Back to Reality and Altenberg!

WELCOME BACK TO GERMANY

We were so ready to get back to competing.  It seemed like it had been forever since the last race, especially since Noelle fore ran in La Plagne.  We made our way up through Belgium and through Luxembourg on our way to Frankfurt where we would stay the night.  We first drove to the temple where we could take a peek then checked in to our hotel which was 2 min away.

So we had 2 dilemmas once we arrived here in Friedrichsdorf (just outside Frankfurt).  

1 - We had no food for dinner and we had driven around for about 30 min trying to find a place to eat with no success.  We didn't have a kitchen so we were limited on what we could make or heat up 

and we didn't want to spend $20 a plate in our hotel.

2 - We were running out of clothes and our hotel in Paris offered to wash each article of clothing at a price.  So, 1 sock=$3, 1 shirt=$7 etc... it was literally cheaper to by new clothes.  When we

arrived we also began looking for a laundromat which we found none.  Our first thought, 

was to try and find a church member, since we were so close to the temple.  But that wasn't 

going to be that easy at night, with no way to communicate and no one to contact.  

The mini miracle:  Luckily there was a grocery store right next to our hotel, so we pulled in and began looking for something to eat, something we could heat up with hot water.  So we split up and started looking.   I made my way to the frozen area and found a familiar tag, it was a senior missionary couple (Elder and Sister Eyre from Wyoming) doing a little shopping for dinner that night.  (For those who don't know, our church has over 55,000 missionaries throughout the world, most of them are young adults between the age of 18-23).  I made my way over, only to greet them, and we talked for a few minutes and I explained why we were in Germany and how long we had been gone.  They immediately wanted to meet Noelle.  As I was leaving to find her to introduce her I asked if they happened to know where a laundromat was and they didn't.  Noelle walked by, called her down and introduced her.  We spoke for about 1 min and Sister Eyre said we could come over to their place and use their washer and dryer.  She also said that she would make us dinner while we were waiting.  We were so excited.  The rest of the night was spent wonderfully in their lovely apartment home where we ate an amazing chicken fried rice and had ice cream for dessert.

That was exactly what we needed and the perfect start to the 2nd half of the season.

The Frankfurt temple at about 9:00 a.m.

Our wonderful dinner with Elder and Sister Eyre.  Thank you so much for that night, we truly enjoyed it and can't thank you enough for inviting us in.

Our family picture in front of the Frankfurt temple on our way out of town the next day.  

The Freiburg temple is only about 3 hours away from the Frankfurt temple and only 20 min out of the way from our destination.  You think we were going to pass that up?

Self explanatory, Cuteness bundled up in a bright orange coat.  The cuteness doesn't last long before the wolf comes out of the sheep's clothing.

This was New Year's Eve, Noelle had finished training and we were able to set me up with a run down the track (Thanks to Martin) from the Exit of curve 6.  I was a little freaked, since the FIBT description of this track is one of the most difficult in the world, but the ice was amazingly smooth and offered me perfect protection down the track.  I had a blast and it was the perfect way to end the year!

New Years Eve Night:  We ran down to the hotel lobby where there was some slight partying going on (as you can see on the table behind us).  We showed up 10 min before the New Year, saw some fireworks and came away with a glow in the dark balloon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!