Dec. 8-14, 2019 Train Travel

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN GOOD FRIENDS GET TOGETHER -

EAT OF COURSE!

We had a wonderful week traveling back to Germany to visit our previous Zurich Zone Missionary Senior Couples, The Blanchards and the Bretzings.  We had a great gathering as we called it as we visited, did a service project, played games, visited sites, and ate a lot of good food.
Below is our family style dinner at a wonderful restaurant in Singen Germany.  It was Sauerbraten, Dumplings with a meatball inside, spatzle, cheese spazle, potatoes, bread, pumpkin soup and salad.  Sauerbraten is a traditional German roast of marinated meat.  It is known as a  national dish

Dumplings and Spatzle

 and is frequently served in German-style restaurants internationally.  We were at a 120 year old family owned restaurant where the owner came to the table at visited and took pictures with us.  Fun evening for all.

This is a picture of the owner and our waitress. 
We started the day with fresh biscuits and gravy, fruit and yogurt and lots of wonderful juices.  There is nothing like good food and wonderful friends!

Biscuits and Gravy

Our adventure began on Thursday morning at 7:00 AM.  We decided to take a train instead of driving for 9 hours.  It was a grand adventure.  We boarded the train and sat back and enjoyed the journey.

  Trains have become a way of life for us.  The long distance trains are much nicer than the ones we use around Vienna.  It was less expensive than renting a car and much less wear and tear on our physical well being.  I was finally able to see some of the scenery as we went along instead of just driving and watching the road.  We had several stops, but not long enough to even get off of the train.
Linz, Salzburg, Liechtenstein, Innsbruck, Zurich and Singen.  It began snowing soon after we departed Vienna and we were so glad we were not driving with the traffic and the weather to contend with.

outside of Salzburg

 You see places on a train you do not see in a car.  The clouds, fog, snow and sun rays created some very interesting scenes.  My camera and the moving train did not make for very good pictures.  One of the fun things was getting to go through Liechtenstein.  Since I had nothing but time, I did some research to find out "Who is Liechtenstein"! 

Liechtenst

Rhine Falls

It is a German-speaking (but really Swiss German) principality between Austria and Switzerland.  It is 25 km long  with an area of 62 square miles with only 5 kilometers of train rails in the whole country.  It is Europe's fourth -smallest country with a population of 38,000 people.  It is known for its medieval castles, alpine landscapes and villages linked by a network of trails.  It is a cultural and financial center.  Hilti tools is located here.  It is a semi-constitutional monarchy headed by the Prince of Liechtenstein.  Two of the princes live in Vienna where they have a large art collection.  It is mountainous, making it a winter sport destination.  It shares a monetary union with Switzerland.  Catholicism is the official state religion.  In schools, religious education in Roman Catholicism or Lutheran is legally required.  75.9% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith with 9.6% Protestant and 5.4% Islam.   It is a very wealthy country and the homes we saw were a good indication of that.

After being in the mountains for several hours and nearing our final destination, we emerged out of the mountains and the river was next to us and then Rhine Falls appeared.  We visited here in Sept. of 2018 just after we arrived in Germany.  We took a boat ride close to the falls.  This was a different view and it was beautiful. 


We were warmly welcomed by our friends and we all stayed at the home of Elder and Sister Blanchard.  They have one of the nicest homes in the mission.  It is large and they can accommodate up to 10 in beds. 

 They have turned their 400 year old cellar into a lovely bedroom.  We opted to take the cellar bedroom.  They have worked really hard to make it comfortable for guests.  You walk down these very old stairs and enter into this stone room. It is amazing to see the old and new construction.  The original alcove in the wall was a wonderful space for a night light. 

We ended our first night with a very special Christmas tradition.

This is a Christmas Pyramid or Tower.  We were each asked to tell a story or experience that expresses our feelings of Christmas or of blessings we have received this past year.  We each took a turn and when we finished our story we lit a candle.  In the end we had all 6 candles lit and the tower was spinning.  It was a wonderful evening of sharing and it also strengthened our friendships and love of serving as missionaries. 
We were able to take care of some German Banking business that we needed done and then we were all off to Insel Mainau -  this is an Island on the Bodensee that we have visited a few times before.  Their brochure and website say it is a winter wonderland and a great place to visit in December.  We were glad to be able to return and use our Season Passes one more time.  It is good that we had good people to be with and other things that made the trip worthwhile.

Instead of a large Christmas market as advertised with Swedish traditions and cooking classes, we found the island almost deserted and barely open.  They said some things would open later in the day.  It was a disappointment, but still worth the visit.
This is a large group of ducks and swans gathered together  for the Winter season. 

 This is the famous peacock on the island.  It is dormant at the time.  It will be beautiful again in the Spring.

 Beautiful rainbow as the snow had stopped and a little rain had fallen.  The sun was trying to come out and the sky was beautiful.

 Two funny men resting under the mistletoe tree.  I wonder who they can be?

