ITALY - We left SLC and flew to JFK on Friday, May 10th and then
took the overnight flight from JFK to Rome and arrived about noon. Fritz, was our tour guide for the whole trip, and
Mike Swenson met us at the airport. Mike
had been in Europe for 2 weeks with his family.
We took a coach (it is way to fancy to call a bus) to the coliseum to take a walking tour so that we would
not go to sleep. The coliseum was built
for the public; the Roman empire used a lot of swag to keep people from
revolting. They had free entertainment
like the coliseum, free baths and 1 free meal a day. The coliseum itself, was divided up into
economical classes, but it was first come first served in each of the
sections. The floor of the coliseum had
a multi purpose. It could be for a
circus, stage to re-enact battles or victories, and it could be used as a lake
to re-enact sea battles. Of course,
battles to the death and punishment of criminals and Christians.
After the coliseum visits, we visited the Vatican and it
is a state within a state. The Pope is head of the Vatican state. They were preparing for a special service on
Sunday to canonize saints. We were able
to see the Sistine Chapel, the Papel, and many paintings my Michael Angelo and
other great artists. We then went to the
St. Peter's Cathedral. The size of everything
is enormous. We walked and walked until
our legs were going to drop off. You could fit 8 soccer fields inside the St. Peter's
Cathedral.
Sunday we went to church and didn't understand
anything, but they acknowledged that we were there, because I heard then say
BYU. Before Church we met with Brother
Flynn at the Rome Temple site and he told us some very interesting things that
they have had to do. The builders do not
have any ties with the Church and didn't understand why they had to do what
they were doing in building the Temple, and so he flew about 8 people over to
see the construction of the Payson Temple, the Ogden Temple and Temple
square. Of course, everyone that they
were introduced to thought it was such a big deal to meet the team building the
Rome Temple! And, the workers just
couldn't understand why everyone was making such a fuss. Brother Flynn said the contractors are finally getting
it. His wife is here on a full-time
mission until they are done. Brother Flynn's mission is considered a service one. That was interesting. Then we walked over to
where the Temple is being built and it is right to the side of a shopping
center, right off from the freeway. It
wasn't where I had it pictured in my mind.
It will be round and will be in a circular "square" where
there will be the visitors center, a chapel and then the Temple. The Angel Moroni will sit on a pedestal right
in the middle.
We have had our share of gelato and we find a new place
everyday. We have visited the coliseum
and all the fountains and have seen down where the old city was built. Everything is built on top of the old
stuff. Italy is very expensive and
old. the only old thing we have in Utah is the
Grand Canyon!
There are many many motorcycles and the city streets are
very narrow and they wind between all of the vehicles.
There isn't any ice in Italy and gas stations are
just that - just gas. The attendant sits in a chair outside and there are just gas pumps, no drinks, no sandwiches -just gas. However they do have be-days, which are
wonderful!
We then returned back to the hotel to go on more walking
tours throughout the city. The cars in
Italy are all small, small cars and many, many motorcycles. Kelsey and I loved to sit outside the hotel
and watch the traffic and listen to the horns honk. Someone said that there is a death a day on
motorcycles in Italy.
Italy is beautiful and has 7 hills. Everything is built upon the old city. On one tour they showed us part of the city
down below and it was amazing. Lots and
lots of tourists because of the Pope's presentation on Sunday.
Tuesday, we fly to Munich and say goodbye to Italy.
MUNICH, GERMANY - arrived in beautiful Munich after visiting Rational who makes amazing ovens. If you had one of their ovens, you would not need anything else to cook your food. The ovens are for those people who cook for more than 30 people everyday. Cordell Briggs who is on our tour, works for BYU dining and they bought 5 and have 7 more on order to feed all of the missionaries who are arriving at the MTC, and they use them at the Cannon Center. t\They are incredible and are one of a kind! And after the tour, they fed us all steak on bread, croissants, pizza, pork, vegetables, French fries, and streudle that was incredible. Better food than anyone could make and the pizza and fries were frozen, but you would have thought they were fresh, better than any restaurant that we have been to. BYU has been visiting this company for 20 years and they only do this for BYU! His name was Peter.
