Germany Day 8

Last night laying in bed I decided to see if I could find anything in English on TV. That was a good thing about China, they had several channels in English and I could almost always find a decent movie but in Germany I was lucky to find one channel in English and it was a news channel. At least I'm up to date on whats going on in Egypt. Last night however I got to watch winter sports in Calgary. That was fun.

I saw the darnedest thing getting onto the shuttle bus that takes us from the hotel to the airport. That is a picture of the Steinberger Hotel where I stayed and a picture of the Airport is to the left. It was a big bus and there were a ton of people getting off of it so those of us waiting to get would naturally stand back and let them get off before we try and get on. Well, that is all of us except for this one little old lady. She shoved her way trying to get onto the bus but there were so many people that they couldn't stop even if they tried because of everyone behind them. It was so funny to keep watching this woman get knocked back only to shover her way in again over and over again. Weird.

I was just sitting around the hotel waiting so I decided to just go over to the airport early. I got there three hours before my flight so I decided to looking for a book in English. Most of the book stores only had one or two books in English but I finally found one with an English section. I bought myself an old Clancy book that I haven't read yet and I hate to say it but that was pretty much my day.

On the flight home I was quite bummed because I couldn't get a window seat because I was still hoping to see Greenland but I did get an isle seat and when the map said we were over Iceland I went and checked out the window by the restrooms and there was nothing but clouds. I checked again over Greenland and still nothing but clouds. Going home it was daylight the entire time because we fly against the rotation of the earth. Since there was nothing but clouds I'm glad I got the isle seat except the guy sitting next to me must have gotten up at least seven times. How frustrating.

We got into Chicago about an hour early but all that meant was that I had an extra hour to sit and wait at the gate. I called Lisa and had a long talk and then I talked to Sarah for a long time and then I read my book. I finally got on the plane and got home but I was just a bit worried about the shuttle home. Lisa told me that Peter & Maren offered to come and pick me up but I didn't want to bother them since it would way out of there way but I'm glad they offered because if you remember I had lost my credit card and I was worried about finding a shuttle who would take my card number without the card. I had to ask four different shuttle drivers before I found one who would. Luckily he was $5 cheaper than the others too so that was good.

It sure was weird walking into an empty house. It is always so nice when you're gone for a while to come home to a family that is glad to see you but today there was no one but the cat. She did seem glad to see me though so that was cool. Kira had called me when I was just getting off the plane so I called her back on Skype and we talked for a while and then I made by self something to eat and now I'm going to go sleep in my own bed. I'm looking forward to it. It is good to be home, even if I am alone.

Germany Day 7

This morning I decided to make it a nice and relaxing day so I slept in. That was a mistake. I had my relaxing breakfast and then checked out of my hotel and caught the train to Frankfurt airport. There were two trains going to Frankfurt. One said Frankfurt Main and the other said Frankfurt Luchthaven (that would be airport). The one to Frankfurt Main left first so I asked the guy in the information booth if the one to Frankfurt main would also stop at the airport. I would guess that well over half of the people in Germany speak English well enough to be able to help me out and half of them speak remarkably good English. You’ve got to wonder why they would have someone in an information booth in a major German City who can’t speak any English. One of the few other people I’ve come across who can’t speak English was the guy at the gate going into the company I’ve been visiting. Why would they put someone at the gate of the company who probably gets hundreds of foreign visitors?

I don’t know what it is about my directions here but almost every single time when I’ve gotten on a train on this trip it heads out in what seems like me to be the wrong direction. We’ve always made it to where I wanted to go so I guess they’re right and I’m wrong.

My hotel in Frankfurt is just a mile or so away from the airport so I just take a shuttle from the airport to my hotel. On the way here I sat by a guy who seemed like he wanted to talk so I struck up a conversation with him. It turns out he’s been living in China for eight years and is now transferring to Frankfurt. When I asked him where in China he lived he said Xiamen. He was stunned when I told him I’ve been there several times and it is one of my favorite places in China. When I ask him about being transferred back to home he says, “Oh, I’m not actually German, I’m Dutch.” When I start speaking Dutch to him he was even more shocked. It’s too bad we got to our hotel so soon; I wanted to keep talking to him.

I checked in and unloaded my bags and then headed in to the temple. I took a train to downtown Frankfurt and then took the subway to Friedrich’s Dorf. How do like that? The Frankfurt Temple is in Fred’s Town. I’m finding out that I’m quite popular around here.

I got to Friedrich’s Dorf and not knowing where the temple was I headed towards the downtown area then I stopped these three women and asked them if they knew where Talstrasse was. They didn’t know where that was so I asked if they knew where the Mormon Temple was. They then got all excited and said very loudly, “Ah, MorMON (accentuating the second syllable) U turn right here and dan ven u see da golden statue u turn left.

