@Longer Version: 1983 Trip

(July 6 to September 27)

This year World Airways agreed to move us and our “ton” of luggage to Frankfurt, with a change of plane in Baltimore, and a quick stop-and-go in Brussels. As we were ready to leave Los Angeles, on time for a change, we had to wait a few minutes for President Reagan and his Air Force One to get out of our way. Daughter Linda was staying at Cousin Toni’s home, and had a summer job with Villeroy & Boch in Mettlach, the company that has been making dishes, etc., for a couple of centuries.

This year Emmy decided we would travel in a rental car and spend the nights in Zimmer Frei (Room Free, or Bed and Breakfast) and small hotels, but two nights of that was all she could take. What a waste of time that would be, and how inconvenient. Our clothes would wear out from packing, and unpacking, day in and day out, and we would see only a small portion of what we can see while traveling in a camper.

We found a 1978 Dodge camper van at the US Army PX parking lot near Stuttgart and managed to get back to Toni’s before the Dodge’s water pump and my cold got the better of us. A water pump was hard to find and expensive to replace, but I only required a few day’s rest, and we were ready to go.

A new camper refrigerator (220 Volt) was purchased and installed in Luxembourg, and the next 10 days included a stopover in Paris, and a sojourn at the fabulous Cathedral in Chartres. In Compienge, north of Paris, we saw the railway car that was used for the signing of two treaties: at the end of WW I when the Germans surrendered to the French; and early in WW II, when the French surrendered to the Germans The RR car was returned to this spot after the surrender of the Germans at the end of WW II!

The joy of travel without a schedule included accidentally finding daughter Linda and friends on the street at Fougéres, a town none of us had even heard of earlier that morning. We knew she was in Europe, but had no idea she was anywhere near where we were.

In Dinan, as we walked down the long steep hill to the harbor, I reminded Emmy that she must walk up just as far as she walks down, so be careful. Well, to coin a phrase, her eyes were almost bigger than her feet, but we did make it back up the hill! The next few days included visits to our favorites such as Mont St. Michel’s Cathedral on a rock two kilometers from shore, a color history of the 1066 AD Norman invasion of England, called Queen Matilde’s Bayeux tapestry, and Honfleur’s beautiful wharf area. Linda and friends were at Cousin Monika’s at Montivilliers when we arrived there.

From Monika’s, we toured Rouen, where Joan ‘d Arc was burned at the stake, and the fantastic little city of Arras. After a couple of days each in Belgium and the Netherlands, we arrived at Cousin Josef’s in Euskirchen. By this time Linda and friend Margit (her home is near Euskirchen) had returned, so they decided to join us to experience how we travel. They planned to return to Germany from Nice, France.

At one place in France, I drew a blank when I mentioned (through an interpreter) to a little girl that we were from the United States, California, or Hollywood, but when I mentioned Disneyland, she beamed and said, “If you could be in Disneyland today, why are you in France?” Linda and Margit stayed with us across Switzerland, through southern France to see Carcassonne, then to Arles, Avignon, and Nimes. This year the truck from “Holiday on Ice” was preparing the 2,000 year old Amphitheater for the modern ice show. What a contrast! On the Verdon River we rented pedal-boats. I pedaled as hard as I could when I saw all the ladies “barefoot from the waist up,” but Emmy did the steering. We drove to the French Riviera and Monaco, then the girls decided to stay with us a little while longer.

We continued across Italy to Venice, and after a couple more days the girls returned to Germany. Emmy says that sometime she would like to stay in a hotel in Venice so we can rest, when needed, and be closer to the beauty of this great city. Of course, after she compares a $200 per night hotel room to a 20 minute ride to a $15 campsite, it’s an easy decision!

We continued in northern Italy, into Switzerland, then a few more days in Austria. Churches and Cathedrals in Austria have especially well designed and maintained church steeples. They are single onion, double onion, very pointed, octagon, bishops miter, some with multiple balls of various sizes, most with blue, red, or green shingles, just especially well maintained, one after the other.

We saw more of Munich and visited Emmy’s sister’s friends in Nürnberg, then our first visit to the very special town of Bamberg. After visiting a thousand old towns that have, or had, a town gate, we have determined that none surpass the Maintor, the entrance at Marktbreit, Germany, on the Main River just below Würzburg.

The fairy-tale towns of Rothenburg, and its neighbor Dinkelsbühl, must be seen each time we are in the neighborhood, then we returned to Toni’s for a few days rest. Toni’s home is about 180 years old, and is in the middle of a half dozen row-houses that share end walls. During our stay, a fire in the middle of the night badly damaged the neighbor’s home, but the thick stone wall between the homes, protected Toni from any damage.

With Toni as our passenger we toured nearby France, and for a few hours toured one of the underground forts of the Maginot Line. A train took us through a couple of miles of tunnels, where we saw living quarters and huge gun emplacements. Considering that this defensive position barely delayed the German Army early in WW II, it figures that we spent more time at the Maginot Line today than the German Army did at the start of the War!

Toni continued with us for about ten days while we visited several other cousins, then we spent a few more days in France. We parked the camper in a garage in Mettlach, planning to return within six months or so, then returned to the US. What a wonderful 87 day trip.