Two More Castles! Burg Hohenzollern and Burg Lichtenstein

We bet you think that we've seen enough castles. But can anyone ever see too many castles? What will we do when we go back home and can't drive a few minutes away and see a wonderful castle up on the hill, such as Burg Hohenzollern.

Our friends, Elaine and Martin Craven from Salt Lake City, arrived here to serve in Public Affairs, so we just had to take them off to see their first castles.

Burg Hohenzollern is located about 50 kilometers (31 mi) south of  Stuttgart, Germany. It is considered the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, which emerged in the Middle Ages and eventually became German Emperors. By the end of the 18th century, however, the castle fell into disrepair, and today only the chapel remains from the medieval castle.

The castle which stands today, was constructed as a family memorial between 1846 and 1867. No member of the Hohenzollern family took residence in this castle until 1945, when it became home to the last Prussian Crown Prince, Wilhelm and his wife, Crown Princess Cecillie. They are buried here.

Among the historical artifacts of Prussian history contained in the castle museum is the Crown of Wilhelm II. The crown has a large sapphire supporting a diamond-studded cross, plus 142 rose-cut diamonds, 18 additional diamonds, and 8 large pearls. Must have given Wilhelm a headache.

The rest of the Castle is the later reconstruction.

 

They had a Porsche show of vintage cars in the courtyard.

We stopped in this quaint little town on the way to the next castle and bought fresh Mendelhornken Cookies at the bakery. Yummy!

This chocolate cake was very stubborn and didn't want to turn around for me. 

 

Then we headed for Burg Lichtenstein, located near Honau, Germany and founded around 1200. The castle was  destroyed twice by wars. In 1802 the land came into the hands of King Frederick I of Wurtteberg, who built a hunting lodge here. By 1837 the land had passed to his nephew, Duke Wilhelm of Urach. He added the current castle in 1840–42 in the romantic Neo-Gothic style. Today the castle is still owned by the Dukes of Urach. It houses a large collection of historic weapons and armor.

I remember Lichtenstein from the movie, Dark Knight. Not the same Castle, but a great movie.

What a fairy tale castle this is!

Check out the firm foundation beneath this castle!

A beautiful library inside one of the rooms.

The Chapel

Every castle has a spectacular view!

Can you believe a tree can grow like this?

As we walked around the grounds, we happened upon the most beautiful ropes course.

We discovered an interesting and simple way to build a fence. Great way to clean up the yard too!

Weisbaden and Mainz

We worked hard all week with Bob dealing with challenging situations in the office, and me off in the schools and writing a power point presentation. On Monday evening we had FHE with Bev and Paul Roberts at their apartment in Bad Vilbel and played a really fun card game. On Wednesday evening we had dinner and a missionary discussion with Alejandra and the Sister Missionaries at Dave and Julie Coltons. She made us  delicious crock pot enchiladas with all the trimmings! I made a new date cake with chocolate topping.

 

Then hooray for Saturday! It is always such a special day that we always look forward to.

I went early to two flomarkts with Jerry Dearing. My collection of nesting dolls is growing. 

I always stop at this crepe wagon to get a cheese crepe before leaving.

 

Today the woman who always works there looked at me and made the cutting sign with her fingers to show that she remembered that I always like my crepe cut in half, so that I can share it. I was so excited! She knows who I am. I have a friend! One thing that is really frustrating about living in Germany and not being fluent in the language is that you meet these great people all the time, and you want to share your thoughts and feelings with them, but all you can do is smile.

Then we headed off with the Dearings to Wiesbaden in southwest Germany. Wiesbaden is located on the right (northern) bank of the Rhine River. To the north of the city are the Taunus Mountains. Settlement dates back to the Neolithic era. Historical records document continuous occupancy after the erection of a Roman fort in 6 AD. It is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name translates to "meadow baths."  At one time, Wiesbaden boasted 26 hot springs of which fourteen are still flowing today.

Finding a parking place is always a challenge. There were lots of expensive cars parked on this street as it has very high end shopping.

We finally found a parking space, but it was too narrow for us to open the doors and get out. So we all got out,and Karen saved the day by parking the car, then climbing into the back seat and out the back door.

This street was filled with people dining in their very fancy clothes.

At the town square, we enjoyed an International Fair.

The buildings in Weisbaden were extraordinary.

We loved this painted building.

We sat on a park bench and took a breather while enjoying this fountain.

This is the Marktkirche, and of course, we got to see another wedding! This church reminded us a bit of the Salt Lake Temple.

The shops had lots of really cool stuff, but all very expensive!

This young man is eleven years old. He played the cello very well and was making good tips. There were several other street musicians in Weisbaden. We always enjoy stopping to listen. It reminds us of our own kids going off to play on the wintry streets of Salt Lake City at Christmas time.

One more, but not nearly as cute:

 
We headed back toward the bridge and crossed over the Rhine River.

We didn't see any hot springs, but we did get to see something rare in this part of Germany--a small beach crowded with sun bathers.


Hungry, we headed straight for Mainz.

We ate at our favorite restaurant--Mexico Lindo. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it is cute inside. The Mexican food is the best you can get in Germany, but probably on a medium scale for Utah.

What a fun day!

Especially for Kids!

Wiesbaden was a really fun town that I think you would have liked if you were here in Germany. Many families were out enjoying this beautiful fall day. When we first walked into town, we saw these kids playing on these mechanical stilts. 

Most of the German kids begin riding these little bikes with no pedals at about two or three years of age. They push them along with their feet. It is easy for them to learn how to balance before learning how to ride a two-wheeler with pedals. We see children on their bikes following their parents everywhere.

