Three-month European Camping Trip in 1977

“We don’t get many campers this time of the year except Kiwis, Aussies, and, now I guess, Yanks” said the farmer in his Yorkshire accent.  I assured him I was a Texan and not a Yank but that didn’t impress him.  It was a January evening and we were checking out our new sage-green VW Westphalia pop-up camper.  We had just purchased the VW camper a few months earlier with plans to camp around Europe at the end of the contract I was working on.  This, our first test, was a weekend trip to York and it was bitterly cold.  Rachel was nine years old, Gretchen was six, and both girls were entertained by the farmer’s young son who had a pet ferret they could play with.  The day was clear, windy, and cold with promises of below freezing weather overnight.

Rita and I slept on the bottom level while the girls slept in their down sleeping bags in the upper level.  Rita and I only had blankets and ourselves to keep each other warm.  Early the next morning Rita and I, after a nearly sleepless night, woke up worrying that the girls had frozen to death – they were so quiet.  I checked up on them to find them sleeping peacefully, warm and snug in their sleeping bags.  I checked the water in the coffee pot and it was frozen solid.  But the camper passed its first test that weekend for comfort and cooking.  

At the time we were living in the village of Boxmoor, adjacent to Hemel Hempstead about 30 miles northwest of London.  I was working for Computer Sciences Corporation as a programmer/analyst on a joint US/UK project developing a command and control system for the UK Navy.  The work was done in an underground secure building in Northwood, England, a land-locked Naval Base called HMS Warrior.  We knew the contract was short term and it was scheduled to end in the February or March time period.  We looked at this to be the perfect opportunity to see as many of the highlights of Europe as we could in about three months.  

Planning the trip was almost as much fun as the trip.  We bought camping equipment, purchased car and health insurance for the four months we would be traveling, read up on what to see, purchased maps and guide books, etc.  We used “Fodor’s Europe – 1977”, “Rand McNally Road Atlas of Europe”, “Philips’ Auto Atlas Europe” and the “Letts Guide Campsites in Europe” as our only maps and guide books.  We traveled light – we had to - with very few changes of clothes, one coat each, and the girls were allowed a small carry bag each for a few toys, small stuffed animals and such.  The girls had a great school in Boxmoor village and we had no concerns about taking them out of school.  In fact, you could say we home schooled them during the trip.  Rita would test them from time to time on their reading and writing.  I would make up history and geography tests that were directed to that day’s sightseeing and they used their math skills to calculate what their weekly allowance was in the current currency. 

We had no GPS systems, cell phones, iPads, or Internet.  Both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were only 22 at the time.  We had one credit card from American Express.  We carried traveler’s checks as our currency – remember them?  In those days American Express had offices in most major cities and we could have friends and relatives mail to us via the American Express office, which we did.  The Euro wasn’t in use and we had to change currency at each border.  We also had to go through immigration at each border and, most importantly, the Iron Curtain was still in place.

After packing out our household goods, rounds of good-bye parties, and leaving a couple of suitcases of clothes with our friends and neighbors, David and Gillian Tomalin, we started our journey on Tuesday, March 1 in the rain.  We drove through Bristol to the Cheddar Gorge where cheddar cheese is made and camped at a caravan park.  There were only us and sheep in the caravan park, it was a cold and miserable night, and the girls were too excited to sleep.

The next day was sunny and bright and we drove through pretty Devon fishing villages of Lynmouth, Lynton, Barnstaple, and Bideford with a stop in pretty Clovelly to take the steep cobblestone street to a shop for a true Devon tea.  We spent the night near Bude.

Thursday we woke to fog and in Tintagel we saw King Arthur’s castle but could not tour it as it was too early in the season.  We continued to St. Ives and Lands’ End where we had Cornish pasties and cider at the First and Last Inn in England.  We drove along the Cornwall Coast in and out of pretty fishing villages like Penzance, Fowey, Bodinnick and Polperro.  We turned inland to the moors of Dartmoor, where we saw shaggy ponies, then into Plymouth where we spent the night at a B&B.

On Friday morning we woke to a beautiful, sunny day and made a spur-of-the-moment decision to leave for Roscoff, France, on the Brittany ferry.  The crossing was smooth but long and after entering France we drove along the Normandy Coast to Perros-Guirec where we checked in late at a campground for the night.

As we crossed the English Channel and departed from the ferry in Roscoff, there were plenty of signs in English reminding us to drive on the right now.  That worked okay for Friday but after waking Saturday morning I forgot where I was and started off driving on the left side as in England.  Rounding a curve we barely missed a Frenchman who shook his fist at me just as I skidded away in time.  It could have been a short trip if we had hit him.  We stopped in Dinard for a lunch of Breton cider and crepes and then we stopped in St. Malo where we walked through the old city and along the city walls.  By evening we arrived at Mont St. Michel and camped nearby.  

Sunday we toured the impressive Mont St. Michel until noon.  Next we stopped at St. Lo and visited Utah and Omaha Beaches.  We also toured the American Cemetery and Memorial before heading to a campground in Bayeux.

Monday we went into the museum to see the Bayeux Tapestry, a 230 foot long embroidery stretched along the walls.  Queen Mathilde had it done to commemorate the victory of her husband, William the Conqueror, at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.  Then on to Paris and the campground in the Bois du Bologne.  It was the first campground with all facilities working and we all had our first shower (and washed our hair) since starting out.  It’s strange the things we take for granted until we don’t have them. 

