Frankfurt Flood

Severe storms, including hail, heavy rain, and gale-force winds hit parts of Germany Switzerland, and France on Monday and Tuesday, June 28 and 29, 2021, triggering widespread flooding and damage. (News headline)

Our apartment building, the Area Offices and the Stake Center all had areas affected by the nasty flood water. The drain in the loading area of our apartment building was clogged and couldn't handle the downpour.

The Keller (basement) where we had our storage unit got hit hard. We felt so bad for some of the tenants who had their storage areas packed with lots of personal items.

The elevators were shut down, which made it quite a hike for those on the upper floors.

The water mark on the back wall of our unit shows how high the water got.

The fire department sent a truck to pump out the water so clean up could begin.

Elder Jeff Hilton is talking to his wife, Karen explaining how bad things looked like inside the keller.

Madonna and Child in Bruges and Dunkirk, France

One of the main reasons we wanted to visit Bruges was to view the famous statue of the 

Madonna and Child housed in the church.

If you had enough money, a person could be buried in a crypt such as this one that contains artwork and symbols on the side as can be seen.

Local nobility often paid for artwork as can be seen here and elaborate tombs for their remains.

Pictured below is a very ornate confessional where repentant people would come to confess their sins to the priest of the church.  Not exactly a great place for comfort, connection or counsel.

This workmanship of this statue is legendary and was created over 500 years ago.

Just up the coastline from this part of Belgium is Dunkirk, France the location of a very famous World War II battle that almost led to the complete defeat of Great Britain in the war, prior to the USA's entry.

In a little more than an hour, we were in France. 

Pictured above is a leaflet that the German military dropped over the hundreds of thousands of trapped British, French and Belgian soldiers inviting them to surrender.

The art below depicts the hopeless situation they were in, literally being pushed into the sea with nowhere else to retreat.

While Dunkirk is known for the military failure of both sides in the conflict, the story of the evacuation of the trapped soldiers is remarkable.  The numbers shown above are the numbers evacuated and it is truly a miracle that so many were rescued in such a short time.

The beach where it all happened.

Bruges (or Brugge, Belgium)

We were so excited that the borders were finally open so that we could go to Bruges with Valerie and Stan Ballif. Our drive from Frankfurt took 10 hours instead of five because of a big traffic accident.

We arrived close to midnight which gave us a beautiful view of our hotel at night.

We enjoyed the unique architecture, cobblestone streets, and of course, the canals.

We stayed in this lovely little hotel where we looked directly onto the canal.

Here is the view of our hotel room from a nearby bridge. Pretty awesome.

Our horse-drawn carriage ride through the city was delightful.

We decided to go on a boat tour of some of the canals. It was nice the weather cooperated.

Authentic Belgium waffles from a little shop on a side street.

We loved our evening walks through this enchanting little town. 

We had one more stop in Brugge that was important.  The Madonna and Child statue was a must and then we hit the road for Dunkirk, France.

The Belgian windmills were designed a little different than the Dutch versions.