Last year, we had the pleasure of a visit from our son Chris
and his wife Abigail over the Christmas holidays. This year, they invited us to spend the
holidays with them in their new home in Stuttgart, Germany. After two Christmases away from home, we felt
it would be great to experience a cold Christmas. As some of you may know, Christmas with palm
trees and hot weather is hard to understand when you are from the Philadelphia
area.
We were sad to leave the children, staff and students at
Irente Children’s Home. Since the second
year students would be on holiday at the same time, we did not need to worry
about missing classes. With half of the
students away, the remaining ones would be busy caring for the children.
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Sunrise over Stuttgart at 8:05 AM!
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We flew to Frankfurt, Germany by way of Doha on Qatar
Airlines. Both of our flights were
great. Chris met us at the airport early
on the morning of the 18th of December and drove us to Stuttgart. We
were so glad to be with him and Abigail.
They moved to Germany last summer when Chris had an opportunity to work
there. They live in a residential area
of South Stuttgart in a beautiful apartment.
Other than the six flights of steps (120 to be exact), it is
perfect. They have the top two floors in
an old apartment building, along with a rooftop terrace. The apartment is completely renovated and
looks like it is brand new.
Stuttgart is a city meant for walking or public
transportation. There are buses, trains and
an underground to get you all around the area.
Tom walked every day and went in a new direction each time. He must have walked 50 miles while there. When we arrived the Christmas market was in full swing, with
small shops selling everything imaginable.
The big thing to drink was Gluhwein, a hot spiced wine, with many kinds
of wurst to eat.
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Medieval Ferris wheel, Esslingen
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We also visited a Christmas market in the town of Esslingen,
which has a medieval theme complete with a hand turned, wooden Ferris
wheel.
We spent a morning and lunch at
Hohenzollern Castle.
It was reconstructed
in the mid-1800’s on the site of the original, which was home to King Frederick
the Great.
Some parts of the castle are
from the previous castle.
It is situated
on top of a high hill and the view is spectacular.
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Christmas dinner |
On Christmas Eve, we went to an English speaking Anglican
church. The children were dressed in
beautiful costumes for the Nativity pageant, but their joy was no greater than
the children at Irente Church in their simple ones. Tom and I cooked roast beef and Yorkshire
Pudding (to Grandmom Mac’s recipe).
Using an
oven was different enough, but they have a convection oven,
which took some figuring out.
On Christmas Day, Abigail and Chris did the cooking. They had several families from the base join them and one couple brought two deep-fried turkeys! There was so much food it was hard to know
what to choose.
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Chris, Abigail & Tom on Alpspitz overlooking Garmisch |
The weekend after Christmas, we stayed at Edelweiss Resort
in Garmisch, in the Bavarian Alps. This
is a resort for military families on a base named for General George C Marshall
(of the Marshall Plan, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize). From the window of our room, we could see the
majestic mountains covered in snow. On
Saturday, we traveled by gondola up the Alpspitz to 2050 meters, where we watched skiers and drank hot chocolate in a small restaurant. It was incredible and incredibly cold! I spent that afternoon shoulder deep in an
outdoor hot tub at the resort and read. Chris,
Abigail and Tom all went to do their own things. We also walked through the town, which is
mostly known for the Winter Olympics back in the 30’s with Hitler
presiding. Looking out our window and
watching a train pass across the fields and hearing the high whistle, Tom said
it was like spending a weekend on a train platform. So true!
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Ulm Minster Lutheran Church |
On our way back to Stuttgart we visited the town of Ulm and saw Ulm Minster Lutheran Church. It is the tallest church in the world.
On New Year’s Eve day, our assignment was to go to a store
nearby the apartment to buy fireworks.
They are sold everywhere. We
picked up some bottle rockets, sparklers and some other types we did not know. One package had 30 tubes, and the other 86. Before
we left for some friends’ apartments, Chris set off some of the bottle rockets
from their rooftop. We were well
prepared with buckets of water in case of an accident. set off some more of the
fireworks from a sand box on her complex’s roof.
After visiting some of Chris and Abigail’s friends, we
walked down the pedestrian area in the center of Stuttgart. In the square near the palace, there was the
most tremendous display of fireworks we have ever scene. The remarkable thing about it was that
ordinary people set them off. This was
no roped-off, safety-hazard concerned display.
No, it was just thousands of fireworks, which shot into the air and
occasionally bounced off buildings. We
have never seen anything like it. They
were still going off after we were in bed at 1:30 am.
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Prague from the Moldau River |
Our visit to Prague, Czech Republic was wonderful. It is a place that we would highly recommend
to anyone with a desire for travel. Most
of the buildings in the Old Town are original and very ornate. There are churches everywhere and
palaces. We even saw a hall in one
palace where indoor jousting took place.
They had a special stairway to accommodate the horses. The Czech people were very friendly and the
food was good. Chris, Abigail, and I
went to the National Theater and saw the opera Carmen one night. Tom decided to pass on that.
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Christmas tree in Old Town Square, Prague |
Our time came to an end too quickly. We were sorry to leave, but also looking
forward to our return to Tanzania and the home.
We landed at Kilimanjaro Airport to warm weather and bright
sunshine. We were thankful for our safe
return. We thank God for the ability to
travel and see new places and people. We
are truly blessed.