Folk Fest

Hof has a big carnival every year in the last week in July.  It starts with a parade on Friday evening, then the carnival and beer party run for a whole week and end with fireworks and an all night party the following weekend. I took pictures from the Elder's apartment which was on the parade route and Dave took pictures at street level.  Here we are taking pictures of each other.

They are really proud of their breweries in town.

This group is advertising a new cafe in town which has a movie star theme

This group of roofers are all in traditional carpenter costume.

The local Middle ages club.

A children's dance studio.

Many women and girls were wearing drindles, especially if they had some function for the parade or were working in the beer hall.

This band is from the volunteer fire department in one of the suburbs of Hof.

This group were all wearing medals from their shooting club's competitions.

This is a typical German couple out to see the parade and show off their costumes.  Note the liquid refreshment.

Saturday evening we rode the ferris wheel just to take pictures.  This shows some of the carnival and is looking toward the city center.  The big blue roofed building is the convention center.  This entire roof lights up at night with an eerie blue glow.  The church towers we can see from our balcony are to the left of the big gray thing behind the convention center and our apartment building, blue with a red roof, can be seen lined up with the top of the gray thing to the right.

Hartenstein and Burg Stein

Burg means castle and stein means rock.  This castle was literally built on a rock above the river which served as a border between two middleage states.  It was built in the 1200's and used until about the 1500's when the owners, the Schonburg family, could afford to live securely in a palace built in the town of Hartenstein.  The family still owns the castle which was never modernized like most others.  It is a marvelous example of life in a castle in the middle ages.

 Unfortunately they have some construction going on in the only place where one gets a clear view of the burg.

Part of the burg is a museum and part is the town Standesamt or city office.  When we were there some of the newer part was being remodeled.  It is one of the homes of the Schonburg family which has owned it since about 1450.

The castle Keep is the most secure place accessed only by the little door you can see on the left side high up.  They would use a ladder and then draw it up after themselves.  Only problem was food and water supplies.  You could only last as long as your supplies lasted.

 This is the lower part of the keep wall and gives a good view of the natural rock that is part of the foundation of the burg.  The walls are about 5 feet thick and enclose some of the rock.  The lower two floors of the burg have funny narrow shaped rooms because of the shape of the rock.

Some of you may know what this is.  Suffice it to say, you would not have wanted to have to live near this wall.  It is quite near the present day entrance to the castle.  In it's active years the entrance was over a moat and drawbridge on the other side near the courtyard shown above.

This is the same man who was the tour guide when we visited years ago.  He is quite tall.  To go to the museum you climb a flight of stairs and ring a bell and he answers the door (only once an hour).  We took Dalyn and Marlee there and when the 'giant' answered the door poor Marlee screamed and ran.  The details below are from the original door to the right in this picture.  It is only about 5 1/2 inches tall so most people, especially the tour guide, have to duck.  People were lots shorter then, and their average life span was only about 35 years.

This is the one hinges and the big nails crimped on this side driven in from the other side.

One end of the narrowest room,  These rooms were heated by a fire on the floor of the room in a corner, no chimney.

At the museum entrance one can see the rock on the inside.  It makes a good place for the brochures.

This original staircase goes for two stories and is made of massive wood beams carved into shape and then stacked without nails or other joinings.  The walls and weight of the wood has held it together for 800 years.  It is a bit like our staircase at home in that you can see between the steps.

 The  town of Hartenstein is about 2 K away and is where the governing family lived from the fifteenth century, no longer using the burg as a home.  The palace was destroyed in World War II.  These two building around the town square are some of the oldest in the little town.

Running Sushi and other things

A somewhat slow week but we did get a few things done.  We went to visit a brother who is a couple years older than Dave, but in a lot worse shape.  We sat under a tree by his home (an old farm house built by his great grandfather, only a couple hundred years old) and chatted with him, and read this months First Presidents message to him as flies swarmed all over us, but it was still a good visit.  He has a glass eye he has had since he wasa kid, so he can't see too well.  He used to own his own house painter business before he needed taking care of and retired.  His sister takes care of him.  He told us he had painted a mural in a castle in the town he used to live in, so I asked if he had a photo of it and he said no.  I told him we will go and take a photo of it, and then bring him back a picture for his keepsakes.

We found the village of Schauenstein and the castle he talked about, which they are currently renovating, but I did get in to see his painting which is located in a corner room of a bar.  The castle also houses a museum for fire engines which we were not able to see.  We didn't have our camera that day but finally got back to the castle on a day when the rooms were open and took a picture of his painting and one of his former building in the village where his shop used to be.  Now we just have to get some prints made and take them back to him.

This was probably inspired by a famous Durer print.

Yesterday, our former Branch President and family took us to Bayreuth (out of our mission, but with the okay of our Pres.) as a going away party for two young ladies in the branch.   Their oldest daughter is going to Nepal to serve in an orphanage for three months before she goes on her mission.   The other is finishing her University here and then going back home to get married.  We went to an 'all you can eat Sushi Bar' which was a first for us.  It is called Running Sushi because the tables and chairs are set up on both sides of along narrow island that has little round metal disks that go down one side and up the other on a conveyor belt.  The cook starts sending little dishes of wasabi and ginger, then dishes of little egg rolls, chicken on a stick, chicken salad, sushi, pieces of watermelon, etc. and you just lift what you want off, and when you want something else, you wait for it to come around again and take it off.  Oh yes, also deep fried bananas.

Carolin on the left is getting married and Sophie on the right is going to Nepal.

