March 25, 2016 - Steinau Castle - Gelnhausen - Grimm Brothers' House

Our first outing in Germany was to the village of Steinau where we toured the Steinau Castle.

As you can see, the day was a bit rainy.
Left to Right: Kerali, Owen, Garth, Brian and Kalen.

I was attracted by the thick walls that surrounded the castle and the beauty and cleanliness of it all.

Walking in the castle courtyard

We walked into the small village of Steinau that is right adjacent to the castle and were attracted by this fountain.

We ate our lunch at a quaint hotel/ restaurant called, Burgmannenhaus. At first we were the only ones there but before we had finished 3 more couples had come.

  Kerali, Brian, Owen, Kalen and Garth

Wow! With my touchy stomach (due to the antibiotic I was taking)  that looks like a lot for Garth to eat.

               A front view of the hotel/restaurant

Another thing of interest in this little village was the home where the Brothers Grimm lived.

This is the house they lived in and some of the rooms inside were turned into a museum of their writings.  Although they are most famous for their children's stories, they were also involved in research, university teaching and politics of the day.














      This is another view of the house














Kerali, Kalen, me (Janice)  & Owen sitting between busts of the two famous authors.











After visiting  some of the rooms in the castle including a huge dining room and kitchen that contained all kinds of utensils, etc. that would have been used at that time, we were asked if we would like to climb the tower that you see at the right.

We entered door in the smaller round tower then went into the square tower that comprised floor after floor after floor connected by stairs.

About half way up, I had to pause for a rest so had Garth take a picture of me to show that I had actually done this while still not feeling as good as I would have liked to.












Since there were no windows on any of the floors, this is the proof that I actually made it to the top.

.



Garth, Kerali, Owen, Kalen and Brian at the top of the tower.

Owen was counting and said there were 180 steps.

Fortunately, going down was a lot easier than going up

A view of the village of Steinau from the tower.

On our way home, Kerali saw a beautiful old church off to the right.  Brian took the next exit and after some driving in and out of narrow streets of the village of Gelnhausen- a very picturesque village built on the hillside- we found a place and were able to park and walk up to the church.

March 26, 2016 - Downtown frankfurt

We were struck by the trees in the plaza areas.  All had been trimmed back to the main branches and new growth hadn't appeared as yet.

    Another view of the plaza area

















Kerali & Garth with many 
interesting buildings behind them.












Janice & Garth in front of a monument.

Another scene from the plaza

We visited the history museum.  These were replicas of the things used for the ruler/religious heads when they were put in power.

An area where one could try on the jacket loaded with weights to show how heavy the chain mail shirts that were worn were.

We convinced Garth to put it on and pose for us.

A replica of Frankfurt before the wars and the terrible destruction that took place.  I didn't get a picture of the aftermath from the war but it was heartbreaking.

















Garth and Kerali in front of the Clock Tower

Janice & Garth in the clock tower

Kerali & Garth in the clock tower

We are standing on the bridge of the Main River.

Those shiny things on the metal works of the bridge are "Love Locks" - padlocks with names and dates of sweethearts are put on and the only way to get them off is to cut them off.

Another view of us and the river.












 One of the highlights of the day was our visit to the Goethe House.

This is a picture of the kitchen and Garth is pointing to a pump used to bring water in the house.

We were impressed by the lovely, wide stairs that led to each landing.  Another interesting thing was that each room had its own stove that was put in such a way so that a servant could build the fire and fuel it from out in the landing.

Scenes from and rooms in the house.

 As you can see, we like these old clocks.

And talk about clocks - This one really is a work of art, as is our beautiful daughter, Kerali

And we just had to pose with a piece of the wall that had separated East and West Berlin.

March 27, 2016 - Easter Sunday

Brian was good enough to deliver us to the church so we could attend Sacrament Meeting on Easter Sunday. 

The spire was tall enough that I couldn't get far enough away to get a picture of it.

I helped prepare my potato salad for our Easter dinner.

We also had a delicious spinach salad with all kinds of yummy berries.

A Frog Eye Salad

and a delicious ham among other things.

The table is ready . . . .

for us to enjoy a lovely meal.

Kerali, Alden, Owen, Taren, Brian, Tamlen, & Kalen














Another view of our meal leaving out Owen & Kerali

The before Easter preparations as Kalen, Tamlen, Owen and Taren color the eggs.

March28, 2016 - Bad Homburg etc

We left the house at 1:00 and drove to Bad Homburg – a city some 20 minutes northwest of Frankfurt.  It was a fascinating small city featuring a huge castle with a couple of ornate churches right next to it.  The castle was closed for Easter Monday so we walked around the courtyard and grounds and took pictures. (Landgrave Castle, Friedricksberg Castle).  

I am always amazed at the extra intricate art work that many of these buildings have.  It gives one the feeling that they were built with love and ownership.

Kerali in front of the huge entrance tunnel/doorway

A huge tower in the courtyard of a much different construction than anything else.

I was also overwhelmed by this giant Lebanese Cedar that was apparently a wedding gift many, many years ago. 

Another view of the tree and Garth

Right next door to the castle were two churches - also exhibiting
amazing architecture



Kalen, Kerali and Garth are in front

I don't know if this picture truly shows the marble and gold interior

I took this picture because the exterior was of small cobblestones.











There weren't many places open because it was Easter Monday, but we found a small Italian Restaurant where we could go in out of the cold.

Kalen, Kerali and Janice (me)

More beautiful buildings and
Garth, Kerali and Kalen

I was constantly amazed at the antiquity of so many of the buildings still in use.

          This one has the date of 1684

Kerali was good enough to take us by the Frankfurt Temple and low and behold this is what we found. 

Apparently it is closed for reconstruction.