Exploring South Australia - 1996

Our travel plans for 1996 were accelerated by cut rate fares offered by Ansett Airlines early in the year.  Since our anniversary falls in February, we thought that a good excuse, not that we really need one, to visit Adelaide and South Australia.  Plans were somewhat rushed and throughout the government budget mess, we never knew if we were going to get our paychecks and if the government inspectors were going to come to the Embassy in Canberra or not.  Finally we planned, backed our plans with travel insurance and took the trip anyway.



On Saturday, February 17, we woke very early to get to the airport for our 6:30 a.m. flight.  Ansett upgraded our flights to business class making breakfast a little nicer and the newspaper free.  Our flight stopped in Melbourne then continued on to Adelaide where we took a taxi to the Hilton Hotel, arriving about 10:00 a.m.  It didn’t take long to get moving and we started a walking tour of Adelaide right away.  We visited the Central Markets that are located at Victoria Square adjacent to our hotel.  Adelaide is blessed with a mixture of ethnic cultures and good climate so that there was a variety of produce, meats and cheeses to satisfy the Oriental and European peoples.  We walked down Gouger Street with its large quantity of restaurants, mostly seafood cafes.  Then we walked north along the main King William Street to Rundle Street Mall.  Nearly every large Australian city has a street downtown that is shut off to automobile traffic and turned into a shopping mall.  Rundle Street Mall is the one in Adelaide.  From there we walked along North Terrace by the University of Adelaide to the Botanic Gardens and stopped at a small restaurant in the gardens for lunch.  We shared a ploughman’s platter and watched the exotic birds on the lake next to the restaurant.  The weather warmed up quite a lot and we walked to the herb garden to sit under a shade tree and doze awhile. 



After our rest, we walked along the footpath beside the Torrens River and south on Kintore Avenue where we stopped to visit the Migration and Settlement Museum.  We walked back to our hotel and decided a dip in the swimming pool sounded refreshing.  It was mid afternoon and the temperature was in the 90s by now.  We swam a little but mostly sat by the pool reading our books and sipping on a pleasing gin and tonic.  Finally we showered and went out to eat dinner.  We ate at the Red Ochre restaurant which specializes in game dishes using Australian produce.  Rita had barrimundi fish while I had grilled emu which tasted very nice.  The emu was more like a red meat than fowl so we had a Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon with the meal.  Since it was time for the Chinese New Year, Gouger Street was blocked off for Chinese celebrations.  We saw a Chinese dragon dance with fireworks in the street along with food stalls and entertainers.  We felt we needed to walk some more so we visited Hindley Street, Adelaide’s red light district.  It seemed fairly tame but had its share of street walkers, peep shows and adult bookstores along with bikers and tourists like us taking in the sights.  We went back to the Hilton and went to bed fairly late.



Sunday was another early rise to check out of the hotel (leaving some of our larger luggage) and get to the airport for our flight to Kangaroo Island.  Despite our concerns about flying on an airline named after a flightless bird, we flew Emu Airlines to the small airfield at Kingscote.  The flight was on a Cessna 410, very informal, and the pilot let me sit in the co-pilot’s seat!  We were only four passengers on the aircraft.  We flew at 2000 feet under perfect, clear skies for the 30 minute flight to Kangaroo Island.  We picked up our Hertz rental car and were told that we should occupy ourselves until 1:00 p.m. to check into our bed and breakfast room.  So we drove into the sleepy village of Kingscote which says they are the oldest town in South Australia.  We drove to Beatrice Point and saw the old, original pier, a monument to the pioneers who settled Kingscote and the old mulberry tree that was planted by the pioneers and is still growing.  We drove to Emu Bay on the north coast stopping to have a close-up look at a salt lake on the way.  Next we took the North Coast Road (much of it gravel) to Stokes Bay.  We saw a large goanna lizard in the road too.  At Stokes Bay we walked to the beach through a small tunnel formed by falling rocks.  Then we drove south to Playford Highway and headed back towards the small airfield.  We think we saw three, rare, glossy black cockatoos flying but we couldn’t verify that.  We took backroads to a bee aviary where we saw the Italian honey bees at work and purchased some honey.  The bees were brought from Liguria in 1881 and, because of their isolation, have not mixed with other breeds of honey bees.



Finally we drove to the town of American River where our bed and breakfast was located.  American River was settled by American whalers in the early 1800s.  We were greeted by our hostess, Margaret King, who made us feel quite at home.  Our room was nice, bright and airy with a nice breeze.  We had a great view overlooking the American River and Eastern Cove.  We decided a short nap sounded good and, after we woke up, it felt good.  We drove into the little town of American River for the 4:30 pelican feeding.  The local bait shop feeds the pelicans (and of course the seagulls show up too) every day and they begin arriving about 15 minutes early.  It was a good close-up view of pelicans and we also were allowed to feed the seagulls in mid air.



In the late afternoon we drove to Penneshaw.  We viewed the Frenchman’s Rock where one of the French crews that explored the island carved their names on a rock.  We had reservations at the Old Post Office restaurant where the hostess chatted to us quite a lot and the cook, her husband, came out to serenade the diners with his guitar.  This was my introduction to a local South Australian fish called the King George whiting.  I liked it immediately since it was a firm, white flesh without a strong fishy taste but still a definite taste.  Rita had shrimp and we had a Wolf Blass dry white wine to accompany the meal.  It was a great meal, nicely prepared.  After eating we walked to the location of a penguin tour.  We walked along with a ranger guide shinning a flashlight into their burrows.  There weren’t very many since they had just finished molting and were out at sea for several days.  But we did see some at a very close range.



Driving back to our room, we saw kangaroos, an echineda and a possum.  We stopped in the darkness, shut off the car lights and watched the cloudless sky for a long while.  The Milky Way was quite visible since there were no ground lights at all.



