Frankfurt - Goodbye Volvo!

Today we will be turning in our Volvo XC90 in Frankfurt for shipment to the US.  Tonight we will enjoy the hospitality of Botho and Gisela Heinz one final time, and then arise very early on tomorrow May 10 to catch our flight back to the USA.

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And so we did.  We are submitting this, our final posting, from home on May 11.  Our 23 hour, 5 leg trip home ended safely last night around 10:00. 

We found this office...

Parked our SUV one last time...

And marveled at what it had meant to have driven 3,861 miles around Europe in such luxury!

After turning in the Volvo for shipment back to Paul Moak Volvo in Jackson, we enjoyed some coffee and sweets outside Frankfurt's Central Train Station.

Steven Segal served Betty her little sweet.

Pre-war and post-war architecture, juxtaposed.

Frankfurt is Germany's only city with a planned skyline.

Occupy Wall Street was there.  Don't get me started.

Big Euro sign

This plaza was destroyed during the war and rebuilt as the original looked.

Frankfurt skyline, through raindrops on my lens

Site of our final meal with Botho and Gisela.  Their son, Gerrith, and his wife Miriam joined us.

Gerrith and Miriam

Botho, Gerrith, Gisela, and Miriam

Love the German practice of outdoor dining!

Thanks for following us as we have had this amazing experience.  We hope you have enjoyed it with us.  We give all thanks and praise and glory to the One who created all we saw, and who holds it all in the palm of His hand.

Vienna to Haiger

On this day we said our goodbyes to Thomas and Mollie and their boys and returned to Botho's home in Haiger. 

Here I am, bonding with baby Daniel.

Two brothers, having some early morning fun

Thomas and Thad walk to work/school.  Sometimes Thad scoots.

 

St. Peter's Church in Vienna

Inside St. Peter's Church

The pipe organ

Names you've heard of, in Vienna

Marzipan wedding dress, life-size!

The winter palace

Cafe Central, where international figures have met for coffee and pastries for over a century.

Inside Cafe Central

Inside the pastry display case at Cafe Central

Two of the international figures.

Adolph Hitler spoke here to the mesmerized thousands.

Vienna city hall.  Somehow I didn't think of a city hall when I first saw it.

A cellist at the train stop.

You've heard of the blue Danube?  Here it is, or part of it.

Sod-roofed house, built in the center of extensive vineyards.  The vintners erect small shrines at the corners of their vineyards to invoke God's blessing on their crops.

Probably the most beautifully situated castle we saw.  It is known as Ruine Lichtenfels. 

Roadside structure, of unknown religious significance.

We saw around a dozen Maypoles as we drove through the Austrian countryside on May 8th.

Last look at the Alps in the distance before we turned north to return to Haiger

Typical Austrian village setting

Vienna

 We spent this day, Monday May 7th, with Thomas and Mollie Gardner in Vienna.  As some of you may have heard, our laptop died this morning at Thomas and Mollie's apartment; hopefully it only needs a new battery.  We are posting this note on May 9 from Botho's house in Haiger.  We plan to complete this and another posting for our trip when we are at home.

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And here we are again on May 11, back in our home in Jackson with a working laptop.

Thad at his school, where his daddy works.

Thomas, under the flags of nations represented by the students of the International Christian School of Vienna (ICSV)

Thomas with his ninth grade Bible class

In the entrance of the ICSV

With James Devenish, ICSV Director

The Gardner family, minus their first grader.

Mollie and Ian, her look-alike

Baby Daniel

St. Stephen's Cathedral

Vienna street scene

Smart cars and others like them are very popular.

Horses and carriages, waiting for paying customers

Sharing a schnitzel

Breaking bread with Ian Gardner

Schloss (Palace) Schoenbrunn in Vienna.  This is the summer palace of Austrian royalty.

There was a "garden" out back.

Close-up

Closer still

ICSV Staff Appreciation Dinner

Recognition for six years' service in the ICSV.