By
Dolan and Lena Brown
Aachen Germany January 29, 2000
On a cold, windy and rainy day we traveled to the German city of Aachen with the USO. The city was celebrating 1200 years since the construction of the cathedral and the coronation of Charlemagne. Out USO guide was Lori and the bus driver was Ovie.
Charlemagne had a colorful history and at the end of the eighth century he permanently settled in Aachen. Charlemagne had 5 different wives, 6 mistresses and 19 children. He was 6 feet 3 inches tall and had long blonde hair. People of his time were not normally tall so he was an imposing figure. When he died on January 28, 814 in Aachen, he was buried in the Cathedral that he had built. His body is still in the cathedral but in the Reliquary of the Treasurer building nearby are his right arm bone, top skull plate and lower leg bone. Also in the Treasurer building are pieces of Jesus’ cane and hair from St. John the Baptist. This information was presented to us by Klaus our guide through the Treasurer building and the Cathedral. We were able to view all these items as they were in glass enclosures.
The weather was so bad we didn’t take any photographs or video of the city. The wind was really blowing and it rained almost all day. The tour through the Treasurer and the Cathedral was very interesting because Klaus was very well versed in the history of both.
We had some free time after the walking tour so we decided to get something to eat and warm up a little. There is a bakery item made in Aachen called a Printen (peppercake, a kind of like gingerbread). We decided to eat in the oldest Printen Café in Aachen named “Van den Daele” which has been in the same family for over 160 years. Until the 19th century the dough for the printen was pressed into wooden moulds carved from the wood of fruit trees and then placed in the oven. The “Van den Daele” Café has over 100 of these mould decorating the interior walls and windows of the café.
We had a nice time in Aachen except for the weather so we decided to return later in the year on our own to take some photographs and video. Especially of the many unusual fountains and statues, and of course the Cathedral and Rathaus. Family research indicates that I am a descendant of Charlemagne. As many children as he had there are a lot of descendents.
Aviano Italy TDY February 2-5, 2000
A new commissary was under construction at Aviano Italy so I had to go there to perform a Site Survey for the computer systems that I am responsible for.
I flew on a cargo plane from the Ramstein Air Force Base near where we work. The airplane had five rows of airplane seats in the rear. The forward section of the airplane was a cargo section for carrying military cargo. After arriving at the Aviano Air Base I discovered that my luggage had not arrived on the non-stop flight from Ramstein. I decided they must had put it on the flight that departed for Bosnia just ahead of my flight. I didn’t know when I would see that luggage again if that is what had happened. I filed a lost luggage claim and then met my contact from the commissary.
I got my rental car and followed him to the commissary and later to the hotel to check in. I had to purchase several items to replace those in my luggage so I could shave, brush my teeth, etc. The hotel was located in a small Italian village name Sacille about 20 minutes from the Aviano Air Base. Late the next day after we had finished the days work on the survey I went back to the terminal at the airport and they had my luggage. I guess it didn’t go to Bosnia but just didn’t get on the airplane at Ramstein.
After completing my work and having some great Italian food and wine it was time to return home. One of the passengers on the return trip was a Military Policeman and his large German Shepard police dog. When the dog stood on his rear legs he could put his paws over the shoulders of his 6 foot plus handler. They were boarded first so the dog could settle down before the other passengers were boarded. The dog was very well trained and did everything the handler told him to do. The air crew asked all the passengers if we were okay with the dog being inside the cabin with us. No one had a problem so we departed. As we flew back I could see the snow capped Alps out my window.
Mainz, Germany February 26, 2000
We met our USO guides Ann and Tim at the Kaiserslautern train station for a train trip to Rheinland-Pfalz state capitol of Mainz, home of the famous Gutenberg Bible that was written in the 15th century. Mainz is located at the junction of the Rhine and Main rivers.
After some free time at the beginning of the tour we met at the Mainz Cathedral for a guided tour with a local guide that included a demonstration of printing with an old printing press. Then we did a tour of the over 1000 year old Cathedral (Dom). Construction began in 975. It has been damaged seven times over the years in wars. The Gutenberg Bible exhibit was closed so we were not able to see it. There were renovations underway on the building where it was housed.