By the time I got to the temple it was 2:30 but to my great dismay the last session was at 2:00. I shouldn't have slept in I then asked if they would still let me do some initiatory and they wouldn’t let me do that. And nope, they wouldn’t let me do any sealings either. I was kind of annoyed because they didn’t even seem to care but as much as I would like to; I know I can’t blame them. It’s my own fault I was late. All I know is if someone came late to the San Diego temple I would be glad to stay an extra half hour and let them do a few initiatories. Oh well, I picked up a schedule so next time I will know.

So I took a few pictures and walk around the temple for a few minutes and then headed back to Frankfurt. I’d picked up a map at the hotel and it had marked tourist sites so. Most of them appeared to be in the down town area so I figured I’d go and see them all.

I stepped off the subway and headed first to the Frankfurt Exchange. I figured that would be a bust but it was actually a beautiful building and best of all it had a giant bronze statue of a Bear and Bull in front of it.

Next I wandered over to the Old Opera house. It too was a beautiful building. Too bad the fountain in front of it was shut down but all of the statues in Germany have been turned off.

I then walked past a building labeled Maintower. It was an interesting skyscraper but I’m not exactly sure why it was on the list. It was just a skyscraper.

I then headed down a cluster of three dots labeled Theater, Opera, Ballet Frankfurt & Theater Frankfurt. As far as I could tell they were all one building. I think they thought they were being all artistic when they wrote the word Frankfurt in reverse but it just made it look weird to me. I give you my picture and I couldn't find any on line that looked very good so you don't get a picture of this building. Sorry.

Next was a building labeled Comedy. It was in behind a wall so I’m still not sure what it was.

While I was in the area I decided to check out the river. The river wasn’t listed as a sightseeing place but it was my favorite. It did look awfully cold though. This river is the Main River and it is pronounced Mine and not Mane.

From there I went to the Roemer house. I think that translates as City Hall and from adds I’ve seen it didn’t seem all that impressive to me. I was very wrong. The Roemer House was in a market area and the entire plaza was very German and very cool. The shops and everything in the square are beautiful. The buildings are 600 years old and I guess the Mayer actually lives in the center of the three buildings.

I then checked out the Kaiserdom which they translate as Imperial Cathedral. It was rather impressive and it looks very old but I didn’t learn too much about it. What was impressive was next to it they had dug out the foundation of some old buildings and you were allowed to walk down and around these old foundations. I think the original buildings may have been bombed out during the Second World War.

I saw a postcard of Frankfurt in 1945 and the entire city was in ruins. It really was very sad. Isn’t it amazing how much wickedness one person can bring upon a nation? Sure, a lot of people were way too willing to carry out his evil orders but I think much of the innocent blood that was shed will be on Hitler’s head.

It was then on to Paul’s Church which was quite ugly and that was the end of the tour. Back at the subway entrance I saw an outdoor vendor selling Bratwurst and I’ve been hoping to find something like in Germany this whole time. It was really very good but I’m not sure it’s a whole lot different than the Polish Sausage you can get at Costco. At least I can say I ate it in Germany. Also in the same area were some street performers. One was rather strange but the other one looked like three Canadian Eskimo’s playing flutes and they were really good. I videotaped them for a minute or two and if I can ever figure out how to get these off my phone I’ll post them for you.

I then hopped back onto the subway and headed back to the airport. Most hotels I’ve been to recently give you free access to the in the internet but the hotels here in Germany charge you an arm and a leg. I finally broke down and signed up for some time on what appeared to be a large networked company called “HotSpot”. It looked like they had a lot of hotspots including on the trains. Guess what, they don’t have a hot spot here at this hotel. Rather than pay even more money to get this internet connection I’m writing this blog in my hotel room and then I’m going to take the shuttle back over to the airport and send it from there. I’m then coming back here and going for another swim. I’m in real trouble for my flight home. I actually brought two books to read but they’re both Lous L’Amour books and so a very quick read. I finished them both on the flight over here. I’ve been awfully busy during the week so I haven’t been too bored but what am I going to do on the flight home? Hopefully they sell English books at the airport.

Germany Day 6

As I walked out of the hotel room this morning and saw that it was raining I was really worried about how much fun it was going to be. While I wasn’t drenched by the time I made it to the train station I was thoroughly damp. Luckily however, when I got off the train in Heidelberg it had quit raining. Thank goodness. I took a few minutes to familiarize myself with the transit system in Heidelberg and then I hopped on bus #33 and headed for what I hoped was my stop. As it turned out I stopped a few stops too early but the extra quarter mile that I had to walk did me good.

The next problem that wasn’t really a problem is that the Heidelberg castle is on the side of a mountain and the bus dropped me off at the bottom of the mountain. They do have a trolley the will take you up the side of the mountain but the “all city” bus pass that I bought didn’t include that trolley (cheap) and I figured I needed the exercise anyway so I headed up the mountain.  