MUNICH, GERMANY - arrived in beautiful Munich after visiting Rational who makes amazing ovens. If you had one of their ovens, you would not need anything else to cook your food. The ovens are for those people who cook for more than 30 people everyday. Cordell Briggs who is on our tour, works for BYU dining and they bought 5 and have 7 more on order to feed all of the missionaries who are arriving at the MTC, and they use them at the Cannon Center. t\They are incredible and are one of a kind! And after the tour, they fed us all steak on bread, croissants, pizza, pork, vegetables, French fries, and streudle that was incredible. Better food than anyone could make and the pizza and fries were frozen, but you would have thought they were fresh, better than any restaurant that we have been to. BYU has been visiting this company for 20 years and they only do this for BYU! His name was Peter.
While we were in Munich, we visited BMW and saw an alum,
(Wolfgang) who works there and he told us of his history with BMW. Then we did a tour at their Dolfingdin plant
and it was amazing, We were there for
about 8 hours total. We saw all of the
stations for the cars and then saw the cars as they were finished. The tour is a 3 mile tour and was so
impressive. And we would love to have a BMW - Andy is lucky and I think I will
ride in his car more.
I realized from visiting these companies that you have to
have great relationships with your suppliers in order to have a successful
business like these.
We left early this morning, Thursday, May 16th, on our
Mercedes Benz coach and headed to Salsbury and the countryside is the most
beautiful land we have ever seen!
Salbury is famous for Mozarts birth and for Sound of Music, but they
didn't even know about sound of music until a few years ago. Mozart has provided their economy with a lot
of money even though he didn't become famous until years after his death. It is absolutely beautiful countryside!!!
Then we went to Mauthausen, one of the many concentration
camps from world war 2 where 200,000 prisoners went through, and 100,000
survived. They just celebrated 68 years,
on May 5th 2013 since the American soldiers freed the prisoners. There were beautiful flower wreaths at every
monument because the Austrian people love the Americans for freeing the people. Many of the wreaths
were red while and blue. It was a very
sobering thing to visit. We must
remember the past, so that we can make better choices in the future. Something we must hand down to our children.
We are now on the coach again and headed to Vienna. We will go to Slovakia tomorrow to visited
the Volkswagen plant. On our way to Vienna we will drive through the last of
the Alps, the Vienese Forrest. as we get
closer to the alps, the landscape becomes more and more beautiful.
VIENNA, Austria
We left Vienna this morning at 8 to go to the VW plant in
Slovakia and arrived at 10 for the tour and saw a video about the plant. Everyone in the video looked extremely happy
as if it was for the cameras. We walked
a long way to just one building, where they put the car together with all of
the parts made in other buildings. It was a very fast tour. The building
looked very staged, extremely clean and white.
No one smiled. In fact a young
women followed our group and looked really, really mean. Maybe that is what they told her to look
like, or is it the leftovers from a communist country? We saw the new UP VW car
being put together (which we can't get in the US) and the Toureg car. The shop where you could buy souvenirs was
small and the cars like we bought for the grandboys at the BMW plant were 4
times the amount, so we didn't get those and everything in that little shop was
way over-priced! The trip there was very
interesting. Slovakia was old and many
of the buildings haven't been redone since the communists were there. We stopped on the way back at a rest stop gas
station once we arrived back in Austria for a quick lunch before we go on the
Brodmann piano visit. It was much nicer than the gas station Yvette,
Shawna and I go to. It had two different
restaurant type places to choose from which were located in the same to share
tables and chairs. However, we would go
broke if we ate there even 3 times a week, and I am sure they don't have a
frequent diner card! By the way, the
Vienna hotel was the first place we had ice.
It was good to have. A small
bottle of coke is 2.50 euro which would be about $3.12. Gasoline is about 7- 8 dollars a gallon.
In Vienna, the city is created in rings and
we are in the first ring. Lots of one
way streets and our coach driver, Tommy has had some interesting moments. When we went to Brodmann pianos, it took
forever because some streets are only for pedestrians, then you have the one
way streets added to that mix. Fritz,
our guide had to get out of the coach and try and help him back out and there
was a little old, feisty women who began yelling at Fritz. We couldn't understand her, but I don't think
it was nice. It made for good entertainment. There is lots and lots of walking on the
Europe trip, which makes it very different from the South American and Asia
trip.
