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Preston, England

Another more relaxed day in England.

Today we received word the paperwork and everything has all been signed for our home.  The paperwork is off to Oklahoma City for the official closing on Monday.  I don’t know what could really change now.  By all accounts, we are now the proud owners of a little home in Oklahoma City.  Or at least we have a title to a home with a significant lien for a bank somewhere.  Hopefully everything continues to work out like it has so far.

We ran to the Preston England Temple today.  It is one of my favorite temples.  There is something in the simplistic beauty of it I adore.  Amanda agreed.  It is on par with the Rexburg and Vernal Temples for the simple elegance within.  We snapped a couple of pictures.  We also ran into a member I knew in the Wigan Ward.  He is now in the Temple Presidency and enjoyed a good visit with him.  We were supposed to go over and visit this evening, but our plans crowded it out in the end.  We had to reschedule it for tomorrow sometime.  We are going to work it out in church.

Afterward, Amanda and I ran into Preston.  I showed her the town center where the missionaries preached the gospel for the first time in the British Isles.  It is in Preston that the longest continuing unit of the church operates, the Preston Ward.  We ran out of time to go to the flat where Parley P Pratt and Orson Hyde were attacked by the legions of the devil.  We did not get a chance to see Avenham Park or the beautiful River Ribble where the first baptisms took place outside of North America.  We did not get over to see the apartment where President Hinckley received his famous “Forget yourself and go to work” letter on Wadham Road.  Perhaps sometime in the future.

We came back and were relaxed some more with the McCabes.  They treated us to a fine meal of South African descent.  They lived in South Africa for a number of years.  Later this year they are immigrating to Australia!  How is that for exciting.  When we make it to Australia, we know who we will be calling on!  Amanda and I made a call at Tesco today and purchased a Pavlova.  Boy, was I glad to get my hands on one.  We consumed it after dinner as one of our desserts.  Mmmmm.

I realized yesterday was the anniversary of Joseph Smith’s death.  I wonder specifically what he is doing these days.  What or where is he up to doing work?

Tomorrow we are off to attend the Wigan Ward.  Then we will go visit some of the new converts I helped bring into the church.  Sadly, I don’t think any of them are active.  But we shall find out.  I did find out Jim Monks knows where one of them lives.

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Hindley, England

We are now in Hindley, Lancashire, England.  We drove down here today to crash at the home of Hilton and Rhona McCabe.  I met them while as a missionary here about 8 years ago.  The friendship has continued and we have kept in contact.

We are waiting to hear word from Salt Lake City.  We are supposed to be closing on our home in Oklahoma City.  Hopefully everything works out.  We will find out tomorrow I guess.

Last night we spent our evening in Edinburgh, Scotland.  We walked throughout the city, saw the castle, the Holyrood residence, and the cathedral.  Amanda got to see her world famous Mary Kings Close.  It was very interesting.  We got our hostel for the equivalent of $30 which we thought was a gonga deal.

We landed in Prestwick on Thursday after flying out early from Charleroi Airport near Brussels.  We then picked up our hired car and drove to Glasgow and on to Edinburgh.  It took me a little bit, but I quickly adjusted to getting back on the wrong/left side of the road.

It is late and I am too tired to write more of our travels today or of what we did in Edinburgh.  We did stop to visit Downham, Clitheroe in Lancashire today where the entire town joined the church and later emigrated to Zion.  Now we are back in the old mission.  My second visit since being released.  It is good to be back.

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Lausanne, Geneva, and Paris

We did not have internet in Paris, so there has been a long silence.  Perhaps that is a good thing.

As a note, I did upload some photos on the blog.  They were the ones from Dresden.  Well, a few.  I hit my limit for the month for how many photos I can upload.  As soon as July 1st hits, I will start uploading again.  Sorry.  There are some great pictures from Dresden and Meissen.

We left Bern and started making our way to Paris.  We were planning on hitting the temple in Bern but after trying to figure out the buses, taxis, or trains with attendant costs, backpacks, and traveling all day in our church clothes, we threw in the towel.  We just started out for Paris.

