Tid Bits

Here I am working at the new computer and getting used to a new keyboard. The keys are very sensitive and I often get unnecessary letters or puncutation in my writing. I guess I'll eventually get used to this new keyboard.

So far I have not learned how to put the pictures into the computer and A. hasn't had the time. Thus it will be a little while before I can blog about our trip to Germany again.

We are having a real cold spell right now. There is about 2 to 3 inches of snow on the ground wwe expect more at the week end.

The Cochem Experience - Still May 24

In the previous post we had arrived at Cochem and located a Aral gas station. Helmut topped up the gas tank with what he thought was the super diesel that the car required. We were hardly back on the street when the engine started making awful noises - we drove a little ways and it didn't quit so we started to look for some place to get some help. At the far end of the town area we came to an Opal dealer. The Lord was very good to us that this dealer was located right at this spot. We drove on to the parking lot and Helmut went in to talk to the mechanic. He took a look at the receipt from the gas station and told H. that he had put super benzine (gasoline) in the tank. The tank would need to be drained but the business was ready to close for the day. So we would have to leave the car there and they would work on it in the morning.

The dealer kindly phoned around and found a hotel that would accept MasterCard and had a room available. Then he took us in one of his vehicles to the hotel that you see in the picture. the one with "stained glass" roof over the entrance. this turned out to be a pretty swanky place with an indoor swimming pool and lots of other pluses. (It cost the most of any place we stayed). We settled in, had a swim and then went down to the dining room for supper where we found a table set just for us with our names and everything. You can see a view of the dining room.

After supper I retired to our room to rest and write in my travel log and/or on post cards. Since it was still day light Helmut took a walk up to the castle which was on a far mountain at the other end of the town. So the other pictures he took while on the walk. The castle grounds were still open but the buildings were closed for the day. By ten it was getting dark and Helmut wasn't back yet so I had just noted that in my log when he appeared. He had gotten confused about where to find the hotel so had walked around more than necessary. We settled in for a good nights sleep.

Mosel Valley Tour Continued

The title goes for this post and the previous one that I forgot to put a title on. We are still on May 24 and it is getting late in the afternoon.

Finally we came to a long strung out town beside the Mosel river and we found a gas station. I succesfully asked the clerk in German where the toilet was and she indicated outside to the left in German and I got enough of the words to find the WC - OH what relief! Helmut topped up the fuel tank. The next time you will find out more of the saga.

The other two pictures just show some of the river and the town.

We continued north along the Rhein river valley as far as Koblenz where the Mosel river meets the Rhein. At this point we turned to follow the Mosel valley. The valley is another lovely area of vineyards. The valley is broader than the Rhein valley - the river is a little smaller than the Rhein. The mountains don't appear to be as steep. Now we are travelling mostly west.

The autobahn is on top of that high bridge that you see a part of in the picture. There was a rest area underneath where we stopped to relax and take a few pictures. There was no WC (toilets of any sort) in this rest area. By this time I really was wishing for one. I noticed a couple of cyclers stop just past the pillar and one of them went off down towards the river alone. Afterwards I thought I should have tired the same thing. I am a modern urban gal and using the bush isn't really my "cup of tea". The sign gives the facts about the bridge.

A little further along the river we saw this lock so got out to watch the boats being lowered or lifted I don't remember now. This big flat boat was the second one loaded with sand that we saw in the lock. This one had a number of plastic sand toys on the top of the pile closest to the cabin. A woman walked along on the side of the boat behind the red wall where the ladder is and helped a child on to the ladder. The child went down into the sand and we thought he/she might stay and play but he/she went back up the ladder to the adult. It was a very hot afternoon so perhaps that sand felt very hot to the feet.

I wonder where the sand was headed? The previous boat load of sand was headed the opposite direction.

Rhein River Valley

Here we are back in Germany again still travelling north down the Rhein river valley. It is Thurs. afternoon, May 24. The afternoon is getting hotter as we continue I am thankful for a/c in the car.

There are many castles to observe on the sides and tops of the mountains - we didn't visit any of them and I don't know their names.

The picturesque town with the rose bushes up front is one we passed through on our way. I think it probably is the one where we stopped by the riverside for a little break and walk. Here you see Helmut reading the road atlas trying to figure out where we are going. It was nice to find a shady place to relax for a bit. Across the river you can see a vineyard. This one is not a steep as many that we saw that afternoon.

A Gorgeous Visitor

Meet Mr. Pine Grosbeak who came to visit our yard this afternoon. He stayed around for nearly an hour and let different people get quite close up. Ruth was within a meter of him when taking the picture. He seemed to be finding yummy seeds to eat in the edge of the flower bed and under the cedar tree. Helmut first spotted him during the snow removal efforts on our walkway. Then Helmut went to clean the neighbour's walk and drive and the bird was still in the same area when H. returned. I arrived home from shopping and had the chance to observe the bird up close for several minutes before it decided to fly off to the neighbour's yard. when I saw it fly I knew it wasn't injured which I had suspected before hand. what a special treat from the Lord to be able to see this little guy up close.