Now you might think I was on a hiking trail but no, these people built roads and houses on the side of this mountain and it was pretty cool to see how they did it. I’d be walking on the sidewalk next to a twenty foot high retaining wall made out of rock blocks and then you’d see a door in the retaining wall. I’m still not certain if the house was behind the wall or of the door led to stairs that went up to the top of the retaining wall and the house was up there. On the other side of the street you would see cars parked on a wooden deck overlooking the valley with stairs leading down from the deck to a house below.

I finally made it up the castle and after scouting around outside the castle I paid my 5 euro’s and went in. This was a pretty fancy place in it’s day. So let me give you a bit of a history of the Heidelberg castle before I go into my tour.

Today I learned that the significance of Heidelberg goes back to more than 500,000 years ago. The jaw bone of a man was found in some guys wall. It is the oldest known human in Europe and I guess they use the world human loosely because this guy was an early Neanderthal. They call him a Heidelbergensis.

The Heidelberg castle is first mentioned in a 1303 document. Prince Elector Ruprecht III expanded it during his reign from 1390 to 1410 and if you’re like me you’re asking yourself what a Prince Elector is. Maybe you already knew but I didn’t. Apparently Germany back in those days actually voted who their next king would be. Of course not everyone got to vote, just a few special princes who were called Prince Elector’s. I think the woman said there were seven Prince Electors.

Much of the castles present glory was built during the reign of Prince Elector Otto Heinrich from 1556 to 1559 and the buildings he added are considered some of the best examples of Renaissance building.

In 1622 Rome got mad at Germany because they were listening to Luther and for thirty years Heidelberg switched back and forth between Catholicism and Lutheranism. During this time the castle was severly damaged and their entire library of 3,500 manuscripts and 5,000 prints were carried off to the pope.

In 1648 Prince Elector to control of the castle and rebuilt it. He also granted religious freedom to the Lutherans. It didn’t last for long however since the French conquered the castle and burned the town in 1693. The French tried for a long time to break through the walls of the tower but weren’t able to so when they finally did get into the castle they were so mad that they found all the gun powder they could and tried to blow it up. All they managed to do was to crack one of the towers in half. The walls of this castle are 25 feet thick. You can this tower in the picture above. Check out how thick those walls are. This tower was actually their armory where they stored all of their explosives.

Once again the town rebuilt but this castle is just not a lucky place. In 1764 lightning hit the castle and it burned to the ground. Now when I say it burned to the ground that doesn’t include the stone walls. I guess I should say it gutted the place. It burned for three days and four nights.

It laid in ruins until the 1800’s when the prince electors of the day started to preserve the ruins. Many of the villagers had been using it as a quarry and several of the houses in town are made from stones carried from the castle. Today about a third of the place has been restored.

When I walked in and checked the place out I was quite upset. I was only allowed to see a portion of the castle and most of it was off limits. I was thrilled with what I saw but I really wanted to see more. One of the cool things I saw was the wine cellar. I had heard that the worlds largest wine keg was in the castle and when I walked into the cellar I was impressed. This barrel was about 15 feet tall (laying on it’s side) and maybe thirty feet long. I then walked around the corner and saw this mother. It is 25 feet across and can hold over 220,000 liters of wine. I first assumed it held water but nope, it was filled with wine. They actually have a hand pump in the dining hall so they can pump wine directly from the barrel to the hall. I guess they typically drank about 200 liters of wine a day.

This picture is taken from inside the courtyard facing east. This wing of the castle has been fully restored. This building is actually the building where the lightning struck and started the fire. So after I entered every door that wasn’t locked and realized that there was a guided tour you could pay for and they went into portions of the castle that were not open the regular guy. I was then able to see pretty much all of the castle that has been restored but there is so much of this castle that hasn’t been restored. It was huge and I really hope they fix up the rest of it.

Do you see the broken down tower in this view? That is called by the locals the "Rarely Empty" tower. That is because it was the dungeon. This tower had no doors and the prisoners were lowered down on a rope through a door in the floor. Most of the prisoners were peasants who didn't pay their taxes and most never came out.  

I was able to get out onto this balcony and see a stunning view of the town and the river below. 

The wing of the castle facing us is fully restored. I was able to walk through most of the other two wings but only on the ground floors since the upper rooms haven't been restored. The broken tower on the right was destroyed by the French. It isn't the armory that was blown in half.

This view is looking at the south wing of the castle from the gardens. I was able to walk through the gardens. On the bottom floor of this wing is a pharmacy museum. It was very cool and there is a lot I didn't now. Did you know that up until the 1700's all medicine was based on the assumption that the health of the human body was all based on a balance of the four fluids in the human body. Blood, phlegm black bile and yellow bile. I'm sure glad we've figured out germs and stuff. The museum was fascinating.