We spent the next three days in Paris seeing highlights such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Champs de Elysees, Place de Concorde, Louvre Museum, Saint Chappell church, Notre Dame Cathedral, Left Bank, Montmartre, Sacre Coeur, and more.  The weather was off and on but it didn’t dampen our spirits for our first visit to Paris. 

 

On Friday, March 11, we headed to Versailles and the beautiful palace.  Next to Chartes Cathedral and the lying-in shirt of the Virgin Mary.  The girls are already tired of cathedrals.  We drove south through Orleans and camped late near Blois in the Valley of the Loire.  In typical American fashion we roasted hot dogs over the flames of the stove.

By now we were getting into a routine when we pitched camp and when we departed the following morning.  The camper had a two-burner stove, small electric refrigerator, and a sink with container to store several gallons of water.  A stand swung out and a table top fit into it to create a dinner table.  The girls had their assigned duties and we could set up for meals in short order.  Usually while Rita cooked the girls played outdoors, weather permitting, and I either helped Rita or had other duties to attend to.

The next few days we traveled along the Loire River visiting beautiful chateaus such as Chambord, Amboise, and Chenonceaux where Gretchen fell in love with the “caterpillar” beds (canopy).  While walking from the parking lot Gretchen kicked at a rock and her boot went down into a full drainage ditch.  I had to inch my way down perilously to retrieve it.  She wore lace-up shoes for several days after this and it wasn’t the last antic she pulled on the trip.  We stopped in Tours and continued south through Poitiers to Angouleme where we spent a stormy night.  

We tried to visit the caves at Les Eyzies but it was too early in the season and they weren’t open yet.  In Cahors we drove over the old medieval stone bridge.  We made our way through Tarbes to Lourdes where pilgrims descend to rid themselves of their crutches.  We walked around visiting the church and grotto where miracles apparently occur frequently.  Then on to Bayonne and Biarritz where we finally found a laundromat to wash up our huge load of dirty clothes.  In the small town of Bidart we checked into the Relais Basque Bidartea, our first hotel on the trip.  The hotel was not large or full and we got two rooms for a quite restful night.  But the hotel restaurant meal was a highlight.  They started us off with fresh, rustic bread and butter, a pot of local country pate and a tray of cold vegetables.  I had a starter of hot foie gras while Rita had fresh country ham.  The fish course consisted of huge local shrimp called gambas.  Then the main course of veal a la cream.  We had a bottle of local wine and a dessert of ice cream with a liqueur called Izarra poured over it.  It was quite a gourmet meal in the middle of nowhere.

On March 16 we crossed the border into Spain and the weather turned warm.  We journeyed through San Sebastian and Bilbao where we turned south to spend the night in Miranda de Ebro.  The next day we stopped to see the cathedral of Burgos and the grave of El Cid.  We walked in and sat down with a group of people thinking it was a tour group but it turned out to be a funeral so, after making apologies, we walked around by ourselves.  We walked around the old fortified town of Pedraza a la Sierra then on to Segovia and the Alcazar Castle and old Roman aqueduct still in use.  The campground wasn’t open so we ended up staying at a small hotel in Villacastin.  The next day was on to Madrid.

First order in Madrid was to find a VW dealer and have our 12,000 mile service.  We found a campground fairly close to the center of town where we could take the metro into town.  First we toured the Prado Museum and upset some guards when Gretchen lost the eye brow off her Snoopy stuffed animal.  She was adamant to find it and the four of us walked through several rooms with heads down looking for a small, insignificant eye brow on the floor instead of the Rubens, Goya, and El Greco paintings on the wall (well, we did study them before).  And we did find the eye brow!  

Over the next few days we visited Retiro Park, the Rastro flea market, the National Palace, Plaza Mayor, the department store El Corte Ingles and even were lucky to see a bullfight – one of the first of the year.  The girls took it much better than we anticipated.  

On Tuesday, March 22, we headed to Toledo, a lovely walled town with cobbled streets and balconied houses.  We visited the El Greco house and museum, the Santa Tome Church and the main cathedral.  We could have spent several days in Toledo but headed on after one day.  The campground we were looking for was gone so we decided to press on towards Valencia.  We headed out in late afternoon into a black storm with lightning, thunder, and wind.  Our guide book indicated that there was a government parador, Marques de Villena, in the little town of Alarcon.  The storm was still raging when we arrived and we followed the signs up a steep mountain with little visibility to a castle.  It was late, about 10 pm, but the inn was open and had a nice room for all of us.  We went into the dining room to find a crowd of people just starting dinner – they eat late in Spain.  

We slept great and the next morning discovered we were in an 800-year-old castle.  The storm had passed and the day was cloudless and sunny.  After a hearty breakfast of hot chocolate and pastries, we climbed to the top roof viewing area and saw the beautiful countryside for miles on all sides.  What an experience we stumbled into.  

We made it into Valencia and found a Fodor-recommended restaurant, Casa Cesearea, for a large lunch of paella Valencia and sangria, which was only sold in big pitchers.  The girls laughed at us saying we were “wonky in the head”.  We did have to walk off the sangria before getting back into the van and driving to Nules where we camped.  We also bought a large bag of Valencia oranges which were delicious.  