Finally on Monday morning we could sleep in late.  The bed was big and fluffy, the air was cool and we didn’t want to get out.  But we arranged for breakfast at 8:30 and Margaret prepared a large plate of fresh fruit, cereal and juice.  Then she asked if we wanted eggs and bacon or King George whiting for breakfast.  We chose the whiting of course.



Our package included a picnic lunch which Margaret arranged for us.  We had to drive back to the airfield where we met Tony who gave us a very nice picnic basket and cooler that had enough of a picnic lunch for two days.  Margaret also gave us a bottle of Australian champagne so that went with our picnic.  Tony told us to just leave everything in the trunk of the rental car at the airport and they would sort it all out later.  It seems there is a small population on Kangaroo Island and everyone knows everyone else.  All the local drivers wave at oncoming cars like the locals do in many rural places.



Anyway, we headed south on gravel roads (most of the roads are gravel and windshield insurance is advised) to Murray Lagoon where we saw some water birds, especially a large flock of Cape Barren geese.  Then we drove to Seal Bay for one of the highlights of the trip.  We took a ranger-led tour to the beach where hundreds of sea lions were basking in the sun and swimming in the ocean.  We saw baby sea lions nursing with their mothers and surfing on the waves.  We could only approach as close as the ranger would which was about 25 feet away at the closest.  We sat on the beach and watched the activity and when the tour was over, our ranger said if we wanted to we could sit back by the dunes by ourselves and watch longer.  We would have but we had more of the island to tour.  It was a great tour.



We pressed on to Vivonne Bay with great views of the ocean and small harbor.  At Vivonne we had our picnic lunch of champagne, cold roasted chicken breast, salad, rolls with butter, cheese and crackers and lamingtons (an Australian cake) for dessert.  It was a very nice, civilized picnic. 



We continued to Flinders Chase National Park and drove south to Cape du Couedic with the strange Remarkable Rocks formation.  We also drove by the lighthouse and walked down to see Admirals Arch.  It was very windy so the sea was choppy but fur seals still were swimming and sunning on the beach.  We drove back to Rocky River park headquarters where we saw kangaroos, emus and koalas.  We walked three kilometers to a water hole to look for platypus but no luck.  On our drive back to American River we saw an eagle alongside the highway.  We had dinner at Matthew Flinders Terrace.  Again we had shrimp and whiting for dinner with a Queen Adelaide riesling.



The next morning we could sleep in late again and again we had whiting for breakfast.  We met Margaret’s husband, Ian, who is the harbor master for Kangaroo Island.  We checked out with a full day to complete touring as our flight left late in the afternoon.  We drove to nearby Mt. Thisby which was formerly called Prospect Hill by the British explorer Matthew Flinders.  We climbed the 512 steps to the top for a good view of both sides of the island, the view Flinders was greeted with in 1802.  We drove to Pennington Bay for a pretty view of the ocean and rocky beach.  We drove back past the airport to the town of Parndana where we purchased and sent postcards from the general store.  We drove back to Stokes Bay and had another lovely picnic lunch with views of Stokes Bay and a nice sea breeze.  We drove to an area where the black glossy cockatoo nests and waited for a while but the time of day was not good and we didn’t see any.  We drove to Cygnet River and visited the Island Pure Dairy.  We saw baby lambs, sheep getting milked and sampled their feta, fried halloumi and other sheep’s cheeses.  It all tasted very good.  We made one last drive through Kingscote and Brownlow before returning to the airport and turning in the car.  We caught the Emu Airlines afternoon flight back to Adelaide and once more I got to sit in the co-pilot’s seat.  We checked back into the Hilton Hotel at Victoria Square.  For dinner we walked down Couger Street and selected Paul’s restaurant for a seafood dinner of shrimp cocktail and, yes, King George whiting.  Love that fish!  It was over 100 degrees in Adelaide and we were thirsty so we drank the local East End beer with our meal. 



Wednesday was our 32nd wedding anniversary.  We had breakfast in our hotel then made one last walk to see the Parliament building, train station and stop at the Tourist Center for more brochures.  We went back to the hotel and checked out while Budget delivered our rental car to the hotel.  We headed south stopping in the town of Reynella to sample wines at Chateau Reynella, the oldest winery in Australia.  We purchased a 1993 basket press cabernet sauvignon and their 1987 vintage port.  Next we drove to McLaren Vale and Willunga.  We stopped at Wirra Wirra winery and purchased a chardonnay and sweet semillion.  We had an excellent lunch at the Salopian Inn.  We started with dukkah, olive oil and bread to dip.  We both had good salads.  Mine was lettuce, avocado, spicy almonds, roasted peppers and croutons.  We had good glasses of Rockford white wine.  After lunch we stopped at Coriole winery but to purchase their extra virgin olive oil.  This area reminded us of southern France or Italy.  We drove by Seaview winery, Normand winery and through the pretty town of Clarendon.  We took windy back roads through Coromandel Valley, Blackwood to Craftes where we checked into Mt. Lofty House hotel.  It is a very nice hotel that burned down in the famous Ash Wednesday fires of 1973.  Strangely enough, today is Ash Wednesday!  We drove to the German town of Hahndorf, parked and walked around town.  It was settled in the 1830s about the same time as the German communities in Texas where my ancestors settled.  There were lots of stone buildings and German influence.  We returned to our hotel and cleaned up for dinner at the Hardys restaurant in the hotel.  For starters Rita had vegetable soup while I had a goats cheese soufflé.  For our main course we both had excellent beef fillets with a bottle of 1992 Henschke Mt. Edelstone shiraz, a great wine.  For dessert we had a rich chocolate soufflé and coffee.  It was a nice anniversary dinner.



