Jeff, This ones for you!!

While we were at Volterra, Stacy and I went to a torture museum. My ole college buddy, Jeff Yeck, wanted to see the pictures. So here we go...

It was amazing the horrible things that were done to people during the truly 'dark ages'.

It didn't take stacy and I very long to get sick to our stomach thinking this stuff was actually done to people. Stacy read most of the captions under to torture device. I had to step away from some of the displays once I noticed what it was or how it was used. Some of the items we couldn't take a picture of. Below are all the pictures we took.

All of the devices were used to prove a point to on lookers. The person tortured usually died.

Keanna standing by some kind of torture chair.

People were put in this with horrible stuff.

Forks strapped on as shown.

The bakers chair.

Self explanatory. This one was was a relief because death came very quickly. Not like the other devices that took hours or days.

In the back left victims were chained to the wheel and wrapped around pole like the pictures on a tractor's pto shaft. If you can see the pictures next to the item shows how it was used.

The saw in the middle was used to cut people half after hung upside down. The item on the right was a head crusher. ( I couldn't read the discriptions, the pictures said it all. Made me sick)

Victims were chained in upside down then their boules were removed and rolled up on a wheel.

Stretch table.

Iron Maden. Victims were put in and the doors were closed very slowly, over a 2-3 day period.
Notice the spikes inside.

Again, I nice quick death. But sometimes it could take 3-5 whacks depending on the skill and drunkeness of the executioner.

There you go Jeff, give me a call and I can tell you about the 'pear' other other horrible items not included in the pictures.

This was the 'toilet' used in 'water closets' . I thought this was a torture device as well. pretty funny story with this one.

Later

Day #11-12 Last days of the trip

So we put the last 2 days of our trip on one post. We spent Saturday and Sunday at Justin and Emily's house in Edlefield. VERY cold!! Foggy, humid, and low 40's. The cold seemed to soak through. Justin said it was unusually cold for late October.

Saturday was Halloween, which is an American holiday (didn't know that). We went Trick-or-Treating to other American army families.

Sunday we went to church in Justin and Emily's ward. It is an English speaking ward made up mostly of US Service men and women. When they are deployed, the ward dries up to a minimal amount.

After church, Justin took us to Flossenburg, a German concentration camp during WWII. Very interesting and humbling.

Monday morning we drove to Frankfurt to catch the plane home.

German landscape. Notice there are no homes out in the country. Everyone lives in small villages, then takes their farming equipment out to the farm site.

All hay was wrapped in bags; roads are narrow; and everything seemed to be very clean.

One excited Alya for Halloween.

Princess Keanna with the bags

Princesses ready to hit the town.

The church rents to bottom 2 floors of this building for church. I guess Elvis performed here once.

After church, Justin took Stacy and I to the concentration camp.

Took some pictures of the Flossenburg Concentration Camp. It was used mostly as a work camp for POW and political opponents. 1 out of 3 died from starvation, work accidents, or other horrible treatments. The above picture is what the Americans found the day Flossenburg was liberated. The Nazi's (knowing the allies were coming) had taken the 'healthy' prisoners on a 'death march' to another concentration camp. The sick or injured were left behind.

This was the 'processing' room, where the prisoners were stripped naked, shaved, and given a number. Very humiliating. To the right was the 'Shower Room' as shown in the next picture.

This was the shower room. Was not gas chamber like in other camps. The prisoners were basically pressure washed with scorching hot or ice cold water.

This is a picture of the bunks they stayed in.

At the far end there was a guard tower. Below was a track that went down this hole.

This is from the bottom side, where the track came down the hill. This track carried the dead to the cremetorium as shown next.

Dissection table.

The oven.

The building at the far end was the cremetorium. The pile in the middle are the ashes.

This is looking the other direction. Again, a very humbling experience.

After the visit, we headed back.

Part way home we saw this neat OLD cemetary. One date said 1600, but that is all that could be read.

Last night in Germany. What to do with all this 'stuff'.

