Hello Family!

Al & I arrived home last night 10:20 p.m. safely and with all our luggage! (Not like in Germany when we spent 4-5 days wearing the same clothes!) Of course, my brains are a bit juggled, as I got up at 6:30 a.m., but it was actually 1:30 p.m. Germany time. I woke up first at 3:00 a.m. which was 10:00 a.m. Germany time. You know what I mean...

We had a wonderful trip! It feels like we've been gone for a month. We enjoyed discovering Rome together for 4 days. Ancient Rome was fascinating, seeing the area where Paul and Peter would have walked and discussed, the building under which was the prison they supposedly were chained in. A building in Rome is NEW if it was build 300-500 years ago. The Vatican is amazing in the sense of the superstition of the catholic church and it's grip of fear on people, and it's wealth! It was disheartening and yet eye-opening to see this. Each church has a claim to fame like the "skulls of Peter and Paul" in one church, and the "finger of doubting Thomas " in another church, etc. You really get the idea that this is a hoax. And so many fall for it! Spiritually it all seemed so dead. We got an idea of the power the church had as state and church. We are fortunate to have moved away from that. We saw four churchs, and the catacombs where many chiristians were buried underground, during years of persecution and even after the Roman empire came down. The best part of Rome was the little cafes spread throughout, and the Italian food! Pasta heaven... It was a romantic city, beautiful to walk. Beware of the wild traffic though...

We liked Rome better than Paris, which is more spread out, not as quaint. Still beautiful though, but we were "citied out" and Paris was also cooler, when we were there. We did a bus tour and saw the main sights.

It was good to spend time with Teresa and Markus, Niklaas, Matthew and Emily. They were Greg and Deedee'd out! They gave us warm hospitality in spite of being tired out. I enjoyed the view out of their living room window, playing games with the kids, visiting around the supper table, touring the school, going fro drives in the countryside, having a picnic in the forest, and exploring a new part of Switzerland together, Vevey.

In Vevey area, we visited a cheesmaking demonstration - as done in the past. Quaint. In this little timber frame building up in the hills! We visited the Nestle factory near Vevey, which makes Callier chocolate, owned by Nestle. And saw the Castle Chillon. It sits on the waters edge near Vevey. Beautiful medieval castle! I thought the Buhlers would like this because they studied it so much!

Throughout our time at T&M's we were reading Love and Respect, a book on marriage. Wives are to respect their husbands and husbands are to love their wives. It sounds so basic, but it's amazing how we as wives sometimes are NOT respecting our husbands. It really helped focus things for Al and I. We will buy the book here, and finish reading it now. It really spoke to us.

All right, time to go shower!

Love, Brenda & Al