Thursday we picnicked on the beach of the blue Mediterranean while the girls hunted for sea shells.  We spent the night in a campground in Tarragona.  On Friday, March 25, we entered Barcelona and spent some time at Pueblo Espanola.  We did a little sightseeing but didn’t give the town justice.   We drove on to the little country of Andorra in the Pyrenees and spent the night in a campground there.  

Saturday we walked around the main town of Andorra, did a little grocery shopping and mailed post cards.  It began to rain and we left for France, driving up into the Pyrenees where the rain turned into snow.  We didn’t have tire chains but it turned out we didn’t need them.  We passed ski resorts and then down into France once more to the old walled town of Carcassonne.  We experienced our warmest night on our trip so far but we were next to a railroad so trains kept us awake a bit in the night.  

Sunday we explored Carcassonne on foot.  It has inner and outer walls, the inner one is 1/3 Roman, and there are 52 towers.  After a while we left for Nimes and stopped at the Pont du Gard, a 2,000 year old, three-tiered, Roman aqueduct.  We could walk a ways in the aqueduct but it was a bit of a hazard with small kids.  

Monday we explored Avignon (found a laundromat), Arles and Aix-en-Provence where we camped.  Tuesday we got lost in Marseille, and then drove along the beautiful coast, with fruit trees and flowers in bloom, to Saint-Tropez and Cannes.  We drove inland to the pretty town of Grasse, noted for its lavender, wild flowers and perfume factories.  We camped in a nice campground in Antibes.  Wednesday we stopped in Nice then on to Monaco.  After a while there we crossed into Italy taking the autostrade to Genoa.  We stopped in Chiavari to camp for the night.

On Thursday, March 31 we drove to Pisa and explored the leaning tower, the cathedral, the baptistery, and the cemetery Campo Santo.  All were impressive but the leaning tower was tops.  In those days we could walk up into the tower and we all did.  It was drizzly, the steps were damp and slippery, and the girls did not want to hold our hands.  On every downward part of the circling stairs, one would lean towards the edge which was dangerous.  But we made it to the top and survived the ordeal.  We left Pisa and drove through the pretty walled town of San Gimignano to Siena but the only campground there was not open yet.  So we decided to press on into the night and drive to a campground in Rome, arriving about 9:30 pm.  

We reached Friday, April 1, and we have been on the road for a full month.  The girls were excited to get their allowances because in Italy it amounted to thousands of lira.  They thought they were rich but when they went to spend it they found out that a candy bar cost several hundred liras.  Inflation is a reality.  We have met several nice people in campgrounds and are starting to find more and more campers from Australia and New Zealand.  Rachel recognizes campers with bumper stickers indicating where they are from and when she sees one with kids her age, she gets Gretchen outside with the soccer ball they brought along.  Soon there are from four to a dozen kids playing soccer – the universal game in Europe.  Sometimes there may be four or five languages being spoken, but all works out well.

We spent a full day in Rome viewing Vatican City with the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, Michelangelo’s Pieta, and more.  The next morning we found the Church of the Capuchin Monks and toured the crypt with decorations made out of skulls and skeletons.  The girls were fascinated.  Then we walked along the Via Veneto to Piazza Barberini to the Trevi Fountain where we once more tossed in coins.  We toured the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Pizza Venezia, Caesar’s Forum, Roman Forum, the Coliseum, Augustus Forum, Trajan Forum and back to Piazza Flaminia where we started.  We had a long day and aching feet.  

Sunday, April 3, we did nothing but laundry and washed the van.  It was a warm, sunny day and the girls wore shorts for the first time on the trip.  We met a couple with a van like ours and they were from Alabama.  

Since we had explored Rome fairly well a few years before this, we left on Monday to drive south.  Rita was anxious to see Pompeii, one of the places she really looked forward to visiting the most.  First we stopped at St. Agnese Church to view some of the best catacombs in Rome.  Then we took the autostrade to Pompeii only to find that the park is closed on Mondays.  So we drove to Sorrento where we camped among an orchard of sweet-smelling lemon trees just blossoming in spring.  We walked around town and found a nice little café with hot snacks like arrancini which we filled up on along with pizza and gelato.  

Tuesday morning we caught an early ferry to the island of Capri which was great.  We took the funicular up the hill and walked to the villa of Tiberius.  Rita wrote in our diary that we are getting jaded – Roman ruins have to be really remarkable to impress us.  Back down to the harbor we took a tour of the Blue Grotto, a water cave where we had to trickily transfer from our motor boat to a row boat to go into the small entrance.  It was really nice and a turquoise or aquamarine color.

Wednesday morning we left early to get to Pompeii once more only to find it closed due to a strike.  It seems the Italians strike a lot.  So we took the day to drive around the Amalfi coast with beautiful cliff-side views.  We camped at a campground right at Pompeii.

Finally on Thursday Pompeii was open to the public.  We spent most of the day walking over most (or much) of Pompeii not knowing that 30 years later Rita and I would return to see it even better.  Then we spent the afternoon in Herculaneum which is similar but has even better-preserved houses.  Lastly we did a late evening drive back to Rome and the same campground there.

Friday, April 8, we left early and drove to Florence in a steady rain.  We spent the afternoon walking around Florence with umbrellas up but spirits high as well.  We saw the Uffizi Gallery, the Duomo, the Baptistery, and the Ponte Vecchio where Rita bought a stone inlaid ring and I bought a chess set.  

