Day 5- Relocating to Frankfurt

Today was day five of our journey to Frankfurt.  Very soon after we started the bus Kneeland realized that he had accidentally stolen the hotel coffee cup, so we had to drop him off and turn back around to pick it up, it was really funny. We started off on a two hour bus ride that ended at Burg Eltz Castle in Münstermaifeld. The earliest sections of the castle were from the 12^th century and the most recent sections of the castle were from the 17^th century. Our guide lead us through ten rooms out of the one hundred. It had forty fireplaces and twenty bathrooms without running water. The canopy bed in the master bedroom was from the early 15^th century, and in the bedroom was a small chapel built into the side of the castle. We went through the living areas, bedrooms, dinning room, and kitchen. They used to hang the meat and bread from the ceiling because that was the only place that the rats couldn’t reach it.  After the tour we went down to the castle museum, which held ancient swords, knives, guns, cannons, jewels and more. We came back up and ate lunch at the Castle Café, and had to wait in line forever.  The food was interesting and we had a lot of stares because we’re American. After lunch we all went into the souvenir shop and looked around. Next the group went down to the river and up a trail to do Lectio Divina. It was on Matthew 22:34-40, and as we wrote down our feelings and thoughts on the scripture, we all experienced a deep spiritual moment. We then split into our small groups and talked about it while we walked back. Matthew’s group took a detour through the river and I (Elizabeth) fell and my shoes were soaked for the rest of the day, it was pretty funny. Earlier on the bus ride, the reading that Matthew read on the bus was about how Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. Sandy elaborated on psalm saying how there were 600 something laws that were already in place from previous year, but God told Moses to only follow the new Ten Commandments which he had given him. The next reading was Psalm 46. “Be still and know that I am God.” God was prompting the people to have faith in him and him alone, for he would lead them through the desert in due time. We drove to Frankfurt and went to dinner at the Sunset bar, and most everyone had pizza. We came back into the hotel and did Compline (page 127 of the BCP). We split up into small groups and discussed touchy topics in our lives and we bonded so well together. It was pretty speciticallur to connect with everyone. After that really dramatic talk, we went to bed. WELL G-NIGHT! SWEET DREAMS!!! XOXOXO

- Mary and Elizabeth