The Charles hotel on Munich is our
favorite so far. It was extremely clean,
the food was fantastic, and the rooms were amazing! Just thought I should say that. The tours of the businesses have been
great! BMW has been the best overall,
but the Rational ovens really put on the "dog". One other thing about the BMW tour, their
employees are allowed to drink beer during their breaks, as long as they are
responsible, whatever that means.
Yesterday morning, Saturday, was free time. We walked around the center circle and peeked
into St. Stephen's cathedral and they were having mass, but that didn't stop
the many people from going in. After
that, we walked around looking at the
music boxes, which were beautiful and very expensive. It is a holiday weekend because of the
Pentecost and so there were tourists and many, many visitors. Many musicians on the street and even the
Hari Krishners.
Then we went with the group to the Schonbrunn Palace
which was Franz Josef's (their emperor) summer home. Although by bus it was just 15 minutes, back
then it would have been way outside of the city ring. It has over a thousand rooms, but we only saw
about 40 of them. It was amazingly
beautiful and we don't have anything to compare it to. Their normal palace was in the center of the
city and then everything was built around that palace, and that is what creates
the city rings.
Then last night we went to hear and see the Weiner
Hofburg Orchestra which featured Strauss and Mozart music in concert. It was wonderful. Our guide, Fritz got all of us on the first
3 rows on the side where the drummer and the first violinist play and they were very fun to watch. The first violinist would get so excited that he would actually jump out of his chair at times! The drummer and the
conductor provided great entertainment. There were also 5 opera singers who participated. It was a great day and a day not to be
running!
On Sunday, we attended the Vienna 4th international ward. This ward is made up of
international people from all over the world who want to attend an English
speaking ward. it was great and a
beautiful building. The chapel has organ
pipes along the entire front of the chapel and the chapel is upstairs. The benches are moveable as we found in
Italy. The program was the commencement
of the Aaronic Priesthood. They had 3
young men speak, 2 who appeared to be from the Philippines and one who was of
African. They were great. Then 2 from the YM presidency spoke. Very good talks. 2 Young Women were sitting in front of us and
one of the young men was quoting a talk given by a general authority and he
said "amen" as it was in the talk, and the 2 young women weren't
paying attention, and they both said amen and then realized what they did, and
then got the giggles and couldn't stop.
Children, young men and young women are all alike. It brought home in my mind now much we
are brothers and sisters, all children of God, who loves each one of us!
Well, we are on our coach for the last time, as Tommy
takes us to the airport to fly to Paris
and we say good-bye to him, but Fritz continues with us all the way to London - lucky Fritz!
PARIS, France
We arrived in Paris late last night, Sunday night, and
today, Monday, is a holiday and therefore, many of the stores and some of the
tourist attractions are closed. Fritz
took us to Notre Dame, via the tube, where he gave us a crash course on the
tube and then said a prayer and turned us all loose! Dad and I took off to go to the Louvre by
walking and observing the people and the stores. It is rainy and has been raining since we
arrived, so the good thing is that I didn't have to worry about my hair -
nothing I could do about it plus, it gives me an excuse for looking bad! And-- it is cold. Should
have brought gloves and earmuffs.
I took my scarf that I purchased in Italy and put my coat on and then
wrapped my scarf around the outside and that helped. We did bring an umbrella and then the hotel
had one that dad used. It was the tall,
traditional umbrella with a curved handle - like Mary Poppins had. He loved it because he used it like a
cane. He really wants a cane, but it
makes him look and act old!!! So, I
won't let him have one.
Lots and lots of people at Notre Dame and at the
Louvre. in fact the line for the louvre
must have been at least a mile long.
