Holly's visit - Strassbourg

Dear All,
After we left Klingen we drove to the city of Strassbourg, which is in Alsace and present day France.  This city has been either German or French multiple times, and is a very old city.  We arrived after dark, checked into our hotel, and went immediately to (yup you guess it) the Christmas market.  Our hotel was in a great location and was only a 10 minute walk from the city center.  Strassbourg was several times French and the next day German and vice-verse.  The interesting thing about this change is that oft times the new government would require the inhabitants to speak the language of the conquering country, and to be called by their name in the new language.  For example today my name is Johann, tomorrow I must go by Jean until the German's win the next war, then it's back to Johann.  Strassbourg is a pretty town with many beautiful old parts and old buildings such as the one below and many cultures.

This beautiful wood carved building belonged once to a very successful merchant and is on the corner of the cathedral square.

This is the famous cathedral which has only 1 of the designed towers.  The exact reason  the 2nd tower was not added has now been lost to time.  The construction of the building took about 250 years.

This is the inside of the cathedral looking from the altar.  You can see the pulpit in the lower right hand corner, and the Rose stained glass window in the back.

This is the organ between the Rose window and the pulpit.

This is an astronomical clock which tells the time, the day,  the season, and the year.  It is the only astronomical clock in a church that we know about.

The next few pictures are from a section of town called La Petite France   This is Holly walking towards the house, the house is directly on the river.

These houses are call 'Fach Houses" because they are made of wood and then mud or plaster stuck into a lattice of twigs between the wood beams.  These houses were probably built in the 17th and 18 hundreds. and they are painted periodically which enhances their natural beauty.


You can see the lock used to raise or lower the water for boat transport.



Many of these old homes have been converted to restaurants now.



This area did not get destroyed in the war.  Look at how beautiful Germany must have been at one time.

We enjoyed this day in Strassbourg and all we saw, and Mom and Holly enjoyed all they purchased.  I have put into these blogs only a dusting of all the pictures taken while Holly was here.  We took a couple hundred pictures, but Holly probably took over a 1,000.  The pictures may fade with time, but our memories will remain and be enjoyed many times over.

 

Holly in Klingen with some of our relatives

Dear All,
One day we drove to the small village of Klingen in the Alsace area of Germany and France which has gone back and forth between France and Germany depending on who had won the recent war.  The earliest we seem to be able to trace our family is back to the area about 1620.  Klingen itself is much older with records showing the name around 1125.  My great great grandfather Johann George Leonhard left Germany in the early 1800's and settled with his family in the Newark, Ohio area.  Ohio had a huge number of  German immigrates.  My great grandfather went by the name of John ,but we think he was actually Jacob and took the name of John his dead brother when we joined a Mormon wagon train heading west.  John or Jacob is the weak link in connecting to its German roots, but there is much circumferential evidence that we belong to this family in Klingen.  In the Klingen Family tree, they show a Johann George leaving with his wife and 2 sons John and Jacob for the US about the same time our Johann George left Germany.  The Klingen people thought their Johann George left for Ohio where there where many Germans from Klingen.  Susan and I feel quite strongly that we have found the right family to connect to here in Germany.  So we took Holly to meet some of her German Family in Klingern, and then that night we drove to Strassbourg France (only an hours drive away) and to another Christmas market.  I've included a few picture of the family that is a side line to our family, but Erwin is a genealogist and therefore he is interested in connecting us to them.

Here is Holly flanked by Erwin Leonhard and me.  Erwin lives about 20 minutes away from Klingen.  He and his wife Elfriede ( she was not feeling well this day) have a son Markus who is presently working and living in Australia.  This picture was taken in the town of Rohrbach where Erwin lived as a child

This is in the tiny church in Klingen (about 250 families).  In the picture is Erwin and Hilde her husband Willi Koehler, Holly and me.  Erwin and Hilde are 1st cousins.  Hilde grew up in Klingen and knows everybody.  Here aunt keeps the key to the church and so we were able to get into it.

This is the exterior of the church in Klingen, the church has burned down and rebuilt several times.  The tower is the oldest part of the church

Erwin and I are standing by a 1000 liter wine barrel in the yard of the house where we think our first ancestor from France came.  The foundation stone says 1620.

This ruin is in the area and from here you can see the small village of Klingen.  It was first started in 729 and was enlarged during the years.  They are now trying to restore much of it.  It was a cold windy day that we were there.

We had a delightful day with Erwin, Hilde, und Willi.  Erwin and Hilde are working on a family gathering for the end of April 2013 that we hope to be able to attend before we leave Germany.  It would really be something if we could meet some more of the family befor we leave.

