AUGUST 12 - SEPTEMBER 25, 2018 FREIBERG, ROTHENBURG, GERMANY, AND TOUR THROUGH SWITZERLAND

     Summertime in Freiberg lends itself to beautiful flowers, foliage, green rolling hills, and beautiful sunsets.

  We were driving through the small neighboring town of Grossschirma and saw this very beautiful sunset. Couldn't resist taking a picture of it.





     Freiberg is surrounded by beautiful walds (forests.)  One evening eight of us missionary couples walked to a local restaurant for dinner, and to visit with the owner of the restaurant about the country of Poland.  His wife comes from Poland, and some missionaries are planning a visit to the salt mines near Krakow, Poland. After dining, and the visit, we decided to take a different path walking through the forest than we were familiar with.

When we emerged from the woods, we realized that we were  about two kilometers outside of Freiberg.  So for fun we took this picture of ourselves thumbing a ride back into town.  In reality, we hiked back into town, but thank goodness it was a warm beautiful evening, and the walking did us good.

After dining, and the visit, we decided to take a different path walking through the forest than we were familiar with.

THE HITCHHIKERS

When we emerged from the woods, we realized that we were  about two kilometers outside of Freiberg.  So for fun we took this picture of ourselves thumbing a ride back into town.  In reality, we hiked back into town, but thank goodness it was a warm beautiful evening, and the walking did us good.






     Bill and I have both celebrated birthdays recently; Bill, his 76th birthday on August 19th,  and I turned 73 on September 1st.  We celebrated by going to dinner with friends at our favorite restaurant in Freiberg, The Schwanschlosschen.  The other U.S. missionary couples went with us and we all enjoyed a lovely dinner.

THE BIRTHDAY DINNER

     On September 10th, we were invited to go to Reichenbach, Germany to visit a Jewish Cultural Museum.  Our guide through the museum told us much about Jewish history, and we saw a video about the city of Jerusalem.  The displays in the museum explained about the Menorah, the temples of Herod and Solomon, The Portable Tabernacle carried around by the Children of Israel in their wanderings,  plus displays showing the Torah and scripture scrolls such as were read in the synagogues at the time of Christ.

THE MENORAH

ROBES OF THE HIGH PRIEST

I especially enjoyed seeing the display of the robes worn by the Levite Priests, and the Jewish High Priests.  I came away with a better understanding of  the sacrificing of the animals in the temples, where they were kept, and how prepared for the sacrifice.
   

       After our museum tour, we all went to lunch in Reichenbach, and then were taken outside of the town to see a huge bridge.

This bridge is the tallest brick bridge in the world.

LARGEST BRICK BRIDGE IN THE WORLD

  It was built in Reichenbach  in 1932.  The top layer was for trains.  We are not sure what the other layers were used for, but it was quite impressive.

     On the night of September 15, 2018, the Freiberg Temple closed for two weeks for cleaning.

GISELA BROSCH & ME IN NUREMBERG!

The next day, after Sacrament Meeting, Bill and I left to drive to Nuremberg, Germany, to visit  Sister Gisela Brosch, who has worked in the temple with us.  She invited us to stay in her home, and to show us around Nuremberg.
   




     Nuremberg is a beautiful city located in Bavaria.  It is known for its medieval architecture,  haunting Nazi past, and Germany's biggest Christmas market.  We strolled through the Old Town and enjoyed seeing the beautiful fountains, and the St. Lawrence Church.   It was built as a Catholic Church, but the interior wasn't finished until a century later, just in time for the Reformation, so it is now a Lutheran church.  The decorations inside were donated by wealthy Nurembergers trying to cut down on their time in Purgatory.



     We continued our tour by driving past the Nazi Documentation Center.

HITLER RALLY GROUNDS

This museum traces the evolution of the National Socialist Movement and how it energized and terrified the German people.  We, also, saw the Nazi Rally Grounds where Hitler's largest demonstrations took place .  We drove past the building where the Nuremberg Trials were held following the War's end.