The street signs in Mainz are either colored blue or red. The red street signs are on streets that lead down to the Rhine River and the blue streets run parallel to the river. Blue is a German phrase for being drunk. So the saying goes if you are blue you should follow the blue streets so as not to fall into the river.
During our free time we stopped for something to eat then explored the cobblestone streets in the old section of town. We found a beautiful old church in this area. It was not part of the tour but was just as pretty as any that we had been in.
Trier Germany March 11, 2000
Trier is Germany’s oldest city. We have been there several times. We joined the USO guide Rob and the bus driver Klaus for another visit since it included a visit to the State Archaeological Museum (Landesmuseum). The museum has an extensive display of artifacts and art from prehistoric, Roman, early Christian, and Medieval eras. A local guide took us through parts of the museum but there was too much to see in the time we had available to us.
After the museum tour we had just enough time to get a good meal before we had to meet the bus for the trip to Neumagen-Drohn on the Mosel River where we were going to have a wine probe at the Haus Wittgenstein. Lena and I had been to this place before on a wine probe when my sister and her husband came to visit us. The Haus Wittgenstein Restaurant is located in the cellar of a building. It is very nice and cozy. The owner is Tom Graham from Great Britain and his wife Marion, a local German lady. He was presenting wine from a local award winning vintner name Paul and his wife named Rüdiger. They own Weingut Konstant in Höle (“Heights of Constantine”). He is considered to be a “green” vintner because he does not use any chemicals or pesticides on his vineyards. He believes the future of German wines is in quality and not quantity and has won many gold awards for his wines. Most people say that white wine can’t be aged but he said that the Riesling white wine can be aged.
Tom Graham told us the same story that we had heard before about the fact that the ploxor beetle had infested the German vineyards many years ago and almost wiped out the industry. Now the German vines are grafted onto an American root that is resistant to the beetle.
We were supposed to have a short walking tour of the village after the meal and wine probe but we didn’t have enough time so we boarded the bus for home. Lena and I had done the walking tour before when we came and there is a lot of history in this little village.
Ft. Lee Virginia TDY March 12-22, 2000
I returned to DeCA Headquarters at Ft. Lee VA to attend a three day meeting and to work with some of the people in the office that heads up the project that I work on in Europe.
On Friday evening after I had completed work I drove down to North Carolina to spend the weekend with our son, Robby and visit with my mother and father and brother and sister before flying back to Germany on Tuesday. Even though the flight from Raleigh-Durham is the same price as the flight from Richmond I had to drive back to Richmond to fly back to Germany. Government rules! But at least I was able to spend a few days at home visiting the family.
Ankara Turkey TDY March 26-29, 2000
On the following Sunday I was again boarding an airplane. This time to Ankara Turkey to perform a site survey of a new commissary that was being setup for the Americans that we have stationed there. There has not been a commissary there in several years but approval had been granted to open one so I had to go and plan the location of the computer system that I am responsible for.
My contact in Turkey had advised me to take a taxi from the airport and not rent a car. GOOD ADVISE. Most of the multi-lane streets don’t have divider lines, the drivers just seem to “carve” out the space they want to drive in. Sometimes there are 4 or 5 cars in a 3 lane area. I refer to their driving style as “organized chaos” but I was surprised that there was not much horn blowing. The sidewalks had plenty of million dollar potholes in them.
Most of the people dress very Westernized. The money exchange rate was 50 cent American money would buy one million Turkish Lira. There was a three story very modern shopping mall just a block down the street from the hotel. And next door to the hotel was the Iranian Embassy. Actually there were several Embassies near by and Monday night there was a meeting in our hotel of all the Ambassadors and their guest.
The people that I was working with and I ate dinner two nights in a restaurant that revolves around a tower that overlooks the city. I ate lunch twice at the same Döner Kebaub and ordered Donerli Sandvic (turning sandwich) both times and fresh squeezed orange juice. The reason I ate here was my contact there told me it was “safe” to eat there. The place was very small and very busy. It had twelve little round tables that three people could barely sit at. They also had twelve employees working in the place. It was a beehive of activity. Many people ordered food to take out. There were several people on the street selling something that resembled a large pretzel. I was warned not to eat one because they set their little wooden tables up beside the street and all the dust and car fumes collect on them all day. They put the pretzels on a board about two feet square and the board is then placed on their head for transport to their spot along the street. I noticed several young boys that should have been in school out selling pretzels.