We started Thursday morning with a soak in the spa in our room then a nice breakfast in the hotel.  We drove to Bridgewater and stopped at the Old Mill but the Petaluma winery was not open yet.  We drove on to Verdun, Balhannah, Oakbank, Woodside, Lobethal, Cudlee Creek, Chain of Ponds to Gumeracha where we stopped at the toy factory with the largest rocking horse in the world.  We drove on through pretty countryside to Birdwood, Mt. Pleasant and Springton where we stopped to view the tree the Herbig family lived in for five years.  We drove through Eden Valley to Keyneton on the edge of the Barossa Valley and home of Henschke winery.  We stopped to sample and bought an expensive 1991 Hill of Grace shiraz and a 1993 Lenswood Abbott’s Prayer merlot/cabernet sauvignon.  We stopped in Angaston for a light lunch then to the Wolf Blass winery for more tasting.  Then we drove to Seppeltville with the road lined with palm trees.  The Seppelt winery was very pretty and after sampling there we purchased a port and a 1988 Dorrien cabernet sauvignon.  We visited the little winery of St. Hallett but they did not have the wines I was looking for so we went to the Rockford winery and purchased their 1993 basket press shiraz.  Finally we stopped at the large Penfolds winery and tasted several fine wines.  We bought their 1991 Magill Estate shiraz and a 1991 Leo Buring Leonay riesling.  We drove through Nubiootpa and Tanunda to Lyndock where we stayed at the Woodlands of Lyndock bed and breakfast.  The temperature was over 100 and we were hot and tired after so much wine tasting.  We drove back into Tanunda for a light dinner at the 1918 restaurant.  We sat on the verandah and cooled off then walked around town after dinner and watched some distant heat lightning.



Friday was another hot day.  After a very large cooked breakfast at our B & B, we drove back into Tanunda and mailed a few postcards.  We took a scenic drive that took us through the Grange vineyards. We stopped for a look at Richmond Grove and Peter Lehmann wineries but no tasting so early in the morning.  We followed the drive through Seppeltville again and into Nubiootpa.  We stopped at the Kellermeister winery and sampled some wines but didn’t care much for them.  Our B & B provided us with another picnic basket so we stopped at the picturesque Chateau Yaldara winery and had our picnic lunch.  We sampled their wines but didn’t like them.  We left the Barossa Valley and headed through Gawler, Templers, Tarlee, Auburn and Leasingham in the Clare Valley where we turned off to the pretty town of Mintaro.  This town is a historic trust with pretty slate buildings everywhere.  We stayed at Martindale Hall just 3 kilometers out of Mintaro.  Martindale Hall was the girls school in the movie “Picnic at Hanging Rock”.  It is a mansion built in 1878 and is open to the public from 10 to 4.  We couldn’t check in when we arrived as it was still open for touring so we drove to the pretty copper mining town of Burra.  Many of the buildings here are on the historic register too, although the mines gave out long ago.  This is a very pretty town and is the location for the movie “Breaker Morant”, another Australian movie.  Next we drove to the town of Clare in the Clare Valley wine region and sampled some good wines at Tim Adams winery.  We saw the Sevenhill Cellars and church in Clare but it had just closed for wine tasting.  We drove back to Martindale Hall and checked in.  We were one of two couples staying for the night.  They put us into the huge master bedroom.  We talked a lot with our nice hosts, Les and Carole Rooney, who run the place.  We dressed up for a nice formal dinner with Les in a tuxedo and Carole in a maids costume.  Our five course dinner was too much.  We had soup, then I had shrimp in coconut, followed by pork fillet with vegetables, a chocolate strawberry dessert and a cheese platter.  With the meal we had a good Grossett Polish Hill riesling.  After such a large dinner we couldn’t go to sleep for a long while.  Les let us shoot billiards on the antique billiard table in the men’s lounge and just asked if we would turn off the lights and lock up the doors when we sent to bed.  They stayed in a house out back.  Since the mansion was pretty much as it was built, it did not have air conditioning.  As hot as it was, we went outside to watch stars for a while and cool off but our room was still fairly warm.  We didn’t sleep well that last night but it was quite an experience.



Saturday morning we were given another big cooked breakfast.  We were getting sick of so much food.  We walked around looking in all the rooms once more but had to check out by 10 when they opened to the public.  We drove back through Clare to Gawler and Elizabeth to Adelaide.  We had time to kill so we drove to the seaside palindrome town of Glenelg.  For about an hour we walked around the town and ate an ice cream cone.  Then we drove back into Adelaide and to the Central Markets to get some Kangaroo Island halloumi cheese but the shops were closing up already.  We killed some time driving around town but finally went to the airport and checked in the rental car.  Our flight back to Canberra via Melbourne was uneventful and we arrived home about 9:00 p.m., unpacked, showered and went to bed.  Once more we enjoyed our Australian trip.  We found Adelaide a very nice, livable city and wish we could have had more time to stay for the Adelaide festival which takes place the month of March.  Maybe another trip?

Northern Germany - July 2003

Trip to Northern Germany

July 2003

Since Rita had surgery planned in August and I would be tied to the office because of staffing gaps in my section over the summer, we decided rather last minute to get away while the opportunity allowed.  I looked at my various maps and decided on northern Germany because our Michelin Green Guide has several two and three star sights in that area that we haven’t visited and because my great-great-grandfather, Ernst August Franke, had left Travemunde for Russia in about 1830.  I write this over a month later so my recall of events may be affected by poor memory.  I keep a diary so that will be my source of this write up.



On Friday, July 18, I took off work a couple of hours early and we headed out before the road traffic became too crowded.  We headed north to Antwerp and then east to Eindhoven into Germany.  Rita, as my naviguesser, maneuvered us around the industrial areas of Duisberg and Moers.  There isn’t much scenery to speak of in this area.  We finally left autobahns and were on a back road when we were overcome by hunger.  We stopped at the Hotel Humbert in the small village of Dorstin in Westphalia.  The hotel has been around since 1823 and had a nice outdoor garden where we sat and started with a local Veltin beer.  I wasn’t very impressed with the beer but dinner was better.  We ordered a Westphalia schnitzel, a tender pork cutlet covered in scrambled eggs with a side dish of home fried potatoes with ham chunks.  It looked more like breakfast but tasted good but not low fat by any means.  We did have a side salad, too.