Sisters

A sister is a God given blessing.

Sisters share - all kinds of good times, bad times, special celebrations, plain old everyday work, parents, brothers and things.

It is probably hardest to share things as one often wants to be possessive of their own things. "That is my doll" or " that is my side of the bed" or "don't put your clothes there that is my space".

It is easy to understand that parents & other family members belong to each equally.

It seems now that we are more mature and many miles apart geographically we are closer in our feelings for one another.

Sister, Pat, I love you. Thank you for being a wonderful sister.

Our Unexpected Trip East

Now some of you are going to say what on earth do these pics have to do with the title of the post. Read on and you shall find out.

On Sunday the 11th of Nov. Helmut and I left Wpg. for Markham, ON, with a fully loaded mini van. This was a very impromptu trip having only decided at the end of the week that we would be going for sure. Sat. afternoon we had to make a trip to Portage 60 miles from home to pick up 14 mattresses that were stored there and that we wanted to take with us. When we returned home that evening Helmut packed the van with all the stuff to delover to Markham where a container was scheduled to be packed for Zambia on Thurs. the 15th. I got my ersonal packing done and a lot of other details so that we could leave Sun. after lunch.

Sorry I don't have any pics of how the van looked all loaded - stuffed full inside with 18 boxes of blankets and part of the 14 mattresses. The rest of the mattresses were tightly wrapped and tied to the top of the van.

A few miles along the way we had to stop to retie one corner of the load on top as the plastic was really flapping. Helmut's skills with ropes and knots really came in handy and after that one fix up the whole thing was secure for the whole trip.

Sun. night we stayed in a hotel in Thunder Bay, ON.

Mon. evening we arrived at our friends home outside of Little Current, ON about an hour south of Espanola, ON and that much off the straight path. We enjoyed a little visit with them, a place to stay and a little tour of their place to see the changes since the last time. Evert has been very busy helping their second daughter build a barn and arena for her riding stables.

By Tues. supper time we were with Val & Dennis ( the family in the top picture). Val is my niece. They live at the New Tribes Missions Training facility in Durham, ON. They are first year students with NTM. It was so enjoyable to visit with them and play with their daughters.

The oldest daughter in the middle is now about three & a half years. She said to me the first afternoon, "You look like Grandma." Her Grandma is my sister and we have some family resemblances as you might see from the picture of her and her husband with two other of their granddaughters.

By Wed. both of Val's girls were calling H & I Grandpa & Grandma. We happily accepted the title.

Wed. we took a three hour drive from Durham to Markham delivered our load and returned to Val & Dennis in time to take them our for Kentucky Fried. After the girls were in bed the big people had a game of Scrabble. You have to ask Dennis how it went.

Thurs. we went to classes with Dennis & Val in the morning and found how interesting their courses are and what all they are doing at NTM.

After lunch we started for home taking the routw through the states. There was a very long line up at customs in Sarnia, ON/Port Huron, Mich. but we finally passed through with out trouble and droave as far as Lansing, Mich. to stay for the night.

Fri. was a long day the rest of the way across Mic. around Chicago and Minneapolis and to Albany, MN where we spent the last night.

Sat. we were home by 2 pm. which was very nice.

Weather was cool but dry most of the way. We saw several deer in the fields but not on the roads and the other wild life was fairly scarce - a squirrel or bird once in a while.

In the middle picture you see U. Helmut reading a story to "Button" ( nick name used by the family). We had lots of fun with all the girls.

Thanks to Val EASTON & SARAH VAN ESSEN FOR THE picutes>

Castle Interiors

A friend asked for some pictures of the interiors of castles. At the moment there are only a few recorded in the computer so I chose the best ones from what I have available. We took loads more pictures but they are on a disc that has not been uploaded to A.'s computer and I don't do that step on my own. A. is out of town.

All of these pictures are from the Ludwigsburg Castle near Stuttgart. This is a modern building compared to many other castles that we were in it was built between 1704 & 1733. There are over 450 rooms in 18 different buildings we toured about 60 rooms in the main residence building.

One picture is an opulent corridor with me just getting in the right lower corner. Helmut was quite taken with the lovely desk that took seven years for the furniture craftsman to make. I forgot what the large room with the platform was called but it is still used today for concerts. Next is a sample of the hand painted ceilings found throughout. The room with all the red furnishings is a chapel. Most castles that we visited had their own chapel or more than one.

Ludwigsburg has extensive gardens but there was an extra charge to tour them and we didn't have so much time anyway. We peaked out a few windows as we toured inside and got a little idea of how the gardens looked. The flower boxes all around the outside wall were blooming very nicely and we observed them as we walked from the bus stop to the main entrance. this castle is not on top of a mountain as many such places seem to be.

