directions in the village.




On our way out of Switzerland we saw the town Oberdorf. Oberdorf is a town of Don's ancestors. It was thrilling to be there and see the things that surround the town.

This picture was taken in Schwangau. We got a kick out of seeing the cows herded by a man on a bicycle.

Part of Schwangau

The city gate of Fussen

King Ludwig's Castle (Father's Castle)

We hiked up to this castle which sits high on a hill. It is beautifully restored. They wouldn't allow us to take pictures inside, but the gardens and outside are beautiful.

Next we went to Crazy Ludwig's Castle--(Son's Castle) It is nearby the father's castle, but on a different very high hill. We rode in the horsedrawn buggy about 3/4 of the way up and then hiked the rest of the way. Again we couldn't take pictures inside the castle. We could take pictures out of the open windows.

Next we visited the Black Forest. We found this cuckoo clock that is exactly like the one that Don brought home from his first mission in Germany. It is considered an antique now--they no longer make this particular clock.

In the Black Forest

This was another castle that we visited. As most of the castles here in Germany they are built on the top of the highest hill around. We rode in a shuttle bus most of the way to the top to see this one. This castle has been destroyed and restored many times, but dates back to the 1400s.

The last city we stayed in is Ludwigsburg which is also a city of Don's ancestors. He served his first mission in and around Ludwigsburg. We visited the Ludwigsburg Palace. We especially enjoyed the vast gardens.

We have returned to our apartment by the Temple. In Fourteen days of travel we put over 3,000 miles on the car, stayed in ten different places and visited four different countries.

We start work again on Tuesday and are looking forward to it. We got home in time to go to a party in Frankfurt for all of the senior missionaries that are serving in and around Frankfurt. We had a great time as we celebrated the 4th of July. We ate good old American Picnic food, heard the Declaration of Independence read and sang "God Bless America". There weren't many dry eyes there when we were through singing that wonderful song.

Thank you for letting us share are adventures with you.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

One last picture of the gardens at Ludwigsburg