April 28- May 4, 2019 Neuschwanstein and other castles

Neuschwanstein Castle - Germany

This has been an amazing week.  I hope you are ready for a picture show.  This is the castle that Disney based their castle on and made world famous.  It is a fairy tale and did not disappoint.  More on castles later in the blog.

Lahr Branch Building 3rd Floor

We spent last Sunday in the Lahr Branch and Elder Grimmett was asked to give a talk in Church.  He just gave the talk that he had given the week before in Freiburg and did a great job.  They had a pot luck dinner after Church and it was really nice being with the people.  It is so fun to experience new foods and get to feel the German culture a little better.  They love salads and especially their quark salad (it is a cream with fruit sauces) and they make huge bowls of it.  I took a bow tie chicken pasta salad and a rhubarb, apple, strawberry cobbler.  It was so good and they really enjoyed it.  I think our Elder Robertson ate 1/4 of the pan.

Monday we were off to Singen for District Council.  It continues to be a beautiful drive, especially as we are seeing it in the Spring for the first time.

So Wednesday was a National Holiday - Labor Day and May Day.  Everything was closed.  Tuesday night the Church had a May Day Dance to celebrate Spring. It was fun to again see how the Germans celebrate.  We had great food and a nice time at the party.  

Wednesday started our great adventure to Senior Missionary Conference in Fussen Germany.
This picture is along the way and shows the beautiful dandelion fields and the clouds from the moisture coming out of the ground and a warm day.  It was beautiful to see.  We drove to Konstanz on the Bodensee (large lake where the Rhine River begins and flows out of to continue on down the way)  to meet up with another missionary couple.  We were going to visit Insel Mainau a family owned Island that is a beautiful garden paradise.

 Entrance to Mainau.  This sunflower is made of mostly pansies with tulips and hyacinths all around.  The tulips are the most beautiful I have every seen.  There were all of the tulips in the groomed beds and then over 1 million bulbs in the wild areas. 

 This is a peacock in all her glory.

 The Ducks were so cute and amazing in their detail and so many different flowers.

 The orchid garden opened on Monday and there were over 3,000 orchid plants on display.  I have never seen so many and so many varieties.  I have a hard time growing one plant and these were every color and so many different kinds.  Orchids are not grown out in the full sun but in the protected atrium with diffused light and out of the elements.

This is one of the wild tulip fields.  They looked like famous paintings and so colorful.  They came in shapes and sizes I had never seen for a tulip.  They will only last a few more weeks and then they will be gone for the season.  The roses are right behind them and will be worth going back to see.  We bought a season pass so that we can go back and see the different seasons.  It was an absolutely delightful day.

We continued on and arrived at our Hotel just outside of Fussen in Halblech-Buching Germany.  It is at the base of a mountain on one side with a lake on the other.  A beautiful setting for a conference with a wonderful room to stay in.
We started Thursday morning with a trip to Oberammergau.

It is home of the Passion Play.  It is held every 10 years.  Hundreds of years ago the city had the plague and the people prayed to be spared.  They vowed if they were they would give thanks by putting on this play every 10 years.  It has been held every ten years since and can only have local townspeople in the performance.  It is sold out for every performance and it runs from April to October.  They have built a beautiful theatre for the play and it brings in a lot of tourism.

 The town is know for its artists and craftsman.  There is a wood carving/sculpture school in the city - the only one considered authentic.  There are so many wood shops with amazing carvings and sculptures.  I could not believe how beautiful the Nativity pieces were.  The smallest piece started at $100 per piece.  It was nice to look at.  They will not even let you take pictures.  They are also known for their painted buildings.  This is the story of Cinderella.  There is also Little Red Riding Hood, and other tales.

 Humpty Dumpty!

Elder Grimmett looking good!

 This was the dome of the Catholic Church in the center of town.  It is one of the most beautiful I have been in.  It was so light and open.  The paintings were very nice and a different style than I had seen before.

 I always like to take pictures of the organs.  I love the different organs and would love to hear them played in the different churches.  This was very different with the white and pink coloring.

 We we were told we needed to go to the Monastery and Kloster on the edge of town.  It was massive.  It was built in 1330 in its original form and added to in 1744 to its current size.  It is a full working facility with large buildings for housing on both sides of the walkway.  It was double in size to the downtown church and again, absolutely stunning. 

 It was massive and again bright with the lights, windows and white and pink coloring.  It is very different from the Church in Freiburg that is so large and dark with stained glass windows and very dark woods and carvings.

This is the organ in this  Church.









Thursday at 3:00 the Conference begins.  It is so wonderful being with the 13 Senior Missionary Couples who serve in the Alpine German Speaking mission.  We are so blessed to be able to be here and serve with such wonderful people.  We don't get to see them very often and so this is a wonderful time to be together in learning, sharing and enjoying the beautiful surroundings.  Meetings, a nice Dinner and back to meetings made for a very long day.  We finished about 9:30 and everyone retired to their rooms to get ready for Friday.
We had been assigned to be a presenter at the Conference.  We had the topic, "How to make the most of our Time" while we are here serving a mission.  I was a little nervous that the presentation we had put together would be OK.  I spent 8 hours last week putting together a power point with information I had collected from the other missionaries and pictures.  Our morning started with President Brown, our mission president and his brother who was visiting from Wyoming singing Amazing Grace.  It was the most beautiful I have ever heard it sung.  President talked about the history of the song and how it was written by a man who finally accepted Christ in his life and wrote the song. He shared how important Grace is in our lives.  It was very touching and really set the tone for the rest of the day.  We were next on the agenda and WOW, what a tough act to follow.  Russ started our presentation with a quote from Lord of the Rings that was perfect for our topic on making the most of our time.  We then shared the Presentation and it went so good.  I was so grateful all of the electronics worked and the presentation went so good.  We received many comments and appreciation for so much work that went into it.  The morning just continued to be so inspirational with the other presentations.  We ended with a question and answer period that we could ask President Brown any questions we had.  It is always a great sharing time.

