By
Dolan and Lena Brown
January 4 – 13, 1999 TDY Trip to Chester, Virginia
I returned to Virginia for a meeting about the Year 2000 problem that some computers will have starting on January 1, 2000 that you probably have heard about. I guess by the time you ready this we will all know how bad the problem is, if those of us working with computers have not prepared properly for it.
As usual it was raining on the way to the airport. It seems every time I go to the Frankfurt airport it is raining. I boarded the airplane, took my seat and settled in to watch all the people drag on their bags, most of which should have been checked at the ticket counter so they could be stored in the baggage compartment, not carried on the airplane. Delta Airlines has a device that shows you what size of carry-on bag you are allowed but many people ignore the size restriction and continue to carry on bags that are too large for the overhead storage compartments. Then they walk up and down the aisles in the airplane trying to find a place to stuff their carry-on items or they try to stuff the bags under their seats. There are restrictions about blocking the isles or accesses in an airplane so the flight attendants must check all seats before departure and spend time helping the passengers find a place to put the carry-on items. I have no problem with a person carrying on items they need during the flight such as a family with small children carrying on things that the kids need. I do have a problem with a person carrying on luggage that is bigger than what I check at the ticket counter. They delay other people trying to board the airplane while they go up and down the aisle trying to find a place to put the bag, all the time bumping people that are sitting down. Then the same thing happens when the airplane lands. They delay people getting off the airplane while they get their bags down from the overhead storage bins. I am not picking on women, but I see women carry on large bags that they can’t even lift up to the overhead bins and then expect someone to help them. I know my parents taught me better, but I refuse to help people like this. On this flight a young lady in my row brought on a large bag that she could not lift then she needed help to get it put in the overhead bin. She never went back to the bag to get anything during the 10½ hours flight, so why drag it on and off the airplane. That is what the baggage handlers are paid to do. It is not just the women that do this. I also saw a man on this flight carry on a bag that he had to lift over his head in order to carry down the aisle because it was so big.
I guess you have figured out this is one of my “pet peeves”. I have even written the airline about the problem and have talked to some of the Flight Attendants about it. The Flight Attendants agreed with me, that it is a problem. Oh well just part of traveling, I guess.
In case you don’t get to travel by air much I’ll give you a short description of a flight. On a long flight the airplane is flying about 34,000 feet (6 ½ miles) above the ground approximately 500 to 600 miles per hour
depending on the head/tail winds. The outside temperature is about –74 degree F but the temperature inside the airplane is comfortable. They provide light blankets and small pillows but you don’t have room to lie down unless you have some empty seats beside you, which is rare on an International flight. But if you are in the Business or First Class section the seats are much larger, usually leather, and the seats recline until they are almost flat and have a footrest. But when you work for the US Government they don’t purchase you a Business or First Class ticket on International flights. I normally arrive at my destination tired and cranky, because the coach (poor man) section has seats that are just wide enough for a normal size body and they only recline about 3-4 inches and they aren’t padded very well. The meals are a little better than when I first began traveling for the Government 25 years ago. I would rate them about a 3 on a scale of 10. But on International flights most airlines are using silverware instead of plastic forks and knives now. On this flight they served a salad and a choice of Chicken Napoli with mixed vegetables or Cheese Cannelloni with roll and butter and red currant cream cake for dessert. Your dining table is a flap about 12 inches by 10 inches that folds out of the back of the seat in front of you. So you have to set with your arms scrunched against your body while you juggle your food around trying not to spill your drink that you get with the meal. If you can imagine sitting in the back seat of a Ford Escort with 2 other people each eating a meal off a 12” x 10” tray you will get the idea. You can get almost anything you want to drink with your meal and if you have a special diet requirement they will try to provide that if you let the airline know in advance. The Business and First Class sections are divided from the coach section by a sliding curtain. This is to give them more privacy while they eat and so those of us in coach can’t see what they get to eat. Their meal is a better meal and the Flight Attendants spread a small linen tablecloth over their dinner tray before the food is placed on it. The trays are much larger than the trays in coach,
After the meal a recent movie is shown on the TV type screens that are located throughout the airplane. Each person has a set of earphones so you can listen to the movie or about 6 types of music. Before and after the movie they show some news and also show a map and the location of the airplane, the time, distance to the destination and the distance to the next major landmark. The airplane does not take a direct flight across the ocean from Europe to the United States. Normally they stay over land most of the way. I guess so we will not have so far to swim in case something goes wrong. Okay, that was a bad joke!
I arrived at my hotel in Chester Virginia at 9 PM very tired. I had been awake for 23 hours and I was ready to lie down. My week was very busy with meetings all day and trying to get around to see a few friends in the area at night, plus a little shopping. I departed Virginia on Friday afternoon to go to North Carolina to visit the family. I stayed with our son, Robby, Friday through Monday afternoon and drove to Garner, NC to spend the night with my sister Janet before departing Tuesday afternoon for the return trip to Germany.
The return trip didn’t take so long because we had a strong tail wind pushing the airplane. I got home about 11:30 Wednesday morning very tired and sleepy. I had been awake for 20 hours at this point but I needed to stay awake another 10 hours until normal bedtime. If you go right to bed after flying from the States to Europe your body gets confused on when bedtime is and your internal sleep clock is all messed up. Remember Germany is 6 hours ahead of the States. Germany had received 4 inches of snow on Tuesday night. Lena didn’t go to work on Wednesday so she was home when I got home. She tried to keep me awake but by 8 PM I had to give up and go to bed. This was the most tiring of any trip I have taken since coming to Germany. I guess the age and miles are catching up with me.
February 14, 1999 Valentine’s Day Dinner Out at Potzberg Castle
Rather than buying each other a traditional box of chocolate, that neither one of us needed to eat, we decided to join the USO on another Dinner Out. The USO selects a special restaurant in the area and takes a vanload of people there for dinner. It is a good way to meet other people and also try a different restaurant. There were three other couples and Tim, the driver/guide.
Potzberg Castle is not very old. It is located near Kusel, which is about 30 minutes from our house. The castle was built only about 100 years ago. There is a game park on the grounds of the castle. It was after dark when we arrived so we didn’t see any of the animals. The name of the restaurant was Turm-Hotel Restaurant. The inside of the restaurant was nice and there was a large fireplace right at our table with a warm fire glowing. The other three couples and the guide were all in the Air Force or Army. The parents of one of the ladies in the group were German. She was born American and was ready to go back to America. She said she missed going to the shopping malls. They had three young children so they had not been able to do much traveling. It is much more difficult when you have young children to go and see as many places as Lena and I have.
We had a nice meal, but not any better than other local restaurants we have tried. We probably will go back one day so we can get photographs of the castle and see the game park.
February 15, 1999 Rosenmontag Fasching Parade in Mainz
We joined our USO guide, Paula, and about 30 other people at the train station in Kaiserslautern for a train trip to Mainz to see the famous Rosenmontag (Rose Monday) Fasching Parade.
Fasching officially begins the 11th minute of the 11th day of the 11th month (November) and it reaches its climax during “drei tolle Tage”, the three crazy days before Ash Wednesday and ends on Shrove Tuesday ending the pre-Lenten season. During this time just about every Gasthaus, bar, and pub in the towns holds some type of party. People, many in costume, roam the streets laughing, singing, dancing, and drinking.
Altweiberfastnacht or Weiberfastnacht (old women’s or women’s carnival) the one-day supremacy of women takes place the Thursday before Rosenmontag. Women throw out their aprons and roles and hit the streets, stopping and showering men with kisses and cutting off their neckties. I have not seen or experienced the showering of kisses but at the office where Lena and I work, the German women do cut off the men’s neckties. So on that day the men usually will wear a necktie other than their favorite unless they are “newbees” to the area and don’t know any better.
Fasching is a time of celebration and fun for Germans from all walks of life. The earliest recorded Fasching celebrations were around 1200 AD. Work was forgotten for a week. Slaves exchanged their clothing and gifts with their masters and ate at their master’s tables. Class lines were unknown during this week. Slaves were allowed free speech, while aristocrats disguised themselves and joined the fun in the streets. Another ancient custom, which is not observed today, is that of a through housecleaning. Young maidens would run naked across fields at night and dump the previous year’s garbage into neighbor’s fields.
Rich and poor alike join in the fool’s play and parades where you will see dozens of decorated floats, groups wearing colorful costumes and wild masks, hundreds of horses, and 60 or 70 bands.
Paula told us that they were expecting 1.2 million people to be in Mainz for the parade. We think they all showed up! She also said it was a happy time for the Germans. There would be a lot of alcoholic beverages consumed and not be offended if someone came up and hugged or kissed your wife. During Fasching no one is serious, so go along with the fun. We didn’t experience this (I think Lena was disappointed), but we did see a lot of alcoholic beverages consumed. Germans like to celebrate and consume a fair amount of beer and wine, but in almost three years of going to festivals, etc. we have only seen someone get mad and cause a problem one time.
We found a good place beside a metal fence where no one could push ahead of us to view the parade. We had just purchased a new digital video camera and were eager to try it out. The parade route was rather long, as was the parade. There were over two hundred units in it. Everything from babies in strollers, horses, bands, to large 18-wheeler type trucks pulling floats. Farm tractors, rather than cars or trucks as in America, pulled the majority of the floats. Every type of costume you can imagine was being worn in the parade.
It was very interesting to watch. As a group would come by someone would yell out “heleau” and the bystanders would yell back “heleau” (pronounced like halloooo). We must have heard that a thousand times. People on the floats were tossing out little pieces of candy, little bags of popcorn, chewing gum, brotchens, and even ice cream Popsicles. Lena caught one of the popsicles. It was about 32 degrees and we were eating ice cream. The parade lasted about three hours. When it ended we began pushing our way through the crowd to head back toward the train station and to get something to eat. When we began to walk we realized our legs wouldn’t work right. We had been standing in one spot on cobblestones for over three hours in 32-degree weather and our legs had gotten stiff. It took a few minutes to get them working better. We stopped at a small café and got some hot coffee and kuchen, then went on to the train station where we got some hot mushrooms with cream and a brotchen and waited for our train back to Kaiserslautern.
We were tired but had enjoyed the day very much and we did get some very good video of the parade.
Lena and I drove to Bad Wimpfen, a village about 1 ½ hour drive from the house. But it took us almost an hour longer than normal because of a Stau (traffic jam) on the Autobahn. There was an event in the town of Shinsheim that day and it was attracting thousands of people.
Bad Wimpfen is called “Perle am Neckar” (Peal on the Nekar). The village is located on the banks of the Nekar River. We had been to Bad Wimpfen in 1997 when Jan and Chuck came to visit and had wanted to go back. The village is very old and almost all the buildings have been maintained in really great condition. In the oldest part of the village almost all the buildings are in the half-timbered style. We picked a good day. The weather was cool but nice and by the time we arrive around noon, which was later than planned due the Stau, almost all the shops had closed. We had wanted to go in a couple of antique shops but since most shops had closed there was not many people on the streets to get in the way of taking photos and video, which is the main reason we went.