I then made my way to the bottom of the hill and came back to Mannheim. I noticed that it sure gets dark early around here. It was four o’clock and already dark. I don’t think I realized that Germany was that far north. I guess I should have from how cold it is.

Back at the hotel I went for a swim and sweated a gallon of seat in the steam room and then shocked my body in the pool again and now I just realized that I haven’t eaten since breakfast and I’m hungry. The problem is, after the wonderful steaming I’ve had I really don’t want to go back outside. The only thing close to the hotel is a McDonalds and a Burger King. I am amazed how many Burger Kings there are here. I’m used to seeing McDonalds all over the world but not Burger Kings. I think there are more Burger Kings than there are McDonalds. It’s crazy. I don’t want to walk far so I think tonight it’s a Big Mac.

Germany Day 5

Well today was the big day and it went great. We left Mannheim early and headed south. We went through Stuttgart and stopped in Ulm. We had four different modules we could test but after a bit of fiddling around we reached our targeted value on the third try with the first module. Needless to say we were all quite thrilled. The tech called in the upper management guys and the head dude was so thrilled he went out and came back with a bottle of wine and some wine glasses. He told us that we all needed to toast this moment. It was actually kind of funny.  We then took a taxi back to the train and went home.

The picture is a church in Ulm that I saw as we drove by but of course today was cold dreary and a little bit of rain. Not nearly so bright and cheery as this picture. I didn't see the two old geezers either but there are plenty of old geezers.

So that was my day. It was already late when I got home so after dinner I am ready to go to bed. On my way to the train station this morning I noticed a little frituur. In Belgium they sell French fries from little stands much like a hamburger stand or a hot dog stand. They call them Frituurs. French fries in Belgium are called friets and they’re very good. They’re very different than French fries and they have various sauces that you can put on them. This little place looked a lot like a Frituur and while it wasn’t quite the same as a Belgian Frituur it was pretty good.

So that was my day. I’m sorry it was such a boring day but I’m quite stoked. Tomorrow aught to be a bit more exciting. I’m going into Heidelberg to check out their castle. 

Germany Day 4

I have decided that I could totally learn German if I were to stay here very long. When I first got here I could read about half of what I saw but now after a week I can actually understand about half of what is being said. I almost always know the gist of the conversation. Today was another great day. They toured me around a lot of the plant. I don’t know if I mentioned this (I actually think I did but I will say it again) but this place is 25 km² and covers 11 km of the Reine river. They actually have their own little refinery on site. They buy crude oil and then crack it into all of the different fractions that they need for their processes. They have hundreds of miles of pipes running all over the place. I also learned that this company has one of the largest wine collections in the world. They have a huge underground wine cellar. They have a team of people that go all over the world tasting different wines and deciding what to buy up and I guess it is more difficult to get onto this team than it is to get onto their board of directors.

While many things here impressed me one of the coolest things is how they try and make the place more homey looking. Even in their machine shop with all the noisy machinery going and metal chips flying all over they have dozens of potted plants. In their glass blowing shop they even have a couple of aquariums with tropical fish in them. I guess since I now have a window in my office at work I’ll have to take a potted plant to work. I remember years ago I had a “creeping charley”, maybe I’ll get one of those. I also had a “wandering Jew” (am I allowed to say that?). I also like those little bamboo plants.  I’ll let you know what I end up doing.

Most of the afternoon I was in a meeting with the thermoelectric team and we had some good discussions. After work one of the guys took me out to dinner (my cash is about done) so I really don’t have much else to tell you. Tomorrow is the big test so I’m a bit nervous. Say a prayer for me.  We’re meeting at the train station at 7:15. Groan, each morning gets earlier and earlier.

Germany Day 3

What a fun day. I think I was originally supposed to go with one of the guys here and do some pre-tests before the big one on Thursday but in the end I wasn’t allowed to go. It was a government lab and me being a foreigner and all made it difficult. I asked them if it would be easier if I told them I was a Canadian rather than an American (yes I know that Canadians are technically Americans as well but you know what I mean). So what we ended up doing was spending the day touring my host company. What a beautiful facility they have here. This place is 25 square kilometers big and I was beginning to get a bit jealous of all the resources they have here when he pointed out that they have been waiting three weeks for a small mold to be built and he also pointed out that it was going to be very expensive. That reminded me of all the red tape involved in getting stuff done in a big company while in a small company I can just go and do pretty much anything I want and if we can’t do it in house I can always get it done at a small shop somewhere and in the end it is usually cheaper and much faster. In house services are not very responsive to their customers.

