Katherine picked us up to take us to Nebraska City to meet Karen, Tom, and the boys, who took us to the Kansas City airport on their way to Worlds of Fun for the day. We pulled out of the yard at 5:55 a.m. (5 minutes ahead of schedule) with our 1 backpack each (mine weighs 22#, Verle's contains his laptop) containing all we would need for 2 months abroad. In addition, we had two 44# suitcases filled with gifts for the Ukraine -- an ugly green wardrobe suitcase and a prettier brown embroidered one that we will leave with Vlad, Raya, and Jacob and Julia. We each also have a bag of reading material to carry overflow if needed as we board the plane to Kiev.
We really enjoyed the drive to Nebraska City -- we had a good visit with Katherine. Bruce, Carsten, Adam, and Lukas met us at the Bennet Corner, and we had a bite together there. (Maureen is miserable from her (next to last) chemo treatment.) Carsten is finishing up NU football camp.
Karen and I visited all the way down to Kansas City. Her Mom's 4 chemo treatments are progressing. She, like Maureen, also has to have radiation. Karen's grandpa had a stroke Saturday. Don Whitted's dad died last week. Tom and Karen are planning a lot of traveling in July. Karen's going to start selling Longdenbarger baskets. We had a real scare when we reached the airport -- Verle couldn't find his passport. It might have been early enough for someone to still bring it to him, but we had no idea where it could be at home. Finally he found the passport tucked behind in his money belt!!
We left Kansas City for Chicago with no problems except for a long line. However, the flight before and the flight after ours were canceled "because of the weather." However, we never did see bad weather on either end. There probably won't enough passengers. Our flight was full. We arrived eight minutes early after flying mostly above the clouds. We changed from Concourse B to Concourse C. We bought a country music cassette for Vlad while we waited for our International flight.
The Chicago to Paris flight was also perfect. Our plane was a 777. We were on the aisle of the middle section next to a French couple. We were served juice and pretzels. Later they brought warm napkins to wash up before our meal of pork, gravy, mashed potatoes, spinach (cooked -- tasted like hay), cold salmon, tossed salad, and chocolate pie. We had music in our earphones and a choice of 3 movies, which I didn't watch. Then they cut the lights and we got some sleep. The bathroom on the plane was clean with lotion and cologne provided. At about 12:30 a.m. home time, they served us a dry roll, coffee, and orange juice. Soon after, we arrived in Paris -- morning -- 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 7.
We followed everyone through customs (simple). It was hard to handle the 2 gift suitcases, heavy backpacks, and hand "bag" of reading material, but free carts were available everywhere. My backpack hurts my neck muscles. I'd like to check our riding clothes at Munich to lighten my bag. The information centers are very helpful. We took out 200 francs (about $28) from the ATM machine. We had to ask other English-speaking travelers how many francs = $20. They said $20 wasn't enough for a taxi. The extremely difficult thing at the Paris airport was the floor levels -- some elevators list them by #, others not. We had a terrible time with that and waited at the wrong level for l 1/2 hours for the Comfort Inn courtesy shuttle bus to take us to our hotel. Information finally solved the problem for us -- Gate 22, level 3 (or the one that said "Departure.") The airport is laid out in a big circle which helps in getting around.
The Comfort Inn is just being repainted -- good shower -- small, but comfortable. We slept several hours, then went for a walk. What fun! Though close to the airport, we were actually located in a small old town within a farming area.
The homes were built like a wall around courtyards -- many seemed to be working farms -- with chickens, machinery -- pots and baskets of flowers everywhere. The roses are a kind of tree rose -- eight or nine in a bunch -- large -- they look like artificial paper roses at home and are very fragrant. It's interesting to listen to all the people speak French -- it 's a very melodic language. Though close to the airport, this little old town seems a good introduction to the real Europe for us!
We came back and ate the buffet at the restaurant -- our first money mistake -- we understood that the buffet was $11 for 2 instead of $11 each ($29 total)! It was very interesting food -- especially the desserts and salads. They also had good watermelon. I didn't like the two fancy cheeses. A tour group took all the desserts before we could get to them. We were glad when they brought out more. We learned that in Europe there is often no butter for the rolls.
We went back to our room, showered, washed hair, and soon went to sleep. The computer and my hair curler both worked well using the converter/adapter. Our hotel was the Comfort Hotel Aeroport Charles de Gaulle, 355.50 franc. ($48.60) Address: 77 990 La Chapelle de Guinchay Phone 01-60-03-66-00
I woke up wide awake about 3 a.m. and worked on this journal for awhile before going back to sleep.
We got back to the Paris airport using the Comfort Inn shuttle. We arrived early, checked our bags, and received our boarding passes without any difficulty. We had about 2 hours to wait for the airplane to board. The Ukrainian Airline plane was nearly empty so we could spread out. We waited about one hour on the runway before we could take off. There were planes backed up everywhere.
We had a tasty meal enroute -- chicken, rice with vegetables, brown stuff (dressing?), raw vegetable salad (cucumbers and tomatoes with mayonnaise dressing) a roll and butter, hot tea, and a fancy and tasty dessert.
We flew mostly above the clouds, although we could see the makeup of the countryside as we took off -- houses clustered close together in small villages surrounded by open fields. A couple of times we could see down to fields halfway through our flight. They followed the same pattern, but the fields looked much different with narrow plots looking more like a crazy quilt.
We arrived one hour late in Kiev. As we came closer, we saw much bigger fields, but still many smaller garden plots. We landed and went through customs very easily. Whew! We had worried a lot about that. They quickly checked our passport and visa and waved us on through. Vlad and Jacob met us and Jacob's father-in-law, Anatoli, drove us through Kiev. It's hard to express our excitement in meeting both Vlad and Jacob. We began to visit right away, and Vlad did an excellent job understanding, speaking, and translating our English for Jacob and Anatoli. We were able to discuss many things and see a lot of Kiev and the broad river Dniper. The ride through Kiev was exciting (?) and a bit unnerving. They drive fast and cross lines to drive in oncoming lanes without rules. Even though there were 3 lanes of traffic on both sides, it was almost like a bunch of bugs looking for a place to run. Anatoli loves to drive and is very skillful and we reached Jacob and Julia's apartment successfully. Jacob and Anatoli are such good and Godly men, and spoke with feeling and great interest and listened carefully to Vlad's translations. It was so exciting to finally be here, and to be able to communicate so easily, with Vlad's help.
We arrived at Jacob and Julia's apartment. Since our plane was one hour late, our time together was condensed, but they assured us that we would get together for the day when we return to Kiev next week.
Jacob and Julia's home is on a higher floor in an apartment. The building itself is not in very good shape, so it was a big surprise to see their apartment. It is lovely -- cozy, with a nice carpet and walls -- comfortable. Julia's mother provided the remodeling (and Jacob did the work) for them. We met their three children, who are very gentle and beautiful. Sophia, ___, ____. They have big, dark eyes like Jacob and Julia. Julia served us an excellent meal, with chicken, tossed salad, potatoes, bread, and Coke. I was talking so much that I didn't quite finish my food before it was time to leave. Jacob has nearly finished the process for receiving his Ukrainian passport. (He is from Armenia, and since the breakup of the Soviet Union, he (like Vlad was) does not have citizenship papers anywhere. Julia's passport is Ukrainian, since she has lived longer in Kiev.
Their present plans are to start a tent ministry when his passport process is complete. They are excited about this ministry. They plan to rent their apartment out and use this income for support. Although the apartment is lovely, they would prefer to live more simply.
Anatoli drove us again -- to the train station. Jacob helped with our bags (we had the two large bags with gifts in addition to our backpacks). The crowd waiting to enter the train was large, and they all were pressing against each other. We were careful to stay together, but it was still a bit frightening. Our tickets were for upper berths but were in different compartments of one of the cars on the train. Vlad arranged with the woman conductor for us to have one of the rooms for visiting until bedtime. It was very enjoyable to have such a long and good chance to visit, and the train ride was very pleasant. Vlad had a pain in his stomach, but it went away by morning. As it got time to sleep, we went to the beds that matched our tickets. Verle was next to a man named Sergay, and they talked until 1:00. The people in my cabin didn't speak English, and I was a bit worried about my things, so I kept waking up. The only unpleasant thing about the train was the toilet -- very dirty and smelly, no water to wash, or toilet paper. I was glad we had brought toilet paper and Wet Ones.
When morning came, Vlad came to say we were almost to our station. I hurriedly got up and gathered my things. However it was quite awhile yet and we stood in the aisle. When the train stopped, we got off and Vlad purchased pe'racky. (Bread with chopped egg and green onion -- delicious.) It was embarrassing traveling with the two big ugly suitcases and our two backpacks. I'm glad that we won't have the suitcases for the rest of the trip. We had so much fun talking about so many things. It is amazing that we can visit so easily about anything and everything, including our love for Jesus.
We finally reached the train depot in Slavensk, the town where Vlad does his computer, Internet, and E-mail work. Oleg Karakouts, Vlad's friend, was supposed to meet us, but Vlad couldn't find him. I used the toilet (the style with markings to show were to stand -- as was described in our Europe book. It was good that other women were using that room so I could see what to do -- there were no doors. It was smelly and unpleasant with nowhere to wash, but anything is welcome when badly needed!
The flowers, especially the roses in front of the station were so beautiful. I wonder how many bushes there were -- hundreds, and all of them blooming at once! Vlad hired a taxi to take us to his work place. It was an office room with a computer. After several attempts to connect to the Internet, we were able to send a short message to the Stahr family and our church family. We may be able to write again at the end of our stay in Krasniy Liman.
Oleg Kovalchuck, Vlad's boss, and the other Oleg, Vlad's good friend came, and Verle showed them the laptop computer and some of our pictures. The men had an exciting time. We had coffee, used the rest room, and met Oleg Kovalchuck's wife.
Oleg Karakout's friend took us in his car to Krasniy Liman, and we met Tonya and Ivan. It was so wonderful to meet them. We ate coclette (co cle ta). It is a fried mixture like meat loaf -- delicious! I found out later that the ingredients are almost the same as in meat loaf, plus garlic. They dip the oblong patty in fat and fry it. We also had a rice-like grain -- dark -- we had it often, but we don't know what grain it is. Most of the food we ate in Krasniy Liman at Vlad's and at their friends was Asian and Russian food. Vlad and most of their friends that we met were from Uzbekistan. It was very easy for us to eat all of their food -- we enjoyed it SO much. They eat a lot of raw vegetables, and they were all delicious. Most common are cooked shredded beets or shredded cabbage or shredded carrots served with mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and sugar. The cabbage has various seasonings: dill, usually fresh garlic and onions, fresh peppers, and cucumbers. Most meals included slices of good bread with jelly, honey, sometimes butter, and a dish of sliced summer sausage. Many of the meals included a rich soup called borschk. They often spoon sour cream on top. They put sour cream on many of the foods. It is different from our sour cream -- more natural -- less thick -- good. Each type of borschk we ate had broth, a lot of vegetables, and meat. But it was richer than most of our vegetable soup and none of it tasted the same as ours. Each kind was filling and wonderful -- I think they contained garlic, beets dill, green onion, regular onion. Vlad will have Tonya help him give me some recipes for borshk.
