Homeward bound

We were all ready for a day to collect our thoughts!

We decided to just hang out at the hotel and not do any more sightseeing. 

The day went quickly and we spent a good deal of time packing and repacking. 

We had to get up early to get to the airport in Dusseldorf.

We were to fly at 10:35.

It was a beautiful airport and we had time to explore it a bit while we waited for the check in to open. 

Why do they tell you to be there so early when they aren't ready for you that early?

This display was playing cards made into structures of all kinds. 

These toads or frogs? reminded me of the See no Evil monkey group. 

Then there were these giraffes with elephant trunks. 

Strange!

Customs inspection was done in Dublin....twice! 

By doing it that way we didn't have to go through customs in Chicago. 

It was quite close in Dublin. No time to sit and relax. Jonalee had to claim our luggage as she was the one watching the things you can't leave unguarded in an airport while Nathan and I were on a toilet break. Then we were back on the plane and on our way again. 

We arrived in Chicago at 3:30. 

Darla picked us up and took us back to their house, fed us supper, and then we headed for Madison. 

God bless Darla for making that so easy for us!

It seemed like Monday lasted forever. 

We got on the plane at 10:30 in the morning and got to Chicago at 3:30 BUT it was an eight hour flight and we lost six hours on the clock! 

We were all up early on Tuesday so we went to breakfast and off to Appleton where we met Jon at Jonalee's friend's house. 

Fantastic trip! 

Good to be home! 

Close to the end of the trip

Jonalee has seen all the shrines and our week at the condo is complete.
This is the condo and some pictures of the area.

This is the building in which we stayed.
I took this from the parking area.

Here you can see the beautiful view past our building.

And out to the left. 

This is the other side and Nathan and Jonalee on our balcony.

And the view beyond.

This is looking up the hill toward that first building.

The entrance.

It is a beautiful area for hiking. I planned to go for a walk the day I stayed there to collect my thoughts. Perhaps that would have happened, had it been a nice sunny day.

We checked out on Saturday and headed off to Lier, Belgium to see the Zimmer Bell Tower. 

The huge clock was constructed for the Brussels World Exposition in 1935. 

It went to the World's Fair in New York in 1938. Now it has its home in Lier.

This was taken from the back seat but shows the narrow streets and thick traffic.
Nathan did an excellent job of driving on all kinds of roads and getting us to all the neat places we were able to visit.

The Clock Tower.

Jonalee at the front door.

Jonalee and Nathan across the street with the Tower in the background.

We went inside the tower where there are many interesting things about Zimmer and the workings of the clock. 

There were three floors of interesting things. 

These figures jump on the hour and show the gravitational pull on all the planets by the height of the jump. 

This shows the inner workings of the clock.

After that tour we walked around the city.
Lots of interesting sites.
So many of the buildings that we were seeing are older than our country!

After this city we headed back to that church that was closed the day before.
St. Leonard's.
They were having a service at 5:00 on Saturday so we knew that they would be open. It wasn't out of the way for us so we decided to try again.
Another beautiful church.

Another shrine to photograph.

Off to the hotel near the airport we go! 

Museum at Herschbroich

I just realized that I didn't share some of the really neat things in the School house museum. 

This is the room just as you come in where you can see the model of the village way at the back. 

There are some very old books on the shelf on the left and some of the old desks. 

In the room off to the left there was an old wood cook stove. 

One of the sections was a waffle iron. It is so much like the ones that they have at Breakfast Buffets that it is unbelievable! 

This is the bottom side. 

The top has the recipe for the waffles right in the mold. 

No misplacing that!

A few other neat pieces.

The iron. The pressure cooker. The berry picker. 

The next room, behind the kitchen items, had some other interesting pieces.

The sewing machine. 

The planter.

 Since I am posting this way after the visit.....

I went to find some of my personal treasures and am sharing them also. 

 This one is a prayer book that may well have been in that church and school in Herschbroich. 

The first entry in the inside cover is from before they came to America. 

Several of the first pages are missing so I don't have the copyright date. 

 These are a few of the beautiful prayer cards in the book.

One of the pictures included in the book. The stains show that the book was well used. 

Inside back cover and some more of the cards. 

Another of the books that I have from the family.

This one is a song book. 

 This is one that he must have used to help to learn English. 

The copyright is 1865 so they were already in America at the time he was using this one.