The original plan called for us to head back to France today, to visit the Vimy Ridge WW1 memorial. However Jim suggested we spend an extra day in Bielefeld instead and I concurred. We've been on the go for 3 1/2 weeks now, with a lot of driving since the cruise, so we were ready for a bit of down time. In the morning Waldemar (see pic with Jim) took us to visit Bad Salzuflen, a nearby town with natural hot water springs. It's a Kurort (spa town) where a lot of e...

This was the day Jim and I had planned to split up so he could visit with his relatives and I could visit mine. So after a wonderful breakfast spread put on by Waldemar (including champagne!) I headed back to Wuppertal, about an hour and half drive. Arrived just in time for a meat, potatoes and gravy dinner at Erwin and Christa's. Cousins Gertrude and Harry, as well as Elizabeth, were already there. Had a great visit with Harry (see pic) who I have very fond memo...

Now the part of the trip begins when we visit the "living" relatives. We left Ingolstadt and arrived in Frankfurt 3 1/2 hours later, just in time for dinner at the home of Liesel and Gerda, cousins of Dad. Elizabeth was already there, having flown into Frankfurt earlier in the morning. We had a very nice visit which also included the traditional Kaffee und Kuchen at 4:00. We were joined in this by their nephew Juergen and also Liesel's son, Peter. Elizabeth was p...

First thing this morning we went back to the Petruskirche. It was locked, so it's a good thing we got to see the inside last night. We went to the cemetery again and talked to a fellow there who confirmed that there weren't any really old (pre 1800) gravestones. There was one very old one however, very close to the church, with the name Weidle, which appears in our family tree. When we went to the Stadt Museum, we were disappointed that it was closed, however J...