He went to downtown Wiesbaden yesterday to pick up some art that we had framed after our trip to Armenia last month. As he was trying to park in his favorite garage, he was held up by a car in front of him, which wasn't progressing into the facility.

The driver seemed to be confused by how the garage operates. It was just renovated this year. Now, one no longer has to take a ticket to gain entrance. Instead, the machine keeps track by taking a photo of each car's license plate.

So my husband got out to explain the garage to the two couples, who then stopped holding up the works. They parked their cars, and the driver told my husband they've come to Wiesbaden to visit the Market Church and Christmas Market. There was a concert in the church. Then, they mentioned they are "missionaries" for the LDS church, based in Frankfurt. I guess they decided to take advantage of Saturday and visit our fair, posh city...

My husband, being a very kind and helpful sort, told them they could follow him, because he was headed in the direction of the church and the Christmas market, which no one could miss, anyway. As they were walking, the driver asked my husband his name, and he told him his first name, not mentioning that he's a former member. At that point, my husband noticed the guy was wearing a BYU jacket (with a big Y on it). The driver said he's Brett Romney. Then when my husband told him he was picking up our Armenian paintings, Brett mentioned that his daughter is teaching English in Azerbaijan.

When he came home, my husband said "Let me tell you my story, man..." and launched into a much more entertaining version of this tale, adding that he neither mentioned his past affiliation with the LDS church, nor that his daughter is still an active member. I told him when he shook hands with Romney, he should have done the secret handshake and asked "What is wanted?" He said Brett looks a lot like Mitt.

He looked up Brett on LinkedIn, and it looks like maybe he's a big business guy who has come to Frankfurt to lead the mishies. It's interesting that he wanted to know my husband's name, just because he was nice enough to explain the new parking garage to him. If I'd been with him, that interaction probably wouldn't have happened.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2023 08:23AM by knotheadusc.

About how old did he look? He's not listed as being one of Mitt's children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney

I didn't realize that the Romney family is so large and distinguished. Perhaps Brett is a nephew?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romney_family

I see that he works for the University of Phoenix.

I wasn't with him, so I don't know. The weather was yucky, and I wasn't feeling well.

He said he looked him up on LinkedIn and he owns a company.

I think maybe I misspelled his name-- It might have been Bret Romney, rather than Brett.

I think you may be right. There is a Bret Romney who is president of the Helena, Montana stake. Perhaps that's him? He looks to be late 40s or 50s. He's the man in the light blue tie in the front row at the temple groundbreaking:

https://www.thechurchnews.com/2021/6/26/23217954/helena-montana-temple-groundbreaking-elder-stanfill

As a matter of note, the Helena, Montana temple was the first modular-built temple, and it looks really claustrophobic to me. If you scroll down on this page, you can see a miniature model of the interior:

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2023/5/15/23724147/helena-montana-temple-latter-day-saint-mormon-design-modular-construction

I think it probably was that guy-- Bret with one "t", instead of two. Perhaps he's the mission president in Frankfurt. My husband said he had the air of someone "important". He called him "royalty", but we all know royalty to church members means something a lot different to people who aren't in the church.

ETA: My husband just confirmed that Bret with one t was the one he met yesterday.

I haven't seen any LDS missionaries around here, but I did see a couple of them in Armenia. I doubt they were Americans, though. They were having a very lively discussion with a local.

Now, the JWs, we run into fairly regularly in Germany.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2023 09:57AM by knotheadusc.

"Instead, the machine keeps track by taking a photo of each car's license plate."

A short introduction to LPR cameras; https://www.cctvcamerapros.com/License-Plate-Capture-Cameras-s/283.htm

The costs keep coming down.

It's how they collect tolls in central Maryland as well. Either you have a gizmo attached to the upper part of your interior windshield (the EZPass, which I think is good through the mid-Atlantic and New England,) or the camera reads your license plate as you drive through, and you are billed later.

When I was a trucker I had an EZ PAss which worked well for paying Eastern road tolls.

Mitt Romney really showed his true selfish colors when he wanted the public beach in La Jolla California to become a private beach for only HIS family.

A lot of people just wrote him off right there.

Who would do that?

Did it never occur to him it was a terrible idea?

Didn't he have to sell some stocks to pay his tuition at BYU? And years later, make a reference to the "little people"? And then there was the time that he put his dog crate on top of his car. He lives in his own little world where he and his cronies are the main characters, and everyone else, including his poor dog, is background.

Makes be sorta homesick. We spent 13 years in Germany, 3.5 years of that in Wiesbaden. There was quite a bit of difficulty between the German ward and the servicemen's ward. The military people always tried to bully the Germans, who were the building custodians were German, because it belonged to the Germans. It was up to them to make decisions involving the building, but the Americans were always trying to take that away from them.

That sounds a bit like I would expect Americans, particularly in the military, to behave.

Living here for as long as we have has definitely given me a very different perspective on the US.

My dad spent the last few weeks of his WWII time in Germany at the airbase in Wiesbaden, he commented often on how plush and comfortable the high ranking officers living quarters were; I think he was a little disgusted by how the conquering brass heros turned into very class conscious snobs.

My brother in law, who never quite made it as a general but was getting close was a stake high councilman in the early 2000s (IIRC) and visited Wiesbaden often, may have actually been stationed there for 2 or three years.

We spent a total of six years in two different villages living near Stuttgart. We've been in Wiesbaden for just over five years. I had a little trouble getting used to Wiesbaden at first, but it's really grown on me. No, the countryside isn't as beautiful up here as it is down near Stuttgart, but the people are noticeably friendlier, the traffic is more manageable, and there's a lot of good wine served at the many community events!

Of course, Mormons wouldn't be interested in the wine. :D

"Brett looks a lot like Mitt".
Big head. Narrow shoulders.
Yellow streak down the back that keeps them from Military Service?