Monthly Archives: June 2009
This is the last blog entry for our amazing and immensely enjoyable European Heritage tour. Where does one begin to recount all the sights and insights that we have experienced on our trek through five fascinating and historic countries in … Continue reading
It’s hard to describe a day like yesterday, when our TourMagination 2009 group toured through the former Mennonite settlement of Molotschna. Along the way every single person who had come to see a particular village or site had their deepest … Continue reading
The first week has gone very well. Everyone is well, a wonderful group: Beachys, Elliots, Martins, Geiglys, Friesens and Lederachs. We got to see the Great One – Mt. Denali (recently renamed from Mt. McKinley) but only from a distance. … Continue reading
It’s hard to describe the contrasts of the last several days. Just yesterday we left beautiful St. Petersburg, an Imperial city of vast canals and rivers that interconnect a series of islands on the Gulf of Finland. Highlights there included … Continue reading
Leaving the Rammersweierhof Hotel in Germany, we crossed the Rhine to France and Strasbourg, where we glimpsed the single rose-colored tower of the Cathedral. We were reminded that the famous Christian landmark in the “city of hope,” built on the … Continue reading
Sunday morning at the Mennonite Church in Berlikum we worshipped, enjoyed coffee and had conversation with the church members. We travelled from Friesland and headed south to Köln, Germany. Driving into the modern city, we encountered history as we observed … Continue reading
On Friday morning, June 5, bus-driver Jean-Paul Weber, up that morning from Luxembourg, John Ruth, just back from the Holy Lands Tour in Israel, and Audrey Voth Petkau of TourMagination, with all nine of her flock of participants, came together … Continue reading
Greetings from Moscow where we have just marked the end of our first full day. I should say that many roads gathered in this most Russian of cities as we came together yesterday from flights leading through Washington, Vienna, Toronto … Continue reading
Yesterday we began our day with worship in the Bedouin Tent in the Ambassador Hotel Garden. John Ruth shared a meditation on “Place Names.” He said place names are shorthand for meaning. We are hearing names and visiting sites from … Continue reading
This is our second day in Khiva after having sojourned in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan; Samarkand, the jewel of Central Asia; and Bukhara, the ancient holy city of Islam. On the way from Samarkand to Bukhara, we stopped as … Continue reading
