Sights of Celle

We started our tour of Celle this morning at the Beekeeping institute. We are interested in bees, after learning so much about them from our friends, the Weatherbees. They would have enjoyed seeing the different hives and learning that they have several harvests here in Germany. We enjoyed taking our picture in the traffic mirror outside the institute.

Crystal was terrified of getting stung the entire time we were strolling in the gardens. Luckily, although a bee landed on her arm, she wasn't stung. I got a great picture of this bee on a flower!

 

The castle in Celle is really beautiful. We enjoyed the tour and learning more about e Dukes and Kings that lived there.Amanda spent a good part of the tour talking to one of the tour guides about the church. She has been wearing her nametag, which always brings up questions about the church. The tour guide had been showing us the plaques about the different religions in the region. Surprisingly, he'd never heard about the LDS church.

The Bowmann museum across from the castle had  a nice display of life in the 17th century. This kitchen looks like it has everything one would need to make a great meal!

They also have a nice modern art museum in Celle. It is apparently open 24 hours a day, except Mondays. That makes it hard for missionaries to pop in! I liked this picture. It says to me, time is a wastin'!

 We met one of Amanda's investigator's, Florian, and his friend Julia for a carriage ride through the old town. They both spoke very good English and translated some of the narration along the ride. We had brought some American candy (Butter Fingers, Reese's and Skittles) especially for him. He was so excited about it that it was worth the effort of packing it and dragging it around Germany for a week! We enjoyed his outfit--a shirt, tie and shorts! If he got a pair of pants he'd look like a missionary!

The carriage gets to ride right down the pedestrian zone among all the half-timbered houses. The oldest of the buildings dates to 1532! Celle was lucky to escape destruction in WWII. 

Our carriage driver was so terrific. He spoke some English and was nice enough to let us water the horses afterwards. We find out that if you put water in their poop bucket they won't drink out of it. It has to be in the clean water bucket! We didn't blame them!

St. Marion's church in the old town was very pretty inside and out. We were the only people inside it, and Amanda asked if she could sing a song. The lady selling postcards said, "Why not!" She sang "How Great Thou" part in English and part in German. It was very beautiful, and the sound was fantastic. We really enjoyed the private concert, as did the woman in the back! 

We drove by to see the LDS church and found Sister Thornton and Sister McCappin there. Amanda wanted to know how all her investigators were doing. She's missing them and hoping they're all doing well! It's harder than one would think leaving all your friends in the mission!

Amanda showed us one of her favorite graffiti walls. She had sent Ed a picture of her standing beside it for his birthday this summer. Maybe he can send this picture on to someone else!

My one goal was to go to bed at a reasonable time. However, it was 9 p.m. before we started looking for somewhere to eat. Luckily, Fong Wong's was open! It was not far from our hotel. We had the family dinner with duck, beef and pork. It even included soup, salad and ice cream! It was a delicious end to another great day!