Holly's Visit - Dresden

December 2012
Dear All,
This is a continuation of trip we made with Holly.  We spent a night and a day with her in the City of Dresden, which was a beautiful culture center before the WWII.  This city was the seat of government for the state of Sachsen, and was embellished with many beautiful and large buildings by August the Strong.  Unfortunately it was destroyed in 1 one of bombing right at the end of the war in retaliation for the early bombing of the city of Coventry in England.  75,000 -100,000 people died that night.  Some of the city's old buildings have been restored along with the palace in the center of town, but much was lost forever.  Many of the art treasures were lost, some hidden to protect them from being destroyed and their location lost to man, others taken to Russia and never seen again.   Dresden also has a famous Christmas market with the world largest "Weihnactspyramide" (the German Christmas pyramid ).  The following pictures will try and give a taste of the beauty of the city and of the Christmas Market of which there are 5 or 6 in the city at various locations (we hit them all).

this is a Schwimpbogen  several centuries ago the minors when the came home would put the miners lamps on a bowed piece of wood in the window to light the way for other miners on their way home at night.  This is the entrance into one of the markets, which has been continually held since 1578

One of the many little stands, this stand is selling the wood handwork that is indigenous to the area of the Erzgeberge.  They are selling wooden smokers wood carvings Schwimpbogens, pyramids, and many other things made of wood.  You can see the large pyramid behind the stand

This is the same pyramid in the day.

This and the next picture is of the big pyramid at night

This market was located next to the Frauen Kirche which was built by August the 2nd to gain Papal support of him as the king.  The church is huge and beautiful inside.

This view was taken from the top of the Frauen Kirche.  It has quite a commanding view of the city.  This picture was taken using the zoom lens

This is another view of the city and the River Elbe taken from on top of the Frauen Kirche

This is the beautiful altar inside the church.

From accross the River Elbe you can see the College of Fine Arts building on the left with the Frauen Kirche on the right in the back ground.

This is part of the palace court yard with a formal classical garden.  The tower in the back has a Glockenspiel which uses porcelain bells.  At one time Dresden was one of the porcelain centers of Europe, and made very high quality porcelain products.

Here is a close up of the tower with some of its porcelain bells that they ring.  The sound is very delicate and beautiful

This wall is 3 football fields long, and is made of 24,000 porcelain tiles.  It is a history of the kings from 1125 to 1873.  Somehow it made it through the bombing.

This is only a small sample of the interesting beauty of this city.  All around these old restored buildings and squares is a modern city built from the rubble after the war.

Holly's visit - Nuernberg and Sachsen -Schweiz (Bastei)

Dear All,

 Monday morning we drove to Nuernberg to visit the Nazi documentation center.  It is a museum about the rise and history of the Nazi party in Germany.  Hitler started the party shortly after the WW1, but it wasn't until after 1927 that it stated to gain momentum.  The first city that really embraced the Nazi party was Nuernberg hosting with first big party rally in 1929.  By early 1933 Hitler had positioned himself as the leader of the party, the commander and chief of the military and the Chancellor of the government.  From that point he had the power and he removed anybody who threatened his power.  This is all well documented in the museum  which records everything through the Nuernberg Trials.  The Museum is in Hitlers old Congress Hall, which is patterned after a Roman Colosseum, and is close to the Zeppelin Field where he held his mass Party rallies.  Holly as a high schooler played soccer on that field, and I've included a couple pictures of the field .  We spent the night in Nuernberg and of course we went to the?  Up you guessed it the Christmas Market, which claims to be the first and oldest continually running Christmas market in Germany.

This is the stand at the Zeppelin Field of them mass Party rallies.  Originally there were 3 Large banners behind a huge Swastika   When the US troops took Nuernberg the blasted off the Swastika.  This is where Holly played Soccer.

You can take the girl off the soccer field, but you can't take the soccer out of the girl

Nuernberg Christmas market before the crowds came.

The next day we left Nuernberg and drove to the city of  Dresden.  On the way we stop in what is called the Sachsen- Switzerland, which is a national park with the huge rock formations.  We went to the Part named Bastei which was at one time an old fortress in the middle ages.  It was a cool day to say the least.

This was the view as we walked into the park

This bridge built in 1857 replaced an old wooden bridge that had been destroyed.  It is the oldness still standing and functional bridge built just for tourist usage.  




This is the same bridge taken from the old fortress.  The fortress had a cistern so they always had a source of water, and could survive any short to medium siege. 

