Maggie, Lily, Trey, and I had the privilege of flying to London on March 27. I found super cheap tickets in August and had enough art money to plan this trip. We were blessed to spend time with our friends, the Chow family, first in London and then in their home in Rugby.
Tower of London
Tower Bridge
We traveled around London on a bus. That was such fun because we were above everything in a double decker, dry (it rained), and we didn't need to deal with traffic while seeing all the sites. Then we took a boat on the Thames. We stayed in Essex and I enjoyed jogs in the countryside.
We traveled north to Rugby, where I had the privilege to speak about "Where is Our True Home" at a Cream Tea.
The Chows
Exploring Rugby
Fast friends
Lilbourne Evangelical Chapel and Lilbourne on Easter Sunday, Chi Wah Chow preaching.
Warwick Castle
Although it was a rainy day, we enjoyed seeing the archer and the falconer. The falconer had huge eagles landing on his hand.
Time with Lisa
Dinner is fun with all these kids!
We flew on through Düsseldorf to Nürnberg. Sadly, our suitcases didn't make it for a day. But we so enjoyed the hospitality of my cousin, Raphael, and his wife, Kathrin, and their sweet children.
Marktplatz and Heilig Geist Spital
Schönbrunn and Burg
View from the Burg
I had the privilege of speaking in German about "Wo ist Unsere Wahre Heimat" at a women's breakfast at the Freien Baptisten-Gemeinde Nürnberg.
Someone pressed this into my hands
God keeps his promises. God's world is beautiful. And colorful! We saw fields dotted with purple and yellow. He is so creative!
It was a blessing to see my Onkel Joachim and Tante Elke.
From Nürnberg we traveled to Bochum to spend time with my father's side of the family. We got to stay with my cousin, Sabine, and her husband, Bernhard.
Hiking with Sabine.
I was so glad to see my cousins and Tante Siglinde...
...and the rest of family at a family gathering at my cousin Barbara's.
Hattingen is such a cute old town by the Ruhr River where we got to stay. I enjoyed jogs through the town and along the river.
Onkel Manfred and Tante Siglinde treated us to pizza, coffee, and ice cream in Hattingen.
My favorite drink!!!
With Sabine and Tante Siglinde
Best ice cream flavor: Hazelnut
Villa Hügel
Gasometer
Delicious crepe dinner
On route to Emden
Emden
Spitting sailor
Seebrücke Knock
View toward the Netherlands
Greetsiel
We had ice cream first...then a lunch of delicious fish & chips, and Bismarckhering on fresh rolls.
The North Sea and Norddeich
Watt is' datt? It's called "watt." It's the muddy bottom of the North Sea. You can walk on it at low tide all the way to the islands.
We enjoyed staying with my cousin, Johannes, and his wife, Gudrun, in Aurich. I loved runs along the canals.
We got to spend time with my Onkel Johannes and his friend, Edith in Westerstede.
Evening walk along the canal
Ewigen Meer
Next we took the train to Stuttgart.
Along the way, we saw the Rhein and castle, after castle, after castle.
We were so glad to spend time with our friends, the Krugers, and see some of the area.
We climbed this giant spiral tower at Höhenpark Killesberg. What a view!
Wilhema Zoologish-Botanishcher Garten. Lots of animals, including giraffes...
...and elephants.
Breakfast with Christy
Fildorado Erlebnisbad...such fun with a wave pool, water slides, whirlpool, and ice columns.
We got to explore a quaint town, Esslingen am Neckar.
We climbed over 300 stairs to the top.
For Lily's 14th birthday, we traveled to Strasbourg, France.
On the Rhine River
Cathédrale Notre-Dame
We celebrated in a cute cafe, where we got to eat all sorts of delights in a small upstairs room overlooking the garden.
Lily's choice for birthday cake
Our next stop, Switzerland. Our train went through Bern.
We got off the train in Thun, and took a bus to Interlaken where my cousin, Anja, greeted us. Anja and Roland hosted us in the Beatenberg Seminar Für Biblische Theologie.
This was our view, with Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau greeting us every day, and the Thunersee below.
