Brother and Sister Tiki with mighty Marinda backpacking and Eurailing 12 cities in 15 days...the Amazing Race...Tiki style! Frankfurt ... Bern ... Genève ... Milano ... Roma ... Venezia ... Ravenna ... Pisa ... Firenze ... München (Neuschwanstein) ... København ... Berlin ... Frankfurt (Freidrichdorf) ... aaahh! Of course the trip was all about Rome. We did spend 2 1/2 days there. Yes there were eye-popping sites, marginal transportation (transit strike...yikes!), wonderful gelato, and "real" pizza (nothing to write home about). Now I can say, "been there, done that."When folks ask, "what was the best part of your trip?"
I can say two things, "Ah, yes. There was plenty of eye-candy. But the spiritual side far outweighed it all."
We went to the Bern Switzerland Temple in Zollikofen. We stayed in the temple accommodations which are comfortable but not lavish. Marinda got to do some baptisms for the dead with Italian kids and Lynette and I went through an Italian endowment session. It was a wonderful experience. I so love the saints wherever we go.
Missionaries...missionaries...missionaries. In Rome, angels to guide us to the chapel, Elder Mondragon and Elder Hartsock. Some more elders in Ravenna. Lots more in Frankfurt.
Why Copengagen? The temple of course. This was ended up more as a day trip since we could not get a night train to Berlin. We ended up walking to the temple and met an angel, Charlotte Fredricksen. She was recently called to serve a mission in western Switzerland and southern Germany. No trip to Copenhagen is complete without a visit to Vor Frue Kirke (Copenhagen Cathedral) to see the original Thorvaldsen statue of the Christus.
The best was in the Frankfurt Temple as we mingled with saints from the stakes in Munich and Dortmund. We also stayed in temple accommodations there for 2 nights thanks to another angel, Silvia, the receptionist. Talking, eating, serving with faithful members of the church was exhilarating!
When we got back to the Salt Lake Airport, we were greeted by President Uchtdorf (not really...but sounds good). He was there greeting a relative but I said, "hi." And introduced Marinda to him.
Ciao, tschüss, au revoir!