We then continued on to Munster and checked into our Movenpick Hotel situated near a city park on a nice lake.  We walked to the lake and had a very pleasant evening watching the people and their dogs around the lake.  It was very warm and the hotel, as most European hotels, was not air conditioned so we did not sleep all that well.



Saturday was clear, sunny, and increasingly warm.  We checked out of our hotel and drove into central Munster, parked the car and walked to the city center and the Dom or cathedral.  There was a huge Saturday market in the Dom Platz surrounding the cathedral with some great produce, meats and cheeses.  We walked into the cathedral but there was a service going on so we did not wander around inside.  We walked to what is called the Prinzipalmarkt, which is a semicircle street around the Dom with nice shops, the beautiful Rathaus, historical Renaissance houses and the Lambert church with iron steeple.  It was in the Lambertkirche that the bodies of the three Anabaptist leaders (chiefs of a sect advocating baptism for adults only) were exhibited after the movement was crushed in 1536.  Then we walked back to the car and headed on the main autobahn towards Breman, Hamburg, and our destination, Lubeck. 



We arrived in Lubeck in the afternoon and checked into another Movenpick hotel.  We were soon on foot and our first stop was the Holstentor, a 15^th century gate into the old town.  The 14^th century saw Lubeck at its summit as head of the Hanseatic League, the Dutch and northern German cities that monopolized trade with Scandinavia and Russia.  It was a wealthy town and many of the old buildings still stand today after several wars.  We walked to the Rathaus and the main cathedral, Marienkirche.  Inside there is a section where the huge bells remain as they fell from the bell tower in an Allied air raid in 1942.  We walked to Jakobkirche and looked in – we couldn’t go in as there was an organ concert in progress and we were too late to buy tickets.  Across the street we saw the Haus der Schiffergesellschaft or House of the Seamen’s Guild.  It is a pretty, old building which is a nice restaurant now.  We went inside and looked at the old ceilings with models of old ships hanging from the rafters.  We walked around the corner and saw the 13^th century Heilingen Geist (Holy Ghost) Hospital and sat at an outdoor café to drink a local Jerves beer in the shade.  We could hear the organ concert from Jakobkirche.  We walked back to our hotel, changed clothes and drove to Travemunde, just a short distance away.



Travemunde is a port city at the western end of the Baltic Sea and has a lot of ferryboat traffic, especially from Finland.  Today, Travemunde is a seaside resort town and, because it was hot, it was filled with German tourists seeking sun and sand.  It was considerably cooler with a nice sea breeze.  We parked at the biggest hotel in town, the Maritim Hotel, where I had called earlier for reservations at their restaurant.  We sat on a terrace with a great view of the Baltic Sea full of small sailboats and the occasional Finnish ferryboat.  We had a very nice dinner of fresh flounder (called plaice in England and scholle in German – who says travel isn’t educational?) and finished with ice cream sundaes.  We waited until sun set, which is very late this far north, and then walked down to the boardwalk, or promenade as they call it, but it was too crowded with the younger set covered in tattoos and body piercing.  It wasn’t our style.  We drove back to our hotel with a slightly cooler room than the night before in Munster.



Sunday morning Rita said she had dreamed (perhaps?) that a bird or bat had tried to enter our window in the night and she got up to close it.  Nevertheless we slept better anyway and after a big breakfast brunch we checked out and were away mid morning.  We changed plans and decided to skip Hamburg this time around and instead visit some smaller towns recommended by our guidebook.  Hamburg will have to wait for another time.



We drove south on pretty back roads to Ratzeburg, which sits on an island in the middle of a lake.   We drove into the city and back alleys of this pretty town with a 12^th century cathedral overlooking the lake.  Next we drove through the pretty town of Lauenburg on the Elbe River to Luneburg, our first stop.  Luneburg was built on a salt deposit and was a very prosperous town from the 10^th century onwards.  In the Middle Ages it was the principal supplier of salt to many places, notably Scandinavia.  The salt road went from Luneburg through Lauenburg, Ratzeburg, and on to Lubeck.  The traditional architecture of Luneburg is “distinguished by stepped and scrolled gables, cornices with rounded or tiercepoint blind arcades, and the ‘Tausteine’ – a local twisted brick feature producing an effect like a cable switch.”  I couldn’t describe it better.  Look at our photos on our website to get a better idea.



It was hot but we walked through a good part of Luneburg and saw the pretty Rathaus, Old Town with a pharmacy that dates from 1598, St. Johanniskirche with a steeple deliberately inclined to counter the strong winds from the west, and the old port quarter with a 14^th century crane on the river bank.  Along the riverfront were several outdoor cafes and we stopped for a drink where I had a dark Duckstein beer, which tasted good in the heat.  We were happy to get back into the air-conditioned car and head south through what is called the Luneburger Heide or Heath.  This is sparsely populated area with forests and heaths that are designated nature reserves by the government.  We drove through Amelinghausen to Celle where we parked the car again and went on foot.



Celle is a pretty town with colorful crow-stepped house fronts dating back to the 1500s.  Most of the houses had the names of the husband and wife painted on the front and the year they married or at least built their house.  It was sort of a genealogical record.  Our timing was good as there was a major, regional festival starting today in town.  It was a shooting festival (schutzenfest) with gun clubs from all the neighboring villages converging for a parade to kick off the festival.  Men and women were in traditional German costumes and while they didn’t carry any weapons, they were bedecked with dozens of medals hanging from their coats.  Some of the shooters looked as if they could have participated in World War II.  After the parade we walked around town some and bought an ice cream cone to battle the heat.  Then we returned to the car and the road.



