oberammergau

arrived on 8-5 at 9 in the morning from munich. george, 3rd generation innkeeper, hotel wormvirt, 76 years, founded by his grandfather, greeted me...i had breakfast. while in the dining room,k he came in and said you must be mister rann--learned later he thought rann was my last name---friends ed and donna broadwell had paved the way for me

unloaded everything except what i was wearing and took it to the laundry in a garbage bag provided by my new bud george. barbara...pronounced baa-ba-ra, spoke little englished but i understood that she would do my laundry and have it ready ba the end of the day...further...her man...works in the kitchen at my hotel.

waited forever for bus to go to neuseuschwanstein....when it finally arrived, learned i had missed that bus...but the driver and the lady in the front seat with her little boy convinced me to jump on this one and go instead to the linderhoff castle...another of king ludwig ii´s castles. hard to believe it was built beginning in 1869 after the war of northern agression.

lots of marble and guilding...spectacular gardens with views of alps. marie martin would love it....huge clay pots with purple flowers, cant think of name...but know they come from bulbts...viv...u need to plant some of these on the patio

hiked to grotto...manmade with lake...colored lights to look like a cavern...in genius for the time. reminded me in a way of luray caverns in virginia...we went there on a 7th grade field trip ...up and back in one day on the activity bus...how tommie peoples got all of us up there and back safely i will never know....long day

oh, btw, en route to monte carlo, no chance for photo, there was a train stop in arcola...will have to tell the capps and harrises.

when i traveled with thad and jan woodard, we would often spot ---twins---of people we knew. i saw the twin of rachel watkins, former colleague at ncba in florence, also there on a bridge, bob schurmand with the american bankers association. while at linderhoff, wemyss harris of arcola---wemyss is concerned that during this time of transition i will become depressed and start drinking heavily...dont worry wemyss...i am not depressed and since i have no income i cannot afford to drink heavily...also there friend from creek, kevin carlson...in oberammagau...marcella walsh mcinnis of high point and ruxton bobbit...big rux, of henderson. ruxton is husband to former employer nancy from my time at interiors

nice people all day...including couple from manchester england...and others...who said...you´re the guy who missed the bus

one couple had come from garmish where you can take the train to the highest point in germany...thougth about it...but was raining on friday, so scrapped that idea


had a great lunch...potato soup with marjarom...needed no seasoning...along with meatloaf...kinda like bologna..with a fried egg...very orange yolk...they must feed their hens carrots...potato salad...not like mommas...needed some celery seed

still havent had a coke..lunch offered pepsi here at the castle...taste born in the carolinas...opted for a beer instead.

dinner back at the wormvirt was assigned seats...i sat with a great couple from denmark...edwin and aileen. he has worked for the same company, designing frames for automobiles for over 30 years. very interesting. both just terrific. are all aileens wonderful...aileen bowden onyfrychuck, eileen macdonald, aileen marlin---who would have loved this experience in the village

edwin and aileen have a small place on the sea where they catch flounder...he shared pics with me...and freeze for the winter

church of st. paul-st. peter is across the street...all ornamentation in the church is wood carved by the village carvers...no marble...though some appears to be marble...attended night of the 5th a 30 minute music-light show in the sanctuary...pretty decent.

thursday...august 5

attended holy mass at 830 in english across the way...good organ music with-praise to the lord the almighty and amazing grace as the hymns.

priest, tim deter, from us but serving for 14 years in australia and in town for the play, led services. he reminded me of a cross between paul martin...sister sarah...please confirm correct last name...an episcopal priest from charlotte who was active in the youth when we were 20 plus years ago, david crabtree...deacon at Christ church raleigh and anchor, wral tv, and jack harris.

jack, aka walter, not because father tim was a tenor, walter is a baritone...but his voice had complete and total control of the sanctuary, just as walters does of wesley memorial umc.

sat behind leslie and richard danyl from lakewood, co...outside of denver