Our first stop was Hotel Sonne Café for some coffee and kunchen (cake). I used our new video camera to film the inside of the Café and to take a still photo of Lena eating the kunchen. As soon as we got home I connected the video camera to my Personal Computer and downloaded the photo and emailed it to Jan and Chuck in North Carolina. Just a little teasing because they also enjoy the German Cafés as much as we do.
We walked all over the village and recorded most of it on video. After picking up some literature that had some photos in it, we thought maybe we should have waited until the summer to come, because the houses in the photos all had beautiful flowers in all the windows. Oh well, just an excuse to go back later.
After leaving the village we drove around the countryside. We noticed a road sign that was for a frog crossing. That’s right a frog crossing! It was a caution sign with an image of a frog on it. We have seen some unusual signs in Europe, including one in England for an Elderly Person crossing. I wanted to stop and take a photo of it, but could not find a place to stop. We knew there had to be a story behind this. A few weeks later Lena found an article on CNN’s Web site titled Frogs halt traffic on busy Czech road”. The article went on to say that the police had closed a busy road in Moravia to give frogs safe passage to their mating area. The road was closed for 2 or 3 days. A special frog tunnel was opened in north Moravia in 1998 to prevent the cars from running over the frogs as they migrate to their mating areas. Lena asked one of her German co-workers about this and she confirmed that in certain areas there is a “sea” of frogs crossing the roads as they migrate to their mating areas. Now that would be something to see!
March 13, 1999 USO Trip to Michelstadt Easter Egg Exhibit and Castle tour at Hirschhorn
We went with the USO to the 15th International Easter Egg market and exhibition in Michelstadt, Germany. Our USO guide was Beth. The driver was Amil, a 37 year veteran tour bus driver. We also had Robert, a German Castle Association Tour Guide who would conduct the tour of the Hirschhorn Castle. He is German and is an avid castle and history buff. I believe he could talk for hours about the castles without any notes. He has researched many of the German castles and passed out literature to explain the design and construction of castles and how they were defended.
Just prior to getting into Michelstadt, we stopped in a town called Erbach. There we toured a large German Ivory Museum that had works from European artisans from the Middle Ages to the present. There are a small number of German ivory craftsmen still practicing the art. The museum had articles of ivory art from all over the world.
When we arrived in Michelstadt, Robert pointed out the most interesting areas of the old walled village and explained different items of interest about the water fountains, etc. After a short tour around the village we were on our own until the bus departed. Lena and I walked around the village admiring the old building and taking photos and video. Of course all that walking worked up an appetite so we found an interesting looking restaurant for lunch.
After eating we walked to the Easter Egg exhibit. There were over 75 participants from all over Germany, Russia, Romania, Hungary, and the Netherlands. The people take whole eggshells and produce beautiful pieces of art by painting them in all kinds of designs, scenes or attaching beads, etc. to them. It was kind of fascinating to watch them paint the eggshells.
Before boarding the bus for the trip to the Hirschhorn Castle, Lena and I walked down the street to a Café that we noticed on the way to the egg exhibit hall. We needed our coffee and kunchen “fix”.
The cobblestone streets up to the Hirschhorn Castle lead us through the pretty village of Hirschhorn. It was mid afternoon by this time and people were beginning to gather at the Cafés that were serving desserts, kunchen, etc. at outside tables on the narrow streets. Several of the business had metal scroll signs hanging from their building advertising their business. These signs usually have some kind of design or figure on them to depict the type of business. Some are very elaborate. Quite a change from the plastic and neon signs used at most American businesses.
On the climb up to the castle we stopped at an old church and went in to look around. Most churches we have seen are made of large stones and have very high ceilings. Usually they have painted murals on the ceiling and stained glass windows. When we finally arrived at the castle, Robert explained some of the design and other points associated with a castle from medieval times. This castle was in good condition and had a tall lookout tower with a wall you could walk part of the way around. I climbed up the very, very narrow passageway to the walkway around the wall but decided I was high enough and didn’t climb to the top of the tower. You could see most of the castle and part of the village below from the wall.
On the walk back down to the village we decided we should check out some of the ice cream desserts that we saw in the Cafés. While we were sitting at the outside tables eating our treat I noticed a storefront across the street that had a license plate from North Carolina hanging in the window.
We had a great trip, with good guides, good weather and good food. What else could you ask for.
March 9, 1999 Day Trip to Neuleiningen
We had passed a castle ruins near Grundstadt on Autobahn 6 about 45 minutes from our house many times but had never stopped to look at it so we decided to take a day and explore the area. The castle is called Burg u. Weindorf and is in the village of Neuleiningen. We parked the car outside the walls of the village because the streets were very narrow, plus you can see more on foot. Neuleiningen is on a hill overlooking the Deutsche Weinstrasse (German Wine Street) in The Palatinate wine producing area of Germany. There are several wineries in this small village. The village is built all around the old castle ruins and some houses appeared to be attached to some of the remaining walls. The streets are all winding and paved with stones. Most are only wide enough for one car. What looked like the courtyard of the castle appeared to be used now by the town as a gathering place for festivals and other village events. We climbed up the stone steps to an open lookout tower where we had a view of the entire village and the surrounding area.
It was midmorning on Friday so most people were at work and we basically had the streets to ourselves to take photos and video. After checking out the entire village we found a small Restaurant named Landgasthaus “Zum Engel” that opened at 11:00. We went in to get some coffee and kunchen. Okay, I guess you have realized by now this is our routine. Hey, this sightseeing is hard work! They didn’t start serving kunchen until 5 PM so we ordered soup and coffee. It was a little cool and windy so the hot soup hit the spot.
After leaving the restaurant we decide to drive on through some of the back roads. We stopped in the village of Weisenhein am Berg to take some photos and video. There was one street that had some very elaborate wooden gates at one house and several other interesting buildings and more of the metal scroll signs similar to the ones we saw in Hirschhorn and several other places. These signs must be rather expensive. I know it must have taken a metal smith many hours to make one. We have photos of several of them.
We had a very enjoyable day, saw some areas that we had not seen before and didn’t spend much money.
March 20, 1999 USO Trip to Maastricht, Holland
We joined Michael and Ron, USO tour guides, and Heinrick, the driver, for a bus trip to Maastricht, Holland. The oldest fortified city in the Netherlands. It is located on the Meuse River and is a city of 120,000 people.
After the bus was parked and everyone gathered together for the walking tour of the old historical part of the city, Michael explained some of the history of the city. He also told us to not go to the coffee shops in the city. He said café GOOD, coffee shop BAD, just remember that! In Holland marijuana is legal and it is sold in coffee shops. He also said, if he catches us eating in MacDonalds he was leaving us in Holland. His point was that we should try the local food and not always rely on American fast food. That’s is something that Lena and I don’t do is to go to MacDonalds. He then took us on a 2 hour walking tour of the old historical section of the city.
The Romans established a settlement here in AD 50. It is the most southern city in the Netherlands. The bishop St. Servatius made the town important in the 4th century by transferring the bishop’s seat from Tongeren to Maastricht. The St. Servass church dates from the year 1000 and the St. Servaas Bridge dates from about 1300. One of the buildings Michael pointed out is called the Plague Building because it was used to house the people that had the plague during the time that so many people died from the Black Plague. Some of the streets were lined with shops and restaurants and the town square, Vrijthof, behind the St. Servass church is very popular place to set at outside tables and have a leisure meal.
After the walking tour was over and we were on our own for the remainder of the day, Lena and I found a little restaurant named In De Gouwe Poort (I think this means In the good Port). It was a small place that probably would only seat 30-40 people at the small round tables they used. We ordered Definitely Dutch. It consisted of the following items: bruine, walkorn met gemengde sala ie, tomaat komkommer ham and kaas. Translated the best I can, this is brown bread with green salad, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, ham and cheese. Basically it was an open face sandwich with salad vegetables. It was very good and fresh. We topped it off with an order of ice cream with hot cherries and coffee.
After we finished eating we walked around town taking photos and video. Later in the day we began looking for a waffle shop and stopped in the Deli France. We ordered Gaufre, sukerwafel met warme kesen en slagroom (sugar waffel with warme cherries and whipped crème). I guess this sounds like all we do is eat but it is difficult to document all the things we see on these tours, that is why we are taking so many photos and this year we are also taking video. When we get back to the USA we can bore you for hours and hours with photographs and video.
We boarded the bus for the ride home, arriving about 9:30 PM.
April 2-4, 1999 Enjoy Tours Trip to Prague and Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
We boarded the transfer bus at Vogelweh, near where we work, for the trip to Mannheim. At Mannheim we boarded the bus that we would take on the trip. Our guide was Walter and Andreas (Andy) was the driver. Almost all the buses we have ridden have been comfortable and very clean. This bus looked almost new but we found out later from Walter that it was about 9 years old. Andy’s farther owned it and several other tour buses. They cost about 500,000 DM (about $285,000)
When we got to the border between Germany and the Czech Republic we had to stop about 30 minutes for a passport check by the border guards. When we got near Prague we stopped to pickup a man that came on the bus to exchange dollars for Czech Korun. We can’t get the Czech Korun in Germany so the guide had arranged for this man to come on the bus to save time trying to find an exchange office in Prague. When we left town he came back on the bus and we could sell any money we had remaining back to him for the same rate as we purchased it. A better deal than a bank or exchange office will give you.
Then we stopped at a hotel where the guide had arranged a buffet breakfast for us. After riding for about 10 hours this sure tasted good.
After breakfast we stopped and picked up Paula, our local guide. As on any tour, when we stop to visit a site the guide will tell us what time to return to the bus so we can stay on schedule. Walter told us what time to return and then he gave us his rule about being on time. He said anyone that is 5 minutes late must sing and anyone that is 15 minutes late must sing and dance.
Paula then took us to the Hradschin Castle and to St. Veits Cathedral and told us highlights of both. Our next stop was the old part of town for a walking tour. She pointed out some of the shops where we could purchase the famous Bohemia Crystal and good places to eat. She also cautioned us about a few shops that it was unwise to use our charge cards because she had heard of instances where these shops were dishonest. The Old Town Square has buildings dating back to the 1300’s. On the face of the Old Town Hall is a Horologe, an astronomical clock that was made in 1420 by the clockmaker Mikuläs of Kadan and the astronomer Jan Sindel. In the 17th century the figures of the apostles were added. They appear every hour in the clock’s window. The astronomical clock shows the years, months, days and hours, the rising and setting of the sun, east and west, the moon and the signs of the Zodiac.
After our tour of the Old Town we had some free time to explore on our own and get something to eat.
Lena and I decided to go to one of the small restaurants Paula had recommended. After a good meal we visited some of the crystal shops. We didn’t need one of the fine crystal chandeliers but did purchase a crystal stein.
From the Old Town we went to our hotel to rest for awhile before it was time to take the bus down to the Moldau River for a Dinner Cruise down the river. We had a multi-course buffet dinner as we cruised down the river. The city was beautiful at night with all the lights on. We had to go through some river locks on the river and there were two local musicians on the boat that entertained us as we ate. It was a nice relaxing ride after a long day.
The next morning we checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus for our final stop, the world famous spa town of Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary).