We didn’t have any hotel reservations so we planned to just drive through Hanover to Hameln but while stuck in a traffic jam outside of Hanover we looked at our books and found a Marriott Courtyard hotel in Hanover with air conditioning.  I called them on my cell phone and confirmed the air conditioning before making reservations for the night.  We navigated to their hotel on a large city lake in a park.  We checked in then walked to a nearby beer garden on the lake and had large steins of beer in the shade of the trees.  Clouds gathered and we expected rain, maybe a storm, but nothing materialized.  It stayed hot and we had a so-so meal in the hotel restaurant.  The air conditioning felt good and we slept very well.



Monday was the Belgian National Day so our Embassy was closed in Brussels and we enjoyed a three-day weekend.  We had another good, large breakfast buffet and then headed to Hameln, the town of the famous pied piper story.  The town has capitalized on this and there is a walk though the town with rats painted on the cobblestone streets.  Rats dominate the shop windows of toy stores, souvenir shops and all kinds of stores.  There are some pretty houses and squares in town but a short walk and Rita’s back was giving her pain so we were ready to leave.



We headed south on scenic back roads through the upper Weser River valley, which is heavily wooded and somehow skipped by major industrialization.  We drove through Corvey and Hoxter to Furstenberg where we stopped to view the porcelain factory.  Unfortunately it was closed on Mondays.  We did see some shops open across the street but Rita didn’t find anything she had to have.  We stopped for lunch in the pretty town of Bad Karlshafen, which had mostly white buildings with a pretty swan-filled pond in the middle of town.  We had bratwurst, frites and beer for lunch.  Rita had a good Berliner Weiss.  We continued on to the town of Hannoversch Munden and the city of Kassel.  We didn’t stop in Kassel as we were running behind time.  I wanted to at least see the town, as this is where the brothers Grimm, Jakob and Wilhelm, lived from 1805 to 1830, the same time my great-great-grandfather mentions he traveled through town.  You’ll remember the brothers Grimm from the Grimm’s Fairy Tales book.



We re-entered the autobahns once more and headed west through Dortmund, Koln, Achen, Liege and finally made it to Brussels late in the day.  We were hot, sweaty and tired but thoroughly enjoyed our visit to northern Germany.

Middle East Trip in 1974

We had been living in Teheran, Iran, since January of 1974 and I made some extra money working as a basketball announcer for the Asian Games held in Teheran in early September.  Ramadan, our first experience with this month of daytime fasting, started September 17.  On a rather spur-of-the-moment idea, we decided that a trip to see some of the highlights of the Middle East would be fun.  We hastily made airline reservations and left Rachel and Gretchen with next door neighbors Kathy and Farhad (Fred) Razi.  Fred was an American and England trained architect, Kathy was a nurse, and they had twin boys who were born the same day as Gretchen. 

We left about September 28 or 29 and flew Alia Airlines from Teheran to Amman, Jordan.  I say about because I don’t have much memorabilia from the trip.  I didn’t start keeping a daily diary until 1977 so this trip is based on our memories which are fading over time.  Also, this was before the Internet and emails.  We made reservations through American Express for a hotel at our first stop.  In Amman we took the recommendation of the Philadelphia Hotel in the downtown area.  It was adjacent to the old Roman Amphitheater which we explored later. 

The main reason to go to Jordan was to see the rose red city of Petra.  We had read up on it way before Indiana Jones and “The Last Crusade”.  Rita is certain we just checked into the hotel, inquired about a trip to Petra, left our suitcases with the hotel and caught a long-distance taxi right away.  It could be true – we were that flighty.  We crowded into the nice Mercedes Benz taxi with a driver and three other Arabs all in Arab dress and silent the whole trip.  Since it was Ramadan we refrained from eating or drinking on the three-hour trip.  Arab music was playing on the radio and when the woman singer started what sounded like continuous guttural yodeling, Rita broke into the giggles.  We finally reached our destination and the driver, who spoke for the first time (and in perfect English), told us what time we can catch a taxi back to Amman the next day.

In 1974 there were no hotels at the entrance to Petra as I understand there are now.  There was no tourist office.  We were dropped off at the Siq or entrance with no idea where to go next.  It didn’t take long and a grizzled old man came running up asking if we wanted to go into Petra.  We were told there was a camp in the middle of Petra where we could spend the night.  Then he and a friend brought out two horses for us to ride as they held the reins.  The old man kept patting Rita on her butt saying “Sit up Madam.  Sit up.”  He also tried to play history guide even though he could speak almost no English.  He pointed to a groove in the rocks as we rode through the narrow entrance and told us it was a “dukweack”.  So for the rest of our lives whenever we come across a Roman aqueduct we look at each other and in unison say “dukweack”! 

Like everyone else, as soon as we arrived at the Treasury we stopped, stared in awe, and took photos of the amazing rock carving.   A little further we dismounted at Nazzal’s Camp, built in 1943 with eleven rooms.  Luckily they had a room as there were very few guests mid-week during Ramadan.  At dinner that night there was only a party of three French tourists besides us.  I’m fairly certain the cost was under $10 and almost worth every dollar.  We had two single beds that bowed almost down to the floor.  Oh well, it was only for one night.

We arrived at Nazzal’s Camp midafternoon with plenty of daylight remaining.  Armed with a map we explored on foot.  We saw our first Roman ruins and graffiti carved into rocks.  We went in and out of ancient Nabatean ruins – rooms carved out of the pink rock like the Treasury but smaller.  The sky was clear and with no breezes in the enclosed valley, it was quite hot and dusty.  Our meal at the camp was unmemorable and our room was not air conditioned.  A noisy generator provided light but it went out about 9 pm.  We were exhausted after a long day and quickly fell asleep in those terrible beds.