Saturday started with a typical Gretchen story event.  We had rain overnight again and the campground was quite muddy.  Gretchen opened the camper van sliding door and with clean white socks on but her boots in hand, did a jump out of the van into the mud.  It was like watching her in slow motion.  She realized in midair what she had done and the look on her face changed to panic immediately.  She never reversed so fast in her life and as she (and Rachel) were expecting hell from us, we just burst into hysterics at her antic.  We laughed for a long time and after the tension wore off and socks were changed (and boots put on the feet) we headed out to explore Florence once more, first to the Church of San Croce then the Barzello Museum and Vecchio Palace.  We went back to the camper, checked out of the campground and headed towards San Marino.  

As we drove over the Apennines Mountains, the weather turned first to hail and then snow.  And then a new warning light came on the dashboard.  That’s when we discovered that, while we have a new 1976 model VW, the dealer in London gave us the manual for the 1975 model and it doesn’t mention this warning light.  I checked fuses, oil, and anything else I could on the side of the road in snow but nothing seemed wrong.  With a bad feeling we drove to Motel Cesare near Rimini for the night worrying about the car, the weather, and what else could go wrong.  It was Easter weekend and all car dealers, as well as almost all businesses, were closed for the four day weekend. 

The motel gave us another story we remember well and repeat often.  The motel was a small family-run business with a little restaurant in which we were about the only customers.  We were probably eating way too early.  We had foreign language dictionaries but I was afraid we would carry too much so I said we didn’t need an Italian dictionary because the language was probably close to Spanish.   Wrong!  At dinner the young man waiting on us tried to explain what the courses were on the menu but he didn’t speak English.  On one course we asked several times and he finally looked at us sadly and said “moooo”.  That was pretty clear but after we ordered he never returned and sent his older brother instead. 

April 10 was Easter Sunday and we checked out of the hotel to drive to San Marino, a small country located on a mountain top in central Italy.  The weather was miserable – cold, sleet and snow mixed, and windy.  We did have a nice Easter lunch at a hotel restaurant in San Marino and the girls had chocolate Easter eggs for dessert.

Afterwards, while driving towards Venice, we spotted a VW van like ours that had an Alaska flag on the front and whose owners we met in the campground in Sorrento.  We flagged them down to read their VW manual and discovered that the warning light was just a reminder to get our 15,000 mile checkup.  It wasn’t urgent or a danger sign.  We drove on in relief.  In Venice we drove around looking for the campground in our book, couldn’t find it but did find, and checked into, Camping Jolly.  By now we were jolly too.

Monday morning we took a water taxi to Piazza San Marco and saw the St. Mark Basilica, the Doges Palace and the Bridge of Sighs.  We walked more and then took our gondola ride with Angelo as our gondolier.  We all enjoyed it but felt sad to see the city turning to ruin.  Many of the bottoms of buildings were rotting as they sank into the sea and Rachel kept a running dialog of all the garbage she saw in the canals. 

By Tuesday we were beaten down by the wet weather and decided not to go into Venice again.  Rita and I would visit this city again when we lived in Brussels and spend more time there in better weather.  We headed to Trieste then crossed the Iron Curtain into what was then Yugoslavia.  Today that would be crossing into Slovenia.  We were apprehensive but the border guards gave us visas with no problem.  I had US and UK top secret clearances and before leaving I had to inform security that I may be driving into communist countries but nobody said I couldn’t go.  We immediately noticed the different language and signs in a different alphabet.  We headed south along the coast into what is today Croatia.  We stopped in Pula and headed towards Rijeka.  We stopped in a little town of Lovran and found a campground where the caretaker spoke German.  We were the only campers.

Wednesday we woke to a bright, sunny spring day.  We visited the pretty towns of Lovran and Rijeka and marveled at the scenic countryside.  Most of the farms used horse or ox power – wagons, carts and ploughs.  We felt as if we had gone back in time many years.  We stopped at the Plitvice Lakes which were not a national park then.  Today it is a national park and on most tours of Croatia.  It lies on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.  There are 16 lakes on different levels and each lake has waterfalls down into the next level lake.  When we were there we were about the only visitors.  The wooden plank walkways go directly over the lake with waterfalls directly to your right.  Of course, Gretchen didn’t want to hold hands but walk on her own.  No way!  The lakes are impressive and scenic.  We drove on through Zagreb, which looked dumpy and free camped for the night in the town of Sesvete.  

Thursday, April 14, we crossed over into Hungary at a small town border crossing.  The motorway on today’s maps did not exist then.  We had no problem getting visas but the lady wanted to know how many days we would stay.  We had to exchange the right amount of money depending on the number of days in country.  I said, “Oh about four or five days.”  She comes back with “No, either four or five days”.  So I said four and we were soon on our way to Budapest.  We picnicked alongside Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Western Europe.  There were many nice vineyards there and the home of the Hungarian Bull’s Blood wine.  In Budapest the camp grounds didn’t open until May and many hotels were full.  We ended up staying at the nicest hotel in town, The Intercontinental.  What a change for the mid-point of our trip.  This is also the furthest east that we travelled on this journey.