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| Street Market |
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| Street Market |
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| View from hotel room |
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| Hotel room |
The evening before I departed for home one of the people that I was working with and I took a taxi up to the Citadel in a very old part of the city. We were not able to go into the fortress but we walked around on the cliff overlooking the city and took some photographs. Then we walked back down the extremely narrow street toward where we came into the walled part of the area. On the way we stopped to buy some postcards. While we were making our selection a truck came down the street and we had to stand up against the side of the building and hold our stomach in to keep the truck from hitting us. I said the street was narrow!! While we were paying for our cards a man handed us a brochure of a Bed and Breakfast type hotel and asked us if we wanted to see it. It looked very nice, nothing like the area where we were at the moment. We said sure and to our surprise it was just across the narrow street where we were standing. He took us through a gate into a small courtyard and then into a beautiful old building. His partner that spoke good English took us on a tour of the entire place. They had taken an old building and remodeled it. There was a large room where they would serve breakfast to the guests. In nice weather one wall could be opened into the small courtyard for outside dining. They had six bedrooms all with private baths. They had taken great care to blend any of the new construction into the old so that it all blended together. Needless to say we were surprised to find a B&B in the heart of the very old, mostly run down, area of Ankara. After we looked at all the rooms we set down in the courtyard and they brought us coffee and we talked for about 30 minutes. The man that we were talking to was an antique rug dealer. He had a lady client from South Carolina that was coming in a few days to purchase almost his entire stock of rugs. She had loaned him several thousand dollars to start the B&B and he was repaying her with rugs. He said that he would get enough from this sale to pay back the loan and still have enough to live on and operate the B&B for a year or so.
We bid our host farewell and walked on down through the hundreds of little shops we found at the bottom of the hill. They were selling everything from raw sheep wool to peanuts. But unlike most of these areas I have been to the shops owners were not “high pressure” salesmen.
We took a taxi back to the hotel then enjoyed the really nice buffet dinner the hotel was serving that evening.
I departed the next day for Germany.
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| Kind of congested |
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| Bob - our contractor |
Cairo Egypt April 8-15, 2000
Note: 4/30/2020 I am finally doing the write up of the Cairo trip 20 years (almost to the day) after the trip so it will not be as detailed as I normally write up the trips.
Lena and I departed home on April 8, 2000 for a tour of Egypt with ITT Tours. I had been to Egypt in 1997 for work purposes but Lena has not.
We met our ITT guide Claudin at the Frankfurt Germany airport. A lady from our office and her two children were also on the tour. We departed Frankfort 2 hours late at 10:30 PM and arrived at Hotel Cataract Pyramid Resort in Cairo Egypt at 4:30AM and had to depart the hotel at 7:15AM for our fist day of the tour. Our local guide was Mostafo-A-Ali. The hotel was really nice and looked fairly new. They must not have any zoning laws in Cairo because right down the street was several mud one room huts that people lived in. They were no doors or windows that closed and their chickens, donkeys etc. roamed right through the yard into the hut.
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| Our Hotel |
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| Our Guide |
A few facts about Egypt: There are 16 million people and 10 million have the name Mohamed. I experienced this when I worked at the new commissary in 1997. Most of the men employees were named Mohamed “something”. There are 108 pyramids. Camels can carry 750kg (1650 lbs) and an adult camel cost about $1000 while a donkey cost $300.
We boarded our bus along with a plain clothed armed policeman which served as our guard (there were also armed policemen at our hotel) and went to the three great pyramids outside Cairo. The same ones I visited in 1997. But now they are guarded and visitors must pay to go up to them. In 1997 they were not. Lena and I went inside one and climbed up some very narrow stairs to get to one of the room inside the pyramid. We didn't stay but a few minutes, it was kind of claustrophobic and stuffy inside the small room.
