Schönes Deutschland: Beautiful Germany

ByLynn Austin
13 Comments

What a trip! It was so surreal to be touring Germany with Ken. I often had to keep pinching myself to see if I was dreaming. We saw miles and miles of this beautiful country and had the opportunity to meet some of the most warm and inviting people I’ve ever met.  Would you pull up a chair and allow me to share my trip pictures with you?

I took my latest two characters, Rebecca and Flora with me as traveling companions since they loved to travel so much. If you follow me on Instagram @LynnAustinBooks, you saw the many different places we took the book Where We Belong. Here I am with one of my German friends, she is holding the German version of Where We Belong and on the table is Fly Away.

I spoke in many different venues, including at a church that is in a castle. It was a blessing to meet so many wonderful people.

On Sunday I spoke at two Christian Church services. They were both such joyful services with young families and seniors and every age in between.  It was so amazing to me that Christ’s Church can survive and thrive even when persected.
It also made me realize how much we take our religious freedom for granted. I have never suffered for my faith. We are free to go to college or pursue any career we want. I wonder how many of us would admit to being Christians under such circumstances?

I was completely surprised to find this beautiful hot air balloon basket on stage next to my podium. I was speaking about the book Fly Away and this was a wonderful visual addition.

Anyone care to translate?

We were caught in our own polar vortex! It was so cold!

The food, oh the food! Warm bread, apple strudel and so much more. Ken and I had our fill of some of the most delicious treats while we were there.

The Brandenburg Gate. Stunning to be looking at history with my own eyes.One of my most touching memories from this trip was meeting a young woman who grew up in the former East Germany before the wall came down. When the communists were in control, her family was discriminated against because they were Christians. The teachers and other students treated her differently in school. She wasn’t allowed to go to college or choose her own career. I can only imagine her parents’ pain to see their child suffering because of their faith. Christians were always closely watched and didn’t dare to take a misstep.

Here is the village that my ancestors are from.

This is the church my great-grandfather probably attended before he immigrated to America in the 1880s.

A mini-Austin.

I wish I could have taken you all with me. It was a truly amazing trip and I am so grateful. I wasn’t doing specific research for a project but I must say I was inspired by everything we saw for future books.

Just for fun, here are some of my books with their German counterparts. Can you figure out which books go together? I will choose a winner from the comments and send you a signed book. Have fun! Be sure to join me on Facebook, I will be posting the answers as soon as I get my body back to Eastern Standard Time.

 

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Lynn Austin, a former teacher who now writes and speaks full time. Lynn was recently inducted into the Christy Award Hall for Fame for winning eight Christy Awards for her historical fiction. One of those novels, Hidden Places, has also been made into a Hallmark Channel movie. Lynn and her husband have raised three children and make their home near Chicago, Illinois.

13 Comments

  3. Here’s my guess
    A=B
    D=I
    F=J
    E=G
    H=C
    Thanks for sharing your trip. Enjoyed the pictures!

  5. A & J
    B & F
    C & H
    D & I
    E & G

    Thank you formthe fabulous vacation pics. Thank you for letting us guess the books.

  6. A=I
    B=D
    C=G
    E=J
    F=H
    Thank you so much for sharing your pictures with us. It was a lot of fun trying to guess which books went together. 😊

  8. A=B
    C=G
    D=J
    E=H
    F=I

    I have German ancestry too, and would love to visit Germany someday. In researching my ancestry, it looked like all my German ancestors came to America around Revolutionary War era or earlier. I even found one record saying one of my German ancestors on my mom’s side, Solomon Crutsinger Sr. (I love that name :D) had a bunch of neighbors who hated him because they thought he was a Hessian fighting against America in the Revolution, but he said insisted he was loyal to and fighting for America, and I did find his U.S. Revolutionary War pension records, so it would seem he was telling the truth. 🙂

  9. Thank you for sharing your adventrue! I really enjoyed the pics.
    How was the language barrier…do you speak much German or did you have someone that spoke well travel with you?

    For the possible book cover matches….Either A and C or C and F…My best guess since I don’t remember much German from high school! lol

  11. A – I
    B – F
    C – G
    D – J
    E – H

    But the weather in Europe is crazy in these weeks 🙂
    I salute you from The Czech Republic:-)

  12. Hi Lynn,
    Thank you for sharing these pictures with us. It must have been an amazing trip. I have German ancestry and would love to go someday. Thank you for the chance to win a book. I am not on facebook 🙁

    My answers are :
    B and F
    G and C
    H and E
    I and A
    J and D

  13. A and I
    B and F
    C and G
    D and J
    E and H

    These are my guesses anyway! Thanks for the fun and giveaway Lynne. I love your books.

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