Swedish Market

 The advertisements said this was a large Swedish market with entertainment, cooking classes and food.  It consisted of this tower, these two Swedish reindeer and 4 small food and gift booths.  We had fun with all of it anyway.

Nativity inside of the Palace Church

The Blanchard's, Bretzing's and Grimmett's

 They were getting ready for the Lucia festival that evening.  This is a Swedish tradition.  The decorations were very festive and beautiful.  They let us go in and take pictures.  That was the highlight of the island.

Another interesting place on the Island is the Butterfly house.  We saw this transparent butterfly and it was so interesting.  There were many of them on the plants and this one was particularly interesting next to the flower.  Take a close look and see that you can see through the wings. 

We went to dinner at the restaurant I told about above and then settled in to complete a service project by filling 90 bags for a Christmas treat for the missionaries.  They had a apple, orange, nuts, candy, chocolates and a candy cane.  We had a lot of fun working together and talking.  We ended the night with a few games of Skipbo.  The day went way too fast and it was a long way to go for a short visit, but it was worth every minute of it. 
Saturday we were up early and back at the train station for our return trip.  Once again, we were so grateful we were not driving and could enjoy the ride home and catch up on some reading and planning for the next weeks activities.

These are pictures of Lake Zurich.  It is a very large lake and some beautiful homes and resorts all around the lake.  Again, the sky gave us a beautiful canvas to look at.

castle on the hill

Innsbruck

This is the mountain that we rode the train up and then climbed a little to the top back in October.  We were there when they got their first snow fall.  It has a lot more snow now and lots of skiing in the area.

These three days were a wonderful Christmas Present.  We are so grateful to have wonderful friends and our Mission President who let us take the time and go.  It will help us get through the next ten days before Christmas!

 We had 4 missionaries for Sunday dinner.  At the end of dinner we shared a Christmas tradition and then lit the Nativity tower.  There is something about fire that mesmerizes people.  This picture shows everyone intent on watching the lit candles providing the power for the tower to spin.  It was magical to watch them.

 So what do you do when you need to make a cake for a Birthday on Monday and it calls for apple sauce and you don't  have any?  MAKE SOME!  I took some apples and put them in my insta pot and in about 10 minutes I had the best homemade applesauce.  I made this Chocolate Chip cake for Elder Bennett and it turned out really good. Again, everything made from scratch, even when I don't really want to.

Elder Bennett blowing out the candle.

Shenan Owens, one of our BYU students came by the Institute on Monday afternoon with her mother. They had just completed a 10 day tour of Germany, Hungary and Italy.  We were so glad to see her again before she flies back to the USA on Tuesday morning.  Her mother brought me a very nice Texas Dish towel and some Steak seasoning from Buckee's.  Now that is Texas Hospitality!

 On Tuesday we took about an hour and went to see the Christmas market at Schonbrunn Palace.  It was one of our favorites.  It was local craftsman instead of all the import vendors.  It was really nice, but a very cold and windy day. 

Potato Vendor

 This is a Potato cooker.  Being from Idaho, we just had to have a picture.  Next to it is the booth to get all things baked potato.  It looked like a good place to eat.

We enjoyed looking at the many booths and varied wares for sale.




So, we were just planning to look for a few gifts and I did find what I was looking for and then, there was a nice booth that all items were made from beeswax.  The Nativities were simple and very unique, so yes, I broke down and purchased another Nativity.  It was made in Hungary and the collection continues to grow!

We left the market and met two of our Sister missionaries and another friend of the Church who is from Turkey.  She took us to a Turkish market to shop and is going to help me make the food for our Zone Conference on Dec. 23.  She is going to teach us how to do stuffed grape leaves and then I am doing our traditional Night in Bethlehem dinner.  We had so much fun at the market and the young sister missionaries learned a lot.  They were fascinated by the market and all that it offered.  They had never been in a Turkish market and it was a real experience for them.  I will write more on the dinner next week.

Wednesday was our last Institute class for this year.  We will have a 3 week break and then start back in January.  We had another record group with 41 and I had about 10 in the English class.  We have a good group and I really enjoy the class.  We talked about the time between the death and burial of Jesus Christ and His resurrection three days later.  According to modern day revelation, as found in the Doctrine and Covenants Section 138, we know that Jesus Christ spent that time in the Spirit World with the righteous spirits who had died before him and were waiting for His resurrection so that they too could be resurrected.  It was because of those three days and what work He did during that time that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints builds Temples on the earth today.  We have a great work in continuing the work He set up for us to do in behalf of those who have died.  It was a lesson that I learned so much from as I prepared.  It was a great lesson to end the year on as we prepare for the Christmas Season and the Birth of Jesus Christ. 

So, all in all and very good week.  We continue to stay too busy, but anxiously engaged in The Lord's work.  We are doing the needful things and some of the things we have done in past years are on hold for now.  We have a different purpose and focus in our lives right now and we are trying to make the most of where we are and what we are doing.  We have so enjoyed the Christmas cards we have received - it really means a lot to us.  I am hoping to get ours out to everyone this week. 
Viel Liebe,
The Grimmett's