Paul's Trip To Europe (Day 1 5/22/12) Black Forest, Luzern

After picking up Paul from the Frankfurt Airport, we dropped off his luggage at the apartment, grabbed some Doner Kabab sandwiches and headed off through the Black Forest and then past the most beautiful countryside toward Luzern, Switzerland. We enjoyed seeing the farms, chalets, baby lambs, and the cattle--Holsteins, Charlais, and Swiss Browns. We saw snow on the Alps in the distance, and the clouds in the sky were incredible!

We went through Waldshut, Germany, where Bob lived for a while serving his mission.

We passed through several long tunnels on our way into Luzern. It was beginning to get dark when we checked into our downtown hostel, Baslertor. Guess who we should see in the lobby but Brother Hammond from our Stake, who was there enjoying a trip to Europe with his wife. 

These views were snapped from our bedroom window, where a river ran by to lull us asleep. But the night was still young, and we headed off for an adventure into the old city.

Bob found his favorite dark chocolate that just happens to be made the the Cailler Company, owned by the family of the translator for my English class.

The next morning was rainy, so we put up our umbrellas and headed out again to explore. We stopped in a beautiful bakery and found delicious slices of Quiche Lorraine for breakfast. The Old Town still maintains its architecturally quaint old buildings, but now, every high end store that you might find in a sophisticated American mall is located on the ground floor of these beautiful buildings.

This is Bob trying to look a lot shorter than Paul, which now he really is (by about and inch).

Bob also served in Luzern during his mission, so we revisited some of his old stomping grounds. He took us to see Lowendenkman,, a beautiful sculpture of a lion designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution  when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France. A replica of Thorvaldsen's Christus stands in the Salt Lake Temple Visitor's Center. 

We crossed over the old wooden bridge and headed off to Zurich, Switzerland.

Wonderful Visits and Friends

This has been a fun month as we have had some wonderful friends come to Frankfurt. Michael's Mission President, Swen Swensen and his fun wife, Gretel, arrived to replace Swen's brother, Laird, as our new Medical Advisor.

Anja Eckert stopped by with her cute daughters from Amsterdam, and it was so wonderful to see them again.

Then Greg and Ann Sumner from Provo, and their beautiful daughter, April, stopped over while touring Europe. It was so much fun getting caught up with them.

We loved seeing Marv and Sandy Van Dam (our neighbors from Holladay) on their trip over to Europe. We  enjoyed a lovely dinner at Gabi Harth's home with them.

Alejandra returned from her trip home to Peru. We have continued to enjoy bringing Alejandra and Monica to Church with us on Sunday and enjoy their friendship.

But the icing on the cake was our youngest son, Paul, arriving on May 22 and staying for nine days! We decided that this was the week to see some of  Europe with him, and what a joyful time it was! The world is such a beautiful place, especially when sharing it with someone you love.

The Merry Month of May

How we are enjoying the beautiful, long spring here in Frankfurt. Our German teacher, Sister Enger, took us to a wonderful nursery, Gartnerei Alois Witzel in Kloppenheim, to buy geraniums for our patio flower pots. Balconies throughout the city are now sporting gorgeous, colorful plants. We also started some healthy looking tomato plants and lettuce.

Sister Enger also shared with us another beautiful nursery that is her favorite.

Germans love their gardens. They love to prune plants and trees, and we are enjoying watching the Sycamore trees branch out after their severe pruning last fall They are the last trees to get their leaves, but by the end of the season, their leaves are among the largest. All over Germany we find little plots of land fenced off and used as family garden plots. When families live in tall apartment buildings, they love to retreat into nature. These are two of the nicest garden retreats that we have seen. They are near our apartment.

We have been enjoying getting out into nature, too, and have been biking in the countryside. Saturdays are our getaway days, so we took our first bike trip with our friends the Dearings. We warned them that Lonnie hadn't been on a bike for about ten years, but Gerry is an animal biker.We ended up riding through the Berger Rucken, a forest behind Bad Vilbel on a marathon three hour bike trek to Bad Vilbel, the next town. We rode back along the Nidda River, shared a picnic lunch, then headed back to Frankfurt. Lonnie only crashed once in the bushes and skinned her knee, while trying to avoid a cute old lady, who had pulled out in front of her with her little shopping cart. The next Saturday, Bob and I went on an easier bike ride for about two hours on smoother terrain. Again we had a picnic by the Nidda River. Wonderful, relaxing fun!

 Jerry adjusts Karen's brakes.

Thanks, sweetheart, for getting my bike up that hill.

The fabulous countryside.

Gerry also takes Lonnie to the Flomarkt some Saturday mornings. They are held right on the Main River. There's nothing like the call of "Ein Euro, Ein Euro" to entice me to sort through the giant piles of clothing. You can find just about anything you want at the Flomarkt, and the festive atmosphere is so much fun.

Bob continues to work very hard on the legal issues that arise each day in the office, and Lonnie still loves her teaching. Here is a cute picture of a relay race to teach my "kids" the English names of clothing.

They are singing some of their English songs in a program for their parents on June 1st.

Bob loves teaching his monthly lessons to the High Priests, and Lonnie is enjoying serving as a counselor in the Relief Society Presidency in the International Ward. This is going to be a great experience getting to work with Sister Blacoe, our wonderful German Relief Society President. I just love her!

We are having a fun Hat Fashion Show and breakfast this weekend.

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.