 Friday we did something unusual for us and took a guided tour of the city – well both cities, Buda and Pest.  It was good and the guide spoke some English.  We saw the main shopping street, Heroes Square, Varosliget Park, Luna Park, People’s Stadium, crossed the Elizabeth Bridge to the Citadel, the Royal Palace, Fisherman’s Bastion and St. Mathias Church.  We visited Ruszwurm, the oldest pastry and tea shop in Hungary.  The tour ended back at our hotel and then we went walking.  We had pastry at Vorosmarty Cake shop and visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral then back to the hotel.  The girls ate room service while Rita and I had dinner alone in the hotel’s nice restaurant.  We started with goulash soup of course and then had a nice dinner with a whole bottle of Bull’s Blood wine.

Saturday morning we checked out and headed west through Sztendre, Visegrad, and Esztergom to the Austrian border which was a long process because the guards wanted to inspect everything.  It was rainy, cold and windy but we found our campground near Vienna and settled in for the night.

April 17, Sunday, we woke to bright, sunny weather and headed into central Vienna and watched a performance of the Spanish Riding School, the only show for the week so we felt lucky.  The Lipizzaner horses and riders were amazing.  We had standing room only tickets but some nice, well-dressed Viennese grandma and grandpa let the girls come down to their front row seats and sit down beside them.  After the show we took the van to Prater Park on the outskirts of the city.  We had a quick lunch then road the giant Ferris wheel with outstanding views of Vienna.  Then we all rode bumper cars and I took the girls on the Tunnel of Horrors ride.  We also were introduced for the first time to a kartofflepuffer smeared with garlic butter.  We loved it.  

Monday was a down day with little sightseeing.  First we took the VW to the car dealer for its 15,000 mile service.  Then we went to a laundromat to wash a load of clothes.  We aired out the camper well and did a little grocery shopping.  We discovered that Vienna is one of the most expensive cities we have been to so far.

Tuesday we went into the city center and toured the Hofburg Palace, the crown jewels, and St. Stephen’s Church.  We felt intimidated in our grubby clothes to go into Demel’s Pastry shop but we did manage to go into Lehmann’s where I had my first Sacher torte.  

Wednesday we left Vienna and headed west towards Salzburg.  At St. Polten we turned off to Krems and drove along the Danube River in the Wachau Valley.  We drove on to Linz and along the Traunsee Lake with our fist views of the snow-capped Alps.  We had Wiener schnitzel for lunch that was delicious.  We stayed at a beautiful campground in St. Wolfgang and decided that Austria was the first place that looks like the tourist brochures.  Beautiful!  

Thursday we woke to a picture post card view of the Alps reflected in the beautiful lake we were camped beside.  It was a cold night and we had a light frost but all gave way to a sunny, clear day.  We hated to leave but we finally cut out for Salzburg.  We loved this pretty town and after walking up to the fortress on the hill we explored the cathedral, Residentz Platz, St. Peter’s church and Mozart’s house.  Finally we crossed into Germany and camped at Berchtesgaden.  

The salt mine tour didn’t start until 1 pm on Friday so we tried to kill time by driving up to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest but the road was still snowy and it wasn’t open for the season yet.  We made the tour and were surprised that we had to dress as miners – loose pants, jacket and hat that fit over our clothes.  We rode a little train into the mine and were given leather aprons to wear over our backside.  Then we took long slides in the dimly lighted tunnel just like the miners of old used to enter the mine.  Rachel didn’t like it much and decided to walk down the stairs at the second slide.  The mines have been in operation since 1500 and inside the mine we even took a boat ride across a brine lake.  It was fun and exciting but eventually we had to drive on to Munich and camp for the night.

Saturday we went into Munich and walked around the central district.  At noon we met Paul Pantellini, who I worked with in England, and we went to the Paulaner beer hall for several beers and a nice, long conversation.  After leaving Paul we went into the Hofbrauhaus beer hall and had more beer and listened to the oompah band.  We went back to the campground for a sound sleep.

Sunday was a cold, rainy day so we drove to the Deutsches Museum, a science and technology museum, and had a nice day looking at all the exhibits.  There were many push button displays geared towards children but adults enjoyed it too.  We didn’t leave Munich as planned but spent another night in the campground.

Monday we woke to sunshine but when we opened the van door the ground was covered in ice.  It was strange but soon the sun melted the ice and we headed out.  In the pretty village of Oberammergau we bought a Christmas ornament.  We drove to Schwangau and toured the castle of Ludwig II of Bavaria, Neuschwanstein.   We went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen to see if we could look up a friend of Rita’s from high school but no luck.  We ended up camping in the rain at Mittenwald.  

Tuesday we woke once more to a bright, sunny morning and headed to Innsbruck where we stopped and toured the Folk Art Museum.  We also toured the adjoining Imperial Church with the tomb of Maximillian I.  We picnicked in the pretty village of Otz then drove on to Liechtenstein where we camped for the night.  Here we saw our first hang gliders sailing over the campground.  

Wednesday we woke to rain again and drove through Zurich which was not too impressive.  We stopped to see Zug then on to Lucerne (or Luzern), a pretty city where we walked a long time.  We saw the famous two bridges, constructed in 1408, one with paintings depicting the history of the city and the other with scenes of the medieval dance of death.  Very interesting and in 1993 someone destroyed about two thirds of one of the bridges by burning it down.  Rita noted that we saw a chimney sweep dressed in black on a bicycle with a cart full of brooms behind him.  We spent the night camping in Interlaken.