We rode through the city of Cairo to see the sights and there were some odd sights compared to what we were accustomed to.
At one place we were given the opportunity to ride a camel. I rode one in 1997 so I didn't ride one and Lena didn't want to but some in our group did.
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| Nick (a young man in our group) |
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| Lindsey (daughter of our co-worker) |
Then we were taken to visit the famous Sphinx. I saw it in 1997 from a distance but we were able to get really close to it for photos.
The next day we toured the 155 year old Mohamed Ali Mosque. For lunch they took us to an open air restaurant that sits on the banks of the Nile River. The Nile River runs right through Cairo. As I stated in 1997 Americans have to be careful where they eat or they might get what is normally referred to “Montezuma's Revenge”. I'll let you figure it out. The food was very good and we really like the flat bread that a lady was cooking in a little mud oven on the floor.
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| Making Flat Bread |
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| Mohamed Ali Mosque |
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| Guess who |
On 4/11/2000 we had to get up at 2:30AM, get our luggage ready, eat breakfast at the hotel and be ready to leave at 3:30AM to fly to Aswan Egypt. We visited the Aswan High Dam. It is about 340 tall, 12,570 feet long and about 120 wide at the top has a 175,000 KW turbine. It was built across the Nile River between 1960 and 1970 to control flooding and the provide electricity to Egypt.
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| Lotus Flower tower at Aswan High Dam |
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| Monument at Aswan High Dam |
We also visited a large quarry and saw some unfinished Obelisks.
We took a ferry to the Isis Island Hotel. We were all very tired and hungry when we
got to our rooms.
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| View from our Hotel |
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| View from our Hotel |
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| View from our Hotel |
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| Isis Island Hotel - our Hotel |
We boarded a boat called a Felucca to visit the island of Agilkia. A Felucca is open boat with a sail. We enjoyed the island. It was very green, lots of trees and SHADE. As we were boarded the Felucca to go back to the hotel an Egyptian man offered to buy the daughter of the lady from our office that was traveling with us. I think he was serious.
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| Little hand made boat paddled with two small boards |
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| Felucca captain |
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| Felucca captain |
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| Felucca |
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| Island of Agilkia |
The next day, 4/11/2000, we boarded our “five star” luxury cruise ship M/S Princess Amira. Note: The five star rating is an Egyptian Five Star rating not a US Five Star rating. Not saying the ship was a bad ship, just it would not meet US Five Star ratings. It has 58 cabins and 4 suites. The top deck is an open deck where we could sit and enjoy the breezes as we cruised down the river. It was clean, basic and the food was good and the crew was nice to us. There are 359 cruise ships on the Nile River from Aswan to Luxor. We boarded the ship at 1PM and it was 106 degrees.
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| Cruise Ships on the Nile River |
When we stopped for the night at a port our ship docked alongside four other cruise ships. They don't have enough dock space for each ship to have their own berth so they just dock alongside the other ships. To get to the shore we had to walk through the lobby of the other four ship. Our guide took us to a spice market in town. He gave us some guidance and told us we were on our own for awhile. We walked through the shopping area. The spice vendors have their spices outside in large containers and the air was full of different scents from all the spices.
I have learned from my travels the vendors are very “pushy” in these places. They don't mean to harm you, it is just their custom of doing things. While we were walking as I was looking at something, one of the vendors got Lena's arm and pulled her into his shop to show her something. She quickly got away from him and grabbed my arm and didn't let go for awhile. I think it kind of scared her.
On 4/13/2000 our ship took us to Kom Ombo to tour the Temple of Kom Ombo. We were taken in a horse pulled cart that carried four people. It was HOT. Normally Americans say shade when referring to the area under a tree or beside a building but here they used the term “in the shadows”. And it was 107 degrees in the shadows here. On the way back to the ship I asked our cart driver if I could take his photo and he agreed but after I took it he wanted me to pay him. I didn't. We had already tipped him. Oh well!!
