My Birthday Weekend

Once we already had a rental car for a trip to our temple in Frankfurt, Myles was nice about helping me plan a last-minute extension for the long holiday weekend, so we could meet some friends and see a few new places.  It happened to be my B-day weekend, which was great timing!

We were married in this temple in Utah, and are grateful to have a temple not too far away from us in Germany.  The temple is a great place to feel peace and continue learning about our Savior.  The girls were excited about seeing this temple for the first time and staying in a guest house on the temple grounds which used to be a fire house.




We then drove on for our first visit to East Germany.  We stayed in Arnstadt, a cute, little town that's over 500 years old, and were able to visit the church where Sebastian Bach played the organ for a few years.  It was interesting how dark the church looked from the outside, but how light it was in the inside with the light coming in through the stained-glass windows.

We enjoyed seeing lots of castles and castle ruins from the car on our drive.  We were blessed with warm, sunny weather almost the whole time.





We were excited to meet some friends in Erfurt who helped us with our move to Germany and in our transition into German culture.  They were wonderful hosts, and we had a great time together.  They treated us to a homemade meal, a personal tour of their beautiful city, and taught us some fun, new games, including Ubongo.

It was also fun for the girls to make some new friends so easily at church.  After the service, while the adults were talking, they made some chains out of flowers together.

Erfurt is famous for The Dom, a Gothic cathedral where Martin Luther was ordained in 1507.  It's also known for the Kraemerbrueke, a bridge dating back to the 1100's that has shops and houses built over it.  (This is where our family picture is taken in the slideshow).

 

On our way back home, we stopped in Eisenach.  We enjoyed a tour and concert at Bach's house, along with a hike up to Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther translated the Bible from Latin into German.  I thought Robyn could especially appreciate that since she knows both of those languages now.

It was neat visiting such old places together as a family, enjoying nature, and spending time with friends!