Other foods we made and ate were Perashky (pe rash ky) and Palmeny. To make perasky, they boiled eggs and made a light yeast bread. It seemed to rise very quickly and was not a dense bread. It is kneaded lightly and allowed to rise. They make the bread into a long roll and cut it into pieces the size required. Each piece is rolled to an oblong. A spoonful of the egg / onion filling is placed on the bread and it is closed like a runza. It is allowed to sit a little while (or longer) and they begin frying before all the perasky is prepared. They turn it over to fry the other side and drain. A similar dish is prepared as above, except that homemade mashed potatoes are used for filling.
The palmeny is made with a pasta dough. It looks and handles like bread or pie dough. It is made with flour, water, egg, salt, allowed to sit, rolled into rolls, cut into pieces. Each round is flattened (could use a glass) and a teaspoon sized piece of raw ground meat (pork or beef) is placed in the center. If beef, some lard should be added. The round is folded in half and the outside edge is pinched together. Then the two ends are brought together in a sort of a pinch. They look very much like the frozen filled pasta we sometimes buy. These are boiled and served with the broth as a soup or eater warm as they are. Again, sour cream is often added.
On Wednesday morning, they fried a light bread dough like small pancakes and served it with honey. It's called alady (a la dee) They also sent some along for our trip on the train overnight.
Vlad and Tanya's home is very cozy -- they have done such a wonderful job -- ceramic tile, etc. (It's all described on the video.) Their garden is huge (also described on the video) and very necessary for survival.
Tanya doesn't have an oven, so all cooked food is either fried or boiled, it seems.
The days are running together in my mind (Saturday to Wednesday), so I will just continue telling about general subjects instead of trying a chronological schedule.
Our first day in Krasniy Liman (Saturday) was our anniversary. We both remembered that it was our anniversary, and we decided that this anniversary tops any anniversary schedule we could possibly have devised. After dinner (noon) at Vlad's, we enjoyed getting acquainted and began our many conversations. Vlad has many Bible verses that are very meaningful to him, and he draws much strength from his relationship with God. He feels strongly about his responsibility for teaching Tanya and Ivan. We had used only one chance to share a devotional with Vlad and Tanya. It was based on the fruit of the Spirit. We discussed and Vlad translated for Tanya and his mother, who joined in while she was cooking. Sveta's grandfatherwas a priest who suffered imprisonment by the Communists. They kept this identity secret for their safety.
We always shared a prayer before meals (me, Verle, or Vlad--he would pray either in English or Russian and translate for the rest. At one point, Verle prayed and Vlad translated to Russian. As he listed the points of Verle's prayer, I realized that Vlad had listened and prayed much more actively than I had.
In the evening of our anniversary, we went to Vlad's Aunt Irene's (Eerena) where Vlad played the piano. The people at this home were (Eerena, Sweta's sister, Andra, college student, sister Juli, young 12-year old lady, Sveta (Vlad's mother), and Nicoli, her husband, who looks a lot like my Grandpa Vogt to me. We enjoyed their garden, and then they offered that we use their sauna. First Vlad explained the procedure to Verle, and then Verle and I enjoyed the sauna together. Later Andrea and also Vlad and Tanya went. Most likely Irene (Eerana) (long first a, second a schwa) had already used the sauna -- she was wearing a house coat.
This was the procedure for the Russian sauna: You entered an outer wooden room where your clothing was hung. Then you entered the sauna. It was a wood room about the size of our sewing room with a wooden bench seat and stove (hot). There was a bucket of very hot (nearly boiling) water and one of cold. The stove appeared to use charcoal briquettes. It heated a whole big tank of water.
At each place we visited in Krasniy Liman, they served tea and/or coffee and cookies or some bread and candy. For meals, they served large amounts of food to us, and insisted that we take more. It tasted so great -- everything -- but I just couldn't eat that much. My stomach got sore and I couldn't eat more than about 1/4 servings for about 2 days. I loved the small servings I was able to eat, and they accepted my smaller meals because of my stomach. I wanted to eat more, but I just couldn't. The last couple of days, I felt fine.
The homes and apartment buildings in this area are mostly made of a kind of white brick. The brick company at Krasniy Liman was the first and most important brick factory in Europe. The factory looks like it's been bombed, because when the government abandoned it, private citizens took all the bricks. On Monday we took a long walk through Krasniy Liman. Until then, all our walking had been in Vlad's area where there are many relatively small white brick homes with gardens 3 times the size of mine. Most of these homes look similar to each other, with brick wall fences and metal walls, mostly green. The streets in Vlad's area are mostly dirt, and since it had been raining a lot before we arrived, there were a lot of "lakes" in the roads. Even the concrete roads are badly needing repair and full of holes. We walked almost everywhere we went -- it was very peaceful and enjoyable, even walking home in the dark. There are almost no streetlights and we didn't realize that we should have taken our flashlights.
After we had been with Vlad and Tanya for a day or so, Vlad expressed to us that they had been so worried that we would not enjoy our visit because of their toilet, walking everywhere, etc. We thought back to the many things we had truly enjoyed and our honest and wholehearted expressions of that joy to them, and of how God had used that to reassure them. It must be because of our prayers and those of the people in our church and our family. For instance, the first time I used their outdoor toilet, I was so reminded of my childhood and of how I was a little afraid of going out there at night in case someone was hiding behind the trees, so I would sing loudly, "God will take care of you." We had shared a multitude of these joyful things from our hearts. Our relationships and sharing for all our time together were relaxed, and it seemed as we looked back that we must have planned ahead for the things that we did and said, but it had to be God's planning that entered our thoughts and actions. If we were really good planners and very gifted Christians and intelligent about the use of our time together, I don't think we could have designed our visit to be any better than it was. Thank you for your very special love and care for us, God, and for Vlad, Tanya, and Ivan.
I must interrupt this narrative to tell about our train ride back to Kiev that we are taking now. It fits with all I have expressed above. It is 4:30 a.m., and Verle, Vlad, and Ivan are sleeping in their berths. It has been a sweet and comfortable night. The rocking of the train makes for a lovely sleep. It stops a lot, which wakes me up, and then I can pray for our church people, our family, these people, and everything. I don't fight to return to sleep, but just relax and enjoy God's love and communication with Him until I fall back asleep. It almost seems that I am praying as I sleep. That makes for sweet dreams.
Our time together in this train has been a glimpse of heaven!!! We shared a devotion and other Scriptures. We talked deeply about many aspects about God and our Christian life (as we have through the last several days.) Verle and I marvel at Vlad's spiritual maturity and knowledge. Without formal religious teaching and fellowship in a Christian community, Vlad has developed this growth and understanding directly from his relationship with God, his study of Scripture, and his use of TV and printed materials available to him. His faith has grown and flowered just as his English has. Vlad speaks English as if he has been around English-speaking people a lot, and he shares his faith in the same way. Rev. Malotky used to say that a person could become a deep and sincere Christian by using only the Bible -- Vlad has done that!! We shouldn't be surprised, I guess, because God knows what He is doing when He gives us His Word -- it's all we need. What a blessing it is to witness this!! Thank you, Lord!!
We closed our discussion time last night with an open prayer time that was so sweet. God has been riding in this car with us and in our prayer time: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there with them!"
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As we retraced our steps (yesterday and today) to the train station in Krasniy Liman, Slavensk, and riding back toward Kiev, everything looks better, less shabby, more enjoyable than when we were arriving. I know their lives are difficult economically here, but there is so much good and so much beauty here. If only these people could know Jesus! I pray, Lord, that you are raising up many more people like Vlad to minister to these multitudes who don't know you -- these people who have been brainwashed by Communism and deceived by the Devil. They, too, need You! Bless Jacob and Julia's ministry. I understand so much better now their heart for you and for your people, Lord.
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Last Sunday:
Vlad had written that we would visit the monastery (Mother Mary -- Slavyanogorsk) while we were here. Oleg and his girlfriend, Julia, arrived with a friend who has a car, and we traveled there. Ivan went, too, so we had a full car. It was about a 30 minute drive. It was interesting to see the countryside outside of town and away from the railway. Riding the railway is a bit like traveling along Nebraska's interstate. It is tree-lined, although there are many breaks where one can see more of the countryside. Most of this area is as level as home -- probably more -- and it appears that they have little wind (?) Garden plots are very large and around and between every house. The people are always busy working in them. They are already using the new potato crop.
Back to the monastery: this is an Orthodox "community," with monks still living here, practicing their religion, holding services, and slowly restoring the buildings by hand. A beautiful river flows through this area, a peaceful and beautiful setting. Oleg explained much of what we saw to us -- he was a very helpful guide. We won't have this chance in the rest of Europe.
Defense was a definite issue in the construction of this site. They don't know exactly when it was started, but it's considered the second oldest monastery in the Ukraine (Soviet? Europe?) There are perhaps 4 levels of brick walls, with a castle (?) at the top. In a time of danger, those living below could escape to this fortress. "Mines" lead from the top through the mountain and come out in (below?) the river. We walked through the tunnels. A procession of monks came chanting down from an area above. It reminded me of the area above where Jonathan Vogt was married in Oregon. The procession walked through followed by a crowd of worshippers. It was really interesting and filled with tradition, impressive garments, and icons. Many of Vlad's friends asked us about our trip to the monastery. It was impressive and enjoyable, but I didn't express to them the gap Verle and I feel between all of this show and the New Testament Christianity as we understand it from the Bible. All of this Orthodox tradition (it seems to me) appears to be man's ideas rather than God's. It has much beauty and tradition, but little substance. However, it is SO peaceful and beautiful, and I could really enjoy God's presence there -- not because of the Orthodox past, but because of the beauty. I can also appreciate their desire to express their love to God through all of this. I pray that this is the true motivation of the crowds who go there and the monks, etc. The most glorious thing for me was the joyful ringing of the bells in the church tower. I prayed for healing for Verle and my bodies (if they still need it) and for many other things. We know God works in many and mysterious ways, and even through man's responses and forms that may not be as God would actually wish for them to be.
We had a lot of exercise walking throughout the monastery area. I wore my ugly blue polka dot dress (I gave it to Raya now). Julia and I wore scarves on our heads as is expected of women who visit there.