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| Fountain |
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| Temple of Edfu |
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| Temple of Edfu |
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| Temple of Sobek & Haroeris |
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| Temple of Sobek & Haroeris |
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| Us in our cart |
That night the ship's crew had a Gallabbia Party for us. Lena bought one of the Gallabbia dresses. The local men also wear something similar. Lena said it is a very cool dress as it is very loose fitting and the air can circulate better. In these temperatures a person needs all the cooling they can get.
The next day, 4/14/2000 we were at Luxor, the end of our cruise. The cruise down the Nile was very relaxing other than being HOT. It was interesting to see all the sights along the Nile River. The land along the banks of the Nile is very fertile and green. There are pumps all along this area pumping water out of the Nile to irrigate the farmers crops.
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| Armed guard with moveable shade over head to block heat from sun |
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| Esna Egypt along Nile River |
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| Smoking Water Pipe |
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| Giddy Up!! |
Once we got to Luxor we got back on a bus to travel to the Valley of the Kings. We noticed the area was being guarded by an armored vehicle and several armed policemen.
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| Hey dig that convertible |
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| Funeral March |
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| Valley of Thebes Mountains |
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| Deir El-Bahari Funerary Complex |
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| Temple of Luxor - Ram Headed Sphinx |
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| Temple of Luxor |
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| Temple of Karnak - Amon Ofiss III |
This was our last night on the cruise ship. Later in the evening some of us discovered that the group of us that was flying back to Germany would have to get up a 3AM to go to the airport to fly back to Cairo. Then we would have to set in the airport for several hours before our flight back to Germany. Well that didn't set to well with us as we felt like we were getting short changed on the tour so we complained to the tour guide.
I guess he heard our complaints because he arranged for us to have our luggage held at the Cairo airport while he took us on a tour of an area in Cairo we had not seen. We told him we were not upset with him but his company since they laid out the tour. He was a very good guide and knew the Egyptian history very well and spoke good English.
We finally got home to Horbach Germany sometime around midnight. I have never been as tired from a trip as I was that night driving back from the Frankfurt airport.
It was a very interesting trip and we are glad we did it.
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| Lena in her Gallabbia dress |
Cochem Castle April 22, 2000
We joined ITT on a trip to Cochem for a Medieval Dinner in the Reichburg Cochem, an imperial fortress from the Middle Ages. Cochem is a village on the Mosel River. This is the very first village that we took a tour to after we arrived in Germany in May 1996.
The castle is perched on a hill 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above the Mosel River so the walk up to the castle is rather steep but this time we were in a little better condition than when we first walked it in 1996. Our group was meeting another group from Bitburg Germany and their bus was late so we had time to take a few photographs and get a light snack on the café terrace at the castle.
When the other group arrived, we were broken into two groups and given a tour through the castle before we were taken down into the Knight’s Dining Room in the cellar. We were greeted by people in period costumes and asked to be seated at long wooden tables along both sides of the cellar. Two men and a lady was selected from the group and dressed in period costumes and they were seated at the head table with our host and Master of Ceremonies. He entertained us with stories about medieval table manners and eating habits. The meal consisted of rye bread with lard, beef soup, flat bread, the largest turkey legs I have ever seen, cheese, nuts, and grapes. The soup came out in a huge kettle and was set in the middle of the floor. They dipped the soup out into stoneware bowls and passed them out to us. The turkey legs were served on a piece of board that looked like a cross section of a small pine tree. We were not provided any kind of silverware since this was a Medieval Dinner. All the food was very tasty. After we ate, a young man came around with a yoke over his neck with bucket of water hanging from each side so we could wash our hands.
During the entire meal there were two men playing several different types of musical instruments. After the meal the Master of Ceremonies danced with most of the ladies in the group including Lena. Then they chose two men from the group and had a Knights contest that consisted of singing and other events including sawing off the end of a log with a small saw. When the points were added up there was a tie. This ended the festivities so we waddled down the hill to the bus and headed for home.
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| Sure is good |
Rhine River May 12-14, 2000
Lena and I loaded our bicycles on the car and drove to the Rhine River village of Bacharach for a two-night stay. We had been to this village before and decided to come back with our bicycles and stay the weekend. We had found a nice looking Pension named Im Maler Winkel on one of the prior trips so we knew where we wanted to stay before we arrived. They had rooms available for 90 DM (about $45 for two people) a night including breakfast so we checked in and unpacked the car and then walked down into the village to take some video and photographs and do a little exploring. There is a church ruin on a hill overlooking the village so we walked up to it. We got a nice view of the village from the ruins. After walking for awhile we went back to the room for a snack and a rest before dinner.
