Author: Ann Laemmlen Lewis

Kaiser Wilhelm I created this bath (Bad) house in Bad Homburg in 1890.  By that time, Bad Homburg was already famous for its mineral baths and hot springs.  Here’s a timeline of this historic spa. and here’s a bit more about it:

With saline springs rich in carbon dioxide, a saltwater jet bath and two chalybeate springs, Bad Homburg is a top location for drinking cures and mineral baths in an elegant setting. The spa town boasts a grand total of 14 mineral springs, which provide effective treatments for rheumatism, digestive and intestinal complaints and cardiovascular disorders. The resort’s five health clinics deliver holistic treatments in keeping with the highest of quality standards. Visitors can also refresh their mind, body and soul at the Bad Homburg Spa Gardens and pay a visit to the Kaiser Wilhelm Baths, the Kur-Royal Aktiv Health Club or the Taunus Thermal Baths, a water wonderland covering 1,400 square metres.

Today it’s still a full-functioning resort spa.

This week professional women’s tennis players came to Bad Homburg to compete and prepare on a grass court for Wimbledon.  We took a day off and went with the Nelsons to watch the women play.

We spent a very warm (HOT) day in the sun enjoying the tennis.

Our son’s favorite women’s player, Caroline Wozniacki:

It got SO HOT, I took a break from the stadium (in full sun) to sit under a tree and watch a bit on the big screen.  The Nelsons (top left below) went to the opposite side once the sun lowered a bit in the sky.

The tennis courts are part of a huge park complex called the Kur Park.

There were vendors selling cold drinks and food and tennis gear.  Even though it was blazing hot, we had a couple of rain delays.

Here’s one of the mineral springs.  We tasted the water and it was pretty nasty.

John would watch tennis every day if he could.  Today was a dream come true for him and we enjoyed spending time with the Nelsons.

Here we are enjoying our weekly Book of Mormon class.  The Miners were our teachers today.

This morning the Nelsons and the Sandbergs were the next missionaries to move to the new apartments.  I probably took the moving pics of the Sandbergs with their phone.

Their old apartment:

Here we are showing them the fancy parking places under the apartment buildings.  All of our missionaries will use these two-level parking spots.

Enjoying ice cream after everyone was settled in at a local Bad Homburg ice cream shop.  Ella Romney is our housing queen.  She works wonders during all of these moves!

One of the fun things John and I started here with our missionary friends is a monthly movie night, featuring German-themed films.  Through Deseret Book at home, we were able to get a one-time viewing right (for $20) to show the new T. C. Christensen film, “Escape From Germany.”

Everyone brings some treats for our movie nights and we all look forward to a fun evening.

There is always a lot of visiting whenever we all get together!

We visited the Bible Museum in Frankfurt, one of many museums along the south side of the river, a short walk from the bridge.  It’s been on our list for awhile.

It’s a small museum in what was once a church building.  There are 2 main floors–one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament.  The top floor has a room with displays and information about how the Bible spread throughout the world.

We started with the Old Testament floor:

Here was a display of different oils and essences to smell, things mentioned in the Bible.

The New Testament floor:

This burial boxes caught my eye because the pattern of the Magdala Rosette found on the pulpit of the Capernaum synagogue was repeated here.

Interesting info about crucifixions:

Massada:

Fragment of the Greek text of Papyrus 45:

A reproduction of the Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In 1984 a 2000 year-old fisherman’s boat was discovered buried in the mud of the Sea of Galilee (it was during a extremely dry year).  The boat was made of 12 different woods, but mostly cedar and oak.  It took 14 years to remove and preserve the boat.  It’s now in a museum in Ginosar, Israel.

This model of that fishing boat has been reconstructed by the woodworkers in the Erzgebirge Mountains (by where we visited Seiffen), and brought here.  It was my favorite part of the museum.  I sat in the boat for a long time thinking about Jesus and his disciples who spent a good deal of time in a boat just like this one.

Display of the types of fish found in the Sea of Galilee:

Here’s from the floor about the spreading of the Bible throughout the world:

It was a fun and interesting visit.

I suppose when most people live in apartments with no yards, there aren’t many yard sales on weekends.  We happened upon this yard sale/ flea market event as we walked along the Main River today.  It was pretty fun to look at all the junk.  Of course we found one pile of treasures.

This vendor had Schleich animal figures.  I’ve collected these at home, first for my kids, then for my grandkids.  They’re made here in Germany, and they last forever.  These were used and once-loved.  They were selling for 2 Euro and up.  It was fun to pick out a few unusual animals the grandkids will love.

There were so many vendors with outdated technology.

And there was even a taste of Africa!