David, Elise, Aiden and Sylvie arrived in Germany on May 6. We met them at the Frankfurt Temple and it was raining. We had planned to have a picnic at the kurpark in Bad Homburg where dad served when he was here as a missionary. It was raining very hard. We took a walk with umbrellas through the park and saw the Siamese Temple that is quite famous and then stood under the lifted tailgate of the car and fixed sandwiches and ate in our cars. We then drove to St Goar and checked into our hotel—the Hotel Schloss Rheinfels. . We went to the river area and boarded a boat for our Rhine River Cruise. It was still raining but it was so beautiful. We saw lots of trains going along both sides of the river and lots of barges. We saw beautiful castles and landscape and unique little dorfs. We rode the train back to St Goar and went to the hotel for dinner. It was a beautiful dining room and great service. I had the best fish ever. Aiden and Sylvie were so tired they fell asleep sitting up in their chairs. David and Elise left before desert and took them to bed. Dad and I stayed and shared a great desert. A great dinner deserves a great desert. The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel and then saw the Rheinfels Castle (in the rain). We then drove to Koblentz and parked the car and took the train into Cologne. The train ride was Aiden’s favorite and he wanted to keep riding. We bought a great little treat at a bahnhof backery—a strawberry rhubarb streusel and some big pretzels. We got off the train and the Dom was directly in front of us. The younger Hadley family climbed the stairs to the top of the cathedral but dad and I stayed and took pictures and saw the art work. We took the train back to Koblenz and picked up our cars and headed for Beilstein and the Hotel Haus Lipmann in the Mosel River Valley. We got lost a little on one of the turns and our GPS system lost its signal but it was just a 30 minute drive in the wrong direction. We had Aiden and Sylvie with us. They fell asleep about 30 minutes from the hotel. The hotel is right on the river and it so cute. It has been owned by the same family for 200 years and the rooms were very comfortable. We ate dinner there and breakfast the next morning. We wandered around the town and saw the church and the cute little shops, cute little houses and wonderful scenery. The next morning we went to Burg Eltz—a castle that is in the middle of a forest and has never been affected by any war. It is still used by the original family that owns it but a part of it is used for tours. We waited for the English tour and so we met many Americans there. It was a great tour and our guide was very good. Sylvie kept asking where is Cinderella. We stopped at the little Imbiss and got a curry wurst and some fries and had a little snack. We then headed for Darmstadt. We arrived here about 4:30 pm and went to the market Rewe and bought some food for dinner and tomorrow. We came home and ate chicken and au gratin potatoes and a salad and some great Germany pastries we had chosen at the backery. We then found our beds and slept well. Sunday morning we went to church and David and Elise met our ward and the young single adults. David and Sylvie had a nap during the last part of sacrament meeting. We came home and ate a quick lunch and then headed for the black forest. We stayed at a wonderful hotel called Traube Tonbach. It was so beautiful there. We got checked in and then went to dinner in the hotel. Sylvie and Aiden were tired but they brought them fries and fish sticks and apple juice and we began our 7 course meal. We had the salad and the soup when it was evident that the children would need bed soon. We asked if we could take a break from eating and put the children to bed. They did that for us. Dad and I had about half an hour together while the children went to sleep and then we resumed our dinner. We had a strawberry sorbet to cleanse the palate and then we had the main dish. I chose the pork with brown rice and veggies and a hoisin sauce. Dad chose the fish with noodles and veggies. Then we went to the cheese bar and were able to choose any of 15 or so cheeses to sample. Dad kept asking for more. I think this was his favorite part. The cheese was wonderful. We then had desert—a chocolate mouse thing and mango sorbet. It was so beautiful and tasted so great. We closed the restaurant and went to the room. We tried to Skype everyone but only made it to Heidi and Becki and we were so tired we had to quit. The next morning I slept while Dad, David and Elise went on a hike. The kids went to the kids club. We then went to breakfast which was great. The younger Hadley family then went swimming. We got packed and checked out and we headed for Darmstadt and David and Elise went to Reute in Austria where they will see more castles, churches and then to Salzburg to see the Sound of Music things. We will meet them on Friday in Miltenberg to see a small German city. It was so wonderful to spend some time with them. It has renewed me.
We had planned to spend 14 May with David and Elise. They called us from Rothenberg on 13 May—a German holiday. They had left their passports in Salzburg and were trying to have them express mailed to Darmstadt. Everything was closed even the US Embassy. They decided to wait until the next morning to see what they could do. The chain of events made it so that David and Elise would have to drive back to Salzburg—a nine hour trip—to retrieve their passports. We drove to meet them half way in Heilbronn and we would get Aiden and Sylvie for the day and they would go to Salzburg. We met them at one of the exits to the city which happened to have a McDonalds with a McCafe with internet service. It was one of the nicest McDonalds I have ever been in. They ordered happy meals for the kids because they had toys in them—hot wheels and hello kitty. The kids ate and David got on the internet to see if anything had happened to make a connection with the US Embassy only to find out that they would not be in until Monday. David and Elise then headed for Salzburg. We took Aiden and Sylvie and headed for Darmstadt. We stopped at the market to get a few items and let the kids push the small carts around and then we came to our apartment. We then planned to go to the toy store in downtown Darmstadt. We loaded the kids in the car and went to Faix. It is a 4 story toy store and it was well worth the time we spent there. Aiden found some parts for his Playmobile Train and Sylvie found some lip gloss that was pink. I bought a toy for each of them and a gift for Eli and Annie for their birthday. Elise will take those home and send them to those kids. We went home and played inside because it was still raining and very cold. We fixed dinner and ate and then we heard from David and Elise. They were about an hour and half from our home and it was 8:00 pm. We put kids to bed and then just as Aiden was going to sleep David and Elise got here. They ate dinner and we talked. I love the conversation with those I love. We went to bed after they got everything packed and ready for the next morning. We woke and had breakfast and then went for a walk in our forest path. They left for the airport about 10:30 am and we stood and waived farewell to our sweet kids. We will miss them but we really enjoyed their visit and uplift while they were here. They called tonight and they are home and safe. We love them very much. Now we need to get back to missionary work and have our focus be there.