The Bohemian King and Roman Emperor Charles IV founded Karlovy Vary. The town has survived many disasters from flood to fires. In the late 19th century and early 20th century the fame of the town began to spread. The town today consists of some unique and beautiful architecture. We noticed that several of the buildings were undergoing a new facelift. The hot natural mineral springs is what gives it its fame. The water is said to be a cure for many medical conditions. Up until the 16th century the spa treatment consisted only of numerous baths in the mineral water. Patients sometimes spent 10 hours in the mineral water every day during their cure. As a result the skin became painfully chapped, which was the aim of the humoral therapy, of that time. According to that therapy mineral water washed pathogenic organisms from the body through the open skin.
Later the treatment consisted of drinking the water in addition to less frequent and lengthy baths in the water. Today there are several spa facilities and anyone can get the mineral water free by using one of the many fountains alongside the narrow river that runs through the town. In the center of the town there is a building where there are several fountains that have the water at different temperatures from the different springs. The Sprudel Colonade is the main fountain. It shoots up into the air about 45 feet and the water is about 163 degrees as it comes out of the ground. Twelve of about 100 springs are used in the drinking cure. The water temperatures range from about 163 degrees to 103 degrees.
The people use an unusual cup to sip the water from. It looks like a semi-flat tea pot without the handle. And you sip the water from the spout of the cup. They come in several sizes. We purchased one of the small ones and tried the water. It has a slight salty taste.
During the main spa season loud noises are not permitted in town, not even loud talking. Part of the cure is total relaxation.
Walter recommended a restaurant named Posezeniu Svejka so Lena and I went there for lunch and later went back for dessert. The restaurant was named after a man that went into the military because of a lost bet with some of his friends. Once in the military he tried everything to get kicked out but nothing he tried worked. There were several sketches inside the restaurant depicting some of the thing he had done in an attempt to get kicked out of the military.
We had a delicious meal consisting of beef with dumplings and cream sauce. Later we came back for apple strudel and coffee. They make the dumplings up in a loaf about a foot long and then slice off pieces of it and pour the cream sauce over it. We bought two loafs of the dough to bring home. You just heat it for a few minutes then pour the sauce (gravy) over it and it is ready. We really enjoyed Karlovy Vary and would like to go back for a day or two.
About mid afternoon we boarded the bus and headed back to Germany. After we had been riding for about an hour we began to notice nicely dressed women standing beside the road at different intervals. Walter said these “girls” had missed the last bus back to town. Then he told us they were not allowed to practice their “profession” inside the towns but they were allowed to out in the countryside.
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| A wedding party |
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| Our guide |
We arrived home about midnight. We had a great trip.
Saturday April 10, 1999 Birthday Party for Landlord
Late in March our Landlord, Egon Meyer, gave us a formal invitation to attend his 50th birthday party. Since this was to be the first German birthday party we had attended, we didn’t know what to expect. Lena asked a German co-worker what would be an appropriate gift. She suggested a gift basket with his favorite wine. Egon likes very dry French wine, so we went to a wine shop in Kaiserslautern. They already had a gift basket prepared liked we wanted. One of my co-workers had told me that usually the German birthday parties goes on for hours and they serve several courses of food.
The theme of the party was Bavarian. We talked to Egon and his son a few days before the party and I asked Egon was he going dressed in Bavarian style clothes and he said he was.
Lena and I both have shirts that have little Bavarian designs on them so we worn them to the party. The party was held in the large BurgerHaus (public building) in a village a few kilometers from where we live. We arrived at 11 AM and Egon was dressed in brown leather pants and Bavarian shirt and brown leather vest. To give you any idea what he looks like, just picture Sonny Bono of Sonny and Cher fame, but with less hair. He could almost pass for Sonny’s twin brother, including the thick mustache. He was very Bavarian looking. He was greeting guest as they arrived. All were presenting him with gifts. A brass band with, about 25 members, were playing music. Several people including Jochen and Katja, Egon’s son and daughter, were wearing clothes in the Bavarian theme. One couple was wearing the short leather pants called “leder hosen”.
Several people were helping to serve the guest drinks, which included, Bavarian dark beer, other types of German beer, wine, water and soft drinks. In about an hour they had white wurst and bread as a starter, followed by a catered meal of what American would call ham hocks and pork steak along with several side dishes about an hour later. Then about two hours later the homemade cakes and pies with coffee was made available followed by different types of sliced wurst (sausage) and cheeses about an hour after the dessert was served. During this time the band was playing and people were dancing. I took about an hour of video of the party. When we left at 7 PM the party was still going on. I don’t know when it ended but when we went to bed about midnight the Meyers family had not come home (they live next door). Then the next day several people came to the house, I guess to help eat the leftovers. In Germany and other parts of Europe, the person having the birthday is expected to provide all the food, etc. for all the guests and they may come and stay all day. Birthdays that end in a zero (0) are the most celebrated.
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| Our Landlord Egon |
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| Our neighbor - Martina |
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| The Myers Family - Our landlords |
We had a good time and felt kind of honored to be invited, since we were the only American at the party.
April 25, 1999 USO Trip to Eltville, Eberbach, Hallgarten & Rüdesheim on the Rhine River
Our USO guide for today was Gail and the driver was Horst. When we entered the old town of Eltville we stopped to pick up our local guide Eric the Red. We had met Eric the Red in 1998 on a trip to the Rhine River area. If you remember from last years travels, he was given the name Eric the Red by President Kennedy. He is a colorful person that really seems to enjoy life.
Eltville dates back to 1332 making it the oldest municipality in the Rheingau region. The Rheingau area is just one of the 13 wine producing areas in Germany. Eltville is the home of two renowned German sekt (a sparking wine like champagne). The driver stopped the bus beside the Rhine River and Eric and his lady friend provided us with a sample of MM sekt. Then Eric took us on a walking tour of the oldest part of the town. The town has several hundred rose bushes but it was a little early for them to be in full bloom. After the walking tour of Eltville we boarded the bus for a short ride to the 12th century Eberbach Medieval Monastery. A guide from the Monastery took us through the buildings and some of the grounds and showed us where scenes from the Sean Connery film In the Name of the Rose were produced. In addition, we saw the monastery’s 600-year-old wine making candle-lit cellar. This cellar gave the Kabinett wine its name.
Our next stop was the village of Hallgarten for lunch and a wine probe at Eberbacher Hof winery. Before we went into the winery for lunch Eric took us out to a vineyard to tell us a little about the vineyards. One thing that we found very interesting was that today all new grapevines grown in Germany are grafted onto an American root. Many years ago a parasite infested the German vineyards. The vineyards had to be destroyed and to prevent the problem from re-occurring they began grafting the German grapevines onto a parasite resistant American root.
Our lunch was cold cuts, cheese and some of the best bread we had every had. The vintner didn’t speak much English so Eric the Red described the wines that we tasted during the wine tasting. His sense of humor and actions made it quite interesting. His lady friend, Renada, a former beauty queen, was helping the vintner pour the wines and during the tasting Eric told us they were getting married the next day. I think he is in his early 70’s and she was 65 but they sure didn’t look their age or act it. Maybe wine is good for you after all.
After the tasting was over, Helmut the vintner, took us down into the 800-year-old wine cellar and he and Eric explained the process of making wine. While in the cellar Helmut opened some very old wine and shared it with the group. Eric said that was a sign of honor that he was really enjoying our group.
We departed Hallgarten and stopped in the tourist town of Rüdesheim for a short stay. From here we drove back through Eltville and dropped Eric off and then headed for home.
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| Eric The Red |
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| Eric The Red |
May 8, 1999 USO Trip to Schwetzingen Spargel Fest
Each year, in May, Schwetzingen Germany celebrates the harvest of the white asparagus (Spargel), the “king of vegetables”. We join Beth, USO guide, and Albert, bus driver, along with Mary, a friend from the office for this trip.
The Spargel season runs from April through June 24th. White Spargel is grown completely underground. We could see people out in the fields harvesting the Spargel as we drove to the town. It is planted in long rows with soft dirt piled about 18 inches high over it. A practice that dates back 200 years. If it is not harvested before it breaks through the mound of dirt it will change colors and loose it value and quality. The stalks are cut into lengths of not more than 22 centimeters (8.66 inches). The maximum allowed by German law. As soon as the stalks are cut they are wrapped in wet towels and the mound of dirt is reshaped. Spargel is best consumed in two days of harvesting. The fields require three years before they began producing and after seven years of crops must be plowed up and allowed to recover. The plant, which is 94% water, needs a warm soil temperature of about 16 degrees Celsius (61 F) for best results.
When we arrived in the town of Schwetzingen, the vendors had their booths set up along the streets selling Spargel and other types of vegetables. We had time for lunch before we took a self guided tour of the grounds of the castle in town. Mary, Lena and I decided to eat in the Café Journal. We all ordered a Spargel plate. We all liked it but not enough to eat it regularly.
After lunch we toured the grounds of the castle. It was the former summer residence of the prince electors of the Palatinate. The grounds were manicured and covered many acres. There were several different types of flowers. We did not get to go into any of the buildings. There was a large man made rock formation with water flowing through it and a couple that had just gotten married were using this and other areas of the grounds as a backdrop for their wedding photographs.
After walking until it felt like our legs would fall off we left the castle grounds and stopped at an outside café and had coffee and dessert before boarding the bus for home.
May 12-18, 1999 TDY Trip to Sicily and Vicenza Italy
DeCA was building two new commissaries in Italy so I had to do a Site Survey at each of them for the computer systems that we were installing in them.
My first stop was Sicily. While I was waiting for my luggage at the baggage claim area I noticed a couple across the carousel that had two cell phones each. And part of the time they had them both up to their ears talking on both of them. From my prior trips to Italy, I knew Italians had a “love affair” with cell phones, or Handis as they are called in Europe, but this was a first.
I picked up my rental car, an Alfa Romeo (nice car) and drove to the Sigonella Naval Base where I would be staying while in Sicily. I had been to Sicily once before on a similar TDY trip but had not seen much of the area. I had a few hours one afternoon to visit a couple of the nearby towns. In one town I climbed up the bell tower for a panoramic view of the area. There had not been any rain in the area for weeks and it was hot and dry while I was there. The farmers were having to irrigate the orange groves to keep them alive. At night I could see the hot lava coming down the mountain from the Mt. Etna volcano.
On Friday I flew from Sicily up to the Venice airport and rented a car and drove to Vicenza Italy where I would be staying for the next few days. I had planned to take the train to Venice on Saturday morning but when I got up it was raining. I began to think it was not in the cards for me to see Venice. This was my second trip to the area and it was pouring rain the first time also. I drove around the area in the rain and found the train station and then rode out away from the city and visited some of the small villages in the area. The rain gradually stopped and I made the best of the day.
I got up early on Sunday morning and the sky was clear so I headed for the train station and bought a ticket for Venice. The train trip was an hour. I arrived about 9 AM so there wasn’t many tourist yet. The weather was great so I walked for several hours around Venice, taking pictures, tasting several type of food, browsing through the many shops and just enjoying the experience. There are many varieties of art work and crafts made there. It is a great place to visit, but plan on at least a whole day to really take in most of the main part of Venice. I did not go to the most popular areas so I didn’t have a lot of people to contend with. I boarded the train around 4PM to return to Vicenza.
