Travel Snippets 5 of 9

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Once in a while our driver (me) did make a mistake, he thought he was wrong. More than once.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One afternoon we left Rotterdam, Netherlands, aboard the TSS Stefan Batory, the next morning we were docked in Tilbury, on the Thames River, near London. We cleared custom’s and went to the train station next door and bought round trip tickets to London. When we got downtown, we shop-walked and shop-looked, and rode a taxi here and there. We bought a small bag of Mrs. Thornton’s Special English Toffee, but it didn’t last long, we should have bought more to take home with us. We got on the train back to Tilbury, and found this train didn’t go all the way, and people gave us conflicting information as to when the next train would arrive. Then we found there were three others from our ship who were on the same train from London, so we all piled into a cab and for a dollar or so each, we arrived at the pier in style. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One cane in my collection was purchased at a street market near the famous Spandau Prison, in the borough of Spandau, in western Berlin, Germany. The cane from Spandau has a 2 and 3/4 inch silver wire braid on the staff, and a silver cap on the handle. (Cap disappeared in the years since.) As we were waiting to cross a street in Strasbourg, France, we noticed an old man with a cane that had 3/4 inch braided silver wire decoration, exactly like on mine. The man spoke English, said he was 94 years old, this cane had belonged to his grandfather, and it was quite valuable. He was sure our cane must be very old and even more valuable. One year we saw another very old man in Halle, Germany and his cane also had 3/4 inch of this silver wire, in the plaid pattern. (1991)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day Emmy’s Cousins Monika and Henri (who lived in Montivilliers, France) invited us for lunch at a restaurant on the north side of the Seine River, a few miles from Rouen, right at a ferry dock. This lovely dining room was in an old, old, half-timbered building whose ceiling beams all ran in approximately the same direction, its walls went here and there. The view of the river and the outdoor cafe looked impressionistic through quaint little panes of ancient wavy window glass. It was a popular place, filled both inside and out at lunch time. The name of the restaurant was “Bac,” the French word for ferry. The ferry dock on the far side of the river could be seen from our table in the restaurant. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day I saw the roof of Cousin Toni’s and the neighbor’s house, in Mettlach, Germany, obscured by smoke. The neighbor said “I was just burning some boxes in the fireplace.” In the middle of the night we were awakened by a shout from the neighbor and the sound of the fire alarm at the nearby Rathaus (City Hall). The mid-day fire had passed through a flaw in the flue, had smoldered for 12 hours, now the home next door was on fire, and we could see a yellow/orange flickering through the bedroom window. As soon as I was sure Emmy and Toni were dressed and out of the house, I hooked up the garden hose and started to water Toni’s roof. I sprayed water until Toni’s fifty-year-old garden hose burst. There was no damage to Cousin Toni’s home. As expected, I of course take credit for saving the whole place. (1983)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day in 1995 at the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, I spotted the employee parking lot, so in we went. Emmy kept saying, “The police will throw us out,” but I said, “Just fix lunch.” And she/we did. A fantastic location for lunch in our RV. We could see the south leg of the Tower just a few yards out our dining room window, the upper part of the Tower was hidden by large trees. Nearly buried in the sand and weeds outside our window, I saw a piece of copper pipe. A little inspection and a lot of digging uncovered a three-foot long heavy copper pipe with a bend in the middle, a spigot on one end, a two inch threaded fitting on the other. Obviously a part of a Paris fountain, years ago. It might have been buried there for decades, it’s now displayed with my cane collection. In 1979 we had parked right under the Eiffel Tower, and had lunch. People congratulated us for our selection of an exceptional lunch spot.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day the man mowing the lawn laughed when I insisted his gasoline powered mower had been retrieved from the archaeological “dig” next door. He agreed the mower was a “Julius Caesar” model, still in excellent condition. There are Roman artifacts galore in Germany and Luxembourg. In 1852, in Nennig, Germany, across the Mosel River from Remich, Luxembourg, a farmer was planting potatoes in the backyard (perhaps), when his shovel discovered a beautiful floor, a memento of a Roman home from a couple thousand years earlier. Romans ruled this area for hundreds of years, and their capital was just a few miles down the Mosel, in nearby Trier. In the late 1800s a building was erected to protect the special floor, and in the 1980s artists from Villeroy & Boch restored the beautiful artwork. We have seen other mosaic floors, and we think this one is the most exceptional, both in pattern and in detail. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day we rode in a small boat from St. Thomas to St. John in the Virgin Islands. We toured here and there, including a visit to an expensive resort hotel, at Caneel Bay, built by Laurance Rockefeller. There are directional and informational signs anchored on the bottom of the sea. We put on snorkel equipment and followed the underwater trail from sign to sign. There were a few fish and plants, but the main thing were the signs attached to the ocean floor. It was quite a trail. We don’t remember schools of beautiful fish as we found in both Hawaii and especially near the Island of Saipan, but neither of them had signs. To each it’s own. (1978)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day we rode the public bus from Lettojannie, to Taormina, Sicily. The powerful bus was able to climb the steep hills, but was almost too large for these narrow streets. Come to think of it, on some of these streets, a donkey-cart would be too large. On a steep hill below Taormina, the large gravel truck in front of us just quit. Our bus driver, a skilled driver with a lousy attitude, drove his bus right up almost against the back of the truck. For a minute we expected a fight would accompany all that bellowing. He wasn’t about to give up his space without a “fight.” Finally our bus backed up a little, several large men bounced a very small car, with locked doors, out of its non-parking space and bounced it across the street into a similar space. Now our bus slithered and shuffled, an inch at a time, past the disabled truck, toward Taormina. (1989)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day we shopped for our daily groceries, just outside Amiens, France. Emmy forgot they speak “kilo” rather than “ounce and pound,” so her signal resulted in a full kilo (a little over two pounds) of freshly churned butter, rather than the one pound she was “pointing” for. Delicious, wonderful fresh churned butter. Years ago on the farm near Martinsburg, PA, we often churned butter. Mama put the cream in a large jar, and a kid or two or three would wiggle, jiggle, and juggle, and roll it back and forth until the butter appeared.