I don’t think my dinner from last night is sitting too well with me. It was very good when I had it the first time but I’ve been doing those sour burps all day and I’m about killing myself.  I hate it when that happens. My host has been kind enough not to comment on it but I’m sure I’m about killing him too.

So I thought sure that I would be able to get the internet here at work I technically there is supposed to be a guest WiFi service but guess what? It isn’t working in our building.  I can’t go the entire week without connecting to the internet so I’m going back to the hotel tonight and raising a stink with someone.

It is now late afternoon here and after a good time in the labs we’re waiting to make a conference call with Hi-Z so I’ve got some down time. I figured my host could get some work done since he’s been entertaining me all day and I would review my day with you. It looks like losing my card may have been a good thing. These guys are going to pick up my tab at the hotel, buy me a ticket to Frankfurt on the weekend and I think they’re going to pick up the tab for the hotel in Frankfurt. Honest, I didn’t plan that, it just happened and I feel rather stupid about the whole thing.

As you can tell I now have internet. I figured out why it didn't work for me last night, they were raising their prices. Tonight when I went to log in the prices were all higher. It sure is expensive here. Most hotels now days give you free WiFi but not here. We put in a long day at work but now I think I'm going to go for another walk and see if there is something I want to eat. I'm still a bit queasy from that meal last night.

Sorry about the pictures from the internet but nothing seems to be going right on this trip. I'd planned on taking pictures with my cool new phone but for some reason it is telling me that I don't have a data card in it. I do have a card but perhaps it is corrupted. Oh well, the pictures off the internet are better ones anyway and the weather here is so dreary that everything would look sad anyway. The train in the picture is the train I took getting down here. Boy was it a fast train. They tell me it can go up to 500kph and I believe it. It was very smooth and quiet too. You could hardly tell it was moving. 

Well, I'll talk to you again tomorrow.

Germany Day 1 (and day2)

Right now I'm somewhere over Canada heading towards Greenland. The only other time I remember going over Greenland it was such a spectacular view that I will never forget it. I purposely booked an aisle seat because I wanted to see it again but unfortunately it is pitch black outside and I may not see anything. I knew we’d  be flying through the night  but I hoped that I’d be able to catch part of Greenland. What I forgot was that it is wintertime for most of North America and when I get up to Greenland they probably only see the sun for a few hours a day. Before the sun set though I did manage to see that there was a lot of snow on the ground out there. I sure do like living in San Diego during February.

This morning I decided that I wanted to spend a bit more time with Sarah so I asked her if she would drop me off at the airport. That would mean that she’d be late for church but life is all about families so I didn’t mind her missing some church. Perhaps I’m a bit selfish but I’m glad she came with me. Standing on the curb at the airport Sarah gave me such a big goodbye hug that when I headed in to the airport this old man and his wife just down from us gave us a big applause. I looked at him and he called out “Daddy’s little girl!” I answered back, “That’s right, you gotta love it.” And I do love it.

It seems strange to be on another business trip. There are a lot of things I love about working at Hi-Z and one of them is that I don’t have to travel so much. I am excited about going to Germany though, it sure beats China. I’ve never been to Germany before and if I got to choose, I sure wouldn’t have picked February but I’m still a bit excited. I had a very short layover in San Francisco and now we’re going straight over the pole and we’re supposed to land at around 10:00 in Frankfurt. I will then take a train down to Manheim where my hotel is.

A few things have changed since I last flew, the first thing I noticed was when I was booking my flights. It had a comment on the computer saying that this flight didn’t qualify for a cell phone boarding pass. What is a cell phone boarding pass I wondered? Well when I was going through security this guy held up his cell phone to a small glass screen and all of his flight information popped up on a little display.  I don’t know if his info was transmitted with a blue tooth signal or if his phone displayed a bar code but that was pretty cool. I think if I travel very much I’m going to have to learn how to do that.

The other thing that has changed are the metal detectors. They’re gone and we now have those little peep show booths. I had the infamous choice of exposing myself in the booth that can see through my clothes or go for the pat down where they literally shove their hands down your pants. I guess at my age I’m almost beyond really caring but I decided to go for the booth. What is our world coming to?

While I’m flying my poor wife is driving our car back from Utah. She flew up there but she’s bringing our car home because we are down a vehicle right now. I worry about her making that long drive alone but she’s a pretty tough girl. What is funny though is that I left this morning but she won’t be home until tonight so she was so worried about Sarah being home alone that she tried to make arrangements for Sarah. Sarah commented to me “does she realize that I’m going to college in the fall and I’m going to be alone every single day?” I reminded Sarah that she is our baby and it’s hard to let her grow up. What am I going to do when she leaves?

Well since I’m flying through the night and landing early enough tomorrow to do some sightseeing I think I will have a nap so that I’m not too tired in the morning.  Once I get in tomorrow night I will let you know how the rest of my trip is going.