We had spotted a small restaurant in the village that was serving Shwine-Haxe (Ham Hocks) for dinner. We selected an outside table and settled in for a great meal. I got the ham hocks and Lena ordered a Shnitzel (similar to a thin pork chop without the bone, covered in a sauce and very tender). The weather was perfect for eating outside.
The next day, Saturday, we rode our bicycles down the paved bike trail beside the Rhine River. We stopped at the town of Oberwessel to explore it. On prior trips in the area we had seen an interesting church in the town so we decided to check it out. It was locked so we couldn’t go in. We wandered around the village for awhile and then came back to get our bicycles and discovered that the church was open so we went inside for a visit. It was really beautiful inside. I took several minutes of video of the interior.
After leaving the church we rode on down the Rhine bike path until we came to a point where we would need to ride in the road for awhile so we decided to return to Bacharach and get a snack and rest for awhile. That night we went to the Rusticana Restaurant. They served one of the best meals we had in awhile and had the best price also. It was a small family owned restaurant as most are here and our waiter was a man that must have been at least 70 years old. A lady that was not as old came out and talked to us and told us that she makes the soup and apple pie that we had later. Everything was delicious. After dinner we walked for awhile before turning in for the night.
After breakfast the next morning we checked out and took a leisure ride along the Rhine River. We stopped at Boppard for a short look around, then headed for the Mosel River where we rode alongside the river until we reached Cochem. We stopped to photograph some things we had missed on the last trip. From here we headed home.
Atlanta Georgia and Ft. Lee VA May 21-25, 2000
Sunday May 21st I was back on an airplane headed for Atlanta Georgia for two nights and then on to Ft. Lee. Virginia for one night to attend meetings on the project that I am working on.
Usually I fly from Germany to Atlanta direct when I go to the States but this time I had to fly to Paris France then to Atlanta.
I finished the meetings on Wednesday afternoon so I departed Richmond Virginia airport and flew to Cincinnati Ohio, then to Paris France and onto Frankfurt Germany. I arrived about 2:45 PM. Lena and I had paid for a two overnight trip Poland and we were supposed to board the bus at 6 PM. So I had 3:15 minutes from the time I landed to get my luggage, get out of the airport, drive 1:45 minutes home, shower, repack and meet the bus. Things were looking good that I had enough time, actually I figured I would have 15 minutes to spare. I called Lena on the way home to tell her I was going to make it on time, only to find out that the tour company had cancelled the trip that morning, just 8 hours before it was supposed to depart. Needless to say I was upset because if I had known the evening before while I was still in Virginia I could have changed my departure date and gone to North Carolina to visit my family.
Aachen Germany May 27, 2000
Lena and I drove to Aachen to take photographs and video. We visited this city in January and it was cold, windy and rainy. Well, it rained on us almost the entire three hour dive to Aachen. The rain stopped just before we arrived. Our first task was to find a place to stay the night, so we visited the Information Office to get hotel information. We called a few of the small hotels in the heart of the old part of the city but none had any available rooms so we decided on a room in the Aquis Grana Hotel, a larger hotel. It cost more than we normally pay but it had free parking and was right in the heart of where we wanted to visit so we could walk to everything.
We located most of the places we wanted to photograph and video and then stopped for some coffee and dessert. It was a little cool and windy but not as bad as in January when we came.
I tried to video some in the Market Square on Saturday but there was a band playing there that was so loud that I gave up and waited until Sunday morning when there was hardly anyone around. I don’t know what the band members spend the money on that their parents gave them for music lessons but it must have been something other than music lessons. They were bad! Or maybe I’m just getting old.