We returned home to Tanya and Sveda. Vlad's mom helped Tanya with food preparation many times during our stay. I really like her and wish we could talk openly; we did learn to communicate some. By the time we left, Tanya could understand much of what we were saying in English.
Tanya and Svelta had prepared a light (??) lunch. As we finished, Galena came to tell us that Babushka Galena and her family had supper ready for us. What a lovely evening we had with them!! They had wines (etc.) and I felt badly for them that we don't drink. I did sip a tiny bit of wine, remembering Paul's admonition to Timothy to "drink a little wine for your stomach." My stomach has been much better for the rest of our time here. I had been worried about it. These are the people who were at Babushka's: Babushka Galeena, Galeena--her daughter, Looba .........
Babushka is the picture of Patricia Palacco's grandmothers in our books. We shared this with Babushka. Vlad was like a United Nations translator. The teenagers had many questions about politics, the economy, our countries, etc. We had a great discussion with Vlad's help. All of Vlad's family and friends welcomed us with open arms and exuberance. They were SO kind and hospitable. I really pray that God will use this time with Vlad to lay the groundwork for Vlad to be able to share the true Gospel with these wonderful people. Like Tomiko, his heart must bleed for these loved ones.
When we left these homes, their people often walked part way home with us!
On Tuesday, we took a walking tour through much of Krasniy Liman and stopped to visit and have tea or coffee with many of their friends:
The city center is stately -- tree-lined walks, flowers, green -- large concrete or white brick buildings, small shops, the Culture Center (a large and very nice building.) Vlad says all city centers built by the Soviets are very similar. Most are stately and large, but not very beautiful, and many now need repair. Most grass isn't mowed, but there are beautiful flowers and trees everywhere.
We really enjoyed walking everywhere. It's like biking -- a chance to really enjoy the countryside.
Wednesday: Flew from Kansas City to Chicago to Paris
Thursday a.m.: Arrived Paris, hotel, walking tour, buffet supper with desserts
Friday: Paris to Kiev, met Jacob; Vlad, car ride, supper with Jacob and Julia, overnight train to Slavensk
Saturday: Our 44th anniversary. Vlad's Slavensk workplace, car ride to Vlad's home, noon meal with Tanya and Ivan, supper at Irene's - sauna
Sunday: Stepan came, visiting market, monastery, Babushka supper with Babushka's grandchildren, Olga and Baby Daniel came to visit
Monday: Walking tour of Krasniy Liman, visiting friends, tea, shower
Tuesday: Raya and Sash came -- they and Vlad walked us to their home for dinner. Visiting more friends / tea
Wednesday: Pack boxes, good-bye, walk to train to Slavensk, E-mail- train with Ivan, man on train with accordion
Thursday: a.m. arrived in Kiev, showered at Jacob and Julia's, dinner, walking and Metro in failed attempt to mail packages, taxi to huge worship service, taxi and metro back to apartment, supper (fried chicken, spaghetti), sharing, computer pictures (overnight Jacobs)
Friday: Coffee, showers, pack, devotions, go to airport
This is a miracle! I went to use the toilet, and when I came back, I didn't know which compartment was ours. People were still sleeping, so I didn't want to start knocking on doors. I started calling softly, and a young man stuck his head out watching me. He pointed to the door he thought was ours. Finally the men heard me and opened our compartment door. Soon after, the young man came to our door and asked, "Are you Christians?" We asked, "How did you know?" He said, "By His Spirit." We invited him in and visited -- he asked if he should go get his priest. We said we'd just enjoy sharing with him. We shared our faith and prayed. He introduced us to another young woman traveling with him. His faith seems strong -- they are planting churches in a western Ukraine province. He did mention the teacher, Benny Hinn, who Verle and Vlad both say is Benny Hinn is false. (How does Vlad know this?) Igor Krasnyansky, city Lugansk, halel@ukr.net
Sharing about their planned tent ministry -- suggested that Jacob share their plans with the Calvary people -- possible support?
We had an enjoyable day with Jacob and Julia. We showered, ate, then all including the children went by Metro (subway) to the city center to TRY to mail our packages home. The post office refused to let us send the books, so a lot of difficult effort was futile. However, it gave us a real chance to try to work within the city and see the downtown.
We went to a lovely park area above the Dnipper River. There was a large outdoor concrete stage area with seats on the hillside. A statue of a Russian and a Ukrainian signified peace. Another large red statue depicted a number of old (folk?) heroes of the Ukraine. The view of the Dnipper River from this high place is gorgeous, with the park at the arm of the bend. The city seems to have three main separated sections of tall apartment / government / business buildings. It's a big city.
We went back by Metro to Jacob and Julia's. I changed to a dress, and Jacob, Vlad, and I went to a worship service featuring a preacher from Nigeria -- great! Their church is a huge building -- they said it holds 20,000 people, and they fill it packed including standing room on Sundays. I really enjoyed seeing such a crowd of Ukrainians worshipping. The music was exciting and joyful. We were glad Vlad could have such an experience since he loves music so much! Group worship music invites God to inhabit his people in such a marvelous way. Vlad translated the entire sermon, which was based on the time when the angels visited Lot in Sodom -- the sermon was very basic Christian concepts with a drama of Christ dying for the sinner. Her stopped short of showing Jesus off the cross and living through us. We talked about this after we got back to Jacob and Julia's and had lunch with them. We had such a wonderful discussion, including Jacob and Julia's vision for their tent ministry. We shared how Calvary Church helped Jeff Prusa and his friend go to Guatemala, and the fact that we think Calvary people would provide help to Jacob and Julia. Jacob REALLY hates to asked for help -- I tried to point out how much others are blessed when they can help. Jacob and Julia would like for Vlad to join their ministry. So much time together through these days should really open the door for that if it's God's plan. He surely has some plan for Vlad -- and, of course, for each of us -- Lord, help us to find it.
Vlad bought 3 tapes -- Point of Grace, Carmen, Michael W. Smith. Jacob bought some videos.
We watched videos of Bruce's house moving and Verle's Mexicali trip, and some of our houseboat vacation. We slept in Jacob and Julia's comfortable bed -- so well -- woke up after 9!! We had coffee, showered, and washed hair, packed, and worshipped -- singing, Scripture, praying -- it was wonderful!! After another meal (we met Julia's Mom - Valentina- and really enjoyed her story of matching Ukrainian orphan children with US parents. A California firm has been keeping $14,000 of the $20,000 adoption fee. Valentina has found a way to provide the adoption for $7500 with about $2000 needed for paperwork, plane fare, citizenship papers, etc. They are going to send the information by E-mail. It may be helpful for us in the U.S. Anatoli took us to the airport (similar traffic and driving) and we got our boxes and backpacks through customs, except that they opened the small box and took out the old money and let us give it back to Vlad. We were worried that they wouldn't let us take the big box on the plane, but it was no problem. The real problem came when they sent us back to the airline window to get our boarding passes. The window was closed for the flight to Zurich, and the lady said that the flight was closed. It was 40 minutes to boarding time and we were really nervous -- one man had been standing there for an hour. He tried another window, and we followed. There the ticket lady said that we were on Swiss Airline, and sent us to another window, and we got on easily, although by then, it was time to board, and we were a bit rushed. The flight and meal and plane were comfortable, and I slept some. As we approached Zurich, we had a good view of the mountains, rivers, villages, and farmland -- gorgeous, although Verle had the window seat.
We landed, got through customs quickly and easily, used the ATM machine, found a post office in the airport and mailed our two packages. It was easy -- filled out an easy form, paid 84 francs -- about $53. We found the train station, got a schedule and directions from the information center -- easy -- so polite -- gave us a printed schedule -- found the place to stand, and got on the first class train for Bern and Brig. We'll proceed to Zermatt tomorrow to meet David and Heather. We are so impressed with the ease of making connections and the comfort of the trains. The space is open -- we have a table between us, and the trains have been almost empty. We rode on the top deck for the first leg. (Our only double deck train the rest of our time in Europe).
We arrived in Brig at about 10:15 p.m. Now what to do? We checked the schedule for train departure times to Zermatt -- every hour. We asked the conductor about sleeping in the train station. He suggested the cheap Good Night Inn (99f - $50?) Good night Inn. It was a short walk -- single beds - comfortable - Internet access - we E-mailed Vlad, the kids, and the church.
We slept very well, ate a breakfast including cold cereal, and brought along food for lunch. We picked up E-mail answers from Jeremy and Katherine. Mother fell again. Tornadoes hit east of Seward. We bought tickets for Zermatt. 30 f. round trip for each. 2nd class. The ride was beautiful, so beautiful, but I kept falling asleep. Dave and Heather's tour had just arrived when we got to Zermatt (so much for our worries about being able to meet up with them!) We found them easily. Through information, we found a private home (50f) for tonight. Then we ate pizza with Dave and Heather. She called home for under 2 francs. They shopped for watch/knife. David and Heather left to meet their tour group about 3 p.m. It was cold and drizzly -- unpleasant, so we took a long, peaceful nap at our apartment. In the early evening, we got up. The rain had stopped, and we went out for a walk. Amazingly, the sky had cleared briefly and we got a view of the Matterhorn! The train station and our room are near the north end of town. We walked along the river all the way through town. We stopped briefly at the ornate Catholic church that was holding a service and stepped inside. Then we followed a path along the river all the way to the south end of town. A path up the mountain continued to follow the stream, and we followed it. We met two college girls from North Carolina. Shortly a procession came down the hill playing fifes and drums. Many of the front men wore a kind of mask. The rest of the marchers were well dressed and wore corsages. We asked and learned that the group was a wedding party. As we walked farther, we met three women in a cart coming down the hill. We're sure it was the bride, her bridesmaid, and her mother. We continued a great deal farther up the mountain. It was such a pleasant walk -- and a long way back. Coming back, we missed our turn up the hill and ended up in the service and support area of the town. It was interesting to see what is behind the scenes.
We got back to the apartment and had a great hot bath in a deep tub. Went to sleep and slept long and well -- to 8 a.m. Packed up, walked back to the train station, got some juice and bread, and got back on the train to Brig. It is cloudy with clouds hiding the mountaintops, but no rain. I'm glad that we had a brief view of the Matterhorn last night.
It's a gorgeous ride from Zermatt to Brig, and this time I could stay awake. We shared a compartment with 2 young women from Seattle. When the conductor came, he said we were in the first class section. We could move or pay 25 f. to stay. Our round trip tickets were only 40 or 50 f. We move. Second class was comfortable, too. A Japanese couple and their daughter and her baby sat next to us. The daughter's English was excellent. They were from Chiba. From Zermatt to Brig, the railroad is enclosed almost 1/4 of the time. We're guessing it's to keep the trains running when the snow is heavy, and possibly to keep rock slides off the tracks.