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Well I did have a good nap and then woke up in time for breakfast. I’m not sure where I was but I was awake when the sun came up but when I checked out the window It was beautiful white clouds as far as the eye could and that is all I saw until we dropped into  Frankfurt. According to the map we flew over the Hudson Bay and then the very southern part of Greenland. We went directly over Iceland which I’m quite sure it was light for, over Scotland, Holland and then into Frankfurt. There were clouds the whole way. In Frankfurt I stopped at a bank machine and took out some Euros and then I bought myself a train ticket for Manheim and about 45 minutes later here I am. My hotel is a beautiful old six story building with stone walls that are about two feet thick. That is a picture of my hotel. My window faces out onto the park. My room is small and I have a single bed but I kind of like it. It is only about a ten minute walk from the train station so that was nice too. The best part of the hotel is that it is on Friedrichs Plaatz so I feel it was made just for me since it is on my place.

So I’m just a little bit worried. As I was checking into the hotel I couldn’t find my credit card so when I got to my room I dug through all of my pockets and it is nowhere to be found. I know the guy at the train station gave it back to me so all I can figure is that it fell out of my pocket when pulled my train ticket out of my pocket.  Yes, I know I should have put it back in my wallet but my train was leaving in about ten minutes and I didn’t want to miss it so I just shoved the card in my pocket with the ticket. I wasn’t too worried because I have another credit card but when I pulled it out to look at it I saw that it is expired. I’m not sure where the replacement card is but now I don’t know what to do. It is 3:00 in the morning in California and I don’t even know what phone number to call. As soon as my bank is open I’ll give them a call and hopefully they can get me a replacement card before I have to check out on Saturday. Thank goodness I took out some cash or I’d be pretty hungry right now.

After I checked into my hotel I went for a walk and found something to eat. I would have wandered around more but I was freezing so I came back the hotel and read a little bit. Once the banks in California started opening I tried calling them but no one would answer so I called Lisa. She gave me her credit card number over the phone so I can at least pay for the hotel and then she called around and got a number for the bank that I could call. I can’t even go on-line without my credit card.

After hanging around the hotel for a bit I went for another walk. This tower is a couple of hundred years old and is right in front of my hotel. I see it right in front of my window. I'm told it was a water tower. Pretty fancy water tower if you ask me. On my walk I found some dinner. It was a good dinner. Here at the hotel they were going to charge 22euro’s for their cheapest meal and I got way more than I could eat for 6 euro’s. It was a kabob place. I really wanted something German but they had a lamb sandwich made in Pita bread that looked really good. It was good too.

I’ve really wanted to go to bed for a long time now but if I go to bed too early I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and never get through the jet lag. It is now about 9:00 so I think I can go to bed now. I’m going to sleep like a baby I’m so tired. Anyone who has had a baby knows that the phrase “sleeping like a baby” is the worst description you could have for a good nights sleep. Baby’s are the most restless sleepers you’ll ever see. I can’t even be in the same room with them. They are continuously sighing and grunting and jabbering. I think tonight I’ll sleep like a log.

Canada - day 10, July 5, 2010

As I mentioned in my last posting, we pulled into Jackie and Ross's house in the wee hours of the morning. Shortly after midnight I woke everyone up so we could sing happy birthday to Lisa. It was her birthday but since we were on the road I knew there wouldn't be too much we could do but we could at least sing to her. She wasn't very impressed. Monday morning we all woke up and after breakfast we knew we should get on the road because Lisa and I decided that since we still had a lot of day left we might as well try and get back to San Diego. We hugged everyone good by and scratched Ross's very tough looking dog between the ears and headed back to the I-15. We dropped Alycia off (she really missed her husband), took gifts to Marie (they have a chocolate bar in Canada called a "Sweat Marie" so we just had to get some for her) and then headed to Cedar Hills to drop Brandon and his family off.

Since it was Lisa's birthday I tried to talk her into going shopping but she just wanted to get home so as I expected her birthday was postponed. I did make her a birthday dinner and bought Marie Callendars pie later that week.

After dropping Brandon's family off we suddenly had a lot of room in the van. After a week of marathon driving and late nights playing it was all catching up to me. Lisa sent me to the back seat where I crashed for several hours. Meanwhile Lisa and Sarah were up front acting all crazy. I vaguely heard them in the far reaches of my delirious mind singing to the radio or something.

In spite of our best efforts we once again pulled into the house in the wee hours of the morning. I slept in and then headed into work a day earlier than I'd planned. I was very excited to get back to work since our breakthrough just before I left. I'm loving work right now. It is a lot more fun when things are going well.

So that was our holiday for the summer. Not very relaxing but a whole lot of fun.

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The latest thinking is that the Neandertal did not go extinct but rather inter-bred with modern humans. As much as 4% of the Europeans DNA is thought to be Neandertal DNA. I think some of that DNA showed up in some of my boys.

