Thursday morning we got up and left the hotel, picked up the car and drove to Schwerin to the museum where they have this cute little Christ Child statue that the nuns dressed and I have never been able to find a picture of the hat that had enoough detail for my taste. They also have another little statue crown that was once one of fourteen but is the only surviving crown and it’s all beaded and I wanted to see that and for good measure there are some painting that needed to be seen.
So we arrived in Schwerin, bought our tickets and toured the entire castle not seeing a single thing on our list. We stopped in the gift shop where I picked up one book, and flipped it open to a full size color picture of the statue in question. Guess what? This statue is at the other museum. We found this out by walking across the street to another museum to see if they had the item and they directed us to the Glasgow museum just an hour North by car. (The wrong direction really.) So we hopped in the car and drove to the other castle. And when we arrived I was told that the statue was out for renovation! Argg! Ugg! I did however take an over abundance of pictures of several period pictures of fance clothes that I will happily share with anyone who wants. I did not find the little crown and they were closing for the evening so I left. I got back out to the courtyard where I found my mother and my husband (who used the time to find a bank and get some Euros) and we piled back into the car and drove most of the way to Ebstorf, found a hotel and had some supper.
Friday morning we got up and had breakfast, I had a good deal of coffee, I was in a great mood. We drove to the convent in Ebstorf to have a look at the Paradise Gardens. We found the building and went in, rang the bell, and shortly after someone opened the door. We found out later that this was the abbess. We explained what we were doing there but the convent is closed for the season but she didn’t want for us to have traveled all that way and not see anything at all so she unlocked the bathroom (thank goodness) and the giftshop and found us someone who spoke English and we were given a brief tour. The email address I had used to inquire was not correct but I figured with it being part of a complex it wouldn’t be a big deal. If I request by email they can send me pictures. Anyway – another woman had been there who does Ganutel and copied her instructions (which I now have pictures of) for the convent and that was interesting. She did her flowers on metal foil. I do believe they will take lovely pictures for me. I think the lady who spoke English would have taken us to see the flowers right then and there but the Abbess said no.
Then we drove to Walsrode where we did have an appointment. Try as we might we could not find a single person around until we wandered into the church and found a violinist who was practicing for a concert. He pointed us in the direction of the pastor and we asked him. But I didn’t write down the name of the person I was to meet and so we got my computer and looked it up, the pastor called and she came and got us.
She took us (and two friends of hers that were visiting her) to the chapel where it was hanging on the wall and then Nathan ran back to the car to get the big disc of deflection. It cuts the glare on the glass. He took a lot of nice pictures – some with the lights on, some off, the whole deal. It’s a small one – maybe two by four feet. They were all very interested in why I wanted to see this little shrine and they have a Christ child statue as well – one I have seen many pictures of in the past.
So then we drove to Rhrine where we thought to stay in the same hotel that we stayed in last time and have dinner in the same little restauront. But there was no answer at the hotel when we rang the bell and the restaurant was reserved until 10 pm so we at at McDonalds and went back to the hotel but they wanted way too much money so we pulled out the GPS and went to the next one. I must say – he was very nice. They couldn’t help us but he called another hotel and found us a very good price not too far away.
So the plan is to get up and go to Bentlage which is where we are near now. Then stop at Kalkar and Xanten and proceed to the Condo. That would be five hours of driving tomorrow. It would be better than having to come back up this way which is what I originally thought to do. One of the Predella was out for cleaning last time and I did not get very good pictures of the other five and it’s pretty much on the way.
I think my husband is an angel. He is doing all of the driving and all of the picture taking. Those are his things. He likes to do those. I feel like I’m just along for the ride, which I guess I am. Hopefully the rest of the trip will have more highlights than lowlights.
And good night to everyone.