We arrived in Brig and experienced the "What now?" We had lined out questions and possible destinations, but the information office was closed. The ticket office gave information -- rent 2 bikes for a day for 44 f. Mountain or country bikes are the same price. Return to train station. Lockers cost 4f or 6 f depending on size. We decided to go to Montreaux on Lake Geneva. We got on the train and filled in our train pass -- hopefully correctly.
We are enjoying this ride -- fruit trees and grape vines abound in any possible available spot -- beautiful intense farming -- gorgeous flowers everywhere. The towns, apartment buildings, warehouses, etc. don't look so different from home (if you don't notice the Alps in the background!) The intense farming on the valley and on terraces far up the mountainsides is amazing. Any little space is filled with rows of trees or vines or other crops. There are acres of grape vines and many kinds of fruit trees.
We got to Montreaux and didn't know how to get to the boat across Lake Geneva. When we finally found it, the ship had just left (11:45) and the next one wouldn't leave until 3:45. We couldn't decide what to do or where to stay. We got some suggestions from the travel guide. We wanted to see the Chateau de Chillion castle, and were surprised to learn that it was just a few blocks away along the seashore in Montreaux. A man asked us if the bus went to the castle and we assured him that it did. He offered to help us find a youth hostel (Jeunotel) in Lausanne. We hurried to the castle to visit before the ship left. The castle is completely restored. We checked my backpack at the desk. I was so glad! The castle was very interesting. We listened to a tour director until she reminded us that we were not in her tour. They hung prisoners on the gallows, tied rocks to their feet, and hoisted them out into the deep lake. The castle was built in stages and rebuilt. It has had some habitation continuously. It has been torn down (parts) and rebuilt. It's built right on the rock, and is on a tiny island just off the coast. They charged duty on goods moving inland through this area. The castle includes a museum, with weapons, painting of coat-of-arms, furniture, etc. Very interesting. We ran back to catch the boat on Lake Geneva to Lausanne. We made it, but with little time to spare. The boat was a lovely ride, although it got a bit rainy and cold, so we went inside. I went through the boat to find Pat and Dave, the two men from India that we had met going to the castle. They came up to join us later.
Pat Bijlani 925-943-1505
FAX 925-943-1626
Dayah Khilnani (Dave)
Miyoleo (a letter that looks like a 5 and a 6 together) MBH
5/3 Andrea
1070 Wien, Austria
tel- 5263480
Dave is a Vienna retailer for watches made by his brother's company in Hong Kong. Pat sells tuxedoes in (Seattle?) They feel that the key to their success is hard work and a willingness to support the culture where they live. They feel we met because we had been ordained to do so by God. Pat also suggested that this may have originated from an earlier life.
When we docked in Lausanne, Dave and Pat got our picture taken with a statue of a naked goddess. Then Dave took us to the information place by his hotel and they directed us to the Youth Hostel and showed us which bus to take. The Hostel was clean, frugal, and $40 our money. We left our bags and went out walking, looking for a place to eat Swiss fondue. We spent a lot of time in a gorgeous cemetery. They put concrete frames around the grave and plant flowers inside. Adjoining was a park with plots of roses -- probably 30-50 different varieties. Gorgeous! We walked for what seemed like miles -- past the waterfront and several blocks up into town. Most restaurants were closed or terribly expensive. Finally we decided to start back and see if we could find the restaurant with cheese fondue for 22f. We saw a small bar/restaurant at this price and went in. A lady invited us to sit at their table. Heidi and her husband from Canton (or some such country where Switzerland, Germany, and Paris meet -- they are with the carnival in Lousanne for 3 weeks. Heidi could speak English well enough to communicate. Also there was a young man named Maurice, who was traveling alone, and going back to Palo Alto to study to be a lawyer at Stanford. After that, DeeDee and Brad, an airline pilot and his wife from Atlanta, Georgia, joined us. They were celebrating their 30th anniversary. What fun it was visiting with them, especially with Verle's pilot background. Our meal was good and fun -- we shared our food -- it was good!
We walked back to the Hostel. My legs were much better, and it didn't seem nearly as far.
Verle woke up about 7:30. We cleaned up and dressed and ate breakfast at the Hostel -- the cost was part of the room charge. I put 3 rolls, jellies, and cheese in a bag for later. We walked with our backpacks back to the waterfront, hoping to take the ship to Geneva, but it wasn't due to leave until 11:00. We walked back to Dave's information and found that we could take the metro next door to the train station. We got information at the train station for going to Toulouse, but would have to wait 30 minutes, so we took the train to Geneva. In Geneva, we were faced with the same problem, so we took a number and waited nearly an hour for help from the information people. We knew a train was leaving for Montpeliar (on the way to Toulouse) so we waited. Our agent booked us all the way to Toulouse, with the way to Montpelier being on a reserve ticket ($5 total). It was a relief to get through the line in time to catch that train -- or we'd have had to wait until evening. We got on the train, but our reserve seats were backwards and uncomfortable. After the train started, we moved to 2 seats facing frontwards with a big table. No one sat in the other 2 facing seats. It was about the only open place on the train by the time we reached Montpelier, but no one came with tickets for our 4 seats. A woman who looked like Anna Schlecte helped us find our next train (we only had about 14 minutes to transfer), but the train ended up being 1 hour late, so we had time to call Katie and get Tony's phone number, and to put a message on Tony's answering machine.
Finally our train came -- a little over an hour late, as the billboard said: "retard 1 hour." We got on -- the seats were in compartments of 6 for the first class. The train was nearly full, but we found facing middle seats in a compartment with a man who is an actor and another young man from South Mexico. The man from South Mexico was Humberto Galliana. He knows Maria Lvra Fernandez on the UNL tennis team. Humberto is from south of Mexico City. The actor was Michael Goldstrom, goldstrom@hotmail.com. He told of his Dalcroze Instructor, Joseph Reiser from Columbia College in Illinois. reisermuse@aol.com. He had also taken lessons from Robert Abramson at Julliar, a master Dalcroze teacher. He had been in "The Lost Battalion", an ABC TV movie to be released in December. We so enjoyed visiting, that we missed some of the changing scenery. The fields are bigger; there is much wheat, which is nearly ripe. There are still fields of grapes and castles and churches on hilltops.
We called Tony when we reached Toulouse. He suggested the Paris or the France Hotel as low cost and close. We got a room at Hotel Paris -- under $50 - and showered and changed to clean clothes, and walked through the French night life. We ate chicken salad, fried broccoli, and had two ice cream sundaes at a Quick Shop (like MacDonalds) and slept very well.
We got up and walked -- left our backpacks at the hotel except for the computer and visor. We went to the Decathlon sports shop that had been suggested by the man at the Quick Shop. It is a huge sports shop that seems to be mostly for bicycling, but they didn't rent bicycles, so we went to the Holiday Bike Shop (suggested by a brochure from a Hotel Paris woman.) They rent bikes for 24 hours for 90 and 70 f. less for shorter periods. However, they close from 12:30 - 3:00, and we need to meet Tony and Rachel at 3:00. So we made plans to ride tomorrow -- we can leave our bags at the bicycle shop. We walked to the train station to line up a schedule and reservations, if necessary, for leaving Toulouse. We wanted a night train leaving after 7 p.m. for Spain so that we wouldn't have to count the departure day on our Eurail passes. The information girl couldn't understand English. Another girl came to help, but she couldn't understand much English either (apparently). The first schedule they gave us left at 4:30. They said they couldn't find a night train for anywhere in Spain. So we switched to Italy. They gave us a schedule leaving at 11:30 p.m. We reserved a couchette for about $10. It isn't really what we wanted (leaving so late), but we didn't want any more hassle, so we took it.
We walked from the train station along the canal -- very pleasant. We sat to eat the $3 worth of food we'd bought at the market -- 2 cinnamon rolls, grapes, apricots and the bottles of water we'd filled at our hotel. We refilled our bottles at the train station and continued on our walk (with Verle carrying his laptop, my visor, and our water in the small backpack.
We enjoyed studying the buildings and people of the city. They seem to eat and drink using the sidewalk cafes all day long. The shops are mostly closed from 12-2 or 3 p.m. like the cycle shops -- but the sidewalk cafes are open. We went past day care centers and schools (?) where kids were playing. They were VERY noisy. We also saw 2 groups of school field trips -- those children seemed quite rambunctious -- I would not have wanted to be responsible for getting them across a crowded street. We walked around a church -- St. Michael's. It is huge, old, unused -- beautiful grounds. Then we walked on to the St. Etienne's (Peter) cathedral -- huge, old, with flying buttresses. We hadn't expected to go inside, but people were coming out, so we went in. It's amazing! 14 chapels -- each carved with sculptures, marble, paintings, brocades, each totally different -- ornate -- breathtaking -- in fact, unbelievable. We may go back because as we left, we found an English paper explaining the cathedral. We hurried a bit to get back to our hotel where our bags were stored. We picked up sundaes at the Quick Shop again -- wonderful -- and took them back to the hotel to eat. We soon met Tony and Rachel and were surprised to learn that they had been at St. Etienne's while we were there. They took us on a short tour of Toulouse, including the capitol and the area in front where there will be a market tomorrow. We got to Tony's house -- peaceful and lovely -- and Rachel picked up the kids. We chatted, and Verle and I went with Rachel to get bread at a kind of bakery that featured many scrumptious looking desserts. We had a good visit, and really enjoyed the kids. They are amazingly open, joyful, fun kids. Rachel says she and Emily are in a constant power struggle, and Emily tries to mother the twins. They are happy with the International school for Emily and the Montessori school for the twins. They do worry about re-entry into American schools with all the stress, taunting, and danger at home. The kids had fun playing "Poor Pussy." Rachel had a very nice supper of an Italian spaghetti casserole and tossed salad. They put the kids to bed -- the kids have open spirits, but they mind well. We looked at some of their travel pictures and talked about tourist areas nearby. We may try to pick up the walled city, Carkison, on the way back. We went to bed rather early, because Tony had been up until 2 the night before finishing a work project. We slept VERY well in the twins' beds, and woke up around 7 when the kids got up. They came in and invited us for chocolate pancakes. We had breakfast together -- the kids are delightful. Rachel took the kids and Tony to school. We took showers and packed up. I made beds, etc. Rachel came back and soon we left. She took us back to the train station and we walked the few blocks to the bike shop carrying our back packs. They gave us new bikes -- one was just out of the box. He included a gel seat for me, water bottles which he filled, tire pumps, locks, and bunji cords to attach the bag containing Verle's computer, visor, riding gloves, etc. We tried out the bikes -- they were very comfortable (99f) and easy to ride. We rode first to a camera shop across from the Hotel de Paris that Tony had told us about. The digital camera that quit working in the Ukraine would take a month to repair in Belgium. Verle will try to get it fixed from home. He bought a new digital camera, which is quite a lot smaller. We went out riding back down Jean Jacques street again and followed the canal northeast (?) out of town. We rode out for 2 hours -- probably about 20 miles -- it was a gorgeous super perfect peaceful day. The canal was calm -- we saw a lot of barges parked along the edge in many places -- they must be homes or vacation homes, because there were clothes hanging on the line, cars parked beside some, and even a naked child playing on top of a barge. We also saw boats and people fishing on the canal. The most interesting thing besides watching the countryside was a vacation boat with bikes on it -- a couple and their child -- going through a lock. They were in the first lock, it got full, and they moved to the other end; I helped the worker close the lock behind them, then water flowed in to raise them to the higher level of the canal-- they were going upstream. We turned back at that point and rode fairly hard to get back to get the new camera that had batteries charging at the camera shop and to get our bikes back by 7. We got back with only a few minutes to spare, after spending quite a lot of time getting past the train station and missing the bike shop and riding a long ways too far east and having to turn back. The bike rental total was only 140 f -- less than $20 -- great deal -- we had to leave a big deposit on our credit card, but it was never charged since we got our bikes back OK. (3000 f). It was a totally enjoyable experience, and great exercise. We were pretty tired and weary, and it was pretty hard to carry our bags back to the train station. We bought a 2 liter bottle of diet coke. When we got back to the train station, we filled it and 2 other bottles we were carrying. I took a shower for 20 f ($3). It felt SO good. We found a Consignee where we checked our bags (for $3). Verle had been waiting in a waiting room up by the gates and reading his new camera directions. We visited there with 2 British couples. They said to visit England north of London in late May. The man had a thick British accent.