I completed by work at the commissary and returned home on the 18th.
May 15, 1999 USP Trip to Stolzenfels and Marksburg Castle and Medieval Market at Braubach on the Rhine River
While I was TDY to Italy, Lena and Mary, a friend from the office, went on an USO castle trip.
Marksburg is the seat of the German Castle Association and is located above the village of Braubach on the Rhine River. Every two years a Medieval Market is held at the castle and this was the weekend for it. They had over 40 crafts and tradesmen making and displaying their wares in the traditional way. No modern machinery or electricity was allowed at the market. They had blacksmiths, candle makers, basket makers, knights, jugglers, minstrels, witches, medieval wines, beer and traditional foods.
On the way to the Marksburg Castle they stopped at Schloss Stolzenfels and toured the living quarters of the King and Queen of Prussia. Schloss Stolzenfels is also called Proud Hill. The color of the castle is called Yellow Okra.
May 27-30, 1999
Enjoy Tours Trip to Copenhagen, Denmark
Anita was our guide and Uber and Pedro were the bus drivers on our Enjoy Tours trip to Copenhagen Denmark. We boarded the bus at 6 PM at Vogelweh, then transferred to our bus for the trip at Mannheim. We rode all night and arrived at Puttgarden Germany for the ferry boat crossing over to Rodby Denmark. The ferry was a large boat with several decks and a restaurant where we had breakfast during the crossing. We arrived on Zealand, the Island of Denmark and headed for Copenhagen where we arrived late in the morning.
We had a some free time upon arriving in Copenhagen to do some shopping along the 2 kilometer (1.2 mile) Stroget, the longest pedestrian street in Europe. Later we met Greta, a local guide, for a city tour. Greta showed us the Amalienborg Palace, the Town Hall, the statue of the Fish Lady, the Hans Christian Anderson statue and then the famous Little Mermaid, the symbol of Copenhagen. We noticed that many of the homes were built with brick, which is not as common a building material in Europe as in America. After our city tour we checked into our hotel. After resting for awhile we returned to the heart of Copenhagen again on our own to check out the city at night and have dinner.
After a hearty breakfast the next morning we picked up Greta again and visited the Frederiksborg Castle about 35 kilometers (21 miles) outside Copenhagen. It was built for Danish King Christian IV and today houses the Danish Historical Museum. With its many historic paintings, portraits, art and furniture, it appears lived in even today. The castle and other buildings are all built on three islands. It is built of brick and not as ornate as some but it is my favorite castle of all that we have visited in Europe. Christian IV granted permission to the parishioners of the town of Hillerod, that lies just outside the gates, to hold divine services in the Chapel of the castle, which they still do to this day. There is a concert organ in the Chapel gallery that was built in 1610 and the chapel organist gives demonstration recitals on Thursday from 1:30 PM to 2:00 PM.
Next we visited the Roskilde Cathedral where 38 Danish Kings and Queens are buried. Construction on the cathedral began in 1170 and the actual church was finished in 1280 but many extensions have been added. The Cathedral has many chapels that extend alone either side where the Kings and Queens are buried in above ground tombs.
The Viking Museum was our next stop and one of our favorites of the day. They have recovered some of the hulls from several of the original Viking ships and found a way to preserve the wood and have them on display in the museum. We saw a short film on how they discovered the hulls and the painstaking process of preserving the wood. Part of the museum was outdoors. They had modern day replicas of the Viking ships in different stages of completion. The tools that were used to build them were also on display.
From here we went on to Helsingor to visit the Kronsberg Castle of Shakespeare’s Hamlet fame. The original fortress was built in the 1420’s but was modernized many times and between 1574 and 1585 it was converted into a magnificent modern royal residence. The Ballroom (202 feet by 36 feet) was the largest hall in Northern Europe.
Outside on the high embankments and from some of the windows of the castle we could look across the water and see Sweden.
On the return trip to the hotel we drove down the Danish Rivera and along the way we passed the house of the author of Out of Africa.
After arriving at the hotel we took a short rest before Lena and I took a city bus into the heart of Copenhagen. In the heart of the city is the world famous Tivoli (spelled backwards is I Lov It) a combination garden and amusement park. The original park, created by Georg Carstensen, opened in August 1843 outside the city. It is a great place to go and enjoy yourself. There is something for all ages, live performances, rides, music, a multitude of flowers, restaurants, cafes, ponds and over 100,000 lights of different colors. After checking out the entire park we settled down at a nice restaurant in the park for a great dinner follow by coffee and dessert.
After another hearty breakfast the next morning we boarded the bus again for the trip home.
Saturday June 5, 1999 Pottery Road Festival
Heather and Gail were our guides and Doris was our driver for this USO trip to Höhr-Grebzhausen, Germany to an annual gathering of potters from all over Europe.
Doris was the first female bus driver that we had traveled with and the bus was only the second double decker bus we had traveled on. Mary, who had been working in my building for about two months and her husband Bill, who had just arrived in Germany on the prior Monday, was on the trip with us.
About 30 minutes before we arrived at the town rain began to come down. As the guides took us to the street where the potters had set up their booths the rain became very heavy. We had only brought one umbrella since Lena had a jacket with a hood on it but we were still getting wet since the wind was also blowing. The sky didn’t look like the rain was going to stop for awhile so the four of us found a restaurant that was open and went in to get out of the rain and to get some coffee. We sat in the restaurant for over an hour until the rain let up some. After we had walked around looking at the different kinds of pottery for about an hour the rain stopped and the sun came out. The remainder of the day was nice. We watched a couple of the potters working with the clay. There was pottery of almost anything you can imagine from alligators to some really nice works of art. We purchased a few pieces including a hanging globe like piece that had different scenes from the European landscape on it. You place a candle inside and it has openings in it that expose the light of the candle through them. After we finished looking around we began looking for something to eat before we boarded the bus for the 2-hour trip back home.
Trifels and Berwartstein Castles June 13, 1999
Just North of the French border in the heart of the Palatinate Forest is the imperial castle of Trifels, one of the strongest fortresses of the area and a favorite residence of Emperor Frederic I, known as Barbarossa. The famous English King Richard the Lionhearted was held prisoner here. The castle burned in the 16th century and was partly rebuilt between 1934 and 1960 in a slightly different style. Replicas of the imperial crown jewels are in the castle.
Not far away is the Berwartstein Castle. It was founded in the Middle Ages. It appears to be sprouting out of a huge rock. Knight Hans of Drotha was the commander of the Palatinate army and was seven feet tall, which is very unusual for that period of time. He obtained the fief of the castle. He was a violent man who terrified his enemies. The castle was never conquered but it burned down in the 16th century from a lightning strike during a thunderstorm. It has been partly rebuilt but it looks somewhat different than when it was originally built.
Beth, our USO guide and Dieter-Robert Pietschmann, an expert on German history, especially the Middle Ages and castles were our guides for the trip. Robert is a German that is a volunteer with the USO and always makes the castle trips interesting. I refer to him as a “walking/talking encyclopedia on castles.
Our bus driver Juergen, took us through some beautiful forest area on the way to the castles. After we toured Trifels caste, we went to the town of Annweiler for lunch. Annweiler is a beautiful old town with many half-timbered houses and a millstream running through town. There is a restaurant located in what was one of the old mills. The water from the stream still turns the mill wheel inside the restaurant.
Lena and I followed Beth to the S’Reiwerle Restaurant. They had a table reserved for us down in the cellar. The ceiling of the room looked like pieces of thin split firewood laid across the big wooden beams. Our meal included spatale, which is a noodle. These were the best we had ever had. We found out that the restaurant makes their own.
After a hearty lunch we boarded the bus and headed for the Berwartstein Castle. It had begun to sprinkle rain just a little but that didn’t stop us. Robert had connections at the castle so they gave him a key and he took us on a tour of the castle that the normal tour does not include. The original entrance to the castle was actually like a cave entrance. You had to literally climb up a rocky passageway that did not have any steps. I guess that stopped the casual visitor and the “door to door” sales people. We went through a secret underground passageway in the castle that was so dark that we had to use flashlights and cigarette lighters to see how to get through. The castle had authentically furnished rooms, the former living quarters, some early artillery pieces and a medieval torture chamber and a kitchen.
After we departed the castle we drove to the village of Klingenmünster for a lesson on wine making and a wine tasting. We saw this same type of ceiling in the room where the wine tasting took place as was in the restaurant in Annweiler.
We enjoyed the trip and made plans to return to the village of Annweiler to explore the village more.
Annweiler and Wilgartswiesen June 19, 1999.
Lena and I took a “day trip” back to Annweiler and stopped by the village of Wilgartswiesen on the way. We had seen a dual steeple church from the road in Wilgartswiesen that we wanted to get a closer look at. Both steeples had clock faces on three sides. The church was open so we stepped in to look around. It was pretty inside, but not as ornate as those in the larger towns. Lena spotted a café on the way in town so we stopped there and got some coffee and cake then we drove on to Annweiler. This is really a very interesting old village with some interesting narrow alleys. It has several restaurants for the size of the village. We took several photos and some video before departing for home.
June 27 – July 10, 1999
North Carolina
My mother was having complications following a broken hip so I took a two week leave from my job and returned to North Carolina for a visit and to assist my family with her care.
July 3-4, 1999
Disneyland Paris
While I was gone to the States, Lena, Mary, a friend from the office, and her husband Bill and their granddaughter took an overnight Express trip with Enjoy Tours to Disneyland Park just outside Paris.
They departed late Friday night, toured the park during the day on Saturday and returned home late Saturday night. They enjoyed it very much and Lena wants to go back and spend more time there so she can see the entire park.
Black Forest August 7-9, 1999
The Black Forest area of Germany is one of our favorite places to visit. We loaded our bicycles on top of the BMW and headed for a two-night stay near the village of Wolfach. We think this area is the prettiest area in the Black Forest. A two-hour drive puts us in the place we want to be. We located a nice Pension to stay in the village of Oberwolfach. Schützen is owned and operated by the Schmid family. They also operate a Landmetzgerei (Country Butcher Shop) on one end of the first floor where they have all their meat products for sale. They put us in a third floor room on the front of the Pension overlooking the valley around the building and a stream of water in front of the building. It was quiet in the area and about all you could hear was an occasional car and the gurgling of the water in the stream as it flowed over and around the rocks in the stream.
The walking and bicycle path that ran through the area ran right in front of the Pension. After getting settled in the room we unloaded the bicycles and took a ride. This is the best way next to walking to really get a good look at the area. After we rode a few miles on the bicycles we returned to the room and prepared to go out for a nice dinner.
I got up the next morning about 6:30 to take an early morning bicycle ride so I could get some early morning photographs and video of the area. Lena though the bed was the most inviting place to be so she didn’t join me. There’s nothing much prettier than the Black Forest on a beautiful August morning with the mist rising up from the valley floor as it drifts up the side of the mountain. The pastureland and trees are a luscious green, the houses all have window boxes full of multicolored flowers and the cows are just beginning to move around and graze on the grass.