It was sooooo nice to spend time with my brother and family. Our kids are very excited for there cousins to come home.

Day #10 Finally in Germay

Friday, Day 10, was mostly traveling. We drove from Switzerland to Munich then on to Justin and Emily's Home in Edlesfield. One of the highlights of the trip was a stop in Munich to see Johannes Buschman. Stacy's dad, Theon Merrill, was a missionary here in Munich back in the day. He got to know Johannes and they became life long friends. Johannes made a few trips to the States to see Theon and his family. Stacy's last memory of him was when she was 8-9 years old (shortly before I met her, haha). She was VERY excited to come through Munich to see an old family friend. We got to Munich around 6:00 pm, and met up with Johannes and Susan. They took us to a fun Italian. We thought that was funny given we had just toured 5+ days in Italy.

Meeting and getting to know Johannes and Susan was definately a highlight of our trip. We wish we could have spent the weekend with them, touring Munich and the German culture. Their English was WAY better than our German.

We took only a few pictures and a good video clip for Theon. We hope someday we can meet up these good friends again.
Johannes is the one with his eye's closed. He was explaining something important I am sure of it.

Susan, Stacy and Johannes outside the Italian restaurant.
Group photo with Susan, Justin, Stacy, Johannes, myself, and Alya as the 'eye candy'.

In the very cramped restaurant, Emily and the girls met a family from London (who spoke English). They were fun to visit with and kept Keanna, Alya and Lyndi entertained while we visited with our German friends.

It is amazing how much you miss talking to someone in your own language.

Day #9 Switzerland

Sorry for the delay in updating our blog. With the holidays it has gotten a little crazy. As I am sure it has with all of you. Day 9 of our trip was Switzerland. We left Cinque Terra and drove until 2:00 am (Justin drove, the rest of us slept) to Lauterbrunnench, Switzerland.

We stayed at a really nice little hostel and Jason and I climbed (rode a train) the alps. It was another beautiful day in our travels. We really lucked out with the weather. It was nice everywhere we went. We went as far to the top as we could, without having to pay another $300.00 to get to the tippy top to see the largest glacier in Europe. We started at 2500 ft elevation and the train took us to 8000 ft. the top was 13,500. Jason climbed as high as he could and then we took some video clips. One of us singing on the swiss alps for his mother. Then we hiked down the mountain. It was so fun as we were hiking down to just hear the cow bells ringing on the hill side. It was a very enjoyable trip.

Jason in front of Egore (known as the North Face).

Me in front of Egore.

The beautiful mountain ranges going down the mountain.

There was a man made lake at the top of where our train stopped. It looked like it was used for ice skating during the winter when there was skiing.

Jason trying to get higher.

We took this for Hunter. It was a snow plow train but reminded us of his James. From Thomas the train.

Jason and I sitting off to the side of Egore. Notice the thick glaciers coming down the mountain. It was amazing to see.

A better picture of the glaciers coming down the mountain.

If you paid another $300.00 for the two of us. You could ride this train to the very top of the mountain called Jung Frau. The train went into the mountain at this point and you never saw it again. It was in the mountain all the way up to the lookout point. If you notice above the opening of the train door is the date 1897 when it was started and the date 1912 when it was finished.

Egore (the North Face)

Heading down the mountain. These little villages with the cattle on the hill side. It reminded me of the old movie "Heidi."

Egore and "the Monk" mountain tops. There are 3 peeks one is Egore then the Monk (I can't think of its Swiss name), and Jung Frau. The monk was protecting the Jung Frau from the Egore.

A view of Lauterbunnench coming down the mountain.

Emily and I sporting our hot slippers that we had to wear at the hostel. It was a very clean facility.

An avalanche shelter. These were along the main road. They were painted really bright inside.

A Holstein cow with it's bell.

Leaving Switzerland and on our way to Germany on day 10. Jason finally got to drive on the autobahn. Notice the speedometer. Thank you Emily and Justin for being so patient while Jason did this.