Thursday morning we set our alarm for 6 am, the first time on the trip.  We had hoped to take the train to the Jungfrau but weather shut it down.  Then we decided to drive to Zermatt but the highway over the mountain pass was closed with 6 to 8 meters of snow.  Back to Interlaken where the Tourist Office advised us to drive to Kandersteg where we had a first, a car train through the mountains.  We drove up on a flatcar and were secured along with several other cars and 
trucks.  Then the train took off for a long ride through a pitch black tunnel.  The girls got the flashlight out and shined it on the cars ahead and behind as well as the tunnel walls.  We drove to Tausch where the road ends then took the train to Zermatt.  Then we took the cog-wheel incline to Gornergrat to the peak but the wind and snow were blowing so hard we could not see the Matterhorn.  We couldn’t see anything.  We had a cup of expensive (everything here is expensive) hot cocoa then back by train to the car.  We drove to Martigny-Ville to camp.

Friday we battled rain all day and drove to Montreux where we stopped to tour Chateau Chillon.  Then we drove through pretty villages and headed north to Neuchatel, along Lake Neuchatel to Lausanne and finally Geneva where we could not find a campground.  We ended up at a motel for the night.

By Saturday the rain had let up somewhat and we entered France again.  We drove to Tournus where we stopped to see a 12^th century church and abbey.  We camped for the night in Chagny just south of Beaune.  

Sunday was May 1, and May Day was celebrated all over Europe.  We drove to Beaune and walked around the pretty village.  We toured the Hospice de Dieu, a hospital that was opened in 1443.  There was a May Fete where the girls went to a “go fish” booth and won little toys.  Then we drove to Dijon and visited a wine cave at Nuit-Saint-George.  In Mirebeau we saw a small parade with people in folkloric costumes.  We camped in Altkirch near Basel.

Monday we crossed a lot of borders – France to Switzerland to Germany to France and back into Germany.  First we toured around Basel then drove north to Freiburg, Germany.  We toured the beautiful cathedral and Main Square where we met the Welsh pig farmer.  It was one of our first encounters with a homeless person asking for a handout – in English.  He went on for about 15 minutes telling a tale of his life from being a pig farmer in Wales to his downfall in Freiburg.  He was so friendly to us and so funny we couldn’t help but to give him some money.  Then we walked around several pretty villages – Colmar, Riquewihr, and Ribeauville.  We had a quiche Lorraine with Alsatian wine for lunch.  We loved this area of France.  We passed through Strasbourg and camped in Achern, Germany.

We woke to sunny skies Tuesday and Rachel asked “why would someone bring their cuckoo clock to the campground?”  After the cuckoo went well past 12, we looked out to see our first real cuckoo bird.  Then we drove through the Black Forest on our way to Stuttgart.  We went to Patch Barracks, a US military base, and found the PRC (Planning Research Corp.) offices.  We looked for friends, Tom and Jan Henderson, who we knew in Teheran but they were not there.  We finally made our way through Stuttgart and ended up in a giant traffic jam on the autobahn.  We ended up camping at a place called Camping Walldorf-Astoria near Heidelberg.

Wednesday was another pretty day and we spent a lot of time exploring Heidelberg and the castle there before pressing on to Miltenberg.  Rita’s mother’s maiden name was Miltenberger so we had visions of her family coming from this pretty town although she has no proof of that – yet.  We camped in Miltenberg for the night.

By Thursday the weather changed for the worse once more.  We drove along the Main River to Wurzburg and saw the Residence Palace.  It was too cold and windy so we just drove around town then headed up the Romantic Highway to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  Unfortunately it was too miserable to walk around but luckily we visited this area many more times in the future.  We went to the US military base in Crailsheim but Rita’s friend had transferred in February.  We drove through the pretty walled towns of Dinkelsbuhl, Nordlingen, Harburg and Donauworth on the Danube.  We made it to Ulm and camped there for the night.

Friday, May 7, the weather was cold but sunny.  We walked around Ulm and into the cathedral with the highest steeple in the world.  It also has beautiful wood carvings in the choir stalls.  Then on to Augsburg where we went into St. Ulrich church, supposedly the only combined Catholic and Protestant church with two wings.  Then we walked to Augsburg’s main cathedral with stained glass windows dating to the 12^th century and bronze door gate dating from the 11^th century.  We drove to Munich again and checked for mail at American Express before driving on towards Nurnberg.  We stopped late in the day at the Dachau concentration camp and were the only ones touring it so late.  It was eerie and the museum was closed but it was just as well as the sign said “not suitable for children under 13”.  We camped for the night in the small village of Pfaffenhofen.  

On Saturday we drove to Nurnberg with off and on rain.  We walked around the historic district and the girls bought candles for their teachers in Boxmoor.  We walked through toy shops and, since Nurnberg is famous for toys, we toured their Toy Museum.  Next we drove near the GDR border and camped near Hof.  Rita noted in our diary “at this point we’re all getting ‘cabin fever’ and a little tired of traveling.  Tempers are short and the girls are fighting more.  It’s a lot more effort to be pleasant.”  She also noted that her long john bottoms shrank and I gave her mine so that my legs were cold at night.  She asks, “Where is the warm weather when we need it?”