I returned to the Pension for breakfast and then Lena and I rode the bicycles to the village of Wolfach. We visited this village twice last year.
The second time we visited, my sister Janet and her husband, Chuck, was with us and we were on our way to Italy. The town was removing an old building that had a mural on the side of it. An old German lady stopped Janet while she was taking some pictures and asked her to take a picture of the mural because she was sad that they were removing the building and the mural, which was beside her home. We took the pictures and then I mailed the lady one just before Christmas 1998.
Lena and I went looking for the building and the mural, but the building had been removed and we looked all over town to see if they had moved the section with the mural somewhere else. We could not find it. We still don’t believe they destroyed the mural because the Germans believe in preserving their history. Maybe it is in storage somewhere waiting for the new building to be built so they can put it back up for display. We hope so.
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| Frau Brown eating dessert |
We really enjoyed our relaxing weekend and plan to return in 2000 again.
August 17, 1999
Lena and I drove to the Frankfurt airport to pick Robby up. He was coming for a three-week visit. We had booked several tours while Robby was visiting us. The first trip was leaving at 10 PM of the day he arrived.
Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria (Three Country Tour) August 17-19, 1999
We departed Vogelweh at 10PM and stopped at Mannheim, the Enjoy Tours transfer point, where we boarded the bus for our tour. Our guide was Ingrid and Thomas and Harald were the bus drivers.
We arrived in Switzerland at 6 AM and stopped for breakfast a little later. After a good breakfast we took a breathtaking ride up the mountain to Triesenberg which offers a beautiful view of the Rhine Valley and the Rhine River. Then we headed on up the mountain to the ski resort of Malbun where we took a chairlift up to the 2000 meter (6562 feet) high peak above Malbun. It was too early for snow but the view from the top of the peak was quite spectacular. We climbed the rocks on the backside of the peak and began hearing a tinkling sound below us. We soon discovered it was the sound of cowbells from the cows in a pasture below us. There were so many of them that it sounded almost like symphony music. I got the sound on a videotape.
Our next stop was Vaduz, the capital of the tiny Principality of Liechstenstein. Liechstenstein is only 160 square kilometers and 30 percent of it is not inhabitable. It is the 4th smallest country in Europe. Here we had free time to do a little shopping before proceeding on to Feldkirch, Austria.
At Feldkirch we had a guided tour of the 12th Century Schattenburg Castle followed by lunch in one of the Knight’s Halls. Then we had some free time to explore some of the old part of town before heading to our hotel to check in. After we relaxed a bit in our room the bus took us back downtown and dropped us off. We explored the old part of town and got something to eat. We used the local bus system to get back to the hotel. All three of us were tired so we bedded down for a nice night of sleep.
After a great buffet breakfast the next morning we returned to Switzerland and drove along Lake Constance until we got to the Island of Mainau. It is owned by the Swedish Earl Bernadotte and is a garden paradise of colorful flowers, plants, palm trees, fruit trees, birds, etc. I think all three of us really enjoyed the butterfly house. This is a special glass building with a controlled climate for every kind of butterfly you can imagine. It is very humid inside so when you first step inside your glasses and camera lens all fog up. They have special devices that you can put your glasses and camera lens under and it will clear the fog off.
Our next stop was Schaffhausen to view the spectacular Rhine Falls. After a quick bite to eat we took a boat ride up near the base of the falls.
From here we departed for the Black Forest town of Triberg, the last stop on our journey. We stopped at a Cuckoo Clock sales outlet before going to the restaurant for dinner.
Ingrid told us that she has been to Egypt 55 times not counting other countries that she takes tour groups on. I asked her did she do German tours also. She said even though she was German she preferred to do tours with Americans rather than with Germans because the Germans complained too much. I thought it would have been just the opposite.
Italy Trip to Venice, Pompeii, Sorrento, Isle of Capri, Rome and Florence. August 20-25, 1999
This was to be out first tour with the Divine tour company. Our guide was Anca and the drivers were Mario and Willie. Robby, Lena and I boarded the bus at 6:30PM at Vogelweh and we were on our way. We stopped at Mannheim and Stuttgart to pick up more people but Divine does not do a bus transfer like Enjoy Tours. I guess because they aren’t as large a tour company therefore they don’t have as many tours going on the same day.
We rode the bus all night and stopped at 6 AM in Italy for breakfast. The road side restaurants in Italy have a strange system for serving and paying for what you get. First you have to go through the line and decide what you want and the cost, then you go pay. After paying you go back through the line and tell the servers what you want and they prepare it for you or pass it to you if it is already prepared. Then you give them the receipt to prove that you have paid for what you ordered. A strange confusing, congested and time consuming process.
Upon our arrival in Venice we took a boat to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square). We arrived fairly early so there were not so many people there yet. Several of buildings were under renovation but they had hung huge drop cloths down the side of the buildings that had been painted to look like the buildings. This way you could see what the buildings looked like. I’m sure this added a tremendous cost to the renovations. The square is the largest in the city and probably the most famous among tourist.
Anca explained some of the history of the Basilika of San Marco and the Campanile. The Campanile is a tall red brick tower that stands separated from the other structures in the square. The Basilica is the religious center of the city. The basic structure was completed in 1071 and consecrated in 1094 but it has had embellishments and changed since that time.
After a brief orientation of the square and some of the streets, Anca took us to the Murano glass factory outlet for a glass blowing demonstration. Of course the demonstration was followed by a sales pitch, where we could purchase the beautiful glass pieces that were made at the factory.
At this point we had a couple of hours of free time before we were to take our Gondola ride through the canals. We wandered up and down the narrow alleys taking pictures and trying some of the food that was available from little corner food booths. As you probably know the only transportation is by boat, gondola or walking. Robby, Lena, one other lady from our group and I rode in one gondola as the gondolier expertly glided the gondola through the narrow canals between the buildings. The gondolier stands on the back and uses one long oar to maneuver the long narrow gondola through the water. Sometimes we would meet other boats or gondolas and somehow they managed to avoid colliding with each other.
Our time in Venice was over much too quick but we had to head to Rome where our hotel was. On the way to Rome the lady that rode with us on the gondola was walking down the isle in the bus and the bus swayed just a little and she hit her knee on a bus seat and knocked the knee cap out of place. She was in terrible pain. As luck would have it we were just coming up to a gasoline station on the Autostrade that had a first aid sign. We stopped and the guide went for help. Within just a few minutes an ambulance arrived with a doctor on it. They put her in the ambulance and told us to follow them on into Florence to the hospital. We had to wait about an hour before she was able to leave. She said while they were moving her on the emergency room gurney that the knee cap slid back in place and she was okay. They did a Xray of her knee to be sure nothing was damaged and sent her on her way without charging her anything. Of course this put us behind
schedule, so we arrived at our hotel in Rome at 1130 PM.
We were up the next day at 0615 to go to Pompeii, Sorrento and the Isle of Capri. Our first stop was Pompeii. A local guide took us on a tour of the ruins. Prior to its destruction on September 9, 79AD it was a booming trading center with a population of 30,000. A volcanic eruption buried the city and everyone in it that did not escape. The city and the people lay buried from 79AD until the first excavations began in the 1700’s. During the excavations the petrified corpses of the people that died during the volcanic eruption were found. We were able to see two that were on display. They looked almost like clay figures. Pompeii was a wealthy town with plenty of splendid public buildings and lavish residences. Some of the buildings that have been excavated still have very colorful murals painted on the walls and ceilings. Almost all of the columns of The Temple of Apollo are still in place. The streets were paved in stone and we could see the ruts cut in the stones by the wheels of the horse drawn chariots. We really enjoyed the tour of Pompeii. This is a must see if you every get to the area, which is just outside Naples.
From here we boarded a local Italian train to Sorrento. We only had time to get a quick lunch and a little time to shop for inlaid wood. Sorrento is famous for it’s inlaid wood crafts. It has a beautiful rugged coast line along the Tyrrhenian Sea. Some information we picked up describes Sorrento like this. “Good fortune has gathered here the best the world can offer: an incomparable landscape, a crystal clear sea, a climate that remains mild even in winter, traces of a splendid past, the lively colorful lanes, alleys, boats and painted houses. Sorrento is heavenly to visit and even more so to live in.”
A suicide prone local bus driver took us from the restaurant down a very narrow winding rock walled street to the coast where we were to meet a ferry boat to take us to the Isle of Capri. The ride was a thrill a second as he careened down the street. He must have gotten his driver training in the city of Naples. I have driven in a lot of cities but I believe Naples, Italy wins the prize for the worst drivers.
The ferry boat ride from Sorrento to Capri was great. The sun was shining and the temperature was nice and hot so the wind whipping against your face felt good. It didn’t do much for the hair style but what the heck. When we landed Anca and another local guide took us up to the top of the city of Capri on a tram. There another local guide that I thought was trying really hard to be “cute” began telling us about Capri. It was very hot in the city and this local guide was beginning to get on my nerves, plus Lena’s face was beginning to turn “beet red”, so I took her and left the group to find a place for Lena to cool off. We found a bench and I washed Lena’s face and neck down with water to cool her down. Later we walked around the city. It is really a pretty place. It is probably a really nice place to spend a quiet relaxing vacation except August is the vacation season for the Italians so maybe another month would be better time to avoid the crowds. The views from the rocky cliffs are fantastic. Capri is only 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) long and two kilometers (1.2 miles) wide and has a population of 12,000 plus tourist. There are several historic places to visit but we did not have time to visit them. We got in line to board the tram. This could be better described as getting in the crowd to board the tram. This was Sunday afternoon and I think every tourist on the island was trying to get back down the hill to the marina at the same time. I’m sure this must be the way cattle feel when they are herded into a small pen just before the slaughter. We finally made it to the tram and boarded for the hot smelly (some Europeans don’t use underarm deodorant or bath daily) ride down the hill to the marina where our ferry awaited us for the ride back to Naples where our bus was waiting for us.
Anca told us that Pizza originated in Naples Italy. I have eaten a lot of Pizza in Italy and those they make and cook in a stone oven is some of the best pizza I have ever had.
On our trip back to Rome I noticed many tobacco fields along the way. One thing that looked strange to me was they didn’t break the tops off the tobacco and didn’t remove the suckers that come up between the leaves. From growing up on a tobacco farm, I know that this improves the quality and the amount of tobacco that is produced. The Italians grow a different type of tobacco. I guess it is some type of burley because they cut the entire stalk down and hang it in an open air type of shed like a flower hot house to let it dry.
