July 24, 2009

Yesterday was basically a travel day for us, flying from Barcelona to Rome, and then Rome to Frankfurt. Other than an hour delay in Barcelona and a 90 minute delay in Rome, after already boarding the plane, the day was uneventful. We arrived in Frankfurt in the evening and made our way to Sasha and Elvira’s house where we spent the night.

In the morning we drove to Weierhof, south-west of Frankfurt, to visit the Mennonite historical library. I knew that the library director was not going to be around, but I assumed that the library would be open. Well, my assumption was incorrect. Karen and the boys took this as a sign from heaven that we should just keep driving. I however, knowing that I was right on the doorstep of the library, took this instead as a challenge. We walked a few buildings over to the Weierhof Mennonite Church and noticed that the pastor couple lived next door, which is where the church office was also located. By this time Karen and the boys were not wanting to have any part in what I was contemplating, but I insisted that we should knock on the pastor’s door and see if he could get us in to the library. Well, we met the pastor and after two phone calls we had a key delivered by a woman who lives across from the library. Mission accomplished. I only spent around 20-25 minutes in the library, but I was glad I had made the effort to visit it, and I even took some pictures to memorialize the visit!

We then drove north a few hours to Cologne, where we grabbed something to eat and then visited the Cologne cathedral. After a bit of walking around the city, we headed south to Euskirchen where another one of my father’s cousins, Waldemar Deleski, lives. I had met him and his wife for an hour when I was in Germany five years ago with my parents. They were willing to host us for two nights, so we were happy to have free lodging and to get to know some of Dad’s relatives a bit better.