We made stops in Lausanne and Geneva.  Lausanne was beautiful.  The view coming in over Lake Geneva was amazing.  Some of the Alps between Bern and Lausanne were breathtaking, much like the Alps we passed through in Northern Italy.  We were supposed to catch a train directly from Lausanne to Paris, but it was fully booked.  We were able to book a train from Geneva so we knew our time in Lausanne was limited.  We decided to hike up to the Lausanne Notre-Dame.  We stopped at some church on the way, St. Michaels or whatever.  We heard an Oomp Pah Pah (who knows what they are really called) in a park near the cathedral.  It was so hot, the sun was killing us, and we were wearing our backpacks climbing an asphalt mountain made for a welcome arrival at the top.  We enjoyed the hike back down to the station to head off for Geneva.

We had limited time at Geneva as well.  We walked over and saw the famous Jet d’Eau and enjoyed what little comfort the breeze brought to us from it.  It just made us want to jump into the water for some salvation from the heat.  We walked through the park to see the flower clock, which all these watch-makers got together to show their prowess.  This massive clock set in a flower bed.  However, it was more than 6 hours off, not one of the hands was on the right time.  Watch making prowess must have been a think of the past.  We then walked up to Saint Peter’s Cathedral where we toured where John Calvin taught.  The University of Geneva is right next door.  It was all very fascinating.  We then had to make our way back down to the train station so we could head off to Paris.

The ride to Paris could have been better.  We ended up in an assigned seat going backwards.  Plus this train was going much faster than the other trains we have been riding on it and it swayed back and forth.  I got sea sick on a train!  Boy was I glad when we got to land.  I wasn’t feeling well.

The next few days in Paris were a blur.  It was miserably hot, again, for the first two days.  We walked loads and both of us ended up with blisters on our feet.  Probably more from the swelling of our feet rubbing.  I was fortunate enough to get blisters between my big and index toes on both feet.  Amanda got them on top from her flip flops.  But it was quite the couple of days in Paris.  We hit all the big sites, except the Pantheon.  Arc de Triumphe, Place de la Concorde, Place de la Bastille, Champs-Elysees, Montmarte, L’Opera, Saint Denis Cathedral, Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, Louvre, Tuileries Gardens, Invalides, Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame de Paris, and Palais Versailles.  I am sure that is not even a full list.  But we saw them, and much of Paris in between.

Since it is late here, only a few highlights.  Amanda got to see the sun set from the top of the Eiffel Tower on the longest day of the year.  I was there too.  How romantic is that?  We had a fancy, full french meal before ascending the Eiffel’s nearly 700 steps to the second state.  Mine included deep fried turkey and marinated (basically pickled) red peppers.  I probably could have done without the peppers.  My baklava was amazing!

We climbed more than 1000 steps between Notre-Dame and the Eiffel Tower in one day.  On other days we climbed mont marte and a whole list of other stairs.  Add to that the oppressive heat, and some days we were about as good as dead when we got back to our hotel room.  Our hotel had no air conditioning!

We enjoyed French pastries every morning and every time Amanda would let us.

We did see the Venis d’ Milo and Mona Lisa, along with scores too many of other artworks.

The Metro of Paris is wonderful.  We could get to nearly anywhere in relative comfort.  However, some of them were hot and the air hung with a motor oil smell and greasiness.

We are glad to be back Oostrozebeke, Belgium for a day of laundry and relaxing.  Thursday we fly out for Glasgow.  Britain, here we come!

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Venice, Italy

I sent this one zesterdaz, but it did not go through for some reason.  Sorrz.

Just a quick update.  Internet here costs us roughly $10 an hour, so we are using as little time as possible.

We are in Venice.  Right on the Mediterranean, we are feeling the heat and humidity.  I am loving it, Amanda not so much so.  Last night, I had real Italian pizza and Amanda had real Italian pasta.  We are living the life of luxury.  We are in a nice little flat right off a campo (miniature piazza) and the place buzzes at all times of the day.  We arrived safely here from Salzburg.