We felt refreshed in the morning and had a nice breakfast of toast and fresh eggs.  I say fresh because there were chickens and goats around the camp.  We had until the afternoon when the taxi returned and our “guides” with the horses returned for us.  We did an exhausting climb over rocks on a trail to a site called the “High Place”.  In the last half mile or so we noticed a Bedouin with a cooler following us.  As we reached the top he came out of nowhere on a different approach and surprised us.  He just wanted to sell us a “Bebsi” so we had a Pepsi Cola from his cooler.  We noticed what looked like a small pool with channels running into it.  He noticed our confusion and directed Rita to lie down on the rocks by one of the channels.  Then he took his can opener and made a motion of slicing it along Rita’s neck showing us it was a place for sacrifice and a pool to collect the blood.  But I think they used goats or sheep and not human sacrifice.  It was a bit eerie at first but he turned out friendly.

Soon it was time to saddle up and head out of the Siq where the taxi showed up on time and took us back to the Philadelphia Hotel in Amman.  Our suitcases were right where we left them and we were given a comfortable room.  All I can say is that we were very trusting or naïve but all turned out well.  We had a multi-course dinner in the hotel dining room and a sort of hash or stew was put down for the first course.  It tasted different but not bad as it had a nice sauce.  I asked the waiter what it was and was informed it was kidneys.  A first for us and again, too trusting.

The next morning we were awakened out of a sound sleep by a loud cannon shot on the hilltop across from the hotel.  We wondered if another Middle East war had broken out but were told it was a warning shot that sunrise was in one hour so eat your breakfast now – we forgot it was Ramadan. 

We took another long-distance taxi to the ancient Greco-Roman city of Jerash just north of Amman.  Again we were about the only tourists at the ruins which were in very good condition.  We paid a modest entry fee and set out on foot over a large, complex archeological site.  The Greeks and Romans called the city Gerasa and we explored the forum, amphitheater, Temple of Artemis, Arch of Hadrian and much more.  Jerash was our first large Greco-Roman city to explore and we had it mostly to ourselves.  We took a taxi back to Amman and walked around the old part of the city for a short while.

The next day we checked out and caught a flight on Egypt Air to Cairo arriving late in the evening with no hotel reservations.  We found out that Cairo was a big party town during Ramadan and there would be very few hotel rooms available.  At the tourist desk a man from Indonesia who we met on the plane suggested we go to the Carlton Hotel where he was staying.  We could even share a taxi.  What could go wrong?

First of all one of our suitcases, a Samsonite, was mostly empty because we had plans to shop in Lebanon.  The taxi driver piled all our suitcases on top but didn’t tie them down.  Then he drives at very high speeds towards the hotel.  Soon the nearly empty suitcase lifts off and crashes onto the highway sliding alongside the taxi with sparks lighting up the dark.  We stop, the taxi driver retrieves the suitcase, and I examine it for damage.  Amazingly it didn’t open up, I could still unlock it with a key and the damage was deep scratches on the side against the road.  The driver tied it down this time and we made our way to the Carlton Hotel.  It would have made a good Samsonite commercial.

Don’t confuse the Carlton Hotel with Ritz-Carlton.  There is no connection whatsoever.  This Carlton Hotel was built in the 1930s by an English company and probably was quite grand in its prime.  It was about midnight, we were exhausted, and they had a room.  We took it and immediately fell into bed.  The next morning we realized what a mistake we had made.  It was quite run down and with one look we both refused to shower in that bathroom.  At breakfast, which wasn’t all that bad, we saw that most of the other customers were young Europeans traveling on a tight budget.  Our room was about the equivalent of $10 and we checked out right after breakfast.

What to do?  We took a taxi to a high-rise Sheraton Hotel that had just opened up a few months prior.  We looked, and probably smelled, rather disgusting.  We asked for a room and were told they were filled up.  So we sat down in nice lobby chairs and made ourselves conspicuous.  Several times when we saw some party checking out I would go up to the counter and ask if they had a room now.  I think hotel security was checking us out but I informed them that I did have an American Express card and could afford a room.  Eventually, to get us out of the lobby, they said, yes, we have a room on the 21^st floor and quoted a fairly expensive rate.  We took it for two nights.

After a good night’s sleep and a couple of long showers we booked an all day tour through a tour company in the Sheraton Hotel.  We started off visiting the Alabaster Mosque also known as the Muhammad Ali Mosque.  Then to the City of the Dead, a huge necropolis that was much quieter than the city.  Next we toured the oldest pyramid in Egypt in the town of Saqqara sometimes spelled Sakkara.  At lunchtime the small van we were traveling in took the half-day tourists back to their hotels.  We had lunch and waited on the front lawn of the beautiful Mena House Hotel until we were shooed away.  The afternoon was spent at the great pyramids of Giza along with the Sphinx.  We rode camels for the first time and behaved like real tourists. 

The next day we said goodbye to our nice Sheraton Hotel room and caught an Egyptian Air flight to Beirut, Lebanon, which in 1974 was called the Paris of the Middle East.  Before our trip we had been recommended to a hotel which we stayed at called either Pension Vienna or Pension Austria.  We remember well that it was on Rue Mexique.  It was small, clean and very affordable.  It was run by an Austrian couple and had good schnitzel at dinner time.

Beirut was a beautiful city on the Mediterranean Sea with Parisian nightclubs, casinos, exclusive hotels along the water and a French flavor.  I think we walked around Beirut that first afternoon and got the lay of the city.  We probably did a little shopping as well.

The next day we rented a VW Beetle through Europecar that totaled up to $300 for the day.  With a very limited tourist map and no GPS, we headed south along the beautiful seawall drive called the Corniche towards Sidon and Tyre.  A short distance from Beirut we encountered a military roadblock and was told we could not continue to Sidon.  This was a year before the Lebanese Civil war that destroyed the country and lasted 15 years.  There were disturbances further south along the Israeli border and we could go no further.