(1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day we spent 8 hours in the Panama Canal, on the ship M/S Golden Odyssey, sailing the 51.2 miles through this waterway. Three locks at the Gutun Locks takes ships between the Caribbean Sea and Gutun Lake in the middle of Panama. The Lake supplies the water to all the locks, on both sides of the country. No water is pumped. It flows as needed, through the locks, to this ocean or that. There is one Pedro Miguel Lock, then a short distance later, two Miraflores Locks take the ship up/down on the Pacific side. Locks are 110 feet wide, and 1,000 feet long, bigger ships must sail clear around South America. When the Queen Mary sailed from England to Long Beach, CA, to continue life as a restaurant/hotel, it had to sail around South America, it was too large for the Canal. (1978)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day we watched while skilled woodworkers carved doors and constructed special pieces of furniture. We didn’t watch close enough or long enough to determine if they were building new items, or if they might be “creating” brand new antiques, as we thought we saw in another village. Of course we still don’t know if they sold them as “antiqued” or as antiques. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day we were driving to Le Havre, France, from Honfleur and crossed the Seine on the Pont (bridge) de Tancarville. The road makes a wide curve and is bordered by trees, one of the more impressive of the thousands of tree-lined country roads throughout France. The Bridge at Tancarville is a high-arch toll bridge, and when we arrived at the toll booth the large rear view mirror of our RV completely covered the meter that would show how much money we owed. Now French tollbooth operators are infamous for their behavior, and this man kept hollering about something, but he almost went into hysterics rather than tell us the amount of the toll, or at least somehow let us know the meter was just out of sight. (1983)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One day while we were in Rome, Emmy needed a shampoo and set, and luckily we found a hairdresser who would keep her off the streets and out of the stores for an hour or so, for only $12. The hairdresser visit was a real bargain, saved us a lot of money. That is somewhat like Sweetie looking for clocks, but not finding one she likes. That keeps her occupied, and pre-empts the time she could consume spending money for something else. But that’s not always the solution, over the years since this hairdresser episode, she bought a beautiful clock at a flea market in Paris, France, and others on two visits at Shipshewana, Indiana. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One evening Emmy felt ill and needed to see a doctor. It was (a) Sunday, (b) six o’clock PM, (c) we were in a campground, (d) in Germany, (e) behind the Berlin Country Wall (that is different from the more famous Berlin City Wall) in West Berlin, so what was the chance to solve her problem? Not only did we find a Klinik nearby, but the stomach doctor was IN. He answered her immediate questions and said there was no emergency, and there was no charge. Try that near your home some Sunday evening. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One evening in Dinan, France, we stopped to talk to an elderly couple from England who were traveling in the smallest RV we had ever seen. It was so small they had to step outside just to change their mind. For traveling three or four weeks at a time, the tiny RV and forty miles to the gallon serves their purpose just fine. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One evening in the Brussels, Belgium, campsite, we heard some shouts and saw the tent next door was on fire. I grabbed the RV’s fire extinguisher and ran and put the fire out. The man had burns on his face, and a little boy had a minor burn on his ankle. The supplies from our First-Air kit were applied as needed, but I think they were unhappy that I messed up the tent and their dinner with the fire extinguisher. No way I was going to sit and watch a tent on fire, right next door. Never having done such a thing before, how did I know when the fire was completely out, and the extinguisher was now in the process of extinguishing their dinner. At least most of the tent survived. (1979)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One evening the girls’ High School band in Helsingor, Denmark, marched through the shopping district. They had visited the US and Disneyland the previous year. My love of band music (and girls) easily persuaded me to walk all over Helsingor listening to the band, and watching … . The campsite is near the water, and we can see the lights of Sweden, just a short distance across the Øresund Strait. Emmy fixed dinner while I listened to the English language news from Radio Moscow. Well, it’s been agreed that I’m the driver, she’s the cook, but cooking is the least important of her real duties, I mean her enjoyments! (1979)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One evening we parked on the castle grounds and ate dinner in the RV, while we looked over the town of Marburg an der Lahn, Germany. This was a carefully selected scenic dining spot, no restaurant has that view. The sun was setting, the castle floodlights were taking effect, the lights of the town brightened, we heard clashes of thunder and saw huge flashes of lightening as the dark storm clouds gathered. We soon felt as if we were going to cascade down the hill in the frightening downpour that followed. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One evening we rode the city bus from Camping Roma (located on Via Aurelia on the west side of Rome), past St. Peter’s, then on to Piazza Venezia. We strolled down Via del Corso, stopping to see the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and finally to the Spanish Steps, a long, long walk. To the left of the Spanish Steps we boarded subway Ligne A and rode to the Stazione Termini, changed to Ligne B, and then went to the floodlit Colosseum. What a beautiful sight. In the early 1500s, the travertine marble that covered the Coliseum’s walls for 15 centuries was “quarried,” and 2,522 cart loads of marble were used to complete St. Peter's Basilica. Uncounted Romans live, work, and worship in buildings constructed with blocks of stone and slabs of marble, from the “Coliseum Quarry.” We then rode the city bus to Piazza Venezia, then another bus, on to Camping Roma. (1989)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One evening we took a walk around the town of Cour Cheverny, France, and saw an antique shop that appeared to be an antique itself. By the looks of the cobwebs and the dust covered items on the shelves and in the windows, it may not have been open since some of the items inside were new. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One lady was selling a huge pile of bar-b-que chickens in the market place in Yalta, Crimea, but didn’t want me to take a picture of her goods. The chickens had just been dumped onto a table, there was no effort (or need?) to display them in an attractive manner. There was a line of people buying the chickens, the pile did not last long at all. What she didn’t know, I had a telephoto lens, and took a photo from a distance. (1989)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One morning we drove around the Hamburg, Germany, harbor area (called Der Hamburger Hafen — but it’s not a place to buy Hamburgers to eat) and somehow drove into an area where we were not supposed to be. Since we were driving a Dodge RV vehicle, obviously imported from the USA, as we tried to leave we were stopped by a German Zoll (customs) official who wanted to see the papers from the ship we must have just arrived on. We were finally able to convince him that we were lost, had somehow gotten on the wrong side of the customs line, and had not just arrived in Hamburg from somewhere else. (1979)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One morning we drove to downtown Athens, Greece, parked and shopped the flea market in the Monastiraki district, situated on the street, in among all the permanent shops. The Parthenon, sitting high on the Acropolis, can be seen above this marketplace. Emmy bought a balance scale where the weights are placed in the pan on one side, and the “goods” in a pan at the other side. There are about 20 indented-marks on the pans, perhaps made by weight and measure inspectors. Several are just “marks,” but the dates 1955, and 1958 are stamped into the metal. Not so old, but so enjoyable. (1989)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One morning we drove to see the palace in Monaco. At each street where we tried to drive our RV up the hill where the palace is located, the police would stop us and indicate we are not allowed. We saw other trucks going up, but we had to find a parking place, then walk. When we got near the palace, we found they were setting up barricades for a ceremony of some kind. The Monte Carlo police didn’t understand we were just going to drive through, and not park for the day, nor did they care. (1988)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One night at the Fusina, Italy, campground we had parked next to Ross and Barbara, the Kiwifruit farmers from New Zealand, who we had met in the Florence campground a few days earlier. They came over and visited for the evening. During the night there was a terrible rain storm, the thunder and wind (or perhaps the huge Venetian mosquitoes) rocked the RV, it was almost impossible to sleep. In the morning we found the vaporetto (city “bus-boat”) from Fusina to Venice was not running this late in the year (Nov. 8), so we drove to the parking lot at Plaza Roma. Last night it rained so hard all the main “streets” in Venice are still flooded this morning, so from Plaza Roma we rode in a vaporetto down the Grand Canal, to St. Mark’s Square. (1988)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One night was spent at the Hotel Traube (Hotel Grape) in Esslingen, Germany. We never know what amenities to expect when we check into a hotel or campground, but this time the men waited in vain for Emmy to join them at the co-ed nude sauna, just below our bedroom window. I went to the sauna but found only men — the view was much better in our room. One man said his wife was spending two weeks at a Nudist Camp on Corsica. Esslingen’s Stadtkirche (Church of St. Denis), has two spires (not a matched set), with a bridge connecting the two, high above the church. We never did determine if visitors were allowed to cross on that walkway. The hotel room at Hotel Traube cost 75 DM ($25), and had two small beds, feather ticks, a shower and basin, and a toilet down the hall. (1983)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One of Emmy’s friends has a picture, an art called Marquetry. Her husband bought the picture, created by the artist Paul Spindler, “… somewhere near Nancy, France, in the Vosges Mountains,” when he was in France during WW II. With the help of the Tourist Office in Nancy, we found Spindler’s studio, but at Saint Léonard, near Obernai, about twenty miles from Strasbourg — many miles east of Nancy. The third generation, Jean-Charles (John) Spindler, creates beautiful pictures of the Alsace. Hundreds of veneer-thin pieces of wood from a variety of trees supply the different colors and are cut to fit and form a perfect picture — no paint, stains, or varnish are used. One morning we shopped in nearby Obernai’s outdoor market. I bought dates from an Arab, Emmy bought some onions and a zucchini, and we found some very good bread. The constant light rain just added to the enjoyment. Yeah, really. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One of our daughter’s former college professors lives in Poznan, Poland, but when we telephoned him from Vienna to tell him we were going to visit his city, he said he was leaving for the US the very next day, to teach at a college in Texas, for a year or two. He told us to keep his phone number with us, as the Dean of the School of Law would be staying in his home and he was a good man to know in case we had a problem. When we arrived in Poznan, the only problem we had was that we had no problem, so we called the phone number anyway and spent a delightful day with the Professor of Law, his wife, and two beautiful teen-age daughters. And we stopped to visit that family again, on our next visit to Poznan. A significant extension of the joy of our travels. (1985 - 1991)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One of our favorite cities in France, is Arras, where 155 Gothic buildings, supported by 345 columns, surround the Grand–Place. A block away, the slightly smaller Place of Heros, is surrounded by a similar set of beautiful buildings. In both squares, some of the three story houses are one window wide, some two and some three. The façade of each building extends up to a “peak” providing a continuous up and down pattern around each square, modified only by the width of the building. Workmen were carefully cleaning the buildings the first time we were in Arras. By the second time we arrived at Arras, we had expected our two favorite squares would be clean and neat, but it took two World Wars and five hundred years to get damaged and dirty, and it will take many years to get them clean. Renovation continued during our third and fourth visits. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One of our more interesting campsites was located behind a farmhouse near Villers Les Bonivers, France, northeast of Lyon. The sign said something like “Camping Ferme,” or camping on a farm. Our farmer host had installed electrical hookups and rather primitive bathroom facilities for his guests. He grew hay to feed his cows, milked them, processed and bottled the milk himself and personally delivered it to restaurants and stores in nearby Lyon. His wife took care of the children and many chickens. We bought both fresh milk and fresh eggs. A hardworking family, making the most of what they have. When I was in high school, I worked at a dairy farm, where I “… grew hay to feed … cows, milked them, (helped) processed and bottled the milk … and personally delivered it to restaurants and stores … nearby … … , and took care of the chickens” - but luckily for all concerned, there were no children for me to take care of. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One of our trips to Hawaii was a business trip, and would you believe it, Emmy’s schedule (beds didn’t need to be made, dishes didn’t need washed) was such that she could go along. My boss in Connecticut sure was surprised when I telephoned him and told him the view out my hotel window was of Diamond Head, on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. My business meeting was with a government official, a friend I had worked with 20 years earlier. I always told my boss I wouldn’t ask permission to go someplace, but I would tell him where I went, and he could tell me not to do that again, but he never did. I flew somewhere many weeks each year, for nearly 20 years, but only when and where necessary. Sweetie went with me on business trips a few times a year, and we always vacationed somewhere, so a business trip “just for fun” was never considered. (1977)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One of the grimiest streets in Naples, Italy, was lined with tiny trees protected by a metal guard, plus a few small trees in concrete tubs. It’s nice to see they’re trying, but it must be disappointing to the people who care, to see that it doesn’t look better than this. A tree looks so gorgeous in Paris, so melancholy in Naples. Drivers in Naples on Sunday morning seemed to ignore traffic signals more than usual. Maybe because it was Sunday, but when we would stop for a red light where there was no cross-traffic, the other drivers would blow their horn and angrily wave for us to go. We were easily convinced that we didn’t want to impede the progress of the huge city buses. Every street corner, traffic light or not, was a stop and go. (1988)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One of the more interesting of the many ruins in the Seine River Valley in France, is the Notre Dame Abbey at Jumièges. At the time of the French Revolution, the abbey was sold to a merchant who made use of it as a stone quarry. When more stones were needed, explosives were used to destroy another wall or tower. They didn’t have the tourist market to justify, nor the preservationists to insist on continued maintenance. Many buildings in this part of France were built with stones from Jumièges, just as hundreds of buildings in Rome (including St. Peter’s) were built with stones from the Coliseum Quarry. What remains may appear more impressive to a tourist than seeing the completed buildings. To see, touch, and walk around in and near a ruin gives a different and at times more exciting perspective, than visits to undamaged buildings that are still in use. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One rainy night, in the dark, as we entered the campground in Bernkastel, Germany, we heard a horrible noise, then found a hole punctured in the RV by a heavy pipe that remained from a tent building that was being demolished. We hadn’t seen anything close to the street, and had no idea there was anything sticking out, high above the street. They wanted us to pay for damage to the bent pipe, but the policeman agreed with us, that leaving the pipe, with no warning flag, high above the street, caused the problem, not us. Luckily the hole was neat, and when covered with a piece of tape it was almost unseen. One of a very, very few “scratches” we received in nearly 87,000 miles of RV driving in Europe. (1988)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One shepherd in Kótronas, Greece, did sell me his staff, with a different design than the one at the antique store in Githio. Try as I might, asking questions on the Internet, letters to the Greek Embassy, or visits to the Greek Festival in Palm Desert and in Los Angeles, have not resulted in the story behind the special design of these staffs. We found that in the Country of Greece, most every rock, every tree, and every turn in the road had a folk tale, a old wives' yarn, a fable, a legend, from centuries ago, but no one, except the shepherds, seem to know the story behind this most important “tool” that they carry, and will not part with. Greeks who spoke English knew nothing about sheep, and those who knew sheep did not speak English. The design is unique to Greek shepherds, we saw it nowhere else. (1989)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One summer the campgrounds we found near the beach in Carrera, Italy, were double-crowded and triple-priced, and didn’t look inviting. On the edge of the city of Sarzana we saw that “Restaurant Bambi” had an empty parking lot. The family was in the backyard relaxing by a small inflatable swimming pool, so with their permission we spent the night. Ah, the convenience of the RV. (1995)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One Sunday morning we arrived in Naples, from Pompeii by train. As we walked on the main streets, we asked a man who was walking his dog, to confirm directions to the National Museum. He spoke enough English to warn us to be careful. A block later we met members of the US Navy Shore Patrol, and they were unhappy we were walking in Naples. Soon we heard a “beep, beep,” and a car pulled to the curb. The man had taken his dog home, and came to take us the remaining few blocks, he was that worried. We knew things were bad in Naples, but not this bad, or in his case, this good. He refused any payment for his good deed, but later Emmy wondered how we could have been sure HE was okay and was not going to rob us. We took no more chances, rode the streetcar from the museum, directly back to the train station. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One Sunday morning, as we sailed from Sweden to Denmark on a Swedish ferryboat, they had a 15 piece live band to entertain the passengers. There was another four or five piece band and a group of young girls singing beautiful familiar hymns. The man (with his wife) at the next table, at breakfast, was the sales manager for the Lego Toy Company. Emmy had heard of Lego toys before, so with his encouragement, we later visited Legoland, the Lego Company’s version of Disneyland, in Billund, Denmark. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One thing for sure, if we happen to be at the top of the Campanile in front of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, Italy, when the large bells start to ring, we must hold on to our hat, our ears, and anything else that’s handy — the vibrations are awesome. As if I needed an excuse to grab hold, and embrace my Sweetie. When I squeeze my Sweetie I always hear bells and chimes, even if we aren’t on top of the Campanile.(1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One time as I approached the Plönlein (a narrow half-timbered building) in Rothenburg, Germany, I noticed that if I could wait for a few seconds that last car would disappear and at last, a “clean” photo. I stepped into the street and stopped the cooperative traffic behind me and got that perfect picture, except — what a let down, it had no character. All that effort, and it’s obvious that people and things “do a picture make.” (1991)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One time on a cruise ship a “busy-body” lady wanted to make sure each person at the ten place table, sat next to a different person at each meal. She was highly dismayed when I informed her that for the rest of my life, I expected to sit right next to my Beautiful Lady, at each and every meal. Others at the table applauded, but ‘ol “busy-body” could never understand my request, or rather my demand.