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Bern, Switzerland

Hallo from Bern, Switzerland.  It has been a verz long daz working our waz through Northern Italz up here to Swityerland.  Zes, we are back to a German kezboard+  About the onlz thing reallz noteworthz todaz is that we made a stop over in Milano, oh and Zurich.  We will be seasoned train travelers the waz we are going.  I cannot forget to mention the endless tunnels as we worked our waz through the breathtaking Alps.

We left the Mediterranean humid heat to come to the Alpine drz heat of Bern.  Aren`t we luckz?

I know I onlz made passing mention of Venice in our verz short time on the internet there.  It was an interesting citz.  We enjozed our different Italian meals and some of the sights.  However, it was hot and sultrz.  We both ended up with blisters on our feet and enough swass for the rest of our lives.  It is the worst laid out citz on the planet.  Between the canals and small allezs, we never knew if we were coming or going.  There were manz wonderful things there, but neither of us think we will go back.

Bern has to be our favorite citz so far.  Dresden is definitelz a match, but unfortunatelz war removed most of its everz daz walk of life.  Bern was fortunate to maintain and hold most of its medieval roots.

We are learning a new currencz here.  We were feeling rich knowing the dollar was worth more than the Swiss Franc, but we are feeling poor watching how much higher everzthing is priced.

Tomorrow we hit the temple and start the long, long, long, long, long train ride to Paris.

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Salzburg to Venice

There is not a whole lot to share I think manz would be familiar with.

We did get a ride up to the Hohensalzburg, see the big main churches here in Salzburg, and visit the birthplace and home of Mozart.  Those were definitelz interesting.  This is definitelz the citz of little finds though.  From the antique shops to the other little sights, it has been verz interesting.  The best part is that our hotel was so close to everzthing and none of the daz was lost to travel.

Sadlz, we are headed for an 8 hour train ride to Venice todaz.

Well, somebodz is waiting for the computer.  Time to head out.

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Salzburg, Austria

A quick update.  We are back to the shortened e-mail times.

We are writing todaz from Salzburg, Austria.  We arrived last night about midnight.

Zesterdaz was spent traveling to familz historz sites for mz Wanner and Nuffer familz near Stuttgart.  We visited Holzgerlingen and Neuffen, the towns where thez lived in for several centuries.  Neuffen was well worth the trip.  Holzgerlingen turned out to be a bit of a dissapointment as there wasn’t much of anzthing old left.

On Sundaz we went in to Munich and visited the little village of Dachau.  There we spent a good portion of the daz in the Dachau Concentration Camp.  It was interesting to finallz visit one.  Dachau had built the ovens and gas showers for mass use, but fortunatelz thez were never used on a mass scale.  Thez were used, but in a limited sense.  It was interesting.

We maz have a chance to upload photos tonight.  Depending on what this computer will allow us to have access to (meaning, will we be able to find the camera or jump drive in order to upload).

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News of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castle

Sorrz I uploaded all the Dresden and Germanz photos wrong.  I have deleted them.  I have gone through and named The Netherlands photos.  Plus I have uploaded the photos from todaz.  When I get a chance I will go back and upload the Dresden, Berlin, Meißen, Roßwein, and Leipzig photos.

We have officiallz learned what the Mexicans must feel like in our nation.  Dresden wasn’t so bad as we knew where we were going and there were a few English speakers around.  Feeling our waz around Augsburg has been more difficult.  We went to a Piyya Hut tonight for some dinner and it was a new experience.  Good thing the name of the menu items are in English.  Of course, it was a joint KFC and Piyya Hut together.  The Greece-Russia soccer game was on the big screen on one side of the restaurant.  Zou can buz beer in the restaurant as well.  We ordered and left.  It was difficult.  Trzing to work out trains, even where we are if lost has been a pain.  We are slowlz picking up our German for sure!  Eingang is entrance, ausfahrt is exit.  I alreadz knew mz numbers so that has helped.

Todaz we headed for the famed Sleeping Beautz Castle, Neuschwanstein.  It took us a couple of hours to get there via tram, train, and bus.  It is a bit out of the waz.  But we took a tour of Hohenschwangau Castle as well! It was a full daz trip, but well worth while.