They say you can spend 2 days in there, so we opted to walk to the
Eiffel Tower, which we did. I don't know
if you remember when Dad and I went to Nauvoo and on the way back went through
the Dakotas where he served his mission, to see Mt Rushmore and the weather was
so bad that we couldn't even see it after driving all the way and parking the
car and walking right up to it! So, when
we came back down into the underground parking lot, there was a coke machine
there with a beautiful picture of Mt Rushmore, so we did a close up picture of
the picture on the machine and you couldn't even tell! Well, that is what I thought of while we were
walking to the Eiffle Tower because you could hardly see it for the rain and
fog. However, no coke machine, so we
took the best picture that we could take in the rain! Then we went to the Arc de Triomphe and saw that.
We took the tube back and even made a transfer and made it back to the
hotel. We love the pastries and
breads. We are getting ready to go out
to dinner with some in the group.
It is hard to believe that we are here. Am sure we will never be able to do this
again and I am so thankful that we can be here now. Love watching the people and the children. Tomorrow we go to our business visits with
Loreal and Mercer. It will be a full
day.
We are on the train this morning leaving Paris to go to
England. We made it through customs and
of course, Kelsey and I were picked to be searched. They took him back through security and
checked all of him, and they took my briefcase and asked if I had more than
$10,000 euros and I told him we would be good to have 9 euros, He didn't even smile. I though it was funny. They put our group in a special place to
board the train first because we have so much luggage.
Yesterday we visited Loreal and Mercer. Loreal gave us lunch in their cafeteria and
the students were able to ask the Director over sourcing more questions. Her mother is from Vietnam and her dad is
from Spain and when she was very little they moved to Paris, and we had a hard
time understanding her.
Then we got back on the subway to go to Mercer. It has rained here for 3 days and has been so
cold and I didn't bring the right shoes, or any gloves! Had to wear my tennis shoes until we got to
the business and then change shoes. We
need to tell the women to take boots to Paris, even in June. I think it will be the same in England. I couldn't buy anything, because of the
expense. I could buy many missionary clothes
in Utah, for the price of one thing there.
Think we are now
in the underwater tunnel as my ears keep popping!
Our last night in Paris consisted of us counting our
euros and then determine what to eat for our dinner. We found a great pizza place and then we gave
our 9 euros of money left to Fritz as our tip to him! Andy, I am bringing his tour guide
information home as you may want him to take your company or family on a great
ski trip. He is a great guide. On our way back to the hotel, Kelsey and I
watched a group of 3 staking out a place for them to sleep for the night on the
streets of Paris. A women moved a man
hole out of the way, and she reached in and pulled out stuff that we assume she
stashed during the day. They look for
large building hangovers that have kept that area dry and they put down
cardboard and plastic on top of them and their stuff, which usually consists of
a couple of suitcases. They were
everywhere. Our hotel was in the Opera
part of Paris; so I don't know if this occurs elsewhere in London. We have had
the best breakfasts at the hotels.
Everyone has been wonderful! We
heard on the news that a young man committed suicide yesterday in Notre Dame
with all of the people there. how sad.
We have the best students traveling with us. Eric Gale has taken David Morris under his
wing and it has brought me to tears a few times on the trip watching how
Christ-like he has been. David was born
with some serious birth defects. He
doesn't have arms. His hands are
connected almost to his shoulders and Eric has been by his side the entire
trip, from carrying all of his luggage to opening water, to making sure that he
has food. Both of them are amazing,
because there has been so much walking and David's knees hurt so bad, but he
has been a trooper and a reminder to all of us when we start feeling pains of
walking.
When we get to London we will go see Windsor Castle first
and then to the hotel. Andy did such a
good job of showing us lots of London and we did see Windsor Castle with him,
but we will probably learn something knew.
If I see the Queen, I'll tell her you all said Hi!
Just got out of the Chunnel, so I guess we are in
England. This train doesn't go as fast
as the one in Japan.
LONDON, England
Arrived in England and immediately took the coach to
Windsor Castle and had about 3 hours there.
Everything is centered around the castles. This area is beautiful and not far from
Reading, where Andy and family stayed.
Such a beautiful place. It didn't
rain yesterday and that was nice, but it is the 6th coldest spring they have
had and I did not bring the right clothes or coat.