   

     We enjoyed walking around  Nuremberg's Imperial Castle (Kaiserburg.)  In the Middle Ages, Holy
Roman Emperors stayed here when they were in town, and the imperial cross, sword and crown were stored here from 1424 to 1796.

CHURCH ON TOWN SQUARE WITH AMAZING CLOCK

   Nuremberg's most famous artist, Albrecht Durer, spent the last 20 years of his life here.  His home is located near the castle.  Durer was a contemporary of Michelangelo .  He studied in Venice and brought the Renaissance to stodgy medieval Germany.




     Arriving at beautiful Lake Constance ( or the Bodensee) as it is also known .  We stopped at Lindau, in Germany, for lunch.  We had been to Lindau Harbor with David, Jennifer and their children back in March.  It was good to see it in September, when it was much warmer and less covered in fog.  Lake Constance is a very beautiful lake.  Our hotel was on the shores of Lake Constance, in Arbon.  Bill served in Arbon when he was a  missionary in the 1960's.  We enjoyed walking around parts of the city and strolling by the lake.  We even think we found the building where his apartment had been when he served there.

BEAUTIFUL LAKE CONSTANCE FROM WALSENHAUSEN

     One of our main purposes for going to Switzerland was to visit the ancestral town of Bill's Great, Great Grandfather, Johannes Rohner.  He and his family joined the church when he lived in Walsenhausen in the 1800's, and then immigrated with his family to New Harmony, Utah, near Cedar City, to be with other members of the church.  We tried to find records in the city that would give us an address to his home, but were told that all records that old were in the archives in Herisau, twenty miles away.

ARCHIVE HELP IN HERISAU

We drove to Herisau, met with a very kind woman, who found records for us, and an address where Johannes Rohner's house used to be.  We drove back to Walsenhausen, and finally met someone who recognized the family name, and personally drove us to the Rohner homestead.  Bill walked up to the house and met a man there, who it turns out, was a Rohner.  He and his mother were working to clean and make repairs on the house, but it was definitely Johannes Rohner's old home.  We visited with the mother of the man Bill met, an 86 year old woman, named Heidi Rohner. 

ROHNER HOMESTEAD IN WALSENHAUSEN

 She shared with us what she knew of the family, and showed us pictures of her family.  She and her son were so welcoming and kind to us.  We felt so blessed and happy to have found them, and to be able to see the place where our ancestors came from.




     Upon leaving Arbon, we drove to Chur (pronunced Coor), another of Bill's mission areas of service.  He really wanted to take a cable car to the top of the Alps and view the city, as he had done as a missionary.  We rode the cable car 3/4 of the way up and then switched to a gondola car to go the rest of the way.  When we got to the top, WHAT A VIEW!  I felt on top of the world, surrounded by mountain after mountain.  What surprised me was that people had built cabins up there, there was a fire hydrant, restaurants, a sewer system, paved pathways, the whole shebang!  We saw the  Swiss cows and heard their cowbells ringing.

BILL WITH HEIDI & PAUL ROHNER

  I sort of felt like I was in Island Park, except that I was on the top of a mountain.  These Swiss people really make use of the mountains!  What beautiful scenery!




     Next destination, Ebnat Kappel!  This place had special meaning for Bill, because he came here at the conclusion of his mission and worked on a chapel for a month.  He stayed at the home of the Branch President, and helped to finish putting the roof on the chapel.  It is interesting to know that, after Bill returned home, Jack Sommer from Rexburg went over and did the brick and tile work on the Chapel.  Bill was so happy to be able to see that the church still looked good, and the Ward was still functioning.




     The Swiss Temple was a special place we wanted to visit.

CHURCH AT EBNAT KAPPEL- BILL HELPED TO BUILD IT!

  Zollikofen has a Herberger, or patron housing area, where we had reservations.  We had some Rohner relative names for which we wanted to do endowments and sealings.  Bill and I stayed in the Herberger for two nights, and attended four endowment sessions and one sealing session.  Our sealing session was done in French, and our endowment sessions were one in German, two in French, and one in Italian.  There are a lot of French and Italian  temple workers.  In fact, the temple president is from France.