After breakfast Monday morning we went to Vatican City. It is the smallest state in the world. It has it’s own postal system, police force, diplomatic corps and army including the famous Swiss Guards. The Swiss Guards were founded in 1505 by Julius II. Their uniform design is attributed to Michelangelo and has remained unchanged for 5 centuries. We met Carole, a local guide, at the Vatican Museum. She was a walking/taking encyclopedia of information about the Vatican. She took us through some of the museum and then to the Sistine Chapel. All the art work had recently undergone cleaning to restore the beauty of the colors. The Chapel is 40.5 meters long, 20.7 meters high and 13.2 meters wide (133 ft x 68 ft x 43 ft) and was built at the end of the 15th century by Giovanni Dolci in imitation of Noah’s ark. The walls are frescoed with twelve paintings (on the left are scenes of the Life of Moses, on the right scenes from the Life of Jesus). The greatest masterpieces and most famous are the frescoes of the vaults by Michelangelo. The Sistine Chapel was worth the entire trip even if we hadn’t seen all the other interesting places. It is difficult to imagine the time and patience it took to paint everything in the Chapel.
The Chapel was full of visitors and everyone is supposed to be quiet, with no talking. After all it is a religious place. There were several officials standing around and as we stood in awe at what we were looking at the noise level got higher and higher as people were talking. Finally one of the officials said something very loud in Italian (probably reminding the people to stop talking) and the talking immediately stopped. I told Lena and Robby later, that trying to keep Italians from talking was almost impossible. We came out of the Chapel into St. Peter’s Square, the center of Christianity for over a thousand years. It is a large square 240 meters (787 feet) wide. It is almost completely surrounded by 284 pillars set in four rows with 140 statues of Saints and Martyrs. We walked through the square past the guards, that were checking for appropriate clothing of the visitors, to Saint Peter’s Basilica. No shorts or sleeveless shirts/blouses are allowed in the Basilica. It is the largest Christian church and is over 210 meters (689 feet) long and the dome is 136 meters (446 feet) high. It is a gigantic place with works by Michelangelo and other famous sculptures.
We had some free time for lunch and shopping before boarding the bus for a riding tour of the city and a stop at the famous Roman Coliseum. Carole told us there are over 1000 churches in Rome. Trevi Fountain where the movie “Three Coins in a Fountain” was filmed was our last stop for the day. At this point we had a couple of hours of free time. After walking around and doing a little shopping Lena and I stopped at a Dunkin Donuts for a COLD soft drink that actually had ICE in it. A somewhat rare thing in Europe. Robby had gone off on his own to do some photography and shopping.
We returned to the hotel to freshen up and then Anca took us to a really nice Italian restaurant. They had tables set up for us outside in a large patio area. This was the first night that we had not returned to the hotel late, so we had time for a nice relaxing meal.
We checked out of the hotel the next morning and headed for Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance. Here in the Accademia, is the home of Michelangelo’s David. There is a copy on a hill over looking the city and another in one of the squares in the city. Anca took us on a walking tour of part of the city and then we had free time to get something to eat and shop. Lena, Robby and I decided it was time to eat so we found a good outside table at one of the restaurants in The Piazza Della Signoria which for eight centuries has been the political and civic center of Florence. After a good meal we strolled around town and took photographs and did a little shopping. I found a pair of Italian shoes like I had been looking for over two years.
When our free time was up we meet Anca and the group walked back to our pickup point, where the bus was supposed to be. We arrived about 3 minutes later than what Anca had told the driver and our bus was gone but one of the drivers was standing there with the Italian police. Our selected pickup point was not an official bus stop and the bus driver had waited for us. The police saw him and confiscated the bus for illegal parking. Anca had to do some fast talking (she also speaks Italian as well as English and German) to convince the police to return our bus. When we finally got on the bus Anca and the drivers had a long somewhat “loud” conversation in German. It seems she had told the drivers that if we were not at the pickup point on time to circle around the block and come back, but they stopped to wait and got caught.
On the way back to Germany we stopped to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is actually leaning 4 meters (13 feet). It started leaning only 5 years after it was built. Several things have been tried to stop the leaning. Now they have a metal band around the tower with counterweights to halt the leaning. They don’t want to correct it because it is such a tourist attraction. Without the leaning tower there would be no reason for tourist to come to town and spend money.
We arrived home in the early morning, tired but thankful for good weather and a nice trip.
London England August 27-30, 1999
After a couple days of rest we headed for a tour of London with Enjoy Tours guide Birgit. Our drivers were Guenter and Guido. As usual with Enjoy Tours we boarded the bus at Vogelweh at 6 PM and went to the transfer point at Mannheim. We rode the bus all night and arrived at Calais France where the bus was loaded on a ferry boat for the crossing of the English Channel over to England early the morning of the 28th. We ate breakfast on board the ferry. The ferry landed at Dover England at 4:50 AM, UK time. We saw the famous White Cliffs of Dover as we departed the port and soon passed Dover Castle as we traveled through the countryside of Kent on our way into London.
We met Barbara, a local guide, in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral. She told us that during World War II the church endured 57 nights of bombing. It did sustain some damage but it would have been worse except there were volunteers that stayed up on the roof to help put out any fires created by the bombings. The present church is the 5th church on the same spot. It was built between 1675 and 1710. The funeral of Sir Winston Churchill was conducted at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Princess Diana was married here but her funeral was not held here as some people believed. Diana’s funeral was held at Westminster Abbey. There is a memorial to US Soldiers inside the church. It’s Dome, is the second largest in the world, next to St. Peter’s in Rome, and supports a lantern and cross weighing around 700 tons.
From here we went to Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus for a chance to get something to eat and some free time. I thought Piccadilly Circus was a circus with animals, etc. like any other circus. Well I was wrong, it is just an area in London named Piccadilly Circus. From what the guide told us it becomes a “circus” of people late in the evening when everyone leaves work and comes to the area to see and be seen. After the free time we boarded the bus and went to the hotel and checked in. The remainder of the day was on our own. Lena, Robby and I rested awhile and walked several blocks to a restaurant for dinner. I had heard that London is expensive and what I heard was correct. I thought the dinner was very overpriced for what we got.
The next morning we met Barbara again and she showed us more of London and areas around London. Our first stop was the grounds of Kensington Palace where Princess Diana and Prince Charles lived. Our next stop was the Tower of London. We could see the London Bridge that we had crossed the day before. The Tower of London is not really a tower as one might imagine but is really more like a small walled city and has served as a royal palace and fortress, prison and place of execution, an arsenal, royal mint, menagerie, and jewel house. The Crown Jewels, guarded by the Beefeaters in picturesque Tudor uniforms, are housed there today in the Waterloo Barracks. We found the Tower of London to be very interesting and would like to have stayed much longer but as on any tour there is so much to see that you can’t always spend as much time as you would like at some places. I would like to go back and stay an entire day there.
Those of the group that did not want to take an optional tour was taken back to Piccadilly Circus. The remainder of the day was free time. Lena, Robby and I didn’t take the optional tour. We found a nice Fish ‘n’ Chips restaurant named St. James for lunch and then bought bus tickets to ride the famous Double Decker Buses. Robby wanted to stop at the Hard Rock Café for a shirt. It was the original Hard Rock Café. Then we went back to Kensington Palace. It was Sunday and there were hundreds of people out enjoying the nice weather and the beautiful gardens of the Palace. The public has free access to the majority of the grounds of Kensington Palace. We walked up to the Palace via the walkway around the sunken gardens but decided not to take the expensive tour through the castle. The State Apartments were open to the public in 1975. Everywhere we looked on the grounds were people out sunbathing, rollerblading, walking and just enjoying the outdoors. We caught the bus back to our hotel and freshen up for dinner.
We went to the Beefeaters for a show and dinner. The restaurant was in the cellar of a large brick building. It has a long room with several side rooms to either side. Everyone there was dressed in the old traditional English medieval dress including King Henry VIII, the host for our dinner. As the “Fair Maidens” brought out several courses of food (we lost count) they put on a show for us. They involved part of the group in the show. Everyone had a great time.
By the time we got back to the hotel we all were ready for a good nights sleep.
The next morning we bid London fair well and headed back to the ferry crossing at Dover. On the way we stopped at the small town of Canterbury to visit the 12th Century Cathedral where Thomas Beckett was murdered in 1170 and where the Black Prince is buried. We didn’t have much time here so Lena and I didn’t go into the Cathedral. Robby went in to get some photographs. The town was very interesting and we would like to go back sometime when we have more time.
We loaded the bus on the ferry and crossed over to Calais France. We had something to eat while on board. As we were waiting to board the ferry I jotted down these statistics. On 8/29/1999 65,388 passengers, 640 buses, 11,368 cars and 2,249 lorries (18 wheelers) had crossed from Dover to Calais France.
We arrived home late at night tired again but remembering a great trip.
Day Trip to Rhine River Villages September 1, 1999
Robby, Lena and I drove down to the Rhine River to visit some of the many beautiful villages that line both sides of the river. We took the ferry boat over to the other side of the river. There are not many bridges over the Rhine in the area that we wanted to visit but there are several ferry boats. The boats run every few minutes from both sides of the river and will carry about 25 cars across for about 8 DM ($4.00).
The first village we visited was Eltville. Lena and I had been here earlier with the USO. It is a nice village with several really old buildings. Robby made two stops in a bakery while we were there. The aroma coming out of the bakeries is so wonderful it is hard to resist walking past one. We departed Eltville and drove through some of the country to look at the vineyards.
Our next stop was Rüdesheim. This is a famous tourists town. It is usually packed with people in the summer, especially on weekends. They have several restaurants and cafes that people flock to. Some have live music. We stopped at a small café to get a snack. When we got back to the car, I found a parking ticket on the windshield. The parking lot where I had parked was not a free lot. I didn’t see the parking meter sign when I stopped. I never did get a bill in the mail so the ticket didn’t cost me anything.
Our next stop after we crossed back over the Rhine on the ferry was Bacharach. Lena and I had also been to this village before and wanted Robby to see it. Almost every building in the village was of the half or full timbered style. Some dating back to the 1500’s. We walked all over the village taking pictures. Lena and I found a Gasthaus named Pension Im Malerwinkel that we want to come back to and stay a couple of nights in the summer of 2000. It will be a good place to stay and bring our bicycles so we can explore the area at a slower pace than on a car.
Rhine River Tour with ITT September 5, 1999
We joined an ITT Tour with guide Elise and driver Rudi for a castle tour and boat trip down the Rhine River. This is the best way to get a really good look at the villages on both sides of the river and also get a look at all the many castles that are on the hills overlooking the Rhine. There are more castles along the Rhine than in any other area of Germany that we have visited.
Prior to boarding the boat we stopped at Burg Rheinstein near the village of Trechtingshausen. This is just one of the many castles along the Rhine. It was built about 900 as a custom’s post for the German Empire. The most important period for the castle was from 1282 to 1286, when the Holy Roman Emporer Rudolf von Habsburg lived in the castle and passed judgements on the unruly knights of the Rhine River. It sits 80 meters (262 feet) above the Rhine River. German royalty lived there until 1918. Since 1975 it is owned by retired opera singer Hecher and his family. Prior to the opera singer purchasing it and opening it to tours it was about to be sold to a religious cult from another country. The daughter-in-law of the owner came out and told us some of the history of the castle before we started our self guided tour. The Drawbridge and the Skiped Drop Gate still work.