We went back to Jean Jacques Street and found a quiet Chinese restaurant, where we ordered a 99f meal and split it -- wonderful! Verle worked on his camera while we waited. A man from New York helped us order, because the Chinese waitress knew no English. He is in Toulouse because of an accident in head-on traffic 6 years ago. He says in the USA, he could be a rich man through litigation, but all he wants is surgery so he can work again.
We returned to the train station, got our stuff from lockers, and settled in our couchette with 2 people already sleeping in lower bunks. We slept well, woke up about 6, and went to an empty compartment to watch the Mediterranean countryside with almost a constant view of the sea and the shore -- is this the French Riviera? People were swimming in the sea, fishermen, palm trees.
Then we went through a mountainous area -- many tunnels. This nice train lulls one to sleep. First class on this train is "reservations recommended." Our very unhelpful information person at Toulouse didn't even suggest the need for reserved seats. There were only a very few seats without reservations already posted on them. It's good that we got on early and found seats, but they're next to the smoking section, and that's unpleasant. We change trains at Milan -- a fast change -- and if that train is as full as this one and needs reservations, we won't have seats.
Well, we did get seats. I first sat in a seat reserved for a later town, and rode there with a family from the Philippines -- husband, wife, and 3 sons -- 18, 16, 12. They were having great fun, and I enjoyed visiting with them until I found out that Verle was ashamed of me -- again. I'm too loud, too pushy, always in the wrong place, not polite enough to suit him. After the man came for my seat, I moved back with Verle. The person beside him hadn't shown up for his seat. That was fine until the train broke down and the electricity stopped for 10 or 15 minutes. This is a good farming area here near Milan. We passed some mountains west of our route, but it's mostly smooth here.
The man in the seat opposite us began to visit. He's traveling to Venice to give a speech. I think his field is insurance, although he's retired. He loves his homeland of Italy, and told us all the places we should be sure to not miss. Such a kind gentleman!
We got to the Venice train station, got some Italian money from the ATM machine, and stood in line for hotel information. A runner from a hotel tried to sell us a $100 "cheap" room. Two backpackers said that the cheapest rooms were $90. What to do? We asked other backpackers standing in line. They said there was another much better information office farther down in Venice, and that we should take bus (boat) #1 to San Marco Square. We went to the water transit and left to find in information office. Venice really surprised us -- it's built right on the Mediterranean Sea. It was built there for defense. It wasn't conquered through the Middle Ages and after, and so it has preserved its identity and uniqueness. It has really beautiful old buildings -- and so much water -- not just the narrow streets we've seen in pictures. We really enjoyed our boat rides. But when we got to the San Marco Square information office, we discovered that it had closed at six, and it was 8 p.m. by then. We inquired about a youth hostel, and learned that there is one around the lake. We got directions, but it took a long time to get there by boat and changing boats. When we finally got there, we learned that the hostel was full. By then it was 10 p.m. or later. We met a backpacking "couple" who were also refused space. They asked if we wanted to share a cheap hotel room, and we decided to do that. We went back to the railway station area. They had information about Network Camping. They called a place that had room, both in cabins and in bungalows. We got directions, got on a bus, and traveled 20 minutes to della Serenissim. It was at Padova -- the town on the railroad that we had considered stopping at. We took the bungalow because it had a shower -- we said we'd pay the difference in cost. We ended up paying $60 total for 2 nights stay. It was great! We were very weary, but revived with a shower and washed our clothes by hand in the sink. Jessica and Andrew from Vancouver:
jessndrew@hotmail.com. We bought some food from the campground, and went to sleep to the tune of Andrew swatting flies and mosquitoes!
We took the bus back into Venice and walked around through the part of town across the canal from the train station. It was really interesting to see the streets, canals, and shops. We saw one place where they had diked off the canal and were working on the sides. We went into a big cathedral in that area -- they were refurbishing two of the murals inside. Two artists were working high up on scaffolding. Actually, there is scaffolding in many places throughout the city, as many buildings are being restored.
We went back to the train station to decide what to do next; after much deliberation we decided to wait and try to rent bikes to ride through the ruins area of Rome. We (with a lot of difficulty) reserved our rides on the Euro to Rome. The $35 ticket was a reservation for the Euro, but not for a seat. It took a second time through the line to figure this out. Having our next stop planned, we got back on the boats to see the city. We rode to San Marco Square and saw people feeding pigeons from their hands. Sometimes several pigeons would land at one time on the person feeding them. The cathedral was large, but there was a charge and a very long line to go in, so we didn't. The whole town in that area was crowded with tourists and tiresome. We sat in a lovely garden for awhile and then rode the boat to the end of the line and walked around a long time through an area where the local people of Venice live and interact. Few tourists were in this area. We could hear people talking, children calling; we saw wash on clotheslines, local shops, dogs. We loved it. We had pizza at a local shop and visited with a couple and their two children from Los Angeles. They are spending 2 weeks in Italy on Italy rail passes. We enjoyed our pizza and then got on the boat and bus back to the camp ground. We tried to reserve a bungalow at the campground in Rome but only reached the night watchman -- we'll have to try again tomorrow. We had trouble using the phone credit card and the camp owner helped us. We got up at 6:20 to catch the bus back to Venice to catch the Euro train to Rome.
We caught the train without trouble, bought sandwiches, and called the campground in Rome for cabin reservations and directions.
On the way, we sat with Joe McCorvey, Principal of a school in Houston. He is very supportive of Bush's Educational policies. Principal South Houston Intermediate, Pasadena Independent School District, 900 College Ave., South Houston, Texas 77587, 713-948-4741 jmccjrjoe@aol.com. Home phone 281-481-1054.
One the way from Venice to Rome, we also met Connie Provott, a Christian from California / North Carolina who belongs to AAE.
I sent Venice postcards to Mom and Marilyn, Jeremy, Raya, Risa, Virginia.
From Florence to Rome, there were many long tunnels. We had a fast train. We saw hills, mountains, farmed valleys, abandoned stone houses.
In Rome, we could see some Roman ruins and excavations from the train window. We followed the directions to the Happy Camping Campground -- metro / train Happy Camping shuttle. The camp is lovely and relaxing. We decided to just stay there for the rest of the day -- relaxed, napped, wrote postcards, swam in the lovely pool, dried clothes, ate a good meal at the camp restaurant $5 + $7. It really cooled off in the evening -- we needed our comforters to sleep. Our cabin here has showers and toilets just behind us. For the price of a cabin for 2, we have 4 beds. It's plain, but clean and handy.
We went to Rome for the day. We bought "stop and go" tickets on the 110 City tour bus with a tour guide. She was supposedly bilingual, but we could only understand about 1/3 of what she said -- or less. She pronounced the Italian names so fast that we couldn't find them on our map. We rode around -- only ourselves and the driver and guide. Just before the St. Peter's Basilica, we stopped for coffee. The coffee shop wouldn't wait on Verle, so he and I shared the pastry and Cappuccino I'd ordered since our guides were almost finished. We had such good seats and the bus was so comfortable, we went around trying to get our bearings on the larger city map so we could go back by bike tomorrow. The third time around, we got off at Flaminio (People's Square) near Villa Borghese park, where we thought we'd like to ride tomorrow. The bikes are $7.50 each for the day. We can ride around several parks and ruins from there -- the Villa Borghese park and castle, down the Via del Corso to the Pantheon, Coliseum, and Roman Forum ruins, and Palatine, Circus Massimo. We walked to Piazza Augusto Imperatore, where Caesar Augustus and his family are buried. It was covered with dirt and a church was built on top. The 17th century, some of the ruins were visible, and it was unearthed -- dates back to the time of Christ. We got back on a different bus -- it went a different route and went on into the Coliseum area. So interesting! There were demonstrators and police everywhere. They let the bus in and we got a much better view of the Coliseum than the other two times around on the bus. The soccer celebration was growing in the area and it was smoky. We saw the celebration later on TV -- the whole area was packed.
We went to the train station at the completion of our ride to use the bathroom and Internet and to try again to call Phyllis for Troy's phone number in Prague. We split up -- Verle was using the Internet, and with me going back to the terminal entrance to try to call Phyllis again. There was no answer after about 40 tries. I tried to go back to where Verle was using the Internet as we had planned, but after trying 3 times, I gave up and went back to wait for him to come to me by the front door fans, which had been our earlier plan. I waited about 2 hours , thinking he was just enjoying the Internet. It turns out that he was quite worried and about to call security when he finally passed by the phone area. He didn't see me, but I followed him and caught up. We were each afraid to leave our area for fear of missing the other. I was SO sad. We got back to Prima Porta with only about 25 minutes left for meeting the Happy Camper bus.
We came back to the campground, had another great meal -- tortellini and chicken and potatoes, and dessert with water w/gas -- $18 -- great! We really enjoyed it. We came back, showered, packed, and went to bed.
