We got to Stade and headed to the Swedish Village, just a short walk away from the train station.
Just inside the village.
Mark said he remembered getting his picture with this statue as a missionary, so we got another one. Neither one of us remember who the statue is though. Ha!
Stade used to be under Swedish occupation until the 1600s. The village is meant to be a replica of how things used to be in the old times.
The old wheels used for grinding.
I loved this building. It's a museum.
Lovely streets.
The beautiful city center.
I kept thinking the whole time that Mark was so lucky to serve in this city. He has talked about it before, but I had no idea how pretty it was!
We went to Mark's old missionary apartment and found it! This is the back of it. Mark heard his apartment was partially destroyed by a fire, because the front of it looked different than what he remembered.
This is the inlet leading to the center of the city. I loved this boat. We watched it as it cruised by.
We found plenty of kreuzspinne spiders (remember, the kind that Mark likes?). They are pretty cool. We watched this one build his web on a bridge. He would grab the thread and attach to a connecting thread with his back legs. It's amazing because their webs are almost perfectly symmetrical--he knew what he was doing!
We walked around for a little while longer and enjoyed the warm sun and pretty architecture. Then we decided to find the Stade Branch building and we found it! Here's Mark outside.
After we got a döner at one of Mark's favorite shops, we headed back to Hamburg. Mark and Todd went out at night to explore some more while I stayed back at the hostel and slept. Somehow I got a cold the day that we left on our trip and on the day in Stade, it was the worst. So it was nice to go back and sleep and relax. Luckily the cold wasn't that bad and I felt better in a few days.
The next day we went to Kiel, another area where Mark served his mission. Kiel wasn't as small and quaint as Stade, but it was still cool nonetheless. There is a big harbor because it is right by the sea, and it was nice to see all the ships.
A church--to big to fit in the camera!
As usual, we walked around the city and to the harbor.
We saw some jellyfish in the water!
Seagulls are so cute.
A big cruise ship--a lot of them come to Kiel.
Us on the bridge. :)
Noshing Nutella crepes at the local shopping center.
I got this sneaky photo of Mark. Ha! This is at the square by the Rathaus.
As far as sightseeing goes, there's not much to see in Kiel. So we decided to find the institute (there's a university in Kiel) where Mark spent a lot of his time. He said that there was FHE that night (because it was Monday) so we wondered if we could catch it.
Mark with the institute building. As we were taking pictures, an older missionary came up and started talking to us. He and his wife were in charge of the institute building (they call them outreach centers). They were from Mantua, Utah. It was pretty cool. They invited us in and we chatted for a bit. They told us that FHE was going to start about an hour later, so we left for a little while to get something to eat. Mark said that Kiel was his favorite city to serve in, so he was excited to see some of the members that were around his age.
After we ate, we went back to have FHE with the members. It was great! Mark's friend Christoph taught a lesson about having humor in our lives and we played some games. Then we went upstairs and had refreshments with the senior couple and chatted. It was great to spend some time with the local members and the people that Mark spent time with on his mission. I was a total flake and didn't get any pictures of it though. :( I'm really bummed about it.
We had a great time though and we'll always remember hanging out with the members in Kiel. The next day, we went to Copenhagen. I'll update about that soon. :)
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