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BIT 20 April 23 2008
Hello everyone, I hope you're all doing well. The last few weeks have
been very intense. Unfortunately, 2 days after I wrote my last BIT, on April
6th a dear friend of mine passed away. His name was Buck Buchanan.
He was like my 2nd Dad. I'll sure miss him. I am working on a tribute page
and hope to have it finished shortly.
The TV interview at "The Good
Life TV 45" went well. It turned out that It was the very first Spanish
program that they had ever done! The program went well and It was nice to be
back there again.
Two day's later on the 11th Dad and I boarded our flight in Orlando and the
next day we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany! It was a SMALL plane but we made
it all right.
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Here I am again on TV-45! |
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Udo & I in his office that has a small portion of his collection...I can
really get into this! |
The day after we arrived in Frankfurt I played for the first time at a
Nazarene Church. They
really enjoyed it. Everyone at the church was so nice. We enjoyed all the
new friends we made! We are now planning to put
on a concert through them for around the end of May!
After that service the guitarist from the church and his wife, Udo & Nasreen
Steppat took us out to eat to a great Chinese restaurant and then to their home
for some awesome pastries.
Udo has a wonderful guitar collection (Around 60+ guitars)! I think he has
just about ANY color/wood combination you could imagine for a Stratocaster
and I enjoyed playing them all!
He also has a vintage Martin D-28 that sounded wonderful, As well as a
beautiful Gibson ES-175...it had a great sound and a comfortable neck. I can
see why it's a legendary jazz box!
We really had a wonderful time with them. While we were at their home we
also met
a good friend of theirs, Mr. Keshab Ray who had lots of interesting stories
to tell. Later on they all took dad and I
to the train station in Frankfurt and from there we headed down to
Stuttgart.
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A vintage Martin D-28.
Gibson ES-175...this one's a great jazz box! |
Nasreen, Dad, Keshab & Udo at the train station in Frankfurt. |
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A fresh fruit & Vegetable
stand in Schönaich. |
Here I am with my friends, Stefanie, Joshua and Jonathan Ruiz! |
I'm in the Stuttgart train station. Easy to get lost in here! |
Here I am standing in front of my favorite bakery in Schönaich! |
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Dad got this wonderful close up shot!
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Before the day was through, we ended up in Schönaich,
Germany. It's pretty close to Stuttgart. We've been
blessed to stay with the Ruiz family who are some good friends of our's that
we met while we were in Panama last year.
Schönaich is a quaint town with so many different sights compared to many
places in the US.
Almost everyone has a beautiful flower garden here! and there's a bakery just
about everywhere with some of the BEST pastries & cakes I think I've ever
eaten!
A few days ago Dad, Josue & I went to Stuttgart by bus and train so we
could start to learn how to get around while we are here in this area. When we got to
Stuttgart we walked over to the
Königstraße in front of the
Schlossplatz. It was just beautiful! |
A fountain in the
Schlossplatz in Stuttgart.
Schlossplatz in Stuttgart.
I thought this plant looked pretty cool! |
Here I am sitting in front of a few of my favorite pastries. I'm in big
trouble!!!
I'm in front of a
"mobile meat market in Schönaich"!
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Dad & Josue Ruiz on their
way to Stuttgart.
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Last Sunday I played at two different churches in Stuttgart. The first one was
the International Baptist Church of Stuttgart. their website is:
www.ibcstuttgart.de.
I played at both morning services as well as at
their cafe called "The Vineyard" after each service. Everyone was
so nice and the atmosphere was bright and cheery what with the day being
nice and sunny out.
The second church I played at in the afternoon was at a Spanish congregation
in the city of Stuttgart.
They have two websites, which are:
www.iglesia-stuttgart.de and
www.stuttgart.feg.de.
The guest speaker was a Pastor of a church in another town about an hour away
from Stuttgart. And after the service he asked about setting up a concert at
his church on a Saturday in May. We're working on the dates right now. I'll
post the info as soon as we secure the date.
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Here I am with Matt, Micah,
Martin, Stefan and Felice after
practice at I.B.C., it was
a privilege to play with these guys! |
This is a shot I got on our way home from the Spanish church in Stuttgart. |
This is in Schönaich. Many of the buildings are still in the old style and
they restore many of the older buildings in the area. |
This is a church in Schönaich. |
Around the end of May Dad and I will meet up
with my Mom in Dublin, Ireland for the beginning of the Irish branch of my
European tour!
I hope you enjoy the photos I've included. I wish you were all here, the
scenery is awesome and the smells of the foods as we walk by restaurants and
bakeries is
hard to resist!
Take care,
Buddy
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These are all pictures of
the town of Schönaich.
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Dad caught me at
another bakery! :) |