We followed our route back to the train station, grabbed some sndwiches at the Metro Flaminio change, and rode the bus to the airport. We checked our bags at the airport, used the Internet to contact Troy, Phyllis, Project Read, and Henrich Stahr. We got our couchette reservations for Zurich. We walked to the bath ruins near the train station in the Republica area. We caught the Metro near there to Flamino and the People's Place Square -- Pepol -- Place of the Populace. We rented bikes (one speed -- poor quality) and rode through Rome. Actually, we walked our bikes a lot because of traffic and people. We filled our water bottles and drank at the water fountain in People's Place. The Coliseum, Pantheon, and Forum were VERY interesting. The worst part was not being able to go into some of the places or one of us having to watch the bikes. We had hoped to be able to ride in the Villa Borghese park, but we were hot and tired and out of time when we got back to the refreshing fountain water at People's Square. We rode the Metro back to the train station, got our bags from the locker, shared a sandwich, and went to try to pay for showers. The man misunderstood and charged us for toilets, and we had quite a time straightening it out. The shower was refreshing. We had to wait for our train, and it was a bit confusing, but at last we found our couchettes and were on our way.
Ivo, a young banker from Zurich, who had been in Rome to visit his girlfriend and take part in the soccer celebration craziness, shared our compartment. He was interesting and helpful, especially in helping us find the right line in the tourist information when we reached the Zurich train station. We ate our fruit from the Rome market, but it was squishy and messy (after only 3 hours.) Our compartment was VERY warm until the middle of the night, and very noisy because we kept the window open to get some air. The tracks made the room rattle and the door bang, but as we got farther north, that settled down and it cooled off and we slept well. We got up at daylight and stood together watching the lovely Swiss Alps. About an hour before Zurich (Zurich = 8:35) the conductor brought 1 hard and 1 sweet roll, juice, coffee, and a chocolate bar for our breakfast. When we got to the train station in Zurich, we checked our luggage. Then we went to try to find an Internet cafe to check for answers from Troy, Phyllis, or Heinrich Stahr in Denmark. We had trouble following the directions we were given and walked all over, asking as we went, until we could make the Internet connection (no answers). We were also trying to find a place to buy a Europe Street Atlas, but had no luck with that, either. We went back to the train station, took a number, and got a route to Basel, Dortmund, Copenhagen (Kobenhaven). The train was to arrive in Dortmund at 11:22 p.m., so we went to the tourist information to try to find night's lodging there. They sent us to the German information several blocks from the train station -- and hard to find. The German info gave us a listing of hotels, but didn't offer to call for us. Back at the train station, we had great difficulty getting the phone to work, and when we were able to get through, the person on the other end couldn't speak English or SAID they were full. Finally we gave up and decided to somehow sleep on the train all the way to Copenhagen.
Instead, however, we were joined in our compartment by a young communications executive who travels weekly between her home in Mannheim and Zurich for the Roche company. The Swiss company is merging with a family business in Mannheim and she is the go-between. Very articulate, she described the German political situation, particularly the election for Mayor in Berlin. A Social Democrat (formerly Communist) was elected, principally by the East Germans, who feel they are losing their identity from the east/west merger. Content with letting the government take care of them and happy with the additional 6 1/2% being levied on the West German people to assist in rebuilding East Germany (many times better than West Germany because everything is new), the East Germans would rather have some show of identity and government aid -- and the tremendous help from the west -- than feel like a stepchild of the west. However, the Eastern government apparently feels no responsibility to the west. Clarissa pays 60% income tax. All this tension seems to meet in Berlin. We discussed our view of American politics (most Europeans dislike Bush because their reporters pick up the popular American media line. Clarissa was appalled by partial birth abortion and the lack of counseling, especially for young girls. Clarissa offered any help or advice we might need in our travels. On her advice, we decided to stay at the youth hostel in Heidleburg near Mannheim, and ride bikes through the countryside tomorrow.
Clarissa Wischermann
Head of Divisional Communications Diagnostice and Roche Diagnostics
Roche Diagnostics GmbH
Sandhofer Strasse 116
D-68305 Mannheim, Germany
+49-621-759 28 18
clarissa.wischermann@roche.com
www.roche.de
We slept well. After breakfast at the Jugendhergberge (youth hostel), we organized and took bus #33 downtown. We asked tourist information for directions for bike rental, city map, and post office to mail Vlad's card. (Had to add German stamp to Italian stamp that's now no good.) We found the bike rental and got two one-speed (but nice) bikes for $7.50 each for the day. We rode out along the Neccar River east of town all the way to Neccargemund -- such a lovely river ride! We watched several boats and barges go through locks -- 2-way locks. Alongside the locks was a very strong device to raise the front edge of the waterfall base -- probably for flood control. We returned mostly on the opposite side of the river along a lovely pathway -- cobblestone along the castle by-way. We had beautiful views of the Heidelberg Castle. After passing the main part of Heidelberg, the path was dirt, hidden in trees, close to the river, and lovely. We left the path and rode up into the countryside following narrow roads (mostly local asphalt one lane) probably used by farmers to service their fields. Most common crops include barley -- which is still green, some wheat, fruit, vegetables (beans, tomatoes, melons, turnips (?), lettuce, corn, short yellow flowers, etc. After riding from 10:30 to 4 p.m., we found our way back to the bike rental store. We had eaten left-over bun and meat sandwiches from the free hostel breakfast and fizzy apple juice bought at a service station/car wash, but they had no toilet (WC).
We returned to the train station and used the Internet. There was no note from Troy Titterington or Heinrich Stahr.) We learned that Dave and Heather's baby is a boy -- about 1 1/2 pounds now! Heather's mother is still in the hospital -- Lord, be with her and heal her! We called the IHT bike tours -- all is fine for our bike trip. We returned to the hostel and just made it for 5:30 - 6:30 supper (9 marks -- $4.50 each.)
We took our laundry down and met Julie from British Columbia. She's been at a Bible camp in Austria studying for two months. We had a great sharing time. She's a solid and growing Christian. She grew up a Catholic, and she only began to experience complete commitment and meaning in her Christian life two years ago through a program called Alpha that's sweeping through Great Britain. She's also gone through Blackaby's "Experiencing God" and is using his daily devotions. We told her about our time with Vlad. What fun it was to share with Julie -- she reminds Verle of Julie Andrews!
Julie lent us her little Prayer of Jabez book (which we later sent a copy to Vlad, and he really likes it). The prayer of Jabez:
Oh, that You would bless me indeed
And enlarge my territory
That Your hand would be with me
And that You would keep me from Evil.
Big Problem: We checked our days left on our Eurail pass and discovered that the conductor on the Rome / Zurich / Basal / Mannheim / Heidelberg rail trip stamped and filled in an extra June 26th -- we lose one day.
Klaus Kniel
Cocoa and Chocolate Consultant
Am. Schoafweg 15
D-52076
Aachan, Germany
www.cocoa-chocolate.de
We traveled through the prosperous farm area that Verle's relatives left from. The fields are larger and the houses and barns are all brick, solid, and very large. We learned that when the land was divided in Germany, south Germany divided it between all the sons in the family. This resulted in small farms. In the North, the land went to the oldest son, resulting in large farms, and the houses were big to accommodate the extended family. There is a LOT of dairy -- cheese is a major product.
We stopped on the edge of Oldenberg to get a map and directions to the city center where our rental car needs to be returned. We found the railroad station, parked, and checked our bags in lockers there. We then drove -- and drove -- for nearly 2 hours getting gas and trying to find the Europacar rental to return our rental car. The map showed it to be in the downtown area in a maze with circles and streets that change names every few blocks -- so confusing! We probably drove for 2 hours finding the gas station and trying to find the rental car place. We couldn't even find a phone booth with a parking place to try to call the rental car people. We tried to find the train station again, thinking we could park the car there and call the rental car people to come and get the car. We could see the train station sometimes, but couldn't get into the right lane or one-way streets kept us from getting there. We asked directions at a gas station farther out from the inner circle. By then we didn't even know where we were on the map. He got us back to the center area -- very little English -- mostly had gestures. We got close to the right place and saw the police station. We stopped, and, as we thought, we were very close -- the policeman directed us the rest of the was. The Europacar was right on a corner across from the train station!! We were relieved to be rid of the car and glad our bags were checked. We went into the train station to try to schedule tickets and the ferry to Ireland. The ticket people were most helpful, but the trip would use so many days of our train pass and appeared to be so expensive that we gave it up. We decided to schedule for Copenhagen. We could only reserve second class tickets, but they were very comfortable with a table. We shared a little section (not a compartment) with Cliff and Maurice Middleton from Fayettville, South Carolina. Cliff manages rental apartments. He formerly taught ESL. Maurice is 5 and really cute. I enjoyed playing with a child again. We passed through the very flat northern German landscape much like I expect Holland to be. We are seeing more wind chargers here (and later in Denmark) than in the U.S. We came to the north end of Germany and the whole train entered a ferry to get to Copenhagen. We got out and went above deck on the ferry with Clint and Maurice. Verle and I got ice cream bars. We crossed the inlet (ocean) and arrived in Copenhagen. The tourist bureau was closed and we couldn't find anyone with good ideas on where to stay, so we got back on the train and rode about 30 minutes to Hillarod. Local people were sure we could find a place to stay there. The ticket agent at the small station in Hillerod gave us a brochure and checked a couple of places on the pages for us, but they didn't work. We called a campground and they had a cabin for us. The train station man gave us a map of the town and the camp manager told us to follow the map on the card and said something about a swimming pool and taking the back way. A route looked very easy to Verle and me, but a different route was marked on the card, or so I thought. We followed it and walked about 2 hours with our packs before Verle finally found the place for us. The camp manager was just in the process of giving our cabin to another couple. I was exhausted and discouraged, but felt better after a shower and rest. We skipped supper and relaxed and went to bed. We got information and suggestions from the camp manager.
We took bikes (free from the campground -- we love the locks -- a type of bolt with a padlock that goes through the spoke of the back wheel. We'd like to get some for our bikes in the U.S. for short stops to prevent ride-offs with our bikes. We rode to the Castle shopping center where we had gotten mixed up last night. We had to walk our bikes in the shopping area, but we rode the rest and locked our bikes while we shopped. We bought a hair clipper (rechargeable) for Verle, bike riding gloves for me -- I lost mine, and Ecco sandals. (The sandals I brought along hurt my ankle bones. We got a box of ice cream and ate it at a table in an un-busy cafe.
Then we rode to the Fredericksborg castle and museum. We could ride into the whole courtyard area of the castle and in the gardens, except for in the sensational highly clipped baroque gardens. I loved them, especially the Baroque gardens -- three tiers with gentle a gentle water fall flowing through the middle and high lime trees around the edge. We really enjoyed riding through what they called the "Romantic gardens," which were popular with royalty after the Baroque gardens. These romantic gardens are peaceful walks through forest lands and lakes and canals.