The castle was very interesting and provided a fantastic view of the river. Before walking back down the hill to the bus most of the group stopped in at the castle café for a quick cup of coffee and cake. One interesting thing about the castle is there is no way to get an automobile up to the castle. There is only a narrow zee shaped path about 3-4 foot wide up the side of the hill from the road below. They have a small Kubota tractor to move things up and down the hill. There is also a device like those used in the vineyards to bring the grapes down that is on a track that can be used to take small items up and down the hill. They have a couple of rooms they rent to guest and they use this to bring their luggage up.
The Rhine River is 1320 kilometers (820 miles) long of which 1000 kilometers (622 miles) are navigable. A tremendous amount of goods are moved up and down the Rhine on barges. The people that operate the barges appear to also live on them. Most have a section that looks like a fairly good size living quarters. There is also a car normally sitting on the back of the barge.
The weather was perfect for the two hour boat ride on the Rhine. We were to get some nice photos and video of the castles and villages along the way. The boat docked on the opposite side of the river from where we boarded it. The bus driver was waiting for us with the bus to take us to the restaurant Weinhaus Merscheid in Winkel. After a great meal they gave us a small wine tasting of Rheingau wines.
After leaving the restaurant we stopped at Rüdesheim for a quick tour and a walk through the world-famous “Drosselgass”. As I stated earlier Rüdesheim is a famous tourist town and the “Drosselgass” is one of the things that makes it famous. It is an extremely narrow street or alley that is only about 6-8 feet wide. It is lined on both sides with gift shops, restaurants and cafes. On a nice summer day you can barely get down the street for people. There is a church in the town that was mostly destroyed during World War II. The stained glass windows were saved because they were removed and buried to protect them from the bombs.
We had a great day on the Rhine River. This was the last day before Robby departed for the USA and the weather was perfect for such a trip.
If you ever come to Germany and want to see several castles in a short period of time, then the Rhine River is the place to come to.
Robby Departs 9/6/99
We got up early to take Robby back to Frankfurt Airport for his return trip to the USA. We had really enjoyed the past 3 weeks but it was a sad parting.
TDY Trip to Riyadh and Dhahran Saudi Arabia September 29-Ootober 8, 1999
This was my second Government TDY trip to Saudi Arabia. September 30th was our 32nd wedding anniversary and here I was gone again on our anniversary. I had to return to Riyadh to install computer software on their POSM system at the commissary. I landed at Riyadh airport about 9:30 PM and then stood in a very slow moving line for over an hour to get through the immigration checkpoint. Then I had to go though a security checkpoint where the official was very curious about the CD-ROMs and computer tapes I had with me. Once he understood that they contained computer software and not music or anything else he let me pass through. The Saudis are very strict about what you can bring into the country. Certain types of music, magazines and no alcoholic beverages are not allowed. A driver was waiting at the airport and took me to the military base where I would be staying. After working our way through the 5-6 security checkpoints at the base entrance we got the key to my room in the building where I would be staying. When we got to the room and went in, I saw dirty underwear and socks and other pieces of clothes on the floor. I first thought they had put me in a room that had not been cleaned, then the driver said I must be sharing a room with someone. I looked and there were twin beds in the room. I had him to take me back to the office where I asked for another room. I am accustomed to having to share a bathroom on some military bases, but not a bedroom with a stranger. They reluctantly gave me another room but told me I might have a roommate before I departed the area. I never did get a roommate.
The temperature was over 100 degrees everyday. I walked from where I was staying to the commissary everyday so I made sure I carried a bottle of water with me. I completed my work at Riyadh and flew to Dhahran. This was my first trip to Dhahran. The Commissary Officer, Rudy, met me at the airport along with Bob, the contractor that I was meeting there. I checked into the hotel and then we went out to the commissary. After work Rudy took us downtown to check out the shops and to take a look at the city.
The hotel where I stayed was the headquarters of the Press Corp during the Dessert Storm war. There were the remains of a Scud Missile in a glass enclosure in the lobby that had been shot down by an American Patriot Missile. This was a really nice hotel. It sure was a major step up from the place I stayed on the military base at Riyadh.
I completed my work on October 6th. That night Rudy took Bob and me to his home for a traditional Saudi meal. All the men eat in a separate room from the women. In fact we didn’t even see the women. They use cushions around the perimeter of the room to sit on. When the food was ready they spread a cloth on the floor and set the food in bowls on the cloth. No individual plates were used. You reached in the different bowls and got the food with your hands. Only one bowl had a spoon in it. The food was very good just that Bob and I had a difficult time picking up rice with our hands without dropping it on the floor and ourselves. We were sitting around the cloth on the floor with our legs crossed. This was quite an experience for both of us. We enjoyed it very much.
I was scheduled to fly out at 12:30 PM on the 7th. The airport was just across the parking lot from the hotel but I decided to get to the airport about 2 ½ hours early so I could look around. It is a good thing I did. When I got checked in they told me that my airplane was boarded and to hurry to the gate. They had decided to leave two hours earlier than scheduled and also had changed the flight and flew to Jeddah Saudi Arabia. I arrived in London at the time my next flight was supposed to be leaving there for Germany. I checked my ticket and the ticket agent at Dhahran had already booked me on a later flight out of London but didn’t tell me. Well it took about an hour to get to the check-in point after leaving the airplane so by this time the flight that Dhahran had booked me on was about ready to depart and they would not let me board. So I had to wait two more hours for the next flight to Germany. This plane was about 45 minutes late landing due to heavy traffic at the airport. So I didn’t get home until about 3AM the next morning and the temperature was 50 degrees colder than in Saudi Arabia. Oh the joys of traveling!!
Side note on dress code for the American military in Saudi Arabia when they leave the military base and go into town. Unacceptable items include clothing with pictures or writings offensive to local standards of decency, shirts or blouses made of see-through material, shorts, and tank-tops. Shirts must have a collar with sleeves, not be open below the collarbone, and the shirttail must not extend below the belt line. No hats, ball caps, bandannas, or sweatbands. Rings and watches are the only jewelry authorized for males. Females are required to wear the abaya (full length black gown) with scarf at all times while downtown. A collared blouse and pants or jean must be worn under the abaya.
Hey, maybe we should adopt some of the fashion codes in America, rather than some of the sloppy clothes with the waistline around the hips and the straddle around the knees that are worn now. Okay, you can stop throwing the rocks now!!!
Schwabïsch Hall October 29-30, 1999
Schawbïach Hall is a beautiful old town that dates back to the 10th century. It is a two-hour drive from where we live. We had a three-day weekend so we drove to the town and decided to stay the night.
We found the information office and requested their assistance in getting a room for the night. We selected the Goldener Adler Hotel next door to the information office. The hotel is located in the center of town and was over 500 years old with a nice half-timbered front that faced the marketplatz (market square). The building has what I refer to as character. The wooden stair steps and the floorboards creak as you walk on them. The floors are not exactly level and square due to the type of construction material and building methods used hundreds of years ago and of course the buildings have settled over the years.
Our room overlooked the marketplatz. On one side of the platz was the town Rathaus (townhall). It was rebuilt in 1728 and is one of the most beautiful in Germany. Directly across the platz from the Rathaus is St. Michael’s Church. Part of the building dates to 1156. It was undergoing a renovation so we were not able to go inside. We did walk up part of the 54 steps in front of the church. Every year in the summer an open-air theater production takes place on the steps of the church.
After we checked into our room we began exploring the many streets and shops that comprises the lower floors of most of the buildings. The buildings were very bright and colorful. Most of the streets were cobblestones and were narrow and winding as most are in the old towns and villages. There were several footbridges that crossed the Kocher River. Salt was once mined in the town and taken to one of the 43 boiling houses to extract the salt.
We walked until dark and then returned to the hotel to rest before a delicious dinner in the hotel restaurant.
Shortly before dawn the next morning (Saturday) the marketplatz, just below our hotel room window, was beginning to come alive as the vendors were setting up their booths to sell they wares. It was interesting to look out the window from our third floor room as they went about the business of setting up shop. People began coming around with their wicker baskets just after daybreak to purchase fresh baked breads, fresh vegetables, flowers, eggs, etc.
After we ate breakfast downstairs in the restaurant we checked out the marketplatz for ourselves. Then we finished exploring the remaining part of town that we had missed on the previous day. It is nice to walk by a bakery and purchase warm fresh baked goods such as breads, pretzels, etc. We are going to miss this when we return to the States. We checked out of the hotel about noon and took a leisurely drive back home.
Metz France November 12-13, 1999
Metz France has a flea market twice each month on Saturday that we had been told was something we should check out before we returned to the States. We purchased a pickup truck in late September and sold the 316 BMW so we had something to carry large items now, so we decided to check the flea market out. It begins at 6 AM and ends at 1 PM and it is a two-hour drive from our house. We decided to go on Friday and stay overnight. This would give us an opportunity to explore the city also and we would not have to get up early on Saturday morning to make the drive. We took a leisurely drive to Metz and found the location of the flea market with no problem. We decided to go into Metz and get a room for the night. A stop at the Information Office to get assistance in finding a hotel was a good idea. They charge a small fee for calling the hotels but it was worth it. We looked through the brochures the clerk gave us and selected one for her to call. They had a room available and said they would come to the Information Office to show us the way to the hotel. After driving from the Information Office to the hotel we sure were glad they showed us the way. I don’t think we would have ever found it. We had to make several crooks and turns to get there even though it was only a few blocks from the Information Office. We parked the truck on the top floor of a parking garage and checked into the hotel. It was an old building, as all buildings in this part of the city were. The room was a corner room overlooking four streets and was a nice room. We grabbed our cameras and began checking out the city on foot since we only had about three hours of daylight remaining. Almost all the first floors of the buildings were shops or businesses with the upper floors serving as apartments as is very common in Europe. The French are famous for their pastries. We must have walked past 30 shops but we were strong and only stopped at two. One pastry that we tried was called Chaussons Framboise. There was a multi-story indoor mall that had over 120 shops in it. Lena likes Kebabs, so we stopped in a Kebab Café to get something to eat for dinner. We didn’t feel like a full restaurant meal, plus we have trouble reading French menus.
Saturday morning we went downstairs for breakfast before checking out and going to the flea market. A French breakfast, at least in the hotels, is usually coffee or hot tea with croissants and bread with butter and jelly. After checking out of the hotel we headed back to the flea market. We didn’t have a very good map of Metz so we had some difficulty getting back to the flea market. It is held in 5-6 different buildings that are joined together. We checked it all out but didn’t buy anything. We don’t like the French style furniture because it is a little too ornate for our taste. We also thought the prices were very high. We tend to favor the simpler style furniture.
Even though we didn’t find anything we liked, the trip was nice and I got a different outlook on Metz.
I stopped in Metz for an hour or so in March 1996 on my second trip to Germany before we moved here. A friend and I were in Germany working and we had a Sunday off so we drove to Trier Germany and on to Metz. We arrived mid-afternoon on Sunday and walked around for a short time. Everywhere we looked we saw dog “treasures” where people had been walking their dogs and had not cleaned up after them. Lena and I didn’t see as much of this problem this time as I saw in 1996 but still it was very evident that there are not any laws to force the residents to clean up after their dogs. We did notice that early on Saturday morning the city street sweepers come through and clean the streets.