VISITING THE BEAUTIFUL SWISS TEMPLE IN ZOLLIKOFEN

  He and his counselors, and other temple workers were so kind and welcoming to us.  The Swiss Temple is now 60 years old.  It is much larger than the Freiberg Temple, and is very beautiful.  However, that said, I'm glad that I don't have to climb all the stairs found in the Swiss Temple!





     As we prepared to leave Switzerland, we decided to make a quick stop in Bern, the capital city, and see where the parliament meets, etc.  You can't get that close to Bern, and not see a little of it.  We parked the car and strolled down one of the main boulevards toward the Parliament buildings.  Bern is built close to the Aare River.  We got a beautiful view of the river behind the parliament  buildings.  As we worked our way around town viewing some other sites, much to our surprise, we found ourselves in the middle of a group of about 500 protesters, waving flags, posters, and yelling phrases.

PROTESTORS FOR EQUAL PAY FOR WOMEN - BERN , SWITZERLAND

  As we tried to cross the street, I hoped I wouldn't fall and get trampled. I asked Bill what he thought they were protesting about.  A man on the street said "they are protesting for equal pay for women as for men, something your country could try to emulate, I assume you are Americans."  I said we were Americans, and he said, "I used to be American, but now I am Swiss.  I became a Swiss citizen 22 years ago, and I've never regretted it."  I wished him a happy life, and we went on our way.  Located next to the parliament building is the Swiss Bank.

BERN, WITH AARE RIVER IN BACKGROUND

Half of the country's gold is kept there, and the other half of the gold is kept in Zurich.







          We had the opportunity to attend church in the city of Burgdorf, another area of missionary service for Bill.  We found the church, and were even able to go inside, where we found,  and visited with two of our missionaries who serve in the Alpine Mission.  One was from Denmark, and knew Bradley Dickson, from our home ward in Rexburg, and the other missionary was from Switzerland.  Small world, HUH!  The Burgdorf  Ward is quite large and well established.  They meet in a nice building located in the middle of a housing development.  Bill enjoyed visiting with a few of the members, but didn't really see anyone he knew from the past.  Upon leaving Burgdorf we drove through Lucern, a beautiful city that Bill used to visit to attend missionary meetings.

COVERED BRIDGE IN LUZERN

  We, also, drove to Interlaken, which is a lovely area surrounded by beautiful lakes and mountains.  We ate our sandwiches on the shore of The Brienzersee, just as the sun was going down.



        Crossing the border back into Germany, we programmed our GPS to take us to Rothenburg,  Rothenburg ob der Tauber, ( which means it is located on the Tauber River,) is Germany's best preserved Medieval walled town.  It dates back to the 1100's.  Today it enjoys tremendous popularity as a tourist town.

THE BRIENZERSEE LAKE NEAR INTERLAKEN

 Two thirds of its 2,000 people live there to serve the tourists.  We spent about 3 hours walking around the Old Town, including walking 1/2  of the way on the wall of the city.  Rothenburg has very nice shops for buying authentic German dirndls, pottery, baked goods, and Christmas decorations.






      A special experience for us was taking the Nightwatchman's Tour.  At 8 pm we met about 100 other English speaking people and walked  the streets, and listened to his description of what life was like in Medieval times in this village.  He did such a good job.  It was a beautiful, crisp evening with an, almost, full moon shining!

NIGHTWATCHMAN - IN ROTHENBURG

  We enjoyed a Rothenburger pastry, and a cup of hot chocolate, bought a couple of Christmas decorations at the Christmas shop and hurried back to our hotel ( which is 600  years old.)




      What a marvelous experience we have had seeing so much beautiful scenery!  The Lord really did create a beautiful earth for us.  We were happy to arrive back in Freiberg safely, and find our little apartment waiting for us just as we left it.  The temple opens again on October 2nd, and we begin the last month of our mission.  We have been so blessed.





RANDOM PHOTOS:

WALKING THE WALL - ROTHENBURG

   
   
   

JOHANNES ROHNER FAMILY CREST ON HOME IN WALSENHAUSEN