The inside of the castle is probably the most elaborate thing I've ever seen. In craftsmanship, it reminded us of the cathedral in Toulouse, but this castle is in its original glory -- gold imbedded, carved, painted, woven tapestries, inlaid floors, copper and gold lavishly used on the outside, paintings depicting events in Danish history. The castle reflects in the lake that surrounds two sides. A smaller replica castle is on the edge of the romantic gardens. The king and queen preferred to stay there. The present prince was married in the castle chapel,, which still holds regular services. The oldest part of the castle dates back to 1560. It was finished in 1620. The interior of the main castle was ravaged by fire in 1859, but it was restored soon after. The castle closed at 5, so we had to hurry out sooner than we'd have liked. We ate our remaining bread in the romantic garden and returned to our campground. We watched a video of the castle, but it was narrated in Danish, and we (of course) couldn't understand it, but it was a good review of the castle. We played Nurtz and made our tentative train schedule through July 5th and our return to Munich before our bike trip.
We walked to the train station and took the train into Copenhagen to make our schedule / reservations through July 5th. All worked out very well. We had a neat breakfast at the City Rock Cafe, where they are re-creating the 60's in the USA -- scrambled eggs, toast, juice, tea, melon, vegetables, cheese, meat, lettuce, pineapple -- great! We went to the Internet cafe at the Radisson Hotel, and found names, addresses, and phone numbers for bed and breakfasts for our nights in Stockholm, Oslo, and Munich. We called until we got a place for July 2nd in Stockholm.
Then we took the train to the Sorgenfri exit and found the Frilandsmusset Danish Open Air Museum there -- a marvelous collection of the (45 33 13 4411, Kongevejen 100) farm buildings of old Denmark. Most had thatched roofs -- on one, half of it was newly thatched. We can't understand how it was done. A hollow material somewhat like wheat straw is used. They seem to start by lashing the first layers to the log braces. The stems are laid parallel with the ends being basically what shows. In all, the roofs are 8-10 inches thick or more. The buildings are often built around on open center area with house on one end, and barns and storage on the other three sides. The large center area is cobblestone, and most of the floors are also cobblestone.
One really nice farm had cupboards with painted doors, walls with painting, ceramic tile -- their rooms are very large and not especially square and true. I wonder how early Danish farmers in the U.S. built their homes and barns. We've never seen these types of buildings in the U.S.A.
We came back to the campground, and Verle was sleeping before I got back from the rest room. I worked on these notes, set out bread and jam and dishes for supper, and finally took a nap myself. We didn't wake up until 10:45 p.m.! I called Verle and he went up to pay our bill, but they were already shut down. We made out a Visa payment slip for payment and packed up to leave on the 8:35 train tomorrow morning from Copenhagen.
We left a note with our visa number and signature to pay the campground and caught the train for Copenhagen. Our Stockholm train was canceled at Copenhagen, and at the last minute, they put us on a train to Malmo, where we caught our regular train to Stockholm. We went under the sea and over a long bridge to get to Malmo. The first fields were large and very flat, like in northern Germany and southern Sweden. Later, the landscape became somewhat more rolling with a lot of trees. The farmsteads are much different -- scattered about the farmland like in Nebraska. The big difference is that the buildings are pulled in very tight, much like the farmsteads at the museum yesterday. Many are brick or stone. Most seem to have dairy cows or horses, with round bales wrapped in white plastic and neatly stacked. There are "walls" of rocks along property borders, probably removed from the soil. Evergreen forests -- and we see many "fields" of flowers -- a delicate spike flower -- purple, pink, white -- gorgeous! Also in Denmark -- Lupine *start seeds next spring!
We can see why the Swedish people settled in Minnesota. Sweden has many lakes, rocks, trees -- both deciduous and evergreen, gently rolling hills. Has this area been glaciated? Many farmsteads (about 80%?) are painted dark red (the color of our redwood fence). Children are running back and forth through the train, and we are sleepy.
We arrived in Stockholm, a beautiful city on an arm of the sea -- ships come up to it. Stockholm has many ornate buildings such as we saw in Venice and Rome, but these buildings have retained their splendor and have not deteriorated. Copper spire tops, Greek statues, and fountains and a castle.
We found the correct city train bought 24-hour tickets -- Verle's was $4, since he is a senior citizen. Mine was $7, since I'm not 65 yet. We got to the Spanga Station, and the gal in the little store called on her cell phone to our bed-and-breakfast host, as we had prearranged.
(Spanga Gasthus -- Adolf Rudbecksvag, 516354 Spagma, S-16354 Spanga -- Central Railway Station to Local Spanga Station. Call Adolf 00468 761-3191 from (Kiosk) newspaper shop. $65 includes breakfast.
In three minutes, our host, Herbert Funk, picked us up and took us the 3 blocks to his place. It is very comfortable -- so nice to be in a real home again! Mr. Funk treated us to homemade apple juice and fresh strawberries from his garden on his outdoor patio. The weather was glorious! I changed from my sweat suit (I'd been too hot all day) and put on shorts. Mr. Funk gave us advice on what to do in Stockholm in the short time we have here. Following his advice (and our Europe guide book), we took the city train and bus 47 to Skansen, the open air museum praised as #1 of its type by our guide book. It was a wonderful experience on a glorious day. We couldn't see all the artisans and period people because we arrived too late, but enough remained to give a local historic flavor. Some highlights:
When we finally left Skansen, we were starved and stopped at the first restaurant that served Swedish food. I had a plate featuring hamburger, lingonberries, and delicious mashed potatoes. Verle had a Swedish steak. $38 total (broken budget! But SO good.
We found our bus back to our Bed and Breakfast. Though nearly midnight, it was still a little bit dark. (long summer days in June because we are so far north) We greeted and thanked Herbert, I showered (shower drain cemented shut) and bed about 12:30.
We ate breakfast at 6:30 by pre arrangement -- delicious -- cold cereal, strawberry juice, jelly and rolls, yogurt, coffee, ham slices, cheese. Robert Poschenrieder from Southern Germany, another guest, joined us for breakfast. He works with energy using water. He has a son and a daughter soon to be born.
We left and tried again to call the campground at Hillerod without luck. We walked through the old Stockton on an island in the harbor. The buildings in this city are beautiful.
We took bus 47 to the Vasa museum -- WOW! It's a Viking ship commissioned by King Adolf Gustavus in 1628. On its maiden voyage, it sunk -- only minutes into its voyage. King Gustavus, it turns out, had ordered an extra level of gun swales. This made the ship unsteady, as an earlier stress test had shown. This stress test was done with 30 men running side to side on the deck 10 times. They had only succeeded in running 4 times before it became too dangerous to continue. This was reported to the king, but he insisted that the ship sail anyway, and no one could challenge the king. The boat is ornately carved with artwork proclaiming Gustavus the rightful king of Sweden, rather than his cousin, who had run away and become King of Poland, and still claimed sovereignty over Sweden. The exact location of the sunken vessel was validated in 1961, and an extensive process led to bringing the ship up intact. The ship didn't decay as fast as similar sunken ships, because organisms that attach themselves to ships in the salty ocean can't survive in this part of the less salty Baltic Sea. With restoration using original parts, the ship is composed of 95% original wood. Restoration has been made with a lighter colored oak wood, so it's easy to see which parts are original. The carvings proclaim the pride and politics of the Swedish king. The museum building couldn't house the top of the two 180 foot masts, so fake masts show outside the roof at the height. Had the ship been built 1 meter wider, it would have been stable in spite of its great height! What a story!
We had plenty of time to stop at the highly rated tourist information office, and they looked up directory assistance access for us for Denmark and Sweden (118, 119). We want to telephone the Hillerod Campground to apologize and we want to try to contact Troy Titterington in Prague. We don't have either phone number. They tried several ways to find these two numbers, but nothing worked, so we had to give up. I got through to Marilyn last night, but the rest of the calls we've tried haven't worked.
Our train to Oslo left about 30 minutes late. At about 4:30, we stopped in the middle of a forest. It sounds like a problem.
It turned out, after a long wait, that there was difficulty with the signals. Finally they started backing us up -- fast! After awhile we realized that we were going through a new area. We had to keep stopping to let other trains go by, since we were the off-schedule train. We are backing toward the west.
We met a couple from Austin, Texas -- Barbara and Ed Powers. Verle had visited with them on the platform in Stockholm while I was writing in this journal. They ended up on the same car as us in the seats behind us, so we continued visiting from time to time. She has been a teacher in Massachusetts and California, and is grandmother to triplets. Her dyslexic son teaches college level engineering. They support President Bush.
We passed through Arvika. There are larger lakes and more red farms. Almost everything is well-painted, including barns. We passed through Charlottenberg and the border of Norway. The countryside is mostly forests.
9:40 p.m. Norway, so far, has been much different from the parts of Sweden that we saw. We've seen no castles or Roman and Greek influence, except for a couple of churches. Larger cities seem dominated by the utilitarian -- one large building after another large building looking alike and plain -- until we reached Oslo at 9:45. We got off, found the outside of the station, and waited by the clock for our Bed and Breakfast host. When he hadn't come by 10:30, Verle called. He had been waiting inside the station by the clock; we were outside by another clock. He had a cell phone, so we met right away after Verle's call. Our host, Yasar, is from Turkey. He works at the Turkish Embassy in Oslo. He doesn't like his job -- he feels stuck. His wife and child have been in Turkey at their home there for three weeks. He will join them for a one month vacation soon. We talked a long time about Turkey's past, culture, etc. Yasur invited us to stay at his home in Turkey:
Yasar C. Karumca
Turkish Embassy
Helgesensgt. 84A
0563 Oslo Norway
Atakent Sitesi
Davutlar
Kusadasi
Turkey
E-mail: yasar.karumca@chello.no
We ate breakfast with Yasur and saw a bit of English news on his TV. Yasur took us to the train station. We arrived at 7:55 and the train left at 8:11, so it was a bit of a rush. Jasur's flat is five minutes from the station. It was interesting to stay in a flat, because much of Europe lives that way. Yasur borrowed money to buy the flat. He pays it off in 20 years and must pay money for the building expense.
We began our trip west of Oslo, heading up over the spine of mountains. The buildings here are again in a more Scandinavian style. There are big lakes, a big river, forests, and a lot of towns in a mountain type of environment. It is beautiful! There is some haze and fog on the mountain tops. A Jewish couple from New York is sitting across the aisle from us. They are interesting -- both their parents survived in concentration camps in World War 2. He is some sort of priest, and in watching them, we could see that he is used to being the boss. It wasn't real admirable the way he treated his wife.
