Sunday, August 24, 2014

Bern, Switzerland & back to Frankfurt

Saturday, August 23rd 
Seriously I wish I could wake up in Switzerland every day! Russ and I had to drive to Frankfurt today, the others all the way to Barcelona! So we were all trying to leave by 9. Russ and I were up first so I jumped in the shower. By the time I was dressed look what Russ had whipped up:
What a gem that guy! We had bought groceries together with Chelsie so he had made it for all of us. It was fun to take Chelsie breakfast in bread! I mean if this is what you're seeing in the first 2 minutes of your day, it's going to be a good day! 

We all got out the door on time for a long day of travel. We said "see you in Utah" to the others and hit the road.

Russ and I were first headed to Bern, Switzerland which is a little less than an hour away. I was feeling really sick so I slept pretty much the whole way. 
Our destination in Bern? The temple! 

When first planning our trip we knew we wanted to go to a temple. Bern was the one we chose because my Grandma Mitton sang at the dedication of the temple in 1955. It was the first temple in Europe. She was invited to be the soloist for the Tabernacle Choir (kind of like they do with their Christmas concerts now) for their tour of Europe. 
My favorite picture of her on that tour is this one in front of the Eifel Tower, she's the one in the big white dress. You can't miss her:

Here she is at one of their concerts in Zurich, Switzerland:
I love those old pictures! 
That little history connection made it fun to go to that particular temple. I've heard her talk about some amazing experiences at that dedication my whole life so going there was great.


We did initiatories, which I always love. But it was especially interesting how many languages they use consistently in this temple! It's in Switzerland so of course they have German and French. But it is also the closest temple to Italy and France. There were a ton of people speaking Italian! So half the time the  ordinance was in French and half the time in Italian. So diverse! The cutest little old Italian lady was helping me, she was so sweet! Her Italian was really clear and easy for me to understand because of my Spanish so that made it extra fun.

Being in the temple feels so good. Once again I love how it's the exact same spirit all over the world. I am incredibly grateful for the gospel and the temple. We are so blessed to live so close to one! 

Russ' initiatory was all in French, which he was of course hoping for German! 
We loved visiting the temple! 

After a few hours in the temple it was back on the road. It's about 3.5 hours to Frankfurt (where we will fly out of). It went by really fast, was beautiful and we had a good time together :)

Here's yet another castle we passed by:

The majority of our drive was on the autobahn. That's always fun because there is no speed limit and some super nice cars just go flying past you! 

Russ got up to about 180 which is roughly 113 mph

We are staying in a Holiday Inn really close to the airport. We got there around 5:30. We had until 7:00 when we had to be in the city so we took a much needed nap! 
We met up with Max, a member who was in one of Russ' cities (Minden) during his mission. Max was about 18 at the time, now he has been home from his mission 2 years, is married and lives in Frankfurt. We had missed seeing him when we first flew into Frankfurt but luckily could see him tonight! 
He took us to a restaurant in downtown Frankfurt; "Urban Kitchen". If you are ever in Frankfurt, go there! It was so good! 
It had a cool atmosphere too, definitely a happening place. 

Even the bathrooms were cool!

The menu was so diverse. I ordered chicken teriyaki with veggies. Well when it came out it was beef, but I didn't really mind so I just kept it. Oh my goodness. It was delicious! So tender and flavorful, without being overwhelming. Mmmm!

Russ had a coconut curry, he was also ranting and raving about it. Way yum! 

Check out this dessert, it's vanilla icecream in a coconut crusted ball, sitting in delicious berry sauce. Looks cool, tastes even better. Love that coconut!

It was fun to get to know Max, he served in Dick and Brenda Miles' mission so it was fun to talk about how great they are as well. His English is really really good.
Later on his wife was done with work, she was so peppy and full of life! They showed us around downtown Frankfurt for a little bit. Lots of fun with them!

It has been the best getting to know people from Russ' mission. I'll never get tired of that! 

We can hardly believe that tomorrow we have to get on a plane and leave for home :( Definitely not ready, this trip has been too awesome! I am not ready for real life! 

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