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Canada - day 9 - July 4, 2010

Sunday morning came early and was very crazy. Try and imagine eight adults and four children trying to get ready for church. On top of that we had to make arrangements to pick up Grandma Leavitt (I volunteered for that job) and guide Fara, Kari & Barrett into the correct Location. If it was crazy before church however that was nothing compared to after church but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The blessing was wonderful. Justin did a great job and Landon received a wonderful blessing. Since there were many non-members at the meetings who would have left right after Sacrament Meeting we decided to ditch Sunday School and Priesthood meeting and heated to the house right after Sacrament Meeting. I won't even try and list who was at the house for a wonderful luncheon. Let's just say that you had to walk very carefully or you would step on someone.

Rod and Joanne Dyck came to Sacrament Meeting but weren't able to come over to the house after.

We'd seen them earlier that week in Rosemary but they were so busy with their responsibilities on the July 1 celebrations that we didn't get to visit very much. I also got to spend a bit more time with Fara as well. It was so good to have everyone there but I didn't know who to visit with. I kind of rotated around them all but I really wanted to visit the whole time with everyone. As I mentioned earlier, Maurine was there and the Lundrigans also came over. They are special to us because when we moved to San Diego they were in our Stake. Lisa had known them in Edmonton so it was nice to have a little bit of a connection.

Since both our parents were thousands of miles away we kind of adopted them as our childrens grandparents and they willingly accepted the responsibility. They have certainly been a great blessing to our family.

Justins step father is a professional chef and he made all of the food. It was quite a spread. Everyone ate way too much and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Unfortunately it is a fact of life that all good things must come to an end and we soon realized that if we were going to make Jackie's house (in Blackfoot) before sunrise the next morning we'd better get moving. As usual we got left late and didn't arrive at Jackie's until about 3:00AM. She was a good sport and got up to greet us and guide us to our various beds. We kind of took over her house and she was very gracious about it.

I have to go back to our drive however. If you remember Brandon was travelling without a passport and the US has put in place some very strict rules about entering the US without a passport. While I was quite sure that they wouldn't leave him in Canada I was expecting them to run us through the ringer at the border. We really lucked out and ended up with a really nice guy at the border. He was a bit of a comedian and when he realized that Brandon didn't have a passport he called over his shoulder to some guy behind him. "you better go get the hand cuffs". It was pretty funny. Other than that the trip was rather uneventful. Everyone soon fell asleep and I had the night to myself.

I don't know what other people do to keep themselves awake when they've got several hours alone but I love to try and invent things in my head. Sometimes it is something practical that I'm working on at work but usually it is far out stuff. My kids are quite familiar with some of my far out inventions that I'll obviously never actually build but I've got them all designed in my mind and I really think that many of them would work.

Kira and Fara

Grandma Leavitt and Fara

The Leavitts and their San Diego grandparents who now live in Calgary. Bob and Virginia Lundrigan.

Canada - day 8 - July 3, 2010

Today was the day we'd all been waiting f0r. The purpose of the whole trip. Today was when Landon was sealed to his family in the Temple of God. We got up early and tried to get on the road early enough to give us time to stop at the cemetery. As you may have guessed it didn't happen. We were on time for the temple however. As I was parking the car I walked past this couple who made a double take and said in an uncertain voice, "Fred?" Well if they weren't sure it was me I certainly had no idea who they were. I told them I was indeed Fred but they would have to help me out. It was Arnold and Linda Pitcher. They had been in our ward in Edmonton when we were newly weds. How cool it was to see them after so many years.

The sealing took place in the same room where Lisa and I were married twenty nine years ago. It has been changed a lot since then. The Alter used to be on one end of the room but now it is dead center. The walls were also completely white when we were sealed but now they have a lot of wood trim. I suspect that was done during the remodel in the 1990's. The sealing was beautiful. Kira and Justin knelt across the alter from each other and then Landon was brought in and sat on the alter between them. Kira's greatest fear was that Landon would refuse to sit still or be quiet but her prayers were answered. Landon just sat there calmly on the alter and looked at his parents. It was very touching and very spiritual. It was as if he knew what was happening. They also brought Evan in for the ceremony and he too sat calmly (actually he was being held by a temple worker). After the ceremony was over they all (Justin, Kira, Landon and Evan) had a group hug and cried. Yes, even Justin had huge tears streaming down his cheeks. Actually we all did. The sealer then suggested that we might all want to go up and "reverently" congratulate the new family. Mothers of course went first but fathers were right behind them.

The coolest thing about watching a family get sealed is that you get to witness a new and eternal family being formed right before your eyes. It has to be the most spiritual thing I've ever witnessed.

