Fronleichnam or Corpus Christi

Today was a German holiday. The literal translation of the name of the holiday is Happy Corpse. Interesting? So we didn't have to go into the office and we were able to go home teaching to the Kolb's. He is German. She is from Scotland. The kids speak both English and German. Here we are starting our walk.

The kids are Logan, Jaden, Fionn, and Torin Kolb. Here they sat on a bench for just a moment.

On our way home we took our time and stayed off the Autobahn. The canola plants are in full bloom--they are the yellow blossoms. There are many fields throughout the countryside.

 We stopped in Braunfels. It is a beautiful old German town with a castle. Here we have a window with traditional decoration overlooking the street.

I kind of liked this house that was built on the wall. If you fell out of the window, it would be a long way down! 

Here are some faces that have been carved into the timbers supporting this house. 

 Here is Marilynn about to pass through the wall in this arch.

 This is the main entrance to the castle. Actually, to get into the castle you had to pass through a bunch of these walls and gates.

 Here is David standing in the castle doorway.

 These walls and arches lead down to the town square.

 Oh no, for some reason they keep locking me into these things.

 Here is the town square.

 This is a shot looking back at the town's castle.

Ockstadt and Friedberg

We have an overview of Friedrichsdorf out of our kitchen window. The white building on the left belongs to the Church (It is part of the temple block). The church in the background is the Hugenotten church in Friedrichsdorf.

 We decided to try to find something close by to see this weekend. We found a "Frankenstein Castle" in the neighboring town of Ockstadt, which is not far, and here is the wall with a tower of the castle.

 Here is Marilynn walking up to the tower of the Frankenstein castle.

This is a Christian statue close to the entrance to the castle.

 We had to walk all around Frankenstein's castle. They don't let tourists in as it is private property (and there was really nothing to see inside). We finally found a place where we could take this picture. I don't think that Dr. Frankenstein lives there any more, actually we think that regular people live in the old castle.

 Here is Marilynn walking through a gate in the old wall.

On our way home we passed another castle in the town of Friedberg so we stopped and took this photo. 

Then for supper we had soup and salad. We have a good life here in Germany. 

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Seligenstadt

We stopped on the way home from Aschaffenburg at the city of Seligenstadt. It is known for this church and garden. The sign says they also have fish.

Here is another picture of the church with its gardens. 

 This statue highlights the garden.

 Hidden of the the side are the bee hives.

This is the benches in the church with the fancy woodwork. 

 This is the alter of the church.

Once again, the town if filled with beautiful wood frame houses. 

This city is also on the Main river. Here comes an empty barge heading downstream. 

Aschaffenburg

Today was yet another German holiday. We went on a walking tour in the nearby city of Aschaffenburg. Here is one of the old wood frame houses.

This is the fancy man hole covers.

 The city was having a church service so we watched for a while.

This is an old statue next to the church

Durrës, Albania

The last night in Albania we spent in Durres. This is the night view from our Hotel Room. 
This is a walk on the beach the next morning. The tourist season has not yet begun, so we got a good rate on a beach front hotel.

The streets of Durres are narrow and crowded with cars. What might be a driveway in Utah is a two-way street with parking on both sides! The streets are also in need of repair. We have been told that a few years ago there were 10,000 pot-holes in Albania, but there are now only 5,000. They were able to reduce the pot-hole count by increasing the size of all of the pot-holes so that some of the pot-holes swallowed up some of the others. It makes a good story.Albania seems to have the ability to produce very good olives. Here is a sampler of various types of olives in the marketplace.This is across the street from the Bott's apartment. You can see the Supermarket sign down the street. This is really a large building in which individual small merchants sell their produce.Albania is actually mostly Muslim. However, it is very secular because of the Russian influence after WWII. We seldom saw women clothed in burkas or even a veil. Here is a Mosque in Durres.There is an old wall that surrounded Durres in Roman times. The Botts are going in the old gate with Marilynn.This is the scene on the Beach. Then we returned to Tirana and flew back to Frankfurt.
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Elbasan, Albania

From Tirana, Albania we went on a mountain road over a high pass to Elbasan. It was beautiful, as you can see.

The road goes up high to get across the pass. 

This is a cherry stand selling fresh fruit strung on a string. 

 Here is a gnarly, old olive tree.

This stand had not only cherry strings, but Elder Bott is looking at home-squeezed fresh olive oil.

 More old olive trees.

This is the church house in Elbasan,one of only two actual chapels in Albania (the other is in Durres). Most of the wards and branches meet in rented buildings.

 And here you have the hero and heroine of the story in front of the church

This is the tower of the wall around the early city in Elbasan. 

This is what we had for lunch 

Another shot of the tower. Note the palm tree! 

 This is the Botts and Marilynn with the kids at the youth center.

 Here are the kids getting ready for a game

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