Switzerland and 3 months in Germany!

Remember to see Nancy's email for details.  She is a great writer.

On Friday, Elder Uchtdorf came to our church building for a mission conference.  I always like his talks and he is much better in person.  I'm glad we were here for that.

We arrived to Germany 3 months ago today.  It has been a great 3 months.  We will need to apply for a driver's license now, and wait for our residency card before we can travel out of the country.  In other words, we are no longer tourists.  

Last weekend we were able to go to Peter and Karla Huber's home in Nuglar Switzerland for Easter.  It was a weekend full of wonder.  Nuglar is a small town of about 1,600 people nestled in green rolling hills covered with cherry trees.  There are walking paths all through the hills and trees and it was magical strolling on them together, and with Peter and Karla.  

We drive from Frankfurt to Nuglar was a little less than 4 hours.  We left Friday morning in time to arrive for a family BBQ at noon.  Peter and Karla have four girls who are all married.  They also have 3 grandchildren.  All of them were there for the BBQ.  They were all very kind, fun, and good to us.  They spoke English to help us feel at home.  We finally told them to relax and speak German because we loved hearing them speak to each other.  They did, and it was very fun.  We laughed, ate duck, salmon, and pork, had an easter egg hunt, and just enjoyed being together in the backyard. All the kids went home that night and Nancy and I stayed until Monday.

On Saturday, we went to Grindelwald and took a gondola and train to the "Top of Europe."  The top of Europe is situated among the Eiger, Mt. Monk, and Yuenfrayjoch (which means virgin).  The story is that the virgin remained a virgin because the monk was between her and the Eiger.  At the top we were able to see and walk around the biggest glacier in Europe.  Peter and I hiked to the warming hut a mile or so above the lookout area while Nancy and Karla went to a restaurant and relaxed.  Peter and I had hot chocolate and apple pie at the warming hut, then we hiked back down to spend the rest of the day with Nancy and Karla.  They have drilled tunnels in the glacier and we were able to go inside the ice tunnels.  After a nice full day at the top, we went down and continued our journey.  We went to a nice hotel on the lake in Iseltwald for dinner, and walked to a castle after dinner.  Then we drove through Interlocken.  Interlocken is a very touristy town between two lakes.    

On Sunday, we went to church with Peter, Karla, and Peter's mother.  I met people I have been corresponding through the ERC and it was fun to put real people with names.  Chris Knabe translated sacrament meeting for me, and we spoke with Peter Kopp's dad for a while.  Lots of fun.  Sunday afternoon we took a walk through the cherry trees and that night we went to Belcherfluer to watch the sunset.  It was a little cold, but very pretty.  My kidney stone caught me by surprise one time and I screamed . . . scaring a young girl who was also at the overlook.  I apologized, and she laughed.

On Monday, we had a nice breakfast and then drove to the Dome Arlesheim.  It was a Catholic Church, but had light colors.  From there we went to The Green Park (Park in Gruen).  A few years ago they created a man made lake here for an Expo type event.  They were supposed to get rid of the lake after the Expo, but there was a public outcry, so they kept the lake and the park.  It was very peaceful.

We drove home to Frankfurt in time to attend the Area Family Home Evening to hear reports from our friends the Footes and the Smarts and the Allreds.  They had slides and stories of their experiences in Poland working with the Ukrainian refugees.

Here are some pictures:

BBQ with Peter and Karla's family.  

Hiking to the warming hut.  

Manuela and Tim.  She crushed a chocolate bunny for everyone to eat.

Fun with easter eggs in the backyard.

In the gondola from Grindelwald to the Top of Europe (Eiger, Mt. Monk, Yuenfraujoch)

Nancy and Karl on the train after the gondola.  It was in tunnels most of the way.

Selfie looking down on the Alps.

Glaciers and Ice

Karla and Peter Huber and Nancy

Greg and Peter hiking to the warming hut on the way to the Eiger.

Dinner in Iseltwald.  

Inside the glacier.  It was cool in more ways than one.

Breakfast in Karla's kitchen.  Very Swiss.

Peter and Karla Huber in the ice tunnels.

The sunset at Belcherfluer


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