We departed Aachen Sunday about midday and drove to Köln (Cologne) Germany. It was not much out of our way and we wanted to see the Cathedral there before heading home. When we arrived it was raining and the wind was really blowing. We went inside the Cathedral to discover they were holding some type of service. All the pews were full and hundreds of visitors were standing in the back. They allowed video so I was able to get some video of the church and the service with the choir singing and the massive pipe organ playing. We had visited dozens of churches in Europe and this was the first that we had been in that was having a service at the time we visited.
After a cup of coffee and dessert at a local café we headed for home. The wind was blowing so bad that the green leaves blown from the trees were piling up alongside the Autobahn. The people driving or pulling campers were having a difficult time with the wind. This made us two trips to Aachen and both were rainy and windy.
Rotterdam Holland June 10, 2000
Ann was our USO guide, Doris and Manfred were the drivers on the trip to Rotterdam Holland in the Netherlands. We boarded the bus at 0240 in the morning at Vogelweh. The bus was only one month old and cost 650,000 Deutsche Marks which is about $330,000. We stopped for a buffet breakfast about 0740. Most of the land in Holland is very flat and below sea level. They have many canals and docks to control flooding. Most of the homes are brick and there are a lot of cows of all different colors on the farms. Most of the barns on the farms are also brick. There are not many forest in the Netherlands so I guess that may be why they use brick.
Once we arrived in Rotterdam our first stop was the 185 meter (607 feet) high Euromast tower. The construction of the tower began on December 10, 1958 and the concrete cylinder with an external diameter of 9 meters (29.5 feet) was raised to a height of 104 meters (341 feet) in 23 days, 1 hour and 59 minutes. 5,800 tons of concrete was used to build the 30 cm (12 inch) thick walls. The foundation is 3 meter (10 feet) thick and weighs 4,500 tons and is anchored with the aid of 127 concrete piles. The tower is designed to sway 105 cm (41 inches) in a gale force 11 wind. There is an observation platform 300 feet up that you can take an elevator to and then you can board the Space Cabin to the top of the tower. The Space Cabin, complete with smoke, sound effects and glass sides, revolves around the tower so you get a great view of the city. A restaurant is also located at the 300 feet level. The temperature was 61 degrees at the bottom when we got on the elevator and at 57 at the top of the tower.
Out next stop was at the boat dock where we boarded a boat for a tour around the port that runs for 23 kilometers (14 miles). Cargo ships from all over the world comes into the Rotterdam port. Rotterdam is the largest port in the World. We got to see the huge container ships that carry hundreds of containers that are either 20 or 40 feet in length. We could see the huge cranes that pick up the containers from the ship and move them to the dock. Many of the groceries that we sell in the commissaries in Europe come in through the port at Rotterdam on these container ships. Over 150, 000 barges a year bring in over 300,000 million tons of cargo and each year that number is climbing.
After departing the boat the bus took us downtown where we had a chance for shopping and something to eat. Rotterdam is not really a tourist town but more of a commercial center. They have several museums but with the limited time we didn’t go into any. We selected the Café Raoul that had outside seating and ordered some lunch. Lena had Sneete Kroket and I had Sneete Champignons. We had to ask the waitress for advise on the meals since we weren’t familiar with the names of their meals. Lena’s was kind of like mashed potatoes with meat rolled up and deep-fried. Mine was white bread covered with baked mushrooms, ham, onions, red and green peppers. Both were very good. After eating we walked through some of the shopping district before we boarded the bus for home at 5 PM. We got home about Midnight.
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| The tower we went up |
Late June 2000
I fly to Garner to stay with my sister for a few days. Our father was going to have major surgery in a nearby hospital. He did well with the surgery so late Thursday June 29th I flew back to Germany arriving about midday on Friday the 30th. Lena's sister and her daughter flew in from Garner on a flight about an hour behind me. They were going to stay a week with us.
The next day Saturday July 1, we went to the Rhine River area to begin showing them Germany. We had planned several things to show them the following week. About mid afternoon our son called us with the sad news that my father had died in his sleep late Friday night.
I boarded a plane again on Sunday morning to fly back to North Carolina for the funeral.
Lena took the following week off from work and her and her sister and niece did several days trips around Germany and France.
I stayed in North Carolina about a week before returning to Germany.
