July is over and our summer is almost done too. Instead of one big July post I want to break it down into several key events. The first exciting thing was that we had three visitors. My parents (Steve and Sue) and Grandma Bettie were able to come out and visit us. For my parents it worked out nicely as they were in Slovenia doing an English Camp with Good Shepherd and Josiah Venture. After their team was done there they traveled to Frankfurt and stayed as the team flew back to the United States. In Frankfurt they also met Grandma Bettie at the airport. For Grandma Bettie (80 years old) this was her once in a lifetime European Vacation. Since Grandpa Dick passed away in February Grandma Bettie has been quite the traveler and it was our turn to be graced with her company.
Arrival!!!
Grandpa Steve and Grandma Sue at Kaffee and Kuchen time
Grandma Bettie had a great time visiting us
Playing with the Little People Grandma Sue brought from America
The three of them stayed at a local hostel owned by our friend Uli's brother. The Labyrinth Hostel is right next to the main bus station and super close to our house (Heather counted 300 steps). It also gave everyone a place to retreat to because no matter how much you love someone when you put that many people in a 78 square meter apartment for over a week you are bound to get some conflict. So we got to show Grandma around Weimar and the surrounding area and all of the grandparents got to see and play with the grandkids. Our running joke for the week was with Grandma Bettie and how "close" things were. We've been living in Europe for over a year now and what we would describe as "close" is not what Grandma would call "close" or a "short walk". For example our favorite Kebap restaurant is "just around the corner" and "super close" which translates to "less than a quarter mile" (0.5 kilometers) Market Platz is "close" which is just over a quarter mile. Something that is within walking distance is a half mile to a mile. (1 to 1.5 kilometers) Despite our differences on how we define "close" Grandma was a trooper. She even walked up a mountain to see a castle.
Bus rides are a fun way to get around in Weimar to minimize walking
The climb up to see the castle
One of the nice things about visitors is that you get to do a lot of the things that you don't otherwise do (aka all the tourist things). We did a bus ride on the Belvedere Express which was rather expensive but a great experience. It was a driving tour of Weimar that had a movie in the van that dealt mostly with Weimar's Golden Era of Goethe, Anna-Amelia, Carl-August, Franz Liszt, and that whole group (late 1700s to early 1800s). It was very informational and great for Heather who got to hear about Weimar's history instead of having to read about it.
Ettersberg Palace
We found a new (to us) park near Ettersberg
Fun Slide!
Heather, myself, and Grandma Bettie were able to visit the Anna-Amelia Bibliothek (Library) for the first time. My parents had seen it back in October so it was our turn to do the tour. It was an incredible visit (note to people visiting Weimar: you must get tickets early in the day and get a scheduled time slot they only let x number of visitors in each day and often the tickets are gone by late morning). Quick history lesson, Anna-Amelia became the Duchess (kind of like the queen) of Weimar when her husband died and her boys were still young. She charted new waters as she welcomed non-royalty around her and her boys and was a big supporter for the Arts and Culture. She started the library which outgrew the palace and had it put into a new building (which was good because the palace burned down soon after the books were moved). The library was open to the public and Goethe was one of the men to organize it (this was one of many roles Goethe took on). The library suffered a tragic fire in 2004 and since then they have had to remodel and restore a lot of it. Anyways it is an incredible visit.
Heather and Grandma Bettie in front of the Anna-Amelia Library
Weimar Schloss behind them.
Notice the grey clouds, the start of a wet rest of the week.
At the Belvedere Palace Gardens
Stanley showed us where the fish are
On one date night Heather and I were also able to visit the Weimar Schloss (castle/palace). Unfortunately we didn't give ourselves enough time and were rushed through most of it. In Germany if it says it closes at 6 that means the workers are leaving at 6 so you are being escorted out at 5:58. (They actually began closing off rooms at 5:30).
We did another visit to the Erfurt Zoo because walking with the monkeys is always fun.
Grandma Sue and Holly
We love how close we can get to the monkeys
The best way to get around.
We love "choo-choo trains"
Take a break from all the walking.
Grandma Bettie's favorite animal was the Giraffe.
I was able to find a race while my parents were here so they could get to see me run. The race went really well and I won by over 2 and a half minutes. You never know how good the competition will be in races like this and with where I am at in my running I wasn't sure how I would do. Race day was rainy and it was up in the hills behind the sports complex in Bad Blankenburg. A couple of guys went out fast and I tried to go with them, as we started the ascent I caught one of them, then the other and while they started to slow I felt good and kept going. We had about a 1.5 mile uphill and at one point I looked back and realized how far ahead I was! Then the decent started and I just went with it. The last half of the race was all flat following a river back to the sports complex. I kept looking back and thinking "did I take a wrong turn?" I ended up running 34 min and 22 seconds which is a Personal Record because I never ran the 10k in college! I am really pleased with how I did and curious on how fast I can run the 10k. The bummer part of the day is that my dad didn't get to see my finish. He went back to the car to get the food because they didn't expect me in until about 40 min. (4 years ago they would have been right).
The starting line.
Awards ceremony. Notice the castle in the background? That's where we went after the race.
After the race we went up to see the Griffinstein Castle in Bad Blankenburg. When visiting castles you have to remember that you can only drive so close to them. The rest of the way is a walk. Grandma did a great job walking up the hill to the castle. Fortunately it was "close." Overall that was a really fun day. A big thank you to the Mund family from church who let us borrow their car to make the day possible.
Speaking of church, the weekend my family was here just happened to be the weekend that our church met and held the service at Tiefurt Park. It was questionable of whether it would happen because of the weather. The decision was made the day before so it was a go. God definitely held back the rain clouds as it was overcast all morning with a few sprinkles. But the rain didn't hit until after the sound gear was packed away safely. Now Tiefurt Park is about 3 miles from our home and because church was on Sunday the bus schedule was not as easy to get there. So we could arrive by bus an hour and a half early or about 15 minutes late. Instead the girls got a ride with the Meichsners and my dad and I walked there with the kids in the stroller. (Now that was a long walk.) The whole process of deciding how to get there was interesting (to Taxi or not to Taxi that was the question), but fortunately God pulled through and provided the perfect alternative.
Four Generations of girls
We really worked hard and tired ourselves out.
I mentioned before that Heather and I got to go on a date while my family was here. We actually got to go on two dates. We tried out a restaurant that we've heard of but had never been too, the ACC cafe. It was great. It has a more college feel to it so there is more English spoken there by the waiters and waitresses. We had two great meals there. Unfortunately on the second meal Heather had some questionable looking bacon and the next day she turned up sick. That pretty much wiped her out for the rest of my parent's visit and the Smucker's visit after that.
In the end we were so thankful that my parents and Grandma Bettie were able to come out and visit us. What a blessing. Good times, good conversations, and good memories. They were the first set of visitors we had this summer and it was a good start.
Good-byes are so hard
Holly even cried after the train pulled away.