After the sealing we all went out side and joined poor Sarah, the only member of the family who couldn't be there (other than Alex of course). I know she felt very left out but she's such a wonderful girl that she would never complain about it or say anything. She will certainly be blessed for all her faithfulness. We all hung around the temple for a long time taking pictures and then the biggest part of the group headed back to Waterton for a special luncheon that Justin's aunt had prepared.

The Leavitt family (minus Kira and Justin who had to play host) went to visit my Aunt Orva. Aunt Orva was my mothers only sister and I've

always really loved her family. She looks nothing like my Mom but she still reminds me of her every time I visit her. I was very surprised by how old she looks but I keep forgetting that she is in her 80's now.

I then drove by the house that I grew up in. The address of this house is 432 2nd avenue west. I'm surprised that I still remember it. It doesn't look anything like it did when we moved into it when I was seven years old. My dad was a carpenter and that house was continuously being remodeled until the day that he sold it. In addition to all the rooms he added he also added all these fun little gadgets like solar heating and a wood burning furnace. He never paid anything for gas except what little the gas cooking stove used. The house and all the water was heated by the sun or wood. I'm not talking about a wood burning stove either. This was a regular furnace and the heat was controlled by a thermostat on the wall. Very cool.

We then stopped by the cemetery on our way to Waterton. It is a shame Kira and Justin couldn't be there but I guess you can't do it all. I've always been torn by the whole cemetery thing. I would

love to be buried in the Leavitt plot. We looked around and there in that area were Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma, Great Grandpa and Grandma and of course Thomas Rowell Leavitt. Nick was even there right by Mom and Dad. I would love to be buried there with them all. The problem is that I have lived in San Diego for nearly twenty years and this is my home now. Besides, if I croaked first then Lisa would want to come and visit me once in a while. And who's going to haul my remains all the way back to Canada? Thats why lately I've been favoring the idea of cremation.

Ben's good friend Abram was tragically killed a few years ago in a hiking accident. He was cremated and they sprinkled some of his ashes in the ocean, some of them in the Canadian mountains where he died, some of his ashes are in a cemetery close to home here and some were made into glass beads to be given to his friends. I have a bead on my keychain and every time I use my keys I think of Abram. I'm thinking if I was cremated I'd have some of my ashes put in the ground with mom and dad, some of them in a cemetery here in San Diego, some would be in a real cool stainless steel sphere that Lisa could keep on the mantel and some would be in beads for my kids etc. I'm really warming up to that idea.

Enough of the morbid topic and back to Waterton. We had a wonderful luncheon and every one had a good visit. There were a few pictures that I wanted to get so while people were visiting I took the camera and took a few pictures. I loved this sign warning that the deer might kick you. When I lived here tourists were constantly getting kicked by the deer.

This is a picture looking across Emerald Bay towards the Prince of Wales. This water is freshly melted off a glacier and is very cold but Lester and I used to go swimming in this bay all the time. brrrrr.

We built this motel when I was about twelve. We named it the Windflower Motel because of the crazy wind in Waterton. It was also the name of the street that we were on. When we built it, it had a flat roof. I guess I kind of like the peaked roof.

After a few years in Waterton the motel next door came up for sale and we bought it too. It was called the Ponderosa Motel. That is Crandel Mountain in the back ground with Bears Hump in the foreground. We ran both of these motels. The cabins in the Ponderosa also had flat roofs. The best thing about the Ponderosa is that it had a Sauna. We would come up in the winter time sometimes and fire up the Sauna. We would then dive into the snow drifts stark naked. It is a weird feeling to see all the steam rise off your body and what a refreshing feeling it is.

The two motels are now called the Aspen Lodge and they've built a new building between the two

where we used to have living quarters for the house keeping crew. Oh what fond memories I have of this place.

Since we had to drive back to Calgary for the blessing the next day it soon came time for us to leave. I left with great reluctance. Landons birth mother and father were at the luncheon, their names are Caleb and Sarah. Before we left Kira asked Caleb to sing a song that he'd written about the whole experience. The song was a rap song and I'm not too much into that sort of thing but the words were straight from his heart and very touching. This song could be famous some day. It was very tragic to listen to him sing this song about a boy that another man will raise. It was quite surreal to watch Landon in the arms of his birth mother sitting next to his birth father singing about him. Leaving the whole morality issue out of it, this was a real testimony about why you don't have sex until you're prepared to welcome children into your life. Caleb and Sarah are great people and I'm sure that some day they will be wonderful parents but they're only teenagers right now and giving up their baby was a very brave thing for them to do. They're obviously mature enough to want what is best for their baby but you could tell it was killing them. By making this move they've blessed the lives of many people but most of all Landon and that is what it is all about.

We then hit the road and made the three hour drive back to Calgary. As you can tell, during this entire week I was only getting more and more tired but my heart was getting more and more full.