August 2000
Every 10 years the German village of Oberammergau has a Passion Play. It has been performed every 10 years since 1634.
This year would be our only chance to see it so Lena put a lot of time and effort into getting us tickets back in February or early March. The tickets and hotel rooms are difficult to get because the play is so popular.
She finally got the tickets and reservations for a place to stay at the NATO School facilities in Oberammergau.
Fred, one of her office mates also got a ticket. He offered his vehicle for our travel but wanted me to drive it and would not take any gas money.
On the way we stayed at a US Military Resort in Chiemsee Germany. We also visited the Salt Mines and Berchesgarten Garden. While in Berchesgarten we went up to the Eagles Nest, one of Hitler's hideouts.
The Passion Play was sad but amazing also. The part of the play where they nailed Jesus to the cross was so realist it made me wince when they drove the nails into Jesus's wrists.
We had a great trip and was glad to be fortunate enough to be able to see this once every 10 years play.
The rest of our time in Germany was very busy preparing for our move back to the States. We returned to the United Sates in mid September 2000. I had to report to work on September 20, 2000 at Ft Lee VA. The location we moved from in May 1996.
We lived in Germany 4 years and 4 months. I signed up for three years and then extended for two more years which would have been the maximum number of years I could stay and be guaranteed returns rights to the same type US Government job.
We would have stayed the full five years but the office I worked for in Ft Lee VA wanted me to return early and fill a vacant position on the same project I was working on so I agreed to return early. I had everything in good shape on the project in Germany. All commissaries had their new computer, cash registers, etc. and my co-worker in Germany was able to handle the day to day requirements.
We had a wonderful experience in Germany. We had great German landlords that treated us like family and great neighbors. We got to do a lot of traveling around Europe, seeing places we never dreamed we would be able to see.
Counting the countries I traveled to for work purposes and our tours I visited 23 countries and Lena 17.
Just before we move back to the USA I counted up the number of days that I had to travel just for work and it added up to one year out of the 4 years and 4 months. But it was a great experience for this old farm boy from North Carolina.
Every 10 years the German village of Oberammergau has a Passion Play. It has been performed every 10 years since 1634.
This year would be our only chance to see it so Lena put a lot of time and effort into getting us tickets back in February or early March. The tickets and hotel rooms are difficult to get because the play is so popular.
She finally got the tickets and reservations for a place to stay at the NATO School facilities in Oberammergau.
Fred, one of her office mates also got a ticket. He offered his vehicle for our travel but wanted me to drive it and would not take any gas money.
On the way we stayed at a US Military Resort in Chiemsee Germany. We also visited the Salt Mines and Berchesgarten Garden. While in Berchesgarten we went up to the Eagles Nest, one of Hitler's hideouts.
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| Fred & I ready to go into the salt mines |
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| Entrance to salt mines |
The Passion Play was sad but amazing also. The part of the play where they nailed Jesus to the cross was so realist it made me wince when they drove the nails into Jesus's wrists.
We had a great trip and was glad to be fortunate enough to be able to see this once every 10 years play.
The rest of our time in Germany was very busy preparing for our move back to the States. We returned to the United Sates in mid September 2000. I had to report to work on September 20, 2000 at Ft Lee VA. The location we moved from in May 1996.
We lived in Germany 4 years and 4 months. I signed up for three years and then extended for two more years which would have been the maximum number of years I could stay and be guaranteed returns rights to the same type US Government job.
We would have stayed the full five years but the office I worked for in Ft Lee VA wanted me to return early and fill a vacant position on the same project I was working on so I agreed to return early. I had everything in good shape on the project in Germany. All commissaries had their new computer, cash registers, etc. and my co-worker in Germany was able to handle the day to day requirements.
We had a wonderful experience in Germany. We had great German landlords that treated us like family and great neighbors. We got to do a lot of traveling around Europe, seeing places we never dreamed we would be able to see.
Counting the countries I traveled to for work purposes and our tours I visited 23 countries and Lena 17.
Just before we move back to the USA I counted up the number of days that I had to travel just for work and it added up to one year out of the 4 years and 4 months. But it was a great experience for this old farm boy from North Carolina.