Sunday, May 8, we crossed into East Germany at the Iron Curtain.  In spite of what our campground book said, the lady at the border said that the campground in Altenburg was not open to foreigners and the nearest campground would be in Leipzig.  At that time we didn’t have much genealogy info on my family with regards to where they came from in Germany so we decided to press on to Berlin.  We were given a time limit of four hours to transit East Germany into Berlin so we couldn’t stop for sightseeing.  We made it okay but the borders with high barbed wire fences, watch towers, tank barriers and plowed land were very evident.  We did not photograph them.  

In Berlin we stopped at the main train station for a map of the city and since we had a parking place we toured the nice zoo right where we already were.  Then we drove to our campground which was right up against the Wall.  There was a watch tower looking over us which gave us an eerie feeling.  Signs near our camper said “Here you leave West Berlin”.  Not us!  We couldn’t sleep well because of the bright lights on the wall and we could constantly hear the dogs.

Monday we drove into Berlin and asked about a tour of East Berlin.  The next one left at 4 pm, lasted four hours, and would cost us about $50 for all of us.  We declined and walked around instead.  We saw the bombed-out church from WWII, the Reichstag building, the Soviet War Memorial, and the Brandenburg Gate.  The girls waved at East German soldiers up in the watch tower but they didn’t wave back.  Gretchen was unusually crabby today but nerves were calmed a bit when we stopped at a Burger King for lunch.  We decided we had enough of East Berlin and crossed the border once more into East Germany.  There we saw several small crosses for defectors who didn’t make it across the river alive.  We stopped at a pretty campground in Wolfsburg, West Germany, where the main VW manufacture plant is located.  Because we had English license plates on our van, a nice old German man came over to talk with us.  First he told us he was a POW during WWII in England.  We felt slightly embarrassed and didn’t know just what to say.  We told him we were really Americans and then he told us he was transferred to a POW camp in Arkansas where he picked cotton.  He told us he was well-treated and even paid for his work.

The weather was nice Tuesday morning and we drove to Bremen hoping to do some Franke family research.  We visited the State Archives there but they weren’t very helpful.  We stopped at the US Consulate and a lady there gave us addresses to write to for genealogy help.  We drove on to Oldenburg thinking the Franke family may have been from there and camped for the night.

In Oldenburg Wednesday we visited the State Archives but had no success in genealogy research.  We drove on to Munster for more research but no luck.  We drove on to Wiedenbruck where Westfalia Werk is located, the maker of the camper part of our VW van.  We camped in their very nice, but small, campground that is connected to the factory.

The next day was mostly spent waiting for service.  Finally at 3 pm they took our van in and repaired various broken handles and such and performed our 18,000 mile checkup for the VW.  We drove the short distance to Detmold where we did a little more genealogy research.  We continued west and camped in Burscheid near the industrial complex of Dusseldorf.  We turned in early to enjoy the approaching storm with thunder and lightning.

Friday it was raining again and we drove to Cologne.  Because of the rain and because we have visited so many cathedrals on this trip we bypassed the famous cathedral there.  But in future trips we explored it well.  We drove to Bonn which excited Gretchen as she had studied in school that it was the EEC capital.  Once we arrived there she wasn’t impressed.  We drove along the Rhine River to Koblenz and St. Goar.  Then we backtracked to Koblenz and drove up the Mosel River Valley, one of the most scenic places in Germany.  We found a remarkable campground in Leiwen near Trier with inexpensive prices, free, hot showers, and a great laundry room even with a dryer.  Not a bad find for a Friday the 13^th.

We liked the campground and its view so much we took off from traveling on Saturday and just took it easy for the day.  

Sunday we drove west through Trier and into Luxembourg where we stopped and walked around the city.  It rained hard most of the day and we pressed on through Liege, Belgium, into Holland.  We camped near Maastricht in cold and damp weather.  

Monday we made the decision, probably wrong, to skip Aachen and drive on to Amsterdam.  We found a campground close to the city then took a bus into Amsterdam where we walked around a bit in the rain.  Rita’s diary notes that we all seem to be tired of sightseeing and traveling.  Very little excites us now.

Tuesday we took a boat tour of Amsterdam, through canals and into the harbor which we enjoyed.  We headed north and stopped in Edam for some cheese to snack on.  Near Durgerdam the road went along a tall dike where we climbed up the dyke and saw the sea on the other side much higher than our car parked below.  It was a weird feeling.  In the picturesque town of Marken there were people in Dutch costume and wooden shoes.  We also stopped and walked around the pretty town of Volendam then on through Hoorn to Alkmaar where we camped for the night.

We were late getting away Wednesday as we were approached by a group of boys about 13 years old who were curious and asked us a lot of questions for a long time.  We drove through Haarlem to Spaarndam where we found the statue of the little boy with his finger in the dyke.  In The Hague we stopped and took the girls to Madurodam, the miniature layout of Holland.   Next we stopped in Delph and walked around.  In Gouda we discovered there would be no cheese market tomorrow so we bought some cheese to eat and pressed on.  In Oudewater we
found the Witch House where accused witches were weighed on big scales to see if they were light enough to fly.  We all were weighed and obtained certificates that none of us were witches (or a warlock in my case).  For a small fee of course.  We camped near Schoonhoven for the night.  We all felt that the best word for Holland was “pastoral”.  We loved the countryside and towns with all the canals, the many lambs, kids, and calves too.  We saw traffic stop on a four-lane highway for a momma duck and her ducklings to cross the road.

