back in time

Have you ever gone back in time? We did that yesterday, so to speak. We traveled down the road to Worms where Mom and Dad Coen live 30+ years ago with two little ones. We drove all over town looking for what used to be their housing and barracks where they lived and worked. With no success, we finally decided to ask the first German person we saw that looked old enough to remember where these facilities had been. We spotted the perfect man coming down the street and after he told me he spoke "a little bit" of English, he gave us great directions to the old housing and told us colorful stories about his life, in more than a little bit of English. We got in the car and drove right to the housing area....we had been very close. As we took that right hand turn, things started looking familiar to them. We drove right up to these brightly painted stairwell apartments that had the look of refurbished military apartments and realized we parked in front of their old building. We took some pictures of them in front of their building.

The first floor residents came out on their balcony....I walked over to tell them why we were there. The young couple invited us into their home so we could see all of the great renovations. They had saved newspaper clippings of the renovations and were proud to share the history with us. The wife offered coffee.....so hospitable. I'd like to go back! :)

Then they gave us directions to the Taukkunen Barracks where they worked, went to chapel and shopped for groceries.....lived life.
Susan, Marshall's Mom, standing in front of the chapel they attended.

This in Ken, Marshall's Dad, pointing at his old office.

Needless to say, it was an exciting day. Who knew a Volkswagen could be a time machine?

Tomorrow.......back to the 1950's in Giessen to visit Ken's childhood stomping grounds with a stop by the US Consulate on the way to find out what on earth is the hold up with that last piece of paper we need to GET OUR BOYS!!!

I'll keep you posted!