I was just reading the Zeisset Message Board and noticed a question by Nadine asking about the "rest of the trip" taken by Bettie and Allan Burns, Lee Swart and Rod Hildreth. Our trip to Prague by snell (fast)train was good, changing in Dresden, and with the assistance of the conductor in Frankfurt and Dresden we made all the connections. Others on the train assisted us with the transfer of our baggage - no small task as we were lugging several bags, including maybe the kitchen sink. Prague was a wonderful surprise for all of us. Bettie was continuing to have difficulty with her hearing aids and spent time fussing with them. Rod and I made sure we were with her at all times to keep her from falling while walking on the cobblestone streets. I would definitely recommend anyone traveling to Europe to add Prague to their itinerary.

After Bettie and Allan flew home to Dallas from Prague, Rod and I took the train to Munich where we picked up a rental car and then continued on visiting the Bavarian area of Germany. After leaving the Garmish area we drove down thru Austria to Italy for lunch (fifty miles)and then continued on driving on to Liechtenstein, Switzerland and back into Germany before heading northeast to the Weimar area of old "East Germany" where we visited the town of Lauscha. Lauscha is world famous for it's hand blown Christmas ornament industry. Much of the work is done in small home based shops with the products being sold in village stores (and through the wholesale markets around the world). I did come away with some very nice ornaments to add to my Christmas tree - actually, after buying the ornaments we asked the merchants to mail them to me at home so no problem with having to carry them onto the plane. Only two small ornaments were broken, so it was a success.

That is sort of it in a nutshell. We did have a great two weeks roaming Germany and several other countries after the Zeisset Reunion Journey. Rod and I managed to visit ten countries on this trip including a visit, before the Zeisset part of the trip, to the village of Mitling-Mark in the northwest of Germany were my grandfather, John Swart (married Louisa Zeisset), was born in 1860. Rod and I will be returning to Mitling-Mark this fall to do more family research for my family and then fly over to Cornwall, England to do research on his family.

I look forward to our next gathering at Leonardville or back in Germany!