8/2/16 – Several months ago, we received an invitation to a Franza nephew’s wedding in Germany:  Gerard’s son John is marrying his beloved Eva-Maria, after 13 years of courting.  We met them eight years ago at a family reunion in Florida.  I was honored to be invited, and we started making plans.

We left Virginia where the temperature was over 90F every day, and arrived 16 hours later in Frankfurt where it was a gray and rainy 70F.  We spent a full day in Frankfurt-am-Main, walking along the Main River to help minimize our jet lag.  We visited Goethe Haus, a tribute to favorite son writer Johann Goethe.  His family home was destroyed in 1944 by Allied bombs, but was recreated from the ground up after the war, using artifacts that had been removed and hidden from the bombing.

It was four stories of old furniture and musical instruments.  

This is a pianoforte with vertical strings!

Most of our fellow tourists were from China – a phenomenon we encounter in every country we visit.