These boys were enjoying a water play area outside of a toy store.

This train carried passengers on a tour all around the city.

 This tiny merry-go-round was fun.

This grandmother was playing ball with her grandson all the way up and down the street as they walked home. Everyone seemed to be having a great time!

Miss you! xo

Relief Society Enrichment Evening: Awake and Alive!

We had so much fun exploring creativity and inspiration at our Enrichment Evening on Tuesday at the International Ward.

Alive and Awake 

September 4, 2012

Speaker: Jill Derr, Co-editor, Eliza R. Snow: The Complete Poetry

Sister Derr presented inspiring thoughts from Sister Eliza R. Snow. She talked about Eliza as a woman of great passion with a great sense of community and commitment to holiness.  She shared several of Sister Snow’s writings and poetry that inspired all of us in our workshops to use or imaginations and put our own creativity into form. We felt a great spirit at the meeting.

Resolution Workshop (Sister Derr)

1. Resolved: that as women of God we will devote ourselves, our time and our means to lifting and loving our sisters.
2. Resolved: that we will show our devotion by being committed and compassionate visiting teachers.
3. Resolved: that in order to discern the needs of our sisters we will seek the direction of the Spirit and have the courage to act upon those promptings.
 

Music Workshop (Sister Bradley)

We composed  lyrics to the tune of Press Forward, Saints (Hymn 81)

A-wake, A-rise!

Dear Sisters sing with joy!

Wake up and live your life and share your joy.

Praise to the Lord, for all your blessed gifts.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Poetry Workshop (Sister Goucher)

ALIVE & AWAKE

Awake and arise, and look with your eyes,
Is there someone you see with a need?
A loving word, a hug and a smile
Will lift their heart with every kind deed.

Alive and awake, we are daughters of God,
Our pathway is very clear;
We receive inspiration, we show it through love
To our brothers and sisters, and our Father above.

Sister Virginia Goeckeritz & Sister Carolyn Goucher
Relief Society, 4 Sep 2012

Discovering Talents Workshop (Sister Foster)

Handouts

Definition of talents for the purposes of this discussion:

·         Talents are something that are an innate part of you—likely you brought them with you from your premortal life

·         A talent is not a skill or knowledge, but skills and knowledge are often developed around your talents

·         A talent can be such an integral part of you that you may not know you have it

Why is it important to discover our talents and the talents of others?

·         Enables us to magnify our own gifts for our benefit and the benefit of others

·         Helps us find more joy and success in life as we build skills and knowledge upon the innate talents we have been given

·         Helps us view others in a new light when we appreciate the talents they have

·         Helps us have a positive influence in the lives of family members and friends as we recognize their talents, encourage them to develop them, and provide opportunities for them to use their talents

How can we find out what our talents are?

·         Self-evaluation

·         Patriarchal and other blessings

·         Feedback from others (this is especially important to learn of talents we may not recognize in ourselves)

·         Assessment tools (see the attached list from Gallup)

My Talents and Gifts

Self-evaluation—Five talents/gifts I think I have:

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 Talents and gifts identified in my patriarchal blessing and other blessings:

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Talents and gifts others tell me I have:

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What I think are my top five talents from the Gallup theme inventory:

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Personal Themes (from Now, Discover Your Strengths)

The Gallup Organization claims to have distilled the theory into practice by interviewing 1.7 million professionals from varying fields, have quantified the different "Personal Themes" of the subjects, and have come up with 34 distinct attributes.

• Achiever - one with a constant drive for accomplishing tasks
• Activator - one who acts to start things in motion
• Adaptability - one who is especially adept at accommodating to changes in direction/plan
• Analytical - one who requires data and/or proof to make sense of their circumstances
• Arranger - one who enjoys orchestrating many tasks and variables to a successful outcome
• Belief - one who strives to find some ultimate meaning behind everything they do
• Command - one who steps up to positions of leadership without fear of confrontation
• Communication - one who uses words to inspire action and education
• Competition - one who thrives on comparison and competition to be successful
• Connectedness - one who seeks to unite others through commonality
• Consistency - one who believes in treating everyone the same to avoid unfair advantage
• Context - one who is able to use the past to make better decisions in the present
• Deliberative - one who proceeds with caution, seeking to always have a plan and know all of the details
• Developer - one who sees the untapped potential in others
• Discipline - one who seeks to make sense of the world by imposition of order
• Empathy - one who is especially in tune with the emotions of others
• Focus - one who requires a clear sense of direction to be successful
• Futuristic - one who has a keen sense of using an eye towards the future to drive today's success
• Harmony - one who seeks to avoid conflict and achieve success through consensus
• Ideation - one who is adept at seeing underlying concepts that unite disparate ideas
• Includer - one who instinctively works to include everyone
• Individualization - one who draws upon the uniqueness of individuals to create successful teams
• Input - one who is constantly collecting information or objects for future use
• Intellection - one who enjoys thinking and thought-provoking conversation often for its own sake, and also can data compress complex concepts into simplified models
• Learner - one who must constantly be challenged and learning new things to feel successful
• Maximizer - one who seeks to take people and projects from great to excellent
• Positivity - one who has a knack for bring the light-side to any situation
• Relator - one who is most comfortable with fewer, deeper relationships
• Responsibility - one who, inexplicably, must follow through on commitments
• Restorative - one who thrives on solving difficult problems
• Self-Assurance - one who stays true to their beliefs, judgments and is confident of his/her ability
• Significance - one who seeks to be seen as significant by others
• Strategic - one who is able to see a clear direction through the complexity of a situation
• Woo - one who is able to easily persuade

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now,_Discover_Your_Strengths