Freienfels Medieval Fair

On Saturday, we headed about an hour outside of town to Freienfels for a Medieval Fair with jousting and performances. it was the warmest day of the year, and we drove past the most beautiful fields of purple flowers and vast swaths of yellow Rapeseed (used for Canola oil). The countryside is magnificent in the springtime. 

Hundreds of vendors sold their wares, and families and friends set up their tents, all in medieval style and in costume. We enjoyed the knights jousting in their chain mail and colors,  the battles, and the magic of the music. Several thousand people attended.

Western Germany (under construction)

Wonderful Friends

We have made many wonderful new friends here in Europe and have enjoyed sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. On our way to visit the Eckert Family, who moved from Frankfurt, we enjoyed seeing the Temple.  It was a joy to see the Eckerts again. We have missed them. They are very happy with their new job and their new town where everything is close by and convenient. The girls danced for us, and Christian made us a delicious lunch.

Sharing the Gospel creates strong, lasting friendships. Angela Nasswetter is one such friend. We recently attended her baptism, and were all filled with a feeling of great joy. We are so happy to have her as a sister in our ward. She is such a bright and capable woman. She has already designed a blog for our Relief Society in the International Ward to collect recipes from all over the world.

We also enjoy the special friendship of Alejandra, who just returned from several weeks with her family in Peru. She continues to come to Church and to dinner at our home. She is such a beautiful person, and we love her dearly. (Alejandra, in black shirt, with the sister missionaries.) She is studying film, so we always have interesting things to talk about.

We have enjoyed a new friendship with Monika. We pick her up for Church every Sunday. She fell and broke her leg and is in therapy and needs help getting her wheelchair back and forth. What a light she is. She found the Book of Mormon in a sidewalk book kiosk. It had been sent to Germany over twenty years ago by the Jack Ashton Family. She loves reading the Book of Mormon and is eager to learn as much as possible. She wants very much to be baptized and is taking the missionary lessons. We enjoyed calling Jack, as we knew of him. He was the Music teacher at Olympus High School in Salt Lake City. He was so happy to hear that his family's testimony had touched the heart of such a dear woman, so many years after they had sent it.

Northern Netherlands

The Netherlands boasts some of the most spectacular scenery that we have every seen. As this is a low-lying country with about 25% of its area lying below sea level  and 50% of its land lying less than one meter above sea level, streets everywhere are bordered by canals. Most of the areas below sea level are man-made, created by centuries of peat extractions. This land reclamation began in the late 16th century. The land is now preserved through elaborate drainage systems with dikes, canals, and pumping stations.

We headed to a quaint village called Saanse Schans, that is a collection of windmills and buildings moved to a lake to be a living museum, similar to Wheeler Farm or Gardner Village in Utah, with its quaint little shops and buildings.

While there, we happened to run into two of our Senior Missionary couples, the Brandes and the Jarretts.

From Zaanse Schans, we headed north. To the side of the road, we saw these stairs and stopped to see where they led. We discovered a beautiful lake on the other side. Can you imagine walking up to the lake? Many bikers enjoy the scenic ride along this path.

Back on the road again, we headed toward Marken, a restored fishing village. The houses were all painted either black and white, or dark green and white. It was very quaint--and cold!

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS


Here are some pictures of some interesting things you might enjoy.

How would you like to eat at this beach cafe? While mom and dad eat, you get to play in the sand. No one needs to clean up the floor either. The seagulls do that.

Some of the roofs are made out of sod (grasses and moss) and even have gardens growing on top of them.

This is a wooden shoe factory. Why did people in the Netherlands wear wooden shoes? To keep their feet dry in the muddy fields and to protect their feet from sharp rocks or objects.

This is a kid's go cart made out of wood.

These tulips are carved out of wood.

This is a fake cow for kids to practice their milking on.

We often see trees shaped like this in Europe. Instead of growing their trees tall, some people trim them and train the branches to grow out to the sides instead. They are called espaliered trees.  If you grow a fruit tree like this, it it much easier to pick the fruit and keep the trees trimmed.

Next we traveled to the quaint little town of Edam, where Edam cheese originated and is still produced.

We crossed a really cool bridge and then drove through the very narrow streets of the town. How would you like to keep your boat parked right outside your door?

On our way back to the hotel, we saw many beautiful homes.

 Many roofs have this distinctive triangle front piece.

We were sad to leave the Netherlands. What an incredibly beautiful country. Loved all the waterways!
We drove back one more time to say goodbye to the ocean, and then we left.