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

3 Extremely busy weeks

Dear all,

This has been an extremely busy 3 weeks.  This week we were again in the office trying to catch up on the work that has piled up since we left for Spain and Switzerland.  In Switzerland we didn't have the internet like we thought we would, it that put us way behind in our work.  We are working with our couples trying to help them finish the projects that they are doing in their respective countries, and to make sure we spend our budget wisely.  I got a call yesterday from a sister in Moldova crying because of the situation she had seen the day before.  This is the worse poverty she has seen, and it is breaking her heart.  I will try and come up with $5-6,000  to see if we can't help this home for abandoned children.  All these kids have a mental or physical handicap and have been just been abandoned by their parents.  In Communism days having a handicapped child was a real social stigma and therefore an embarrassment for the parents.  These kids were hidden away somewhere, and that attitude still persist today.  Anyway we will help these kids get some indoor plumbing hopeful before the winter get too bad.  In the office we have a meeting every week now to review and consider potential projects.  This will last for another 3-4 weeks, then we'll have to stop to close out the books for this year.

2 weeks ago we were in Bern Switzerland to see if its is feasible to hold a humanitarian conference there in April 2013.  I met with the temple president and cleared that we could use temple housing for 4 days.  The scheduled stake for that week is from close by, so few people will stay in the housing which makes it possible for us to reserve 16 rooms.   The next hurdle to overcome is the cost of getting the couples there, so one of the things we did was to investigate different types of public transportation from a distant airport to the city of Zollikofen.  The next hurdle will be the cost of food.  Switzerland is very expensive, so we are looking at a lot of self prepared meals.             

3 weeks ago we were in Spain.  We flew to Barcelona and the drove to Zaragoza.  We were there to see if there was something that the humanitarian services could do to help the branches there.  The city has about 25-30% unemployment, and since the building boom ended there is wide spread unemployment.  This is also affecting the Church there in Zaragoza.  We are trying to get the Church's employment specialists there is set up a program to help the people.  We also looked into helping the people possibly set up there on business.  I'm afraid this is going to be a long term problem because so many of the immigrating saints had no skills when they came. 

Here are a few of the pictures we took on our trips and 1 P-day.

This is the reason we came to Switzerland, to see if we could hold a Humanitarian conference here where are couples could go to the Temple as part of the conference.  We were able to attend 2 consecutive session and thoroughly enjoyed them.  The temple is very beautiful and peaceful inside.  I had a good visit with he temple president who is German, but also born in Switzerland.

This is one of the major streets in old Bern.  You can see one of the old gates into the city with its' magnificent clock.  The Swiss have no equal in clock/watch production and quality.  Einstein at one time lived on this street not far from where this picture was taken.

Bern is built on a penizula create by the Rhine River, and is very old.  You can see how water and waterways have influenced history.  When conquered it became an important Roman city with 30-50,000 inhabitants at one time.  The church in the picture is not the cathedral

This is one of the many bridges in Bern across the Rhine River.  You can see the river is low now and the Fall colors in the foliage.  It was beautiful that day.

We arrived late in the afternoon, and walked to the city square which was only 5-1- minute walk from our hotel.  This is the Cathedral and it is huge.  We walked inside and listen to a mass. we were hoping to hear the pipe organ play, but that was not part of the mass.  This cathedral is a part of the city's identity and all the citizens are attached to it.  It is massive inside and very spectacular, but not designed for reaching the one.

We took these next 3 pictures as we were driving back to our hotel after church.  Church was from 4-7 PM., and on the other side of the river from our hotel.  The branch is aver 40% African. 35% South American, and 25% Spanish.

This beautiful cathedral is huge as you can see, and is very imposing when you see it at night.  It is one of those "have to pull over and take" pictures shots.

We took this picture  of the Cathedral from across the river.  You can see the reflection of the cathedral in the river.

We took a day off to be with Susan's cousin Margaret Miller as she stopped over in Frankfurt on her way home from Baku Azerbaijan where she was visiting a daughter and her family.  We went to the medevil town of Miltenberg for 1/2 day and then took Margaret to Rothenburg the famous walled city.

This fountain has been used by the citizens of Miltenberg for 100's of years, and is not even in the town square, but very lovely nevertheless.  The red building in the back ground is a hotel and restaurant.

This is an example of the beautiful woodwork houses typical of a couple of centuries ago.  This obviously was a very wealthy merchants house with his business below.
Although it may appear that we have spent our time sightseeing that was not the case.  With the exception of Miltenberg pictures we were working and took pictures as we walked back to the hotel or  from the roof of the hotel in Spain.  In Switzerland we were staying in the temple patron housing, and took the picture as we walked to the temple.
We send our love to everyone,
Oma und Opa