Monday August 4, 2008

 

 

Germany to Switzerland

 

Our first activity was seeing the Rhine River Valley from a chair lift.  Some chose to see the Rhine by taking a short bus trip.  Notice the chair lifts in this photo.

 

 

The group that went to the top of the chair lift area.

 

 

 

 

A beautiful view of the valley below.

 

 

Crossing the Rhine on a ferry.

 

 

The mill which was owned my Alexander Mack’s family

 

 

The church Alexander Mack attended as a boy.  He was also married in this church.

 

 

Our very capable guide in Schriesheim, Dr. Hans Jorg Schmidt (right) told us about the history of Alexander Mack and his family.  He took us to the mill, the church, then to the town hall where we learned more about the Mack family and saw some historic records.  He did some fabulous research.

The man on the left, Wlademir Starowiecki, happened to be in town, and was curious about us.  As I talked, I realized we needed Hans Jorg to interpret.  When I asked Wlademir a few questions about his life, he told about being imprisoned at Buchenwald concentration camp for three years.  We visited there last Thursday!  He was there when the American soldiers arrived and freed the prisoners.  We could have spent hours with him!  

 

 

Our last stop tonight was a hotel near Lucerne, Switzerland.

 

 

Don’t you feel sorry for us?  This is the view from our motel room.

 

 

During our cheese fondue supper, we were entertained by a wonderful Swiss Folklore Show.

 

 

At one point, these four men played a game exchanging their hats – as the music got faster and faster.  If they did not get the hat on the next man in time, they were out of the game, until only one remained.

 

 

Then they chose four of our men to play the game – Sam, Gordon, Cerwin, and Ken (with his back to the table).  Cerwin was declared the winner!

It was a fabulous day, and it is now 12:30 a.m. – time for this lady to get to bed.