Week of 3 January 2010:

In the Hinman household, food is a priority! Sunday evening with Rob and Crystal, we enjoyed a raclette dinner of melted cheese over boiled potatoes, pickles (called cornichons), with French bread and butter. Monday, we prepared a dinner of crêpes with a chicken and mushroom sauce, with more French bread and butter (Rob had purchased a giant 3 pound baguette). Tuesday, we tried to get an early start for the castle (Chateau du Haut Koenigsbourg) near Strasbourg, France, about 3½ hours north. Nevertheless, we had to begin the day with a breakfast of scrambled eggs, Roesti (Swiss hash brown potatoes), and hot chocolate, again complemented with French bread & butter. The roads were fairly clear of snow, and so we made good time almost to Yverdon. Without warning, the car began to jerk; I pushed in the clutch, but the motor died. We coasted over to the side of the road, and the car’s diesel engine started without any hesitation. Unfortunately, this phenomenon repeated itself every few half km. I had not been travelling particularly fast (I thought) – maybe a couple of times up to 130 km/hr, and after nearly an hour’s drive, the engine would no longer have been cold – nor did it overheat in the cold temperatures. A Renault dealership in Yverdon told us they could fix the problem if we left the car with them for the next 2 or 3 days! With more faith than good sense, and after a 10-minute rest, we decided to continue north. If there were further problems, we’d return home. We went the rest of the way up without a problem, and the roads beyond Basel were completely clear, and the skies were a clear blue – several tender mercies in a single day.

Crystal and castles = two of my favorite things (Rob)










The inscriptions on this fireplace mantel indicate that the original castle was inhabited in the 1200's
(as seen in upper left corner when enlarged)




Flags are flying at the Haut Koenigsbourg castle



View from the top (same tower with ivy that was in the adjacent picture)



What was the architect thinking?



"Ancient weapons are nifty" (Rob)









Can you believe: a castle with its very own dog house?







One of the best castles in Europe: Snow capped the Haut Koenigsbourg castle spires and the grounds, and we had a fun time taking lots of pictures. After sipping a cup of hot chocolate in the restaurant/library/gift shop, we headed back south, but stopped in the quaint medieval village of Riquewihr just as night was falling. We dined at “Au Cerf” (to the stag).



We loved the elf (or tattered santa?) in the window to the kitchen





Crystal's plate of pork chops was certainly ample




Rob's hunter stew came in a cauldron,
not a little pot


Rob and I each ordered a kettle (marmite): he had hunter stew and I had veal in a cream sauce. The kettles turned out to be about 8 inches in diameter, and though the food was very tasty, there was so much that we both had to let about a third of our meal go back to the kitchen (unheard of in our family). After two hours’ travel, as we got within about 50 km of Yverdon – around 11:30 pm, the engine quit again, and again, and again. Frighteningly, this happened ten or twelve times. After giving it (and us) a 10-minute rest stop, the car behaved perfectly, and we drove without problem back to Ferney, another 90 minutes.

The religious reformation began religious, but became terribly political: Wednesday, we visited the International Museum of the Reformers (such as Luther, Calvin, Hus, Tyndale, etc). One of the rooms had amazing descriptions of the political and military aspects of the “French wars of religion” (for more information, use this title and see the extensive Wikipedia article), which began around 1562 and continued at least thru 1598. Until reading about these things, I’d thought the main conflicts between Catholics and protestants had occurred during the infamous “Thirty Years’ War” 1618-1648, but have since learned that that war was mainly in Germany (nevertheless, perhaps 2/3 of Europe’s population was destroyed). These French wars involved nobility of either religious persuasion who sought governing power/influence and revenge/counter-revenge by using their rather private armies to murder their opponents under the name of religion. Interestingly, some of the main areas involved cities of our mission: Geneva (Calvin’s eventual headquarters), Dijon (the House of Bourbon), and Nancy (the family Guise, of Lorraine). Another thing that was impressive was a certificate used for a sale of indulgences in the 1800’s. Space was available on the document where names of family members could be entered who wished to pay to have their sins absolved.

A tiny museum traces the development of Western thought and civilization: After picking up roasted chestnuts from a street vendor and some pastry at a local shop, we drove out along the lake to the Bodmer Foundation museum. It’s a small place that has artifacts tracing the development of our civilization’s literature – from an Egyptian Book of the Dead to original works by Plato, Aristotle, Homer, and Euclid, to the writings (published during their lifetimes) of Kant, Hegel, Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Isaac Newton, Darwin, Einstein, and many others.





The Gospel of John, in Greek, from about 200 A.D.









Wowzers! "Robinson Crusoe" was published in 1719

We again took lots of pictures, since these things seemed to tie us to the roots of our civilization. It was nearly 9 pm before we finished.

Christopher Columbus reports his finding of a new island in the west, 1494 A.D.


Even the best of trips has to come to an end: Thursday, we took Rob and Crystal to the airport for their flight back to Washington, DC. The line at security looked quite long, but they made it. Around 9, Rob called to let us know they’d made it safely back home.

Our Yverdon Young Single Adults are a faithful bunch: Friday, the car behaved flawlessly on our 60-mile trip north, and the roads were fairly clear until we passed Lausanne. By the time we got to Yverdon, there were about 3 inches of snow on the ground, and more was falling. To our amazement, snow-covered young adults from Neuchatel, Fribourg, and Lausanne wandered in, (“neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” – attributed to Herodotus, 500 B.C. – could keep them away) and the two classes were held, with more than 18 YA present. We slipped out to make popcorn for them and learned that an aluminum kettle works much better than a ceramic-coated iron pot.

A special baptismal service: Saturday’s highlight was Ciara Pandhi’s baptism. She’s the girl from India who could someday be a great leader of women in the church in her homeland. She had asked Elder Jones to baptize her. Also in attendance were Donna (the girl from London who will be baptized on Monday), her mother and a friend of her mother named Helen (who has spent years at church family history centers doing research- and now does it at home). There was also a young man from Bolivia who is getting his master’s degree in physics – and he’d like to be baptized before he returns to South America. It was great to see the joy on the faces of recent converts such as Ilana (from Brazil) and Deggie (from Mongolia). A great ending to a great week.

Ciara with Sisters Hinman and Jones