Thursday we woke to beautiful weather.  We took a short ferry to Kinderdijk where a concentration of about 19 windmills stand out in the countryside.  We toured one and thought it would be fun to live in one of these windmills.  We drove on towards Brussels and picked a campground in the suburbs.  At the time we didn’t realize that the campground was in the direct path of Brussels Airport and soon incoming aircraft were approaching just a few feet above our camper.  

Friday I went into the Computer Sciences office in Brussels to complete some paperwork.  Brussels was the European main office for CSC in those days.  We found out that CSC approved sending us back to the USA via the QEII or the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship.  We just had to pay the difference between ship’s tickets and airline tickets – not much.  They also arranged for us to ship our VW camper on the QEII which costs the same as a cargo ship.  Cunard lets passengers ship their vehicles onboard which made it so much easier for us.

Next we walked around the Grand Place with all its beautiful buildings.  We had lunch followed by Belgian waffles overflowing with fresh strawberries.  We walked to the Mannekin-Pis statue of the little boy pissing – the symbol of Brussels.  Then back to the van and a drive to Waterloo where we toured the site of the battle against invading Napoleon.  We drove to Dunkirk where we planned to camp but the campground was full.  We found a grungy campground in Calais for our last night on the continent.

Saturday morning we had hoped to take the hovercraft across the English Channel but the winds were so high it was canceled.  So we rushed to Sealink’s ferry and crossed over to the white cliffs of Dover in 90 minutes.  After traveling around continental Europe for 82 days, it felt like home returning to England.  We drove directly to Canterbury Cathedral and toured it then headed to one of the Cinque Ports, the pretty seaside town of Rye.  About eight miles from Rye, rounding a curve, I stepped on the clutch and down shifted only the clutch never came back up.  The clutch cable snapped and the van stalled on the side of the road.  Luckily we belonged to the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) and had free towing with our car insurance.  Soon a tow truck took us to a small municipal car park in Rye and dropped us off.  The garage there was about to close for the day but they said they would hurriedly order the replacement part and could perhaps repair it on Monday.  So for the night we “free camped” in a parking lot in the pretty town.

Sunday a parking lot attendant arrived and after we explained our situation he asked in typical British fashion, “Would it be all right if I charged you the 10 pence fee?”  We gladly paid him the small amount.  We spent a beautiful day walking around this quaint village.  The girls played in the playground and we all played a game in a miniature golf park.  Then we checked into the Queen’s Head Inn with two rooms for the night.  What luxury!  

Monday morning we had a nice English breakfast in the hotel then checked with the garage.  They said the part would arrive about 3 pm so we checked out of the hotel, did laundry and had a nice lunch at the 15^th century Mermaid Inn, one of the oldest pubs in England.  Today the parking lot attendant wouldn’t even let us pay him for leaving our car in his parking lot.  The van was ready about 4 pm and we headed off to the town of Battle to see the site of the Battle of Hastings in 1066.  Then we headed back to the Hemel Hempstead area and found a campground.  

Over the next few days we saw old friends in the area and said our good-byes at several dinners and going-away parties.  On June 1 we departed to Southampton and checked into the Normandy Guest House.  All of a sudden there were threats of a strike by the dock workers and our departure was in doubt.  The best we could do was walk across the street to the Duke of Wellington pub and grab a pint of beer to keep the worries away.  On June 2 we turned the van over to Cunard Lines with assurances to not worry.  Then we heard that indeed the dockers did go on strike today.  However a cooling off period was put into effect and on
June 3 we departed on the QEII to New York City.
 

We had two cabins and although we weren’t supposed to do this, the girls stayed in one cabin and Rita and I in the other.  Nobody complained and the girls were well behaved.  It was a luxurious ship with fine dining and the same waiters each meal who knew our tastes after a short time.  For example, at breakfast they made sure to get the girls a big glass of chocolate milk every day.  After five nights and six days at sea we arrived in New York City.  In short time our van was unloaded and we could be on our way.

Our neighbors from Boxmoor, David and Gillian, met us on the docks before they had to push off for Washington, DC.  We drove to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel where my older brother, David, and his wife, Holly, and daughter, Melissa, were for the weekend.  Then we pressed on to New Jersey where we stayed with old friends, Gordon and Carolyn Lockett, and children.  After seeing old friends in that area where we lived for two years, we headed south to CSC’s main offices in Northern Virginia.   Then we headed west to Indianapolis where David and Holly lived to visit with them again for a couple of days.  On we went to St. Louis and old friends from Iran, Iowa and Kansas with relatives of Rita, Dallas where my younger brother, Danny, lived and to Longview, Texas, where Rita’s parents and brother lived.  Finally we drove to Houston where my mother lived and many other relatives.  After a while there I was offered a job with CSC at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on some project called the Space Shuttle.
  

I will conclude this story here but it was one of the best adventures we have experienced as a family.  We traveled about 15,000 miles in four and a half months camping most nights in close quarters and still remember it fondly today, nearly 40 years later.  We saw many of the highlights of France, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary, East and West Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Holland, and Belgium as well as the small countries of Andorra, Monaco, Vatican City, San Marino, and Liechtenstein.  It was a trip to remember.