November 24-28, 1999
Thanksgiving Weekend in Budapest Hungary
We departed Vogelweh Germany at 6PM just after we got off from work and headed to Budapest Hungary for a long Thanksgiving Weekend with Enjoy Tours. First we had to stop in Mannheim where Enjoy Tours has a transfer point for bus tours. Our guide was Irene and the drivers were Willie (the owner of the bus) and Peter the relief driver. Shortly after we departed Mannheim, Irene received a telephone call from her husband. He had called Hungary to check the road and weather conditions. The Budapest area was getting snow at that time. Later he called back to say they had 30 cm (about a foot) of snow on the autobahns. We crossed over the Austria border at 2AM Thursday morning and arrived at the Hungarian border at 6AM. After clearing the border check where all our passports were checked by the Austria and Hungarian border guards we stopped for breakfast. Lena and I ordered an egg omelet. We had never seen an omelet cooked like this one. It was in a clear glass dish like a pie dish. The dish was really hot. It appeared that they got the dish really hot then poured the omelet ingredients into it to cook it, then just brought us the dish. It was okay but not the best omelet we had ever had.
All the snow had been removed from the autobahns by the time we got near Budapest but everything else had a blanket of thick snow on it. Most of Hungary is flat and agriculture is the main source of income. We saw large farming areas after we crossed the border before we got into the area of Budapest. The area around Budapest is hilly. As we were coming into the city of Budapest, Irene began giving us some information about the city. She said the average factory worker made the equivalent about 140 US dollars a month. They can rent an apartment in a high rise apartment for about $50 dollars a month. But they paid about the same for gasoline as in Germany and other European countries which is about $6 a gallon. They depend on public transportation and mostly cheap cars to get around the city. She pointed out one car that she said was not a car but “a sickness”. She really didn’t like this car and said it was a stinky little thing. It is a Trabant or Trabi for short and is made in the Czech Republic. We got a close look at one and I though a VW Beetle was a basic car but this Trabi was really just a metal box with a steering wheel and a seat on four wheels.
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| Trabi - Stinky Little Car |
Willie parked the bus downtown and Irene showed us the pedestrian area of the city where we could walk around, shop, and get something to eat before we checked into our hotel. Lena and I went to the Gerbeaud Café for some coffee and dessert. It was one of the most famous cafes in the city and was over 140 years old. Most of the buildings in the city were damaged during WWII but had been rebuilt. Budapest is called the “Pearl of the Danube” and the “Paris of the East”.
The hotel had prepared a Thanksgiving Dinner for the tour group. It was not a turkey with dressing, mashed potatoes with giblet gravy and candied yams but it was good. They served strips of meat smothered in brown gravy with spätzle (noodle). It was very good.
We both slept like a log that night. We did not get much sleep on the bus and we had been awake for most of the past 37 hours.
After a breakfast buffet at the hotel the next morning we met our local Hungarian guide, Ester. We have taken many trips to cities outside of Germany where they use local guides to show us the sites but we didn’t know until this trip that the guides that come with us from Germany are not allowed to guide us around cities in most other countries. They are required to hire a local guide to take the tour groups around. I guess it is like a union thing, where everyone gets a piece of the pie. The same rule probably applies to tour groups coming into Germany.
As we drove around the city Ester pointed out things of interest. We saw the Royal Palace, Chain Bridge, the Buda Hills and went inside the Matthias Church and walked around the Fisherman’s Bastion that in times past served as a lookout tower over the Danube River and the city. Just past the Matthias Church there was a large hotel that was built around some ancient Roman ruins. We went into the lobby of the hotel to look at the ruins. They had designed the hotel so that the ruins could be protected and preserved.
After the city tour we left the city and drove for over an hour out into the Great Plains called the Puszta (country). The sky was overcast and visibility was only about 150-200 feet due to the mist rising from all the snow. The surroundings were kind of strange looking because of all the snow and mist. As we drove through some of the small country villages Ester told us that the people worked hard all week but on Sunday work was put aside, except for tending to livestock, and families got together for a day of eating and fellowship with each other. She said the noon meal last about 4 hours.
Many years ago the Turks captured and occupied most of Hungary except the Great Plains area that we were headed for. Ester said the Hungarian Horsemen (Csikòs) in the area had trained their horse to lie down on the ground and to set up on their rear end like a dog. When the invading Turks came to the area they would have their horse lie down to hide and then the Csikòs would use the leather whips (like a bull whip) to make sounds like a rifle firing. The Turks would be scared away because they could not see the people that were firing the “rifles” at them. So they never captured the area.
Willie turned the bus off the main country road that had been cleared of snow, onto a smaller country road that had not been cleared so the driving was rather tricky at this point. After about 3-4 miles of this we pulled to a stop beside a one lane dirt road where four horse drawn wagons were waiting for us. Lena and I hopped on the first wagon. Each wagon would carry about 10 people. The two silver colored horses that were pulling our wagon were rather frisky and wanted to gallop so the driver had to hold them back. The road was covered in snow so the horse hooves where kicking mud and snow up on us as they pulled the wagons along. It was about 32 degrees so we were all bundled up with coats, gloves and hats riding through the woods in these wagons. The farm we were going to was about a mile up the dirt road and as we came out of the woods into the clearing around the buildings, Lena’s hat fell off and the horses and wagons behind us trampled it into the mud. As we were getting closer to the buildings we could hear what sounded like rifles firing but we could not see anyone because of the low lying mist.
When the wagons stopped at the main building we were met by people giving us cheese biscuits, schnäpse and hot glühweine to warm us up. Ester said it was Hungarian custom that when someone comes to your house, stranger or friend, that you offer them schnäpse. Schnäpse is made from different fruits like, pears, apricots, apples, etc.
At this point the Csikòs came out of the mist riding their horses bareback and cracking their whips making sounds like rifles shooting. The riders dismounted and had their horses to lie down on the ground. Then the riders stood on the horse’s sides and cracked their leather whips. Then the horses sat up on their rear ends like a dog. This is not a natural position for a horse to be in. Ester said it takes about 2-3 years to get a horse trained to do this. They performed other tricks and then a team of 10 horses came out with one rider standing on the back of the 10th horse in the back. He had reins on all the horses but none of the horses were attached together. They were very well trained to be able to ride around in a gallop with only one person holding all the reins and riding on the back of one horse. After they finished their performance they offered anyone from the group a chance to ride the horses, bareback of course. I was surprised but Lena rode one. She had never been on a horse before. I rode one also. They had a photographer making photos of the people in the tour group riding the horses that they made available to us later for a small fee.
At this point we went into the dining room for a wonderful four course meal. It was the birthday of one the men on the tour and the 42nd wedding anniversary of one of the couples on the tour. Two bottles of champagne was bought out for them to toast and celebrate with.
They had some of the best bread I have ever tasted, followed by Hungarian goulash soup. Then we had a salad followed by roast duck and baked chicken over a bed of rice, some of the largest breaded mushrooms we have ever seen and some vegetables. All the red and white wine, water, soft drinks that you cared to drink was available just for the asking. All the time we were eating a five piece band was playing Hungarian music. There were three violin players, a bass fiddle and an instrument that I think they said was called a symbolic. It sounded similar to a piano but it was not played with keys. It was open and had stings inside and was played with little wooden sticks that were padded on the end. The man that was playing it had some of the fastest hands I have ever seen. He could move his hands around to the point they were almost like a blur as he played some of the more upbeat songs. They had a CD of their music so several of us purchased one. A cake with apricot marmalade spread over it was served as dessert with coffee following the main meal.
Then we were treated to a re-enactment of a traditional Hungarian “Plains Wedding” Several young men and women came out dressed in traditional clothing and danced and sang like they would at a wedding. The dancing and singing was very lively. Twice during the performance they pulled people from the tour group, including Lena, to dance and sing with them.
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| Lena on a horse |
The fun and food was over much to soon so we got back on the wagons and rode back to the bus for our trip back to Budapest. On the bus ride back everyone began to sing Christmas songs and songs from the 1960s. Everyone really enjoyed the evening at the farm. The name of the farm was Varga Tanya. They have rooms and cottages that you can rent and stay for a week or longer. They teach horse riding, have a swimming pool and other forms of relaxation. I think it would be a good place to have a relaxing vacation and get some great Hungarian cooking.
Upon arriving in the city we boarded a boat for a ride down the Danube River for a view of the city at night from the river. It was still hazy but the lights of the city at night from the river still provided a nice view.
After we got off the boat we stopped at a nice restaurant named Matyas Pince. Almost every selection on the menu included Goose Liver. We had never had it so we ordered something that included it on the plate. Again the food was great and they also had the same type of musical group playing in the restaurant. They didn’t play anything as upbeat as the group at the farm did.
After the meal we were all ready for the hotel and a good nights sleep.
After another breakfast buffet at the hotel we rode back to the inner city for a morning of free time. Lena and I visited the Market Hall. This is a large building that is almost a city block large with three levels of booths with people selling everything from hot peppers to clothes. There were many booths selling all kinds of sausages, meats, vegetables, fruit, nuts, etc. Then there were dozens selling a variety of embroidered tablecloths, blouses and vest, etc. On the lower level was a fish market that had large tanks with live large catfish, carp and several other varieties. They had trays that had just fish heads in them and one tray that had baby catfish that were flipping up and down in the tray. After Lena stocked up on some embroidered items we departed and did some window shopping and stopped in a café to warm up and get some coffee and dessert.
We boarded the bus at the appointed time and left the city for the Baroque town of Szentendre. As we were leaving Budapest we passed by two policemen that were writing a man a traffic ticket. Irene said they always travel in pairs because only one can read and the other can write. This was a little joke for Ester, the local guide who is Hungarian and Irene’s friend.
Szentendre is an old town with winding cobble stone streets and dozens of small shops selling embroidered items, ceramics, antiques, pottery and Hungarian made crystal. We purchased a six-piece set of small crystal goblets. After staying in this village a couple of hours we drove back to Budapest and the guides took us to another nice restaurant.
We enjoyed the Hungarian food, but did not like the hotel coffee very much. The coffee served in the hotel looked like it had been leftover for several days and then reheated because it was so black and didn’t taste very good. We got the espresso and added milk to it instead of drinking the coffee. The Hungarians say that coffee is not good unless the spoon will stand up in it. I like coffee a little strong but I don’t like it that strong. Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel after breakfast and drove back to Germany. We got home at 0145 AM Monday morning slept for about 4 hours before going to work.
December 17, 1999 – January 8, 2000
Home to North Carolina for Christmas
When I extended my tour of duty in Germany for two years, Lena and I were entitled to a trip home paid for by the Government. We decided to take this trip at Christmas time. This would be the first Christmas home in four years.
We departed on December 17th from Frankfurt Airport. We really enjoyed our three weeks at home. We got to visit with most of the immediate family and some friends. We ate some great seafood and North Carolina BBQ.
I continued some of the process Robby had started of ripping out the damage in the house from Hurricane Floyd and made plans to do some renovations on the house.
All to soon it was time to return to Germany so we departed on January 7th and arrived in Germany on January 8, 2000.
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