This is a view of the village down below.   In the lower left hand corner you can see the Elbe River, this river runs through both Dresden and Berlin

This is one of the many catwalks connecting the different areas of the fortress.  The fortress had several levels of rooms, and in its day it must have been pretty formidable.  (yes you are right it was cold).

Here you can see mother and Holly going done the icy steps to a lower level.  How they built this fortress originally is amazing to me.  This was another good day , from here we drove onto Dresden. 

Holly's visit - Cochem

Dear All,
This has been a busy and a fun 10 days.  Mother and Holly have fed their Weihnachtsmarkt addiction by going to 5 different Christmas markets in 5 different cities.  Holly came out of the airport about 10:00 in the morning, and by about 2:00 we were on our way to the Christmas market here in Frankfurt.  We took the Strassenbahn just for the memory.  Walked a bit around town, and showed Holly our glass mall, then it was off to the market.  Mother introduced Holly to Gluwein mugs, and so now both Holly and we have a new collection of mugs.  Getting all this stuff home will be a trip.  When we came to Germany this time the older missionaries told us about all the stuff they had bought over the time of their missions.  We said will we have enough so we won't be buying much, their response was "oh yes you will" - they were right!  

The next day we went to a little town on the Rhine River called Cochem.  We saw  the a live reenactment of the Christmas story which was done at the castle.  It was a nice experience and the pictures of the valley below, and the castle were great.  We really like the castle in Cochem, it's  the Reichsburg Castle.  Here are some of the pictures we took while there in Cochem and at the castle.

This is on the Market Square in the city.  These buildings are 3-400 years old, on the far right  you can see a more modern building.

Mother and Holly are standing by the old city square well or fountain.  At one time the villagers came here to get water each day.  The well is on the other side of the square from the buildings in the previous picture.

This is the Reichsburg Castle.  The Keep is the tall tower with the mural of St. Christopher painted on it.

Here is another view of the castle

Holly and I standing in one arch way or castle gate with another in the background. 

Holly and I standing by the castle wall with the small town of Cochem below.  The Town is on both sides of the river

Here is mother and Holly as they are sat the castle entrance.  The castle was stated to be built in 1051.  The original was added to over the years, and has been in its present form since the 1800s.  We had a wonderful day here with Holly, and then we drove back to near Frankfurt to a "Schnitzel Factory" for dinner.

We love you all,

Oma und Opa

A week in the office

Dec. 9, 2012

This week we spent the whole week in the office, which was good since there was a lot to do.  We needed to prepare for an AHC meeting (a meeting to review and approve submitted humanitarian projects).  We had 12 area initiatives and 3 major initiatives to review.  This takes a lot of time to prepare, plus Susan had a lot of financial records to review and process.  On Wednesday we had a Zone Conference all day, then on Friday we had the Area Office Christmas party.  I was part of a double quartet that sang several Christmas songs, so there were a number of rehearsal  preparing to sing for the party.  It is hard to imagine that there are only a few months left of our mission, the time has gone so fast.
It is snowing again today, I would guess that we have about 2 inches on the ground now.  It snowed about an inch on Friday, and didn't melt yesterday because it was so cold.  Wed's. there is a possibility of more snow, so depending on the temperature we might have a white Christmas.  As for today I suspect there will be some from the outlying areas that will not make to church today.  However it is beautiful with everything covered in white.

We are standing by the nativity scene at the Friedrichsdorf temple annex at the end of the Zone Conference. Our Zone conference was in Friedrichsdorf this time so that we could attend the temple at the end of the conference.  Both E/S Kearon of the Area Presidency spoke and Pres. and Sister Berghahn (temple Pres. and matron) spoke.  It was a very good conference: Pres. Kearon spoke that we should strive to serve God and others, and learn to be good Samaritans.  He showed a clip of a 13 y/o deacon who ran a triathlon with his C.P. friend who cannot walk or talk, but communicates yes or no by blinking his eyes.  He ran the whole race either towing, pulling or pushing his friend.  It was very touching, a lot of moist eyes.

Here are E/S Wells by the nativity scene at the Friedrichsdorf Temple We picked them up at the airport when they arrived 18 months ago, and we take them this Weds. to the airport as they return home.  They have also worked in Welfare as Family Service missionaries.

We are standing in front of the bandstand at the Buedingen Christmas market just as a local brass band is starting to play, and before a lot of people have assembled to listen.  These little local Christmas markets are a lot of fun, and if you can find what you are looking for, have some good deals.  The town of Buedingen was established or at least mentioned in writing back in the 1200's, and as one can see from the size of the old town and the city wall erected around the town, a fairly important town in its day.  There were booths all along several streets, in the market square, and in the church square.  Although it was cold (in the 20's) we spent a good 2 enjoyable hours there.