The first evening we went for a walk, and a herd of sheep came down the road toward us!
Sunset made the Alps glow.
We journeyed down into Interlaken, which is between two lakes. I found a great deal on a latte macchiato and Apfelkuchen.
We spent one day on a climb up the Niederhorn.
Trey figured out that there were trail markers we needed to find.
On our hike, we came across this waterfall.
Trey and Lily took turns on a swing halfway up, while we ate lunch. The climb go a great deal more difficult after that, since there was still snow.
We made it!!!
We decided to go a more straight down route on the descent.
We loved hearing the cow bells.
Under the mountain, we explored the St. Beatus-Höhlen. These caves go way back into the mountain, with streams of rushing water, waterfalls, and still pools.
I enjoyed time with my cousin.
Maggie got a new dirndl, which she gave a spin on the Alpine slopes.
Lily joined in the fun.
I really enjoyed runs along the road overlooking the beauty of the Alps.
We caught the bus to the train.
We took 1 train all the way from Interlaken to Berlin. It had 3 major delays...but we enjoyed not needing to make any connections and conversing with all of the interesting passengers.
Berlin! We were so glad to spend some time with our friends, the Fröhlichs. This included (of course) walks to playgrounds...
...and helping with the backyard projects.
I was privileged to speak one more time to the women at a breakfast at the Evangeliums-Christengemeinde Hellersdorf-Berlin. What I said was translated into Russian as well.
May Day was spent having a giant picnic with the church at Schlosspark Oranienburg.
The kids and I journeyed into the inner city of Berlin. The first day, we visited Alexanderplatz...
...and the Pergamon Museum. Here are some bits from Ninevah.
And these walls are from Babylon.
We also visited the Ritter Sport factory.
And enjoyed some delicious chocolate at Rausch Schokoladenhaus.
Everything is made out of chocolate.
Holocaust Memorial
Brandenburg Tor
Reichstag
Siegessäule
Gedächniskirche
It was so special to get to know new friends...and enjoy pizza and crepes.
Maggie found this on the bakery bag, a quote from Göthe, saying that "even out of stones that are laid in your way, something nice can be built." On our second day exploring Berlin, we walked down the the East Side Gallery.
East Side Gallery. This was an interesting spot with a long stretch of Berlin Wall with art on it.
Then we walked along the Spree.
We crossed over the Schlossbrücke and searched for a place to eat.
The Bürgermeister looked interesting, but right on the road with not much seating...so we kept walking. Trey was thrilled with McDonalds (which is pretty tasty in Germany, I even got his Black Current Slush), but we found a great spot at Hühnerhaus and then grabbed some delicious ice cream near by. I found some cute second hand kids things at Rosenrot. And Markthalle Neun was full of interesting foods.
It was a blessing to see the downtown Europäisches Bibel Trainings Centrum and meet up with our friends, the Friessens.
Our third Berlin city travel day, we took the bus and then the Straßenbahn to Potsdam. The train station housed a McDonalds (for Trey) and delicious pizza for Maggie and me. Lily stayed home with the Fröhlichs to enjoy the kids and a quieter day. We walked the beautiful cobblestones and explored the Dutch Quarter.
Nauener Tor
Sanssouci Palace
Our time with this sweet family was a gift.
The kids loved playing together. Here they did charades.
On May 5th, we flew from Berlin to Oslo, to Oakland.
Berlin from on high.
We ended up with seats with lots of leg space.
When we landed, we went through passports and customs, and then a friend took Trey and Lily home so I could fly from Oakland to Burbank for Carl's graduation. Here is the sunset view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Landing in Burbank.
Carl graduated from Masters Seminary with a Doctor of Ministry on Sunday, May 6th. We enjoyed the worship at Grace Community Church that morning, a lunch with fellow doctoral students (where Carl was presented with a new tie), and then graduation.
Carl with his professors. He is fourth from the right.
Shaking John MacArthur's hand
My brother, Georg, and his wife, Jacqueline, and our daughter, Hanna, all joined in the festivities.
Celebration dinner
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