Frankfurt, Friedrichsdorf and Freiburg

As a (somewhat) brief report of the past few days’ happenings, the following:

We rode the train down to Frankfurt and Friedrichsdorf and visited friends from my mission days. They were all thrilled to see me, but few of them actually recognized me at first :). 
However, that is understandable, given that I have lost weight and cut off most of my hair. I have included photos of BEFORE and AFTER, somewhat to my embarrassment, although also now to my feeling of accomplishment. (Ouch..I am just glad it is not the other way around :) )

Aaaanyway, while in the Frankfurt area, we also got to see my brother, because he is almost done with his mission. We would have otherwise missed him, crossing the Atlantic as ships in the night, so we got to see him before he returned to the states.

Then we went down to Freiburg to visit F’s family and we enjoyed the beautiful Black Forest. It is such a lovely area down there. In the city of Freiburg they have a unique plumbing system which dates back to the 13^th century at least. 

Running all throughout the city are little “Bächle”, or water filled gutters. The water in them is used to naturally cool the air, fight fires and feed livestock. The cobblestones are also mini in some areas—here is a picture of an owl by the university (which is from the 15th century...). 

The owl isn't quiiiite that old, but he is still cute.

We drove into the Black Forest and saw a beautiful waterfall that had these cool observation seats to lay on. While observing all that water, F also got a wee bit thirsty :P. 

Then we drove to the observation tower on “Shauinsland”, which means “Look into the land”. 

There was a beautiful view and off in the distance we could even see a bit of the Swiss Alps!