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One time we (along with some friends) went to the Los Angeles harbor to visit a Matson Line Freighter, that had accommodations for 12 passengers. With the invention of the cargo container way of delivering freight, they canceled all passengers on freighters before we had the chance to sail on a Matson freighter. The cranes that were used to load and unload a ship in those days were called “booms.” And of course we were on a dock, a place where a ship is tied while loading and unloading. As I pointed out these important facts, Emmy said, “Oh, that’s why they call this the boom-docks.” The driver of the passing fork-lift was laughing so hard he almost ran off the dock into the water. (“Boom-Docks,” or “Boon-Docks.” You know the difference, right?) (1966)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One time we toured the Athabasca Glacier, in Canada’s Jasper National Park, the most-visited glacier in North America, in a 12 person “snow cat.” The beauty of the glacier, with rushing water from the melting ice and snow, was awesome. We ate dinner in the nearby Chateau Lake Louise. Our dining table was right next to the window, and we say without fear of contradiction this is the most lovely view from any restaurant where we have eaten. The sunset colors on the teal-blue lake, and the glacier covered mountains in the distance were impossible to describe, this is as resplendent as scenery gets. Without a doubt the most scenic meal we have had, before or since. I told my Sweetie, “If you think that view is spectacular, you should see the enchanting, delectable, heavenly view I see at most every meal! No you certainly are not a glacier, but wow, speaking of mountain peaks, … … well … … !“ (1967)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One time we were able to get permission to visit one of the Matson Line passenger ships, the famous “SS Lurline,” while it was in the Los Angeles Harbor for a night. In those days the “dress code” on the SS Lurline, required men to wear coats and ties at evening meals, and often a tuxedo was suggested for certain meals. It was nearing dinner time, so when an officer saw how I was dressed (sports coat, sports shirt, no tie), he asked, “Are you a member of the crew?” For many years, Emmy would say, “Are you a member of the crew,” when she thought I was not dressed appropriately. We just loved it, when she kidded me like that. Sweetie never looked like a crew member. These days the mode of dress on a cruise ship, except for my Sweetie and a few others, is “early second, or third hand Thrift Store, or Salvation Army Store throw always.” (1965)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One time while driving around in Paris we could see the Sacré-Coeur on top of the hill on Montmartre, then saw a parking place, so parked and walked in the neighborhood awhile. We knew there was a funicular railway that goes up the hill to Sacré-Coeur, so we asked for directions and were told to go “that’a way” and just up the stairs, we would find the station. The directions were impeccable, and we found the funicular railway station all right, just where they said it would be, except we were by now at the top station in Montmartre, after walking up a couple hundred steps. We had hoped to find the bottom station so we could save walking up the steps. We did ride down a little later, when we returned to the RV. (1983)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One time while driving with Emmy and her German Cousin Toni as passengers, after a few miles Emmy said, “Where do you think you’re going?” Toni knew we were on the wrong road and had said so. Emmy had agreed with her, with apparently some added comments about the “dummkopf” driver. Now it was my turn to complain that they had been speaking German and had forgotten that Emmy was supposed to interpret Toni’s instructions. We were soon on the right road. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One time while riding a crowded city bus, we noticed a lady reading what appeared (by the pictures in the book) to be a driver education manual. I mentioned to Emmy that I didn’t think they needed to know anything to drive in Rome. A lady who understood English overheard and repeated what I had said in Italian, to the sounds of much laughter. We had bought an all-day bus ticket, but with the help of a friendly Rome bus driver — who misunderstood our question, or we misunderstood his answer — we managed to find ourselves going in the opposite direction from where we wanted to go. But since we have never been on this street on this bus before, so what. That’s what a vacation is all about, seeing things we had not seen before. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One time, in Paris, France, we were in the southwest corner of the city at Point de St. Cloud, a huge traffic intersection like you have never seen in the USA. While in a left turn lane, driving a Renault RV (French vehicle, French Pilote RV) with a German license plate, someone handed me some “Lyndon LaRouche for President of the USA,” literature. The young man was a German, and was sure LaRouche would be the next President of the US. A German, in Paris, promoting a candidate for president of the USA. How’s that for internationalism. We couldn’t find a parking place nearby so we could stop and talk to them. We never saw them again, we have no idea who they were, what they were really doing, or why they were doing it. (1988)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One Wednesday we drove to S. Agnese Outside The Wall, on Via Nomentana, in Rome, Italy, then walked down under the church to visit the catacombs. There we met three young ladies from the US, and they rode with us across the city, back to St. Peter’s Square in The Vatican, so we could see Pope John Paul II’s Wednesday afternoon audience. Parking was almost unavailable, but we parked with the RV sitting over the sidewalk, just like everyone else who had parked on this street. As we stood a long distance from the Pope, an English speaking priest from Czechoslovakia offered us tickets so we could get closer to the platform. We were still too far away to take a photo without a special lens, so I borrowed my “neighbor’s” binoculars, put them in front of my camera, and what a wonderful photo I got! Eleven months later, on May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt, right here, while the "Popemobile" was taking him to the podium for this ceremony.(1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One winter day we were driving home from Salt Lake City, Utah, or somewhere in that area. When we saw the road leading to Bryce Canyon was freshly plowed after a large snowstorm, we turned and visited for the manyith time. And what a view. Everything was piled high with snow, they had used a skip-loader to plow parking spots at the motel. The motel had been snowed-in and closed for a week, we were the only guest this night, and the snow was piled higher than the car. We went snow-shoeing to the edge of the canyon. We had to be very careful as it was difficult to see where the ground ended and the canyon began. Indescribable, the beauty of glistening snow atop the red and yellow spires, we have seen nothing to match, in all our travels. (1979)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year a vendor on the Charles Bridge, in Prague, Czech Republic, was selling marionettes. Emmy pulled a few strings, then later wondered why she hadn’t bought one. On our next visit to Prague, she again saw the puppets she liked, so she bought Pinocchio, but she couldn’t find a Geppetto (his maker) marionette, to go with it. (1991)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year as we approached Mont-St.