Ron Judd one of our MBA grads from 1990 was our speaker
last night and he talked about what it is like living as an ex pat. He and his family have been here for 13 years
and he has 5 children. He talked about
the expense of putting his 5 children in private schools. He has been the Stake president for about 8
years.
After the meeting at 9 p.m., dad and I did a dry run of how to
get to the train station via the tube and we bought our train ticket for Friday
to go out to the temple to see Launa and Reece.
We are so excited to hear about how it is going for them on their mission.
This morning we are on the coach to go to Honeywell and
the to HSBC in the afternoon. We are on
such tight schedules and we just keep running.
This is getting dad back in shape for the mission. He hasn't had a schedule for over a year!
It took about 45 minutes to get here to Honeywell, and we were met by Chris
Ratliff one of our daytime MBAs from 2007.
Curtis Laclaire also works here, but was out of town today.
Honeywell and HSBC
Honeywell, Chris Ratliff, grad 2007, HR over 1400
employees in Africa, Spain, Europe.
introductions
Paul Sanders Performance and materials division and works
with Cutis.
Chris talked about his experience as an expatriot and the
enjoyment his family is having
HSBC, John
Nabrotsky, did he graduate in 2007? He
has 5 children and is really moving up in the company and is really enjoying
the experience. His next assignment is
now being determined.
The play was wonderful.
the stage has a middle part that rotates in a circle and helps to make
it more dimensional. The play was so
moving. The death scenes were incredible
and so real. The music was amazing! there isn't anything like it. The theaters are located in a very busy section of London and restaurants all around. We walked to the play from the Hotel on Park
Lane by the Marble Arch tube entrance and it took about 30 minutes and it was
bitter cold. David Morris got sick today
and so the Barrett's took him to the play
in a cab and Kelsey and I volunteered to take him back in the cab and I
was grateful that we did.
It has rained the whole time in England.
It is now Friday and we are headed to the Lingfield
station to see Launa and Reece at the London Temple. We are on the way to the Temple and it is
beautiful farm land and all we could think of is what a great place for Reece
to be. Complete contrast to London.
We arrived at the Lingfield Station and found Reece and
Launa waiting on platform one for us as we got off the train on platform 2 and
then climbed the stairs and walked on the bridge over to platform 1 where they
were waiting. it was so wonderful and
Launa and I shed a few tears. so good to
see them. They took the bus in to get a
few groceries and walked to the station to meet us. They were all dressed up just like they were
missionaries with their name badges on.
We walked back towards town and took the city bus to the Temple. The whole area is farmland and old homes and
it is just beautiful. They took us on a
tour of where they live on the temple grounds and we met some of the senior couples
they serve with. We saw the Manor house
where the Temple Presidency lives and the single sisters and another couple
from Canada. we walked around the
beautiful grounds and saw the visitor center.
Launa and Reece are temporarily living in the a accommodations building
where members can stay when they come to do temple work, but they are waiting
for a couple to leave, and then they get to move to one with a bedroom (they
currently are sleeping in the living room, kitchen and computer room and
closets, as it is just one room, and a bathroom). The other one will also have a and a bathtub!
I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see them. After out tour, we called a cab and went into
town to a pup to have fish and chips and visit.
It was wonderful. We came back,
and went to do a session at the Temple.
Launa did some research and found some family names that we could do on
the Young side and then we were able to seal the family together. What an experience. There were just 9 people there in the session;
and we were 4 of those nine. I guess
they are having a problem getting members to come to the temple, and local
leaders are really working on that. 2
elderly sisters that were there, drove 2 1/2 hours to come to the temple. the celestial room is one of the prettiest I
have ever seen. it is gorgeous! then what a tender, sweet moment when the
four of us could participate in the proxy sealings. This was a once in a life time memory for
us!! Thank you, Launa and Reese for
making that happen. We left their place
at 8:20, and I cried all the way to the train station with 3 minutes to spare
to catch the train back to London. We
will catch the underground from Victoria station to the central line and then
to marble arch where our hotel is.
We leave the hotel at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, May 25th to catch the 12:30 flight
home, through Minneapolis. we should be
home Saturday night.
The trip has been perfect and we are so grateful to have
been able to have the experiences that we have had!