Tourist information at: www.ludwigsburg.de I haven't looked at it yet so I don't know if it is in English or German.

Views from Loreley

On top of Loreley. We took this little side trip up the mountain because Helmut had heard so much about the beauty of the Loreley. It is a large flatter area on the top with lots of agricultural land. The sign indicates a camping grounds which we didn't visit. there is a school aand larger recreational complex at the top. We took some pictures of the various views. the river is the Rhein.

As you can see A. uploaded another disc full of pictures that i can work from.

We found out today that it is not econimical to repair the camera. I guess we might have to think about a replacement some day.

Tour of Rhein River Valley

We drove along keeping our eyes open for as many things of interest as possible. The castles in the distance were difficult to make out due to the hazy atmosphere. We passed many along the way but didn't take too many pictures and didn't visit any of them. ( We had really had enough castle tours by this time.)

This Catholic Church was built on an island all of its own. One is required to get there by boat even though it is quite close to the shoreline.

The building at the bottom of the mountain is the train station. The railroad track was parallel with the highway all through the valley. I think this mountain might be the famous Loreley.

The last picture is the road sign pointing the way to the Loreley. Helmut wanted to see the top of this mountain so we drove up through the forest and enjoyed the nice coolness contrasted to the heat in the valley.

Now I am at the end of the pictures on this disc and have to wait until Andrew can upload another disc for me. I have a number more pix of flowers that I can share if he doesn't get the upload made in the next day or so.

More of Eltville

I promised other people in the pictures beside myself. Helmut is getting a real good whiff of the rose fragrance.

Eltville had roses blooming all over the place - A big rose show was scheduled for the first Sun. in June so every garden was looking spectacular. Many of the roses gardens were inside the castle grounds but there were roses along the promenade, on the buildings and in private gardens.

The huge white rose bush is growing all over an old dead tree.

The mauve colored flower on the wall looks like a rhododendron.

We decided that the best thing for us was to tour the Rhein on the river road with the car - so away we went on the very sunny road. We could see lots of vineyards all up and down the mountain sides, many old castles and ruins up on the mountains and lovely scenery just slightly veiled in haze.

Eltville

On May 24 we continued our journey toward the Rhein River hoping to be able to take a boat tour down the famous section of the river to observe the beauty and many castles along the way.

We arrived at Eltville about mid morning - the place was very lush and beautiful. (I will make more than one post as I have so many great pictures that I want to share.) WE first searched out the cruise ship office to find out what the possibilities of a tour were. It wasn't open but the next tour was scheduled to depart in about two hours. The advertised fare was nearly E30 so that was pretty hefty. We strolled along the promenade (walk way) of the river enjoying watching the ship traffic, the geese & ducks and the gorgeous roses.

We visited the grounds of the Kurfuerstliche Burg den Erzbischoefe von Mainz. This castle was first built in 1329. The palace was destroyed in 1635 and the east wing in 1682. The dwelling tower survived from the 14th. century. Since 1936 the property (has belonged) to the city of Eltville. The Rhein gate to the moat was built in the 19th. century. This is the information found on the round sign picture.

Next episode will prove that I am not the only one on this tour. Too bad you have to see so many pix with me in them.

Nostalgic Memories

In the afternoon of May 23 we continued our tour towards Wuertzburg a little ways north of the city we came to Bergtheim. This village was the place that Helmut's Mother and the children were evacuated to during the war years. It seems to be a bigger village now than it was a way back then.

Helmut's first Mother was buried in this village's cemetery. So that was a place that Helmut desired to check out. It isn't such a large cemetery so we walked around a while looking for a marker. The man doing the mowing suggested that we could visit the Rathaus (town hall) to try and check the records. The person in the Rathaus said that the cemetery had been moved to another location and at that time all the old records were destroyed. Helmut thinks perhaps there never was a grave stone on the grave ( such things were expensive and the family probably couldn't afford one). That was disappointing.

The mower man told Helmut that the Harolds that had been neighbours of the Zimmermanns were still operating their lumber business in the same place as a way back when. So our next investigation was the Harold's business place. None of the family were at the site that afternoon but H. had a visit with a worker in the business. Afterwards we drove around the area and looked at Harold's old home & found the house where Zimmermanns had lived on the second floor. Some things were changed about the house that were noticeable from the outside. We also went to the new home of one of the Harold families but no one answered the door.

We stopped at a Gasthaus to inquire about accommodations for the night. Helmut had a long visit with owner and a couple of other men. This place wouldn't take the MasterCard so we had to drive on to some other location.

We did not take any pictures in Bergtheim - we regret that now.

The top picture is as we travelled along through the countryside.

We stopped for a picnic supper in Stadt Marktheidenfeld along the Main river where we were able to observe the boat traffic while we ate. We were happy to have a nice stroll along the path beside the river after supper.

We drove until after dark about 10 pm before we found a hotel to stay in that would take the MC. Pfaffenmuehle Hotel was a very comfortable place.