We then walked through the town center where a African celebration was taking place with a stage down on one end and endless booths selling African and Caribbean wares.  This town also had an original baroque opera house built in the 1700's.  Wagner played here, and then had his own opera house built at the other end of town.  Pretty cool but we could not go in because it is being renovated and that will take till 2015.

We made it home pretty quick only going a little over 200 km per hour (about 124 miles an hour).  We, of course, were not driving and we did not wet our pants or have our nails chewed down to the quick, but surely had to run to the door when we got home.

Good things happen when you go to the temple

Friday evening we took a Mexican dinner over to one of the ward families  Dave made enough for the whole branch so we had plenty of leftovers.  As we were leaving they said they were going to the temple the next day and invited us to go with them.  As we made plans for them to pick us up, the wife laughed and said we can't take you in our car because we are taking the children.  So we made plans to meet them there.  We had a very nice session and left about 12 noon for a leisurely drive home having decided to not take the Autobahn but back roads instead so we could visit a castle in the town of Wolkenstein.  This is the same one we went to with Aaron and Melissa.  We stopped in a tiny town outside of Freiberg to get lunch and as we walked in, a couple at a table greeted us.  The Schiebolds live in Freiberg and we knew them when we were here before. He now works for the church but has been all over the world installing stained glass windows. That was a real treat to see them again.  This time we are in different Stakes so we don't see them at conferences.

When we stopped at Wolkenstein they were having a reenactment of a trial for two drunk robbers.  It was fun to see the costuming.  We also went into the little museum there again.

You can see the photographer there also.  I wonder if it was for a movie.  Here is my movie but you can see I am no photographer.  Note the escape at the end!

Here are a few more scenes for fun.  After the performance we saw a wedding photographer with a couple in wedding dress using the castle as well.  I guess if you have a castle it is a good idea to use it!

 

Here is some bobbin lace and a Zither from the museum.  I thought the girls would like to see this.

Today, Sunday, we had a visit from our friends from Chemnitz, the Goerkeritz family.

We are really enjoying our time here, especially when we have something to do with the members and our friends. 

Which button? and Autobahn traffic

Last Wednesday we took the two young Elders with us to Chemnitz for a Zone training meeting.  This was in the chapel where we served our first mission.  While there I took a picture of a panel on the wall near the chapel doors. My caption is below.                                  What is yours?

Use the top left button for Deacon Controll.

                                       And now, for our latest adventure while coming home.

We were glad not to be on this side of the freeway.  The Stau (traffic jam) lasted for miles (kilometers over here)

 

 

 

 

 

The passengers were all safe and left the freeway through special exit doors in the barrier walls.  Later Dave read that this was a school field trip.  What a way to entertain the students but spoil the teacher's day.

Elder Anderson has his own way of dealing with down time.  I think he did 30 or so push-ups on the freeway just so he can say he did pushups on the German Autobahn.  He companion, Elder Holbein is the other shadow.  They are hard working young men.

      For us, we just had a pleasant evening meal on the tiny fourth floor balcony of our apartment.

The FOURTH of July and other things...

First of all, the Fourth of July is no big deal over here!  I wonder why?

We did sort of celebrate because we had institute closing that evening and we had a barbeque so Dave got to grill which is what we often do on the Fourth at home.  No fireworks, just a lot of talk.  We had about 20 young people turn up so that was very good.

 A few days later we went into city center and happened on a car show.  We had wanted to take pictures of people for Dave to paint but took pictures of cars instead.  Check out the old red cross motor cycle!

 The old city center is closed to traffic for two blocks and is often the place for town events like this.  We even saw a pole vault contest in the middle of this long plaza like area.  Most days it is filled with shoppers and sidewalk cafes.

We do see lots of interesting people there.  Most are just like any shopping area anywhere in the world, busy materialistic people.  But there are some noticeable things.  Hof has a very large Turkish population and many wear the whole burka but most of the women just cover their hair with a scarf.

Another noticeable person is a man who is often found at one end of the plaza near a round ball fountain  busking with his guitar.  He cannot play the guitar nor can he carry a tune, but he is very friendly and everyone knows him.  I guess he makes his living by being noticeable.  I gave him a bottle of water the other day and he blew me a kiss. There are a few other buskers, mostly men playing accordions or a recorder and it is very evident they are local Turks and quite poor.  We did see one man in costume but he wasn't as good as some we have seen in larger towns like Dresden.

One other man we have wanted to get a picture of is our postman.  He is small and energetic.  He runs his route, but the most remarkable thing about his are his eyebrows!  He rang our bell the other day and came to the door to deliver a package so I took a picture, which unfortunately didn't capture his true nature.













We sat near the fountain shown here for over an hour last Monday waiting to meet the men from the church in charge of preparing the new rented place for our tiny branch.  By the end of this summer we should no longer be in the hotel.  The new place is on the top floor of a building facing the north end of the town center so it should be a great location.  There is still a lot of work to be done before we can use it.  The landlord has to get it cleaned up and build a wall to divide a larger room into classrooms.  That might take some time.  The building has no fire escape which is a church requirement so they will install a special emergency escape unit.  From what I understand, it is a thing like airplanes use and would be stored in a cabinet but in need it attaches to a window and provides something like a round slide, as an emergency exit. Then the Church has to install things like the curtains, the white boards and notice boards.  They also have to order the pianos and other furniture.  We have been assigned to buy the kitchen supplies and the cleaning supplies.

This room will be the chapel and will be sunny and nice.  It faces the town and the Catholic church at the other end.  There is a small kitchen, bathrooms, an office and three classrooms.
There will be a church logo and name plate at the outside door and happily, there is an elevator as well as the stairs.  When we get into the building we will have a street display and invite all the zone missionaries to come and try to get the word out.  Hopefully this will make the church more well known here.