We drove from Germany to Switzerland, but before leaving Germany we stopped in Merzig to visit Fritz Hermes and his wife. They are a charming couple of 84 and 83 years of age. His wife speaks some English and acted as interpreter. He is an avid genealogist who is maybe a 6th cousin to Ruth and wrote a book on their shared ancestry. Before we arrived he prepared a small portfolio of information on Ruth's line that is in his book. He has already sent his book on CD to us. In return for this new flood of genealogical information he wants all the information we can give him about his cousins in America. When we get home we'll gather it up, research some of his lost relatives, and sent it all to him.
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| Fritz Hermes with his wife and Ruth. His family herald is on the wall. |
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| Two of the 12 Genealogical Books Fritz Wrote |
After five hours of winding through countless villages, intersections, traffic jams and German roads, we were surprised when we suddenly came to the border with Swiss border guards asking if we had anything to declare and where are we going. We said no and to a small town near Zurich and they waved us on. There were no guards when we entered The Netherlands or Belgium or Luxembourg.
Our Swiss host family is a mother with 3 children in a modern suburban home. We soon found that Swiss electrical outlets are slightly different from those in Germany, but our hostess dug up an adapter. We hope we don't have that problem in other countries.
The day started with visits to 3 auto parts stores looking for an upper radiator hose for Nathan's German Ford Escort. They didn't have it so we bought some German version of Radiator Stop-Leak fluid and hope that that fixes the pinhole in the hose. It seems to be holding so far. It has been an exciting but stressful, rainy day and we are glad to be able to get off the road and relax for the evening.
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