So we turned inland east to the Beqaa Valley and the fabulous ruins of Baalbek.  The Beqaa Valley is the main farming region of Lebanon and had several great vineyards with excellent wines.  The town of Baalbek was originally a Phoenician city and later a large Roman town where a huge temple to Jupiter was erected over two thousand years ago.   But it is estimated that the area was inhabited as early as 9000 BC.  The Roman temple was built on the foundation of an earlier temple with blocks estimated at 3000 tons.  It is amazing and Rita and I spent a couple of hours there.  We weren’t the only tourists and several young men on motorcycles approached us wanting to sell us hashish.  No we didn’t.

We continued north along the Beqaa Valley following signs to the Cedars of Lebanon.  We headed west climbing out of the valley on a switch back road over the mountains to a small grove of very tall cedar trees.  It was called the Cedars of God Forest but the forest was pretty small.  In 1998 this small forest was put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.  It seems that much of the area used to be covered with the huge trees but they were cut down by the Phoenicians and others (Alexander the Great) to build temples and mostly ships.  Unfortunately very few remain today.  Close by our road took us to the pretty little village of Bsharri in the mountains at an altitude of about 5,000 to 10,000 feet.  It is the village where Khalil Gibran, poet, painter and sculptor, was born.  The roadsides in this area are filled with statues of Mary and Jesus as this is the Christian sector of the country.  The surrounding villages along the road made one think they were in southern Italy or Spain.  We followed the winding mountain road to the village of Amioun where we could see the Mediterranean in the distance at sunset.   It was time to get back and we took the coastal road through Byblos as nightfall covered Beirut.  It was a long day.

The next day was spent shopping in Beirut’s great department stores.  We filled that empty suitcase with lots of clothes and shoes for the girls.  We also put in some food supplies we couldn’t get in Teheran like dark Karo syrup and peanut butter.  We also went to a nice theater to see the movie “Sugarland Express”, an early Steven Spielberg movie starring Goldie Hawn.  Since the story takes place in Texas we had a vested interest and the little Arab lady sitting next to us hushed at us because we commented on the scenes.  The movie was in English with Arabic and French subtitles which were a little distracting. 

The next day we flew back to Teheran on MEA (Middle East Airlines) but at the Beirut Airport we had one more unexpected shopping surprise.  I came across a nice heavy wool suit at a kiosk that I really liked – gray with thin blue window panes.  It was made in Spain.  The salesman was pushing it hard and we only had a few minutes before boarding but I didn’t know if it would fit.  So he shoved me behind a counter where I took off my jeans in front of everyone and tried the suit on.  It was a perfect fit, affordable, and a quick sale.  I haven’t disrobed in an airport since then.  That suit lasted many years too and was one of my favorites. 

Looking back we consider ourselves fortunate to have seen some of the Middle East that is dangerous to return to today.  Also, in our old age, we look back and wonder what the hell we were doing.  We were naïve, trusting and very, very lucky.

Trip to Eagle Pass & Del Rio, Texas

On the Border

                                  Eagle Pass & Del Rio Trip
                                        March 14-16, 2017

 

A little background as to why I wanted to make this trip in the first place.  During World War II my uncle, Jimmy Zalesky, was stationed at the Army Air Corps base in Eagle Pass.  Uncle Jimmy married my Mom’s sister, Elsie, and they were my god parents.  I was born in November 1942 and my parents decided (for some reason) to visit Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Elsie in Eagle Pass when I was less than a year old.  Unfortunately I never asked my Mom or Dad about details of the trip.  So I assume we traveled to Eagle Pass sometime in early 1943. 

My 1956 Texaco road map (pre Interstate highways) shows that we probably took US highway 90 west from Houston to San Antonio, then Uvalde where we would have headed south on US 83 to La Pryor and west on highway 76 to Eagle Pass.  US highway 90 has been replaced with Interstate 10 and there are other changes to highways too.  But while we were in Eagle Pass we all traveled into Piedras Negras, Mexico, for my first international travel.  My guess is that we drove the 1940 Chevrolet coupe I remember growing up with.

 

Also, we hadn’t done any overnight road trips since Rita’s injury two years ago.  She felt up to it so we planned to just be gone two nights and return.  In terms of stress on Rita, it turned out to be a good trip.  It turned out to be a good trip all around.

 

We got away at a reasonable time Tuesday morning and headed west on highway 46 through Boerne to Bandera, which bills itself as the “Cowboy Capital of the World”.  I’m always surprised how much these towns, especially Boerne, have built up over the ten years we have been living here.  Hundreds of new houses have been built and are still being built as well as more businesses in Boerne.  I think the people moving there are a combination of retirees (mostly military) and people who commute to work in San Antonio.  Bandera also is punctuated with lots of big new houses on hill tops. 

 

We had planned to stop in Bandera but it was too early for lunch or to visit the nice Frontier Times Museum so we decided we could do that on a day trip.  We only stopped to take a photo of the impressive Bandera County Courthouse and then pressed on.  The weather Tuesday was about as great as you can get with clear, blue skies and temperatures in the 70s.  We saw bluebonnets as well as other wild flowers along the highways.

 

The drive on backroads to Tarpley and Utopia was very scenic crossing the Sabinal River to the Frio River and south to Uvalde.  This area of the Hill Country has several resorts catering to river rafting vacationers.  It was lunch time and at the recommendation of a young man at a closed restaurant, we stopped at the Sunrise Café in Uvalde.  The atmosphere was stark and unappealing but the food and service was good.  I had tacos and Rita had a taco salad. 