-Michel, France, from the east on the “little” road near the coast, our first sight of the cathedral was across a mile of grassy pasture with grazing sheep and cows in the foreground. Once we had arrived at the point where the causeway leaves the coast, there were still two kilometers of awe and wonderment as we continued to the parking lot near the Outer Gate. (1991)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year as we walked past the Heilig-Geist-Kirche (Holy Ghost Church), in Heidelberg, Germany, we heard the sound of music coming from somewhere inside. We tried several doors until we found one unlocked. We climbed up a circular staircase, and near the roof of the church we found a choir and orchestra rehearsing beautiful music. Sometimes it pays not be able to read the signs that said, “Verboten,” and that must mean “Keep Out.” (1983)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year at the Silos Supermarket (located on Via Aurelia, across the street from Camping Roma, on the west side of Rome), we bought excellent Porterhouse steaks, the best we had in Europe that year. Another year Emmy drew a picture of what she wanted (a T-bone steak, she thought) and showed it to the butcher at the Silos Market. He carefully cut what looked like a small prime rib, and it was delicious. On yet a different year the Silos Supermarket was celebrating Coca Cola day. If we bought two small cases of Coke, they would give us a set of six glasses and a pitcher, all decorated with the Coke name and colors — the Coke name is the same in Italy as in the USA. Attached to the lid of the pitcher is a plastic tube to hold ice cubes. We told the Coke man we only had room for one case of Coke, so he said OK. Postage to mail the interesting pitcher and glasses to the USA cost more than the Coke, but they are still in use. (1989)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year Emmy lost a necklace somewhere. A few weeks later when we returned to Mettlach, Germany, Cousin Toni had her necklace. Somehow she had lost the necklace while she and Toni were eating lunch at the Post Restaurant. Toni eats at the Post Restaurant often, so the next time Toni was at that restaurant, the waitress, who knew Toni well, had saved it, knowing Toni would be back any day soon. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year Emmy was tempted by a painting in an art store in Honfleur, France, but the quoted price of 25,000FF ($4,300) ended the negotiations quickly. She says, “That's not the reason, we have no wall space left to display it.” Wanna bet which excuse was decisive? (1991)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year in Florence, Italy, in November, we needed to heat the RV, so had to refill the RV’s propane tank. We found the street address on the map, represented by a wide straight yellow line, so were surprised to find it twisted and turned and went here and there, and was one-way the wrong direction part of the time. The man wasn’t there, so they said come back on Monday. Finally our hero was ready to fill the propane tank, and soon returned driving a tiny three-wheel truck. He put our propane tank in the back, then did an imitation of a sardine being put into a can. He was a big man, and as he managed to get inside and close the door, the door on the other side seemed to bulge. Through the windshield, all I could see was face and shoulders, he looked like a kid in a candy shop, with his face against the glass. In a few minutes he returned with the tank, filled with propane. (1988)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year in Lucerne, Switzerland, we asked a lady in a store where we could buy some ice. Instead of answering our question, she gave us a long, loud sermon about how bad it was to use ice, it would ruin our stomach, and on and on. I reminded her that soldiers in the U S Army use lots of ice, and we won WW II without much help from Switzerland. We were given a bag of ice at a restaurant kitchen across the alley from her store. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year our daughter and family were visiting her husband’s relatives in San Daniele, Italy. While shopping, they lost their digital camera. This was the last day of their vacation, but a couple of days after they got home, the phone rang, and it was the relative, calling from Italy. A young man found the camera, looked at the photos, recognized the apartment building where they had taken photos of the relative standing on her balcony. The young man knocked on doors at the building until he found someone who knew of a lost camera, and now my daughter has her camera, complete with vacation pictures. I accused my son-in-law of doing this on purpose, so he would have a story that told how wonderful the Italians are. We already knew that. (Story was printed in the Los Angeles Times, Travel Section.) (2006)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year the passengers on the bus from the campground in Fusina, to Venice, Italy, included several Filipino men, crew members of a ship docked nearby. A very short, very round young man was wearing a heavy shirt imprinted with the colors and name of the professional basketball team, “Los Angeles Lakers.” When I suggested he was too short to be a basketball player, his friend said, “He’s the basketball.” (1988)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year three of Emmy’s German Cousins visited our home in California. We rented a 35 foot RV and took them to the Getty Villa Museum in Malibu, up the coast from LA to Frisco, then to Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Zion National Park, then to Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Lake Havasu. I felt maybe this would be tiresome for the elderly travelers, but when I asked, Toni replied, ”This is so beautiful I could cry.” (1982)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year we bought bread, meat, cheese, and a Coke in a store on Piazza del Rotonda, in Rome, Italy, made sandwiches and had lunch on a bench while we studied the building called The Pantheon. Our lunch was better than in any of the food stands, in my opinion at least. Some time in the 1980s a small part of the ceiling fell, and the next time we visited Rome the Pantheon was closed for repairs. It was constructed in 27 BC, reconstructed in 123 AD. Over the years we have been locked out of many buildings that were closed for repair, but we are thankful we have been able to visit the Pantheon multiple times. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year we decided to go to the Hilton Hotel for a brunch we had seen advertised. There was bad news and good news. The bad news was, the cost was $22 per person (plus 34% tax and tip), and the good news was, the buffet at the Brussels Hilton was closed that day. Well that was my version of bad and good, I think my Sweetie was disappointed. (1979)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year we drove along the French Riviera toward Monaco, then somehow found ourselves on a road high above the city of Monte Carlo. We drove down a steep switch back road, found a place to park, then walked around the Casino and other places in the city. Monaco is on the side of a mountain, right on the coast. Most of the streets zigzag back and forth parallel to the Mediterranean Sea, while there are blocks of stair steps going up and down the Monte Carlo hillside, from street to street. The yacht basin had a few visitors, but nothing too big and fancy. When we visited a few years later, we found that we had just driven on the same steep curvy road where Princess Grace had the automobile accident that resulted in her death, in 1982. (1988)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year we flew from St. Croix, then stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands. We had a lightweight little two wheel cart to haul our suitcases, and it crumpled and collapsed completely from the weight of our luggage, just as we arrived at the front entrance of the hotel. We threw the remains of the cart into the trash bin. This may be hard to believe, but a few years later I met a VP of a luggage company, and I told him how to make suitcases with wheels and a handle. They’ve made millions of them, but I never got credit or money for that idea. We toured around the island, and visited the shopping streets. The feeling that Emmy couldn’t do without the ring we bought on St. Croix, yesterday, lasted until we got to a store with the same name, on St. Thomas. Then she swapped it, plus a few dollars, for one she liked even better. (1978)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year we found a nice laundromat in Ghent, Belgium, that was open on Sunday. There was a lady doing her laundry, and she helped us figure out how to work the coins, the soap, and the buttons. She had her dog with her, and the person who seemed to be in charge of the area, asked her to keep it outside the building. She was very upset anyone would treat her dog like that. She said a dog wouldn’t be treated like that in the US. We assured her in the US dogs are not permitted in any store, restaurant or laundromat. She was shocked, and we figure we won’t see any sign of her in the US, with or without her dog. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year we met two tour groups from the US, while we were in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The first group were neatly dressed, attentive, well-behaved students from Macon, Georgia, escorted by their French teacher. Within a few minutes we met a sloppily dressed, disinterested, rowdy group of students from Philadelphia, PA, the very image of the “Ugly American.” Instead of a chaperone, they needed an armed guard. I talked to members of both groups, and never found why this latter group bothered to come to Paris. They didn’t know or care where they were or why. While strolling through Montmartre one day, we met a group of students from Nebraska. I enjoyed asking them questions about the places they had visited, and telling them some things not to miss during the rest of their trip. A group that was both learning and enjoying themselves. (1989)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year we visited Enna, Italy (Sicily) and saw a “twin city” named Calascibetta, on the hill across the valley. We didn’t explore it that day, but we looked and looked from the distance. Even I can conquer only so many of these hilltop towns and cities in any given day. Ten years later I saw a magazine photo of a hilltop city that I was sure was the one on the hill across from Enna. The picture was labeled Calascibetta, and I checked our travel journal to make sure I had the name right. Who said I’m not amazing, so modest too. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year we were in Sarlat, France, on market day. A dozen village streets, the market square, and all the space between were carefully lined with booths and market vehicles selling food and drink of every description. A couple of “meat markets” were in long, sleekly-designed refrigerated trailers with the meat behind glass — a well designed store on wheels. Other dozens of booths were selling clothes, shoes, kitchen equipment, and gadgets of all types, but we found no canes, no antiques or the flotsam and jetsam often seen in a flea-market. (1995)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year when we arrived at Cousin Toni’s home, we emptied part of each suitcase before trying to get them up the stairs. The stairs are too narrow and too curvy to get large heavy suitcases to the second floor easily. I told Toni that some people pay a lot of money to get their house redecorated, but we do it for free, and it only takes a few minutes to make everything look different than it looked, just before we arrived. (1991)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year, after her summer job at Villeroy and Boch, in Mettlach, Germany, was finished, our daughter Linda and her friend Margit traveled with us, in our RV, for a couple of weeks. (They slept in a tent at night.) As we were walking through the gate of floodlit Carcassonne, France, one night, I noticed the next song in the street musician’s songbook was the hymn, “Amazing Grace.” At the end of my vocal solo with flute accompaniment, and with thunderous applause from the tourists who must have come especially for this performance, Linda tipped the flute player an extra ten francs, and reminded me the applause came after — because? — I had stopped singing. (1983)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year, while repairs were being done on our 1977 Dodge Cobra Van, in Amersfoot, The Netherlands, we joined the mechanics during their coffee break. They were unhappy with the amount of money and the things the Dutch government gives to people who do nothing, and they have nothing good to say about the American hippies who lay around on the streets in Amsterdam. One man’s son gets paid less as a solider, than is paid as welfare to street people. They are also unhappy with all the South Americans who they said are messing up Amsterdam streets. A few years later we stopped at this same garage to solve a problem, while driving our 1978 Dodge Transvan. We showed the manager a photo of the 1977 Dodge, and he remembered us. Both Dodge RVs were most likely the only ones like that in all of Europe. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One year, while visiting Florence, Italy, the campground where we had stayed other years was filled to overflowing, so we needed to find a different campground. We were directed to Camping Panoramico in Fiesole, high on the hill to the north of Florence. The four mile drive to Fiesole was narrow, twisty, steep — it’s hard to believe that we never left town. From that campground we looked over the Arno River Valley with the domes and towers of Florence spread out below, especially the Campanile and the huge dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. Delightful, to say the least. I’ll bet no hotel had this view. The archaeological site in the town of Fiesole, includes a Roman theater built around 80 BC, that holds about 3,000 people. Plays are still performed there. Fiesole’s Romanesque Cathedral dates from the 11th century. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One young man (a member of a tour group from Western Europe) asked me why even the new roads in Poland weren’t very smooth. I said, “If they build a bad road they must stand in line to buy a loaf of bread, but on the other hand, if they build a good road they must stand in line to buy a loaf of bread. Their standard of living does not depend on how good a job they do.” Then it dawned on the young man, motivation. He hadn’t thought of that word before. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Only a visit to the high-arched, marble pedestrian bridge in Mostar, built by the Ottoman Empire in 1577, will capture the special ambiance and charm of the Mostar bridge, and luckily we have visited twice. The single arch is a graceful curve, and the handrail has a slight upward incline from both sides. After 435 years of history, the bridge (festooned, but unsuccessfully protected with old automobile tires and nets) succumbed to gun fire and plunged into the depths of the Neretva River on November 12, 1993. A huge crane was used to recover the stones from the river, and about 60% of the old stones were still usable. New blocks were cut from the same Tenelija stone quarry, that was used to built the original bridge. On July 24, 2004, eleven years after the bombing, the rebuilding was completed. Dozens of dignitaries (including Prince Charles of England), and thousands of citizens celebrated the results of the $15,000,000 reconstruction project. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oradour-sur-Glane, France, was attacked by the German Army on June 10, 1944, and everyone, except for six people, were killed. Men of the village were forced into several buildings, five “played dead” and escaped. Women and children were herded into the church, which was then set afire. One woman escaped and she died in May 1988. The old town ruin, called the “Martyred City,” has been preserved. Rather than rebuild the old town, they put a wall around the ruin, then built the new town next door. The old town remains as it was, with stark building walls, streetcar tracks still in the street, with rusted skeletons of automobiles, bicycles, sewing machines, and other objects, where they were on that tragic day. At the entrance to the old town there is a sign with only the words, “SOUVIENS-TOI, REMEMBER.” We’ve spent nights, in two different years, in the town campground. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Originally the Roman Amphitheater at Nîmes, France, was a waterproof arena, and when the playing field was filled with water, they could stage aquatic spectacles. Don’t think that style of use is gone forever. One time when we were in Nîmes the refrigeration truck from “Holiday on Ice” (that's what the sign advertised) was busily making ice on the floor of the arena, preparing for a modern ice spectacular. During one (of four) visit(s), we saw an announcement for a religious meeting to be held in the amphitheater the following week. The poster invited the Christians, but didn’t say a word about the lions. (1983)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our couple of hundred collectables include links of anchor chain from the Island of Saipan; clocks from Shipshewana, Indiana; another clock from the flea market near the Porte de Montreuil in Paris, France; scales from Athens, Stockholm, and Heidelberg; several items of beautiful framed art; copper and brass pots and kettles; serving trays from Tangier, Morocco; the 50+ items in my cane collection; lava rocks from Mt. Vesuvius and Hawaii; two ten inch pieces of the Berlin Wall along with the hammer that did it; and on and on.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our favorite place to eat in Europe (in Athens, Venice, Vienna, Paris, Rome, Prague, London, Berlin, Strasbourg, and all those other wonderful cities) is the “Street-side Cafeteria.” For example, we would buy a banana, an apple, or some cherries at the street-market, wash them in a nearby fountain, then have a feast with some French Fries, a Coke, with an ice cream cone for desert. A wonderful way to eat, as we continued to walk in these fascinating, beautiful cities in Europe.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our first cruise was on the TSS Carla-C, the first ship of the Princess Cruise Line (with that name on a “bed sheet” hung over the side of the ship). Our stateroom was tiny, just room for double bunks, a space to walk, and a small bathroom, but boy that was luxury. The service was excellent and the food never ran out. Just for fun, at one meal I asked for two Filet Mignon, just to see what would happen, so they brought me three. (1969)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our first reaction was to laugh when we saw the beautiful leaning tower of Pisa, Italy. After we studied it awhile, we saw how really impressive and majestic the tower is. Even if it were not leaning, it would be a superb tourist attraction. Emmy joined the millions of tourists who have stood with their hand held high, with the palm facing away from their bodies, while I carefully aligned her hand with the tower in the viewfinder, then took the ten-millionth photo of someone helping to hold up this “falling” tower. But be aware of this: just as a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day, there are two views that show the tower standing straight. I have Emailed a request for the azimuth, or compass reading of those two directions, several times, but have received no answer. (1980)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our first visit to Poland was somewhat difficult, finally after a good night’s sleep in Warsaw, Emmy said, “I feel like a new woman,” and I said, “Goodness knows I need one.” After seeing people so depressed and oppressed, Emmy wishes we had not come to Poland. All the bumps on the road, the crowds, and the lines everywhere — so depressing and we aren’t even in those lines. By hindsight, neither of us would have missed our visit to Poland for anything. The people have been so friendly, the sightseeing was interesting. We see a lot of nice, busy churches with people lined up, waiting for the next service. There were farm families going toward church, dressed in their Sunday best, some riding on a tractor, some being pulled in a wagon, others in a horse drawn cart. We have seen bicyclists wearing a suit and tie, on their way to church. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our friend Mike had asked me to buy some chips for his world-record-size collection of gambling chips, from the casino in Wiesbaden, Germany. We parked in downtown and shopped, and walked, and rested, and waited until it opened. Casinos in Europe are more formal than in Las Vegas or Reno, ties and jackets are required at all times. I didn’t want to gamble, I didn’t want to get all dressed up for just the few minutes required to buy the chips, and I couldn’t find my one and only tie in the first place. I talked to the doorman who was kind enough to get a handful of chips for our friend. The doorman probably wondered why anyone would buy chips and not gamble. For them it was pure profit. Well, come to think of it, had I gambled, they would have gotten the chips back too. (1985)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our friend for 20 years, Mitch, a retired Marine Colonel and recipient of the Congressional Metal of Honor for his service on Guadalcanal, on Oct. 26, 1942, during WW II, deserved, and was treated with all the honor and respect the guards at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, could muster. The guard’s footprint, as he snapped to attention, must still be visible in the asphalt street. We had picked up Mitch and his wife Marilyn at their friend’s home where they were visiting in Germany, and took them to visit the city of Trier, then to Saarburg, and to Cousin Toni’s home in Mettlach, before depositing them at their hotel room in the Generals Hotel, at the Ramstein Air Force Base. (1988)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our guide at the building where the famous Potsdam Conference was held at the end of WW II, spoke only German during the tour, but later we talked to him using a few words of both languages. In answer to our question, “Have you changed the content of your story about the Potsdam Conference, now that the Berlin Wall is down?” He said, “A little.” We wished we could have discovered what those changes were. We are sure the lady who gives the tour at Livadiya Palace, the location of the Yalta Conference (we visited in 1989, while the Berlin Wall still stood), would certainly have to change most of her story, now that so many Geopolitical changes have been made, and so many countries have been set free. (1991)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Our impressions of The Netherlands — lots of lovely homes, most with a very large, very sparkling clean picture window with lace curtains. An occasional windmill, millions (so it seems) of bikes, confusing bike signs, bike traffic lights and wide paved bike paths. At major intersections we often find they have light systems for the auto traffic, a complete set for the separat