This is the "protestant" church in Buedingen which was newly restored after the war as you can see.  The original church was built in the 1200 and was Catholic, but as was the custom of the day, was changed to protestant because that was the religious affiliation of the Noble that owned the town.  So a church this old could have switched denominations several times during its' lifetime.  The congregation would worship as Catholic one week and Protestant the next or vice-verse.  The only person affected by these changes was the priest or the minister.  You could have a congregation one week and be looking for one the next week, and depending on the war or a land deal between rulers the clergy could be in and out of a church like a yo- yo.  The history of religion here in Europe is very interesting, and many times not so nice.

We hope this coming week will be a good week for everyone, and in spite of all the hustle and bustle of this time of year you will still be able to enjoy it.
Love to you all,
Oma and Opa

A wonderful Week with Vickie and Mark

Dad and I went to Windecken for a guided tour and the opening of their Christmas Market yesterday, Saturday, Dec 1st.  We enjoyed the history of the Little community.  We learned that the founder of the Lindt Chocolate so famous in Switzerland had his roots here in this little town.  The family had a chocolate shop.  The family went to Switzerland and there the story has it that they invented the process of making the chocolate into a form that could be made into solid bars. 

We toured the jewish quarter of the city and learned of the deportation of Jews from this community.  Then We gathered with the crowd and listened to the local brassband play, the mayor spoke and then he turned on all the beautiful lights of the old city.  We had a little kinder punch, a Kebob for dinner and just enjoyed the lovely atmosphere of Christmas in Germany.  What a lovely place

Vickie and Mark came to visit us on Tuesday, November 20th.  They spent their first day looking around downtown Frankfurt and then to Bed.  Wednesday, Vickie, Mark and Susan took the train to Wurzburg.  We toured the Residence, took a local tour of the city and shopped and eat and had a great time.  Then on Thanksgiving morning we headed out to Nuremberg to the Documentation Center Museum.  We enjoyed our time studying Nazi history.  We even stumbled upon a Lebkuchen factory as we travel to Prague.  We stayed at the Alton Hotel conveniently located to the old town of Prague. We had dinner in a traditonal pub like restaurant.  The food was good ,but certainly not the traditional  Thanks giving dinner.

The next day we took a tour of  Prague.  When we arrived at the meeting point we were informed that this was a walking tour but we all decided we did not want to miss it so off we went.  We visited the old town Square, the Jewish quarter and the Castle complex which you see here in the distance.

 

We were taken to a Unique restaurant for lunch.  The atmosphere was really unusual and we really enjoyed the food.  This was once the basement of a Palace where the hired help hung out . 

Here we are in front of the Palace.  We walked through the gates into the inner courts and viewed the church and the city.  We had beautiful views of the city.   Mark Did great with all the walking. 

Here is the old town square at night.  It was beautiful.  We enjoyed the day.  In the evening we went to the old market place and enjoyed the many vendors.  As we were getting ready to go back to the hotel we separated for a brief time and as Vickie and Mark returned to us ,John noticed Vickie's back back was open.  Some one had lifted her Wallet right out of it.  A sad note to finish the day.  Vickie and Mark handled it very well.  The important business was taken care of and we had dinner in a pizza place next to the Hotel.

The Next morning we traveled to Berlin.   We checked into the NH Berlin Mitte, got settled and then off to Check Point Charlie for the Woodard's and the Communication museum for the Leonard's.  We had an Italian dinner  across from Check point Charlie.  The next morning we took the Circle City Bus tour of Berlin.. We went to this Basilica on Museum Island.  A beautiful place.

We took a tour inside the Basilica and was invited to walk up the 215 steps to view the city from the walk way around the middle dome.  It was spectacular.  The next day we went to the KaDeWa  Department store and visited three Christmas markets with the City.  We had Wonderful time together and Put them on the Plane On Wednesday.  Then Back to work to catch up.

This was just one of the plethora of beautiful paintings and Stained Glass that decorated the inside of the Basilica.  How appropriate for this beautiful time of year,  How grateful I am for the Birth of the Savior.  The willingness of our Father in heaven to put forth the beautiful plan to make it possible for each of us to return to Him.  I am so grateful for their love for us.  As we begin this Beautiful Christmas season, I hope that we keep the Savior at the center of Celebrations.  We love you all and miss you so very much.                                                                                      Oma and Opa