At noon we were off for another great adventure-Nueschwanstein & Hohenschwangau castles.
I won't go into the history of the castles except to say that Hohenschwangau castle was built in the 1300's and was occupied by the Royal familes until about 1921.  King Ludwig II was raised in the castle with his parents and 1 brother.  When he became King in the 1830's he had Neuschwanstein built higher on the hill.  He died in his 40's, never married and did not live to see the castle completely finished.  

 The family castle, the smaller of the two was the favorite to see.  You could just feel the history and elegance of what took place there.  It was restored by King Ludwig I and the paintings and furniture was from the 1800's and the Romantic Period.  During the Napolean Wars, the French occupied the castle and took everything including the large massive beams in the ceilings.  So it was restored and new paintings and furnishings were brought in and are on display at this time.  It was so beautiful.  No photo's are allowed in either of the castles, so only outside pictures can be shown.
When Ludwig II died unexpectedly at 42 and the next heir was an Uncle things changed and also things were politically changing in Germany.  In 1921 the castles were closed for personal living and opened to the public and have been ever since.  Walt Disney used the castle as a model for his fairy tale castle and made these castles World famous and visited by over 1 million people each year. 

 We had beautiful weather all week and then the rain was moving in.  We were so grateful it rained all night and stopped for us to go see the castles.  It would not have been possible in the rain.  We walked 15,900 steps, 6.4 miles and 44 flights of stairs.  It was very steep and the altitude was very hard for me to breath.  We made it and it was worth it.  If I come again I will pay to ride the horse drawn carriages to the castles!

 Our Mission President and Sister Brown.  We are so fortunate to have them with us today and love them and appreciate their guidance and influence in our lives.

 We  walked to this bridge and took the pictures below from the bridge.  It was a very steep climb.

Swans are the theme of both castles.  They are found in much of the artwork and sculptures.  Many of the paintings are from the plays and musical works of Wagner and others of that time period.  Wagner spent time at the castle as a guest and also composed some of his music while at the castle visiting. 
We were more than exhausted when we returned, just in time for a delicious dinner buffet of wonderful German foods.  It was a real treat.
We ended the night with a final class on dealing with Mental Health with Sister Thayne, the Area Mental Health Therapist for our Mission.
We have meetings until Noon on Saturday and then we are back on the road home.  There is no rest for the weary as we will be feeding the YSA Dinner on Sunday and off to Schwenningen for District Council on Monday and another lunch to fix.  I have so loved this week and am sorry to have it come to a close.  Wonderful memories and friendships made.  Today was transfer calls and we found out we are loosing Elder Robertson to Salzburg.  We are so sorry he will be leaving.  We have really enjoyed serving with him.  I asked what he wanted for his last District Council lunch and he asked for enchiladas - so I will be making chicken enchiladas for Monday.

 We stopped at one last Church on our way out of Fussen on Saturday.  This is Wieskirche:  a beautiful oval, rococo Pilgrimage Church built in the 1740's.  It is about 20 minutes out of the city in the middle of rolling hills and filled with dandelions and lots of cows.  You have to park and walk down this road to get to the Church.  When we arrived, they were not allowing visitors because there was a wedding taking place inside.  A lady came and let us in and we were able to look through glass doors and see the beauty of this Church.  It was so cold inside, the bride had to put on a sweater over her dress to stay warm.

 It is still amazing to me how they built these Churches so far away and so magnificent.  As we were leaving, a little German band was getting ready to play as the bride and groom came out of the Church.  It was fun to hear and see.  We could not believe how many tour buses there were for the people to see the church. 

 This is the inside of the Church and it was very beautiful.  The newer Churches are much brighter and vibrant colors.  This is almost 300 years old and the colors are amazing.

German version of bluebonnets - dandelion fields!

 The fields are so pretty.  We loved driving in the countryside and seeing so many flowers.  We drove home in the rain most of the day and as we got closer to home it turned into an all out Spring Snow Storm.  Actually more snow in the valley than we had had all Winter.  It was actually very pretty with the vibrant green fields.  We hope the vineyards and orchards are OK.  It has turned very cold.

  Coming through the canyon into the City. 
We had a wonderful week.  It was hard to say good bye to all of the friends we made at the conference.  A new missionary couple from Switzerland invited us to stay in their home when we go to do Inspections next month.  It is so nice to meet new people and to make new friends. 

We are so grateful for our family and for the love and support they give us.  We appreciate our friends and neighbors who take the time to read and share in our adventures and encourage us in all that we are doing. 
We are so blessed to be living here and serving and having the experiences with so many people.  Life is good.
Viel Liebe,
The Grimmett's