 

The scenery changed from Uvalde southwest along highways 481 and 57 to Eagle Pass.  The landscape was flat and unattractive with plenty of mesquite trees, cactus, and other desert plants.  With regards to eco-regions we were leaving the Edwards Plateau and entering the junction of the Tamaulipan Brush Country and the Chihuahuan Desert Trans-Pecos regions.  We crossed the Nueces River and saw several hawks along the highway and one caracara waiting for road kill. 

 

We arrived in Eagle Pass and noticed that, like a lot of small towns across the country, the outskirts had a new Walmart, motels, McDonalds and other fast food places.  We drove into the old historic part of the town and found the nice Maverick County courthouse and a library that was outstanding.  It appeared that neither the courthouse nor library was used as no people were inside and doors seemed to be locked.  We drove down Main Street in the old city center and a few stores were thriving but catered to the Mexican-American community.  We drove up to the International Bridge crossing into Mexico and turned around.

 

Ten miles north of Eagle Pass on highway 277 we found the local airport where the old Army Airbase used to be located.  I found one person sitting in the office and he said the airport was still in use although I didn’t see any aircraft on the runways.  He confirmed that it used to be the Army Airbase but just a few ruins remained from that time.  After a short while we continued on the highway northwest towards Del Rio.  We were surprised to find dozens of pecan groves and pecan outlets along the highway.

 

It was still early afternoon so we decided we would follow our GPS to the Val Verde winery, the oldest continuous winery in Texas.  The GPS took us through old San Felipe del Rio which eventually merged into the city of Del Rio.  We saw historic Brown Plaza and eventually found the winery.  The winery was founded in 1883 by Italian immigrant Frank Qualia.  From the historical plaque we discovered that he married a Mary Franke and had several children.  Not my ancestor as far as I know but it needs research.  We sampled a couple of wines and bought a couple of bottles before going to our motel and checking in for the evening.

 

We drove into the old historic Del Rio which seemed quieter than Eagle Pass.  We drove to the Mexican border, turned around and went to Cripple Creek Restaurant for a decent meal.  We retired a bit early after a long day.

 

Wednesday we set our alarm in order to get away early.  The weather had changed with overcast skies and much cooler temperatures.  We drove across Lake Amistad through Comstock and to the Seminole Canyon State Park.  Texas is trying to get UNESCO to designate the park as a historical site in order to preserve it better.  There are several pictographs painted on rocks as long ago as 7000 years.  Over 200 sites exist of rock paintings.  I wanted to get to the headquarters building to catch the 10 am tour as that is the only way to see the paintings.

 

We made it in plenty of time.  Rita could not have done the hike as it went down a steep trail into the canyon then up another trail along the walls where the rock paintings were.  She waited for me in the headquarters building.  It was quite windy and cold but luckily I had my windbreaker.  The guide gave a running commentary on the paintings and said we could take all the photos we wanted because they won’t last forever – they are eroding away.  A large crowd of people showed up for the hike.  After an hour and a half we headed further west on highway 90.

 

At the Pecos River we stopped at the overlook to see the highest road bridge in Texas.  Several low water bridges had been wiped out by floods here and the current bridge was built about 1956 after the first bridge built in1923 was wiped out by floods.  Around the bend, and out of sight, is the Pecos Viaduct, a railroad bridge built by Southern Pacific in 1892.  At the time it was the third highest bridge in the world. 

 

We crossed over the Pecos River and drove the short distance to Langtry, home of Judge Roy Bean, Law West of the Pecos.  His old saloon, the Jersey Lilly, where he practiced law, is still standing and has free entrance.  The surroundings have changed since Rita and I first went there about 50 years ago.  A new, modern tourist info center surrounds the old shack and a cactus garden make the area much nicer.  We drove back to Comstock and had a nice lunch at J & P Bar and Grill.

 

Next we drove north on ranch road 163 alongside the Devil’s River and near the Dead Man’s Pass used by forty-niners on their way to California for gold.  Many people lost lives here to the Comanche and stage coach robbers.  The scenery was okay but we rarely saw the actual river which is mostly located on private ranches.  But we saw deer and turkey and at the ghost town of Juno we turned off onto highway 189 through country where we barely saw another truck or car.  No billboards, no homes, no people – just the occasional bull, cow or calf.  Once we reached highway 277 we headed south again to our motel in Del Rio.  That night we had a mediocre Mexican meal at Manuel’s Restaurant. 

 

Thursday we slept in and started our way home driving back north on highway 277 to highway 377 in a northeast direction.  I should mention that the Border Control had a high presence.  Going north from the border about ten miles you have to stop at check points on the side of the highway.  They were always friendly and waved us through without comment – we looked fairly harmless.  In what must be one of the most boring jobs we saw several Border Control jeeps or trucks just parked off the roads and apparently keeping tabs on the surroundings, a single guard by himself or herself. 

 

The town of Carta Valley was devoid of life.  Only a couple of empty houses, one empty gas station and a cemetery exists which makes it a true ghost town.  We pulled into the town of Rocksprings about 11 am and were amazed to see a Thai restaurant where a Thai lady was putting out the Thai flag.  What’s wrong with this picture?  We drove around the Edwards County courthouse and jail and came across the Historic Rocksprings Hotel – that’s its name.  We stopped for a photo then walked inside to take a look.  The owner, a nice man from Houston, showed us around the hotel built in 1916 and then known as the Gilmer Hotel.  The current owner told us a bit of town history.  In April 1927 the town was hit by a major tornado killing 72 people and injuring 205, about half the town’s population.  The town recovered and is the Angora goat capital of the world.  The American Angora Goat Breeder’s Association is centered in Rocksprings and they have all the records of angora goats in America if you need them.  Who says travel isn’t enlightening? 

 

We continued on stopping for a lunch in Junction, Texas and then traveling the only part of our trip on an Interstate highway – about ten miles.  We stopped in Fredericksburg for groceries and rushed home to collapse after a nice trip.

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.