We continued through Norway, riding all the way to the top of the mountain chain, where we were above the tree line. I was surprised about that, since we began and ended at sea level. We had really climbed! The scenery was gorgeous with mountains with snow and two glaciers, rocks, high lakes, mountain streams, and many waterfalls. We didn't see deer or any such animals, but the scenery was just breathtaking all the way across. At Myrtal, we boarded a private train ($20 each way) and rode all the way down from the highest point to sea level. The gradient was 55%. It took 20 years to build, from 1936-1944.. There are 20 tunnels. The ride was 20 km long (12 miles) and took 1 hour. The train made several stops for viewing. One was at a waterfall that gushed water and sprayed us. Then we heart music somewhat like a long bullhorn -- then a girl singing, and a girl came out on a ledge in front of the waterfall. She signified the legendary Hurla (?), who supposedly bewitched men into her cave! We dropped the 12 miles down from the top to sea level and were at Flam, the inner point of one of the fjords. This is the end of one of the world's longest fjords -- Sognefjord. It was lovely there. The Queen Elizabeth II, a large cruise ship, was harbored all the way up to the end of the inlet. We walked to the end -- it was very nice. We spent most of the time discussing how to function more smoothly, especially on map reading and some decision making. The discussion was helpful and necessary. We had to rush to get our tickets for the trip from Flam back up to Myrtal. It seemed even more beautiful than the first time through. The train was behind schedule, and we worried about catching our train back to Oslo, because we were allowed only about 5 minutes to catch it. They let us get off the service personnel's entrance, and we ran to our train, which was still there. (evidently, they wait for the Flam train.) We checked with the conductor to make sure if it was the right train, and he said we needed reservations. The ticketer at Oldenberg had specifically said that we didn't need reservations on this section. The conductor said we could ride anyway if there was room, and put us in with the dogs and a tour group of Oriental people. They got off early, and we had the train car almost to ourselves the rest of the way to Oslo, again a lovely and interesting trip.
An instructor in veterinary surgery at the University at Oslo, Morton Devor, and his two daughters were with us. He explained many things about the area. His grandfather had been a surgeon for the railroad, and lived a few miles east of Myrtal along the railroad. He also had a mountain cabin which Morten and his family still use. Morten's wife was an Olympic rower in 1976, and they're returning to the Olympics in Montreal again for the summer Olympics there this summer. He and his two daughters, 15 and 11, were hiking the Myrtal / Flam route. They biked it last summer.
Morten Devor
(47) 22 96 48 90
morten.devor@veths.no
home: 22 49 3202
Ullevalsvein 72, Oslo
P.O. Box 8146, Dept. N-0033, Oslo
Morten explained about the boxes over the tracks that often/usually obscure the view of all the beauty. They protect the tracks from deep snow (sometimes as much as 30 feet deep). Because of the "boxes," they can keep the railroad from Oslo to Bergen running year-round. The rock is granite. Austrian and German rock cutters were brought in to make the tunnels, but they were unsuccessful because of the hard rock.
Most of the beautiful land in these upper meadows is owned by farmers living in the valley below. They sometimes sell parcels to rich people for summer homes. There are deer and moose and hunting seasons are controlled as in the U.S. Morten hunts moose each year. Water power diverts and reduces the level of the lakes and streams, which is bad for tourists, but good for the country.
We reached Oslo about 10 minutes late. The conductor told us the gate number for our overnight bus ride to Malmo. We found our bus and went to get hamburgers and to spend our remaining Swedish dollars for food. As we boarded the two buses, the conductor asked if we had a reservation for the sleeping bus. Our Oldenberg biller had reserved the bus, but our tickets weren't for the sleeping bus. Since there was room, he let us use the sleeper car anyway. That gave us each 4 seats to stretch out and across the aisle with our feet. It wasn't very comfortable to lay on, because the seats were shaped, but Verle slept quite well in a sitting position with his seat back. I kept shifting around and slept most of the night. It was still light enough at 11:30 p.m. to see quite well. Whenever I woke up, it was light enough to see a light sky. Morning came at 4 a.m. It's really interesting to be out for the evening and have it stay light until midnight. We'd read about this in books, but we didn't realize that Stockholm and Oslo were far enough north to have so much effect.
We woke up and ate a bite and reached Malmo at 6:57. The conductor told us the gate for the Malmo to Hamburg train, and we walked right to it and found our reserved seats -- in the business section. We left within 15 minutes. This IC train is the best we've ridden, perhaps because of the business section. It's spacious, has private coffee, computer hookups! Verle downloaded our pictures. We came to the ferry, and they drove the train on again. Verle went up and I stayed with our stuff. Then I went up a bit when he came back. It's a nice ferry.
We reached Hamburg with a 40-50 minute layover. We were able to quickly learn of a department store about 1 1/2 blocks from the train station. We went there and got our bike helmets (rushed). We returned to the platform for our Munich train with 15 minutes to spare. The ICE trains for both legs of our journey today (Malmo to Hamburg) (Hamburg to Munich) have been beautiful and comfortable. In this Hamburg area, we are riding through fine farm ground. The crops include wheat, hay, corn. Farther south of Hamburg, rolling hills begin.
We visited with a couple across the aisle who are on their way to a wedding in Munich followed by a 24-hour boat trip, and then they go to Verona, Italy.
We got to Munich after seeing many "large" wheat fields being harvested -- mostly with self-propelled combines.
We got to the Munich rail station. We finally found the tourist information with a little help, and they reserved Hotel Haberstock, Schillerstr 4, D-80336 Munchen (089)55 78 55 $60, which includes breakfast. The hotel is just a couple of blocks from the train station. There is a shower and toilet down the hall. The tourist information also directed us to the Laundromat, which is another 5 blocks away. We went there and washed ALL our clothes and met a computer hardware person from EuClair, there with his lovely wife and two daughters. (Lori and Steve Scott, daughters Lauren and Corey) Next door at the hotel were folks from Idaho and Seattle. We packed up our clean clothes, showered, washed hair, and went to bed.
We got up at what we thought was 6:30, but the clock was wrong, and it was really 5:30. We packed up and ate a great breakfast at the hotel -- boiled egg, many breads and rolls, meat, cheese. We took enough along for a noon picnic. We got information for the railroad to take to the airport. The Eurail pass would have worked, but we'd lose a day's riding, so we paid $15 for our tickets. We got to the airport before 10 a.m., found our meeting place, and met Dottie. We mailed our two red jackets and miscellaneous items home, and tried to use an Internet machine with our visa card to get our E-mail, but it didn't work. We went back to our meeting place and met Joe, our tour guide, and part of our group. The bus didn't leave until 11. It was about an hour's drive to Deggendorf, through nice farming countryside. Joe says the yellow crop we are seeing is canola, and the one blooming white is potatoes. Most of the bus load slept. It was quite hot on the bus, especially in the sun. We got to the hotel where we would stay for two nights. It's very nice, clean, and new. There are religious pictures on the walls. Verle and I walked to the end of the town street and sat in the shade to eat our picnic from breakfast. We took a side street and saw a courtyard and dairy and honey farm. The farmer came out from his work and his wife came over. They couldn't speak English, but they showed us their place and their honey production. It was SO interesting. As we left, his wife gave us a jar of honey!
We went back to our hotel and got fitted for our bikes and rode a bit, worked our gears, and learned the hand signals. We will enjoy the bikes. We rested until time for our welcome supper at 6:30. We had a vegetable (squash?), mashed potatoes and gravy, a meat cutlet of some kind, tossed salad, and ice cream for dessert. Joe gave us some basic information about the area. Nattenborg, though smaller, is much older than Daggendorf. The nearby hill that overlooks the whole flat countryside was used by the Romans as a fortified area to control the valley. (On Saturday, we walked up and saw walls that might have been Roman, extending all the way around the top of the hill.) A structure remaining inside the walls is probably much more recent. The castle was destroyed by fire and re-fortified in 1100 as a mansion. Later, it was only a hill with a good view. In 1743, in the war with Austria, the castle was destroyed by fire. Ownership has changed often since then. much of what was up at the top of the hill has been used in local buildings since then.
Deggendorf was founded in 1242 and became a township in 1316. The main church was built by Peter/Paul in 1360. A new steeple was added in the 1700's. In 1401, Pope Boniface the 9th awarded a large indulgence to the Deggendorf church. It was one of only 3 such churches (one was St. Marco's in Venice) where ANY sin could be forgiven upon payment of an indulgence. For 500 years, this fact made Deggandorf rich. Deggendorf was then 2200 in population, and 50,000 pilgrims visited Deggandorf per year. In one year, 140,000 pilgrims visited. The Crusades came down the river through here, and the Children's Crusade came through on their way to enslavement by the Moslems.
Now Deggandorf has 32,000 people. They have paper mills and sugar refineries.
We finished supper and the lecture. It was still early, so Ed, Jane, Dave, his girlfriend, and I walked down the Main Street of Nattenborg, down the bike path, and into the market area of Deggandorf. They were tired and took a cab home. I really wouldn't fit in the cab and didn't have money to pay, so I decided to walk home alone, because the walk to Deggandorf had seemed so short. As soon as they left, I realized that I wasn't sure of the way back. We had been visiting so much that I hadn't watched for landmarks. I got out of town and over the Danube. It was getting dark and I couldn't afford to make a wrong turn. After coming off the bridge ramp, I came almost immediately to a bike path going sharply to the right. I could see the "castle" hill and it looked like the right bike path, but I couldn't remember any landmarks there, so I stopped at a bar to ask if that bike path went to Nattenberg, but I called it Nattingdorf, and they said they didn't know that town. I tried Natterburg and they realized I meant Natternburg, but they didn't understand my asking about the bike path. They told me to follow the road to the sign to Natternberg. I walked forever past things I was sure we hadn't walked past before. I finally found the sign, but turned too soon, and the town was wrong. A man walking his dog (little English) sent me back to follow the highway. I was sure I was still wrong, but it finally led to the bike path at the far end of the village. By the time I got in, I had a bad blister, but I was SO glad to be there. Verle was sleeping, and hadn't missed me.
Breakfast was good -- it included a hot boiled egg, cereal, juice, and all the usual. We had a safety lesson and explanation of IBT corning system. It works well -- we have a set plan for intersections. If anything deviates from that, Joe assigns the person behind him as a corner. That person's position in relation to the intersection shows bicyclers where to turn, walk their bikes, etc. The "sweep" comes last. We stop every half hour or so to make sure no one is missing, etc. It works well.
We started our ride through the local area -- rode about 13 miles altogether. We stopped at a gorgeous place that is now a mental hospital. A lady from there kept talking to Joe as he tried to give us information. We rode to Michaelsback Bavarian Rococo church built in 1795.
Boroque characteristics:
Rococo:
Cemetery:
They rent a plot for 16 years, then another is buried above the last one. There are 4 per plot. The Milan Benedictine monastery still exists. Their priest is a monk. They have 3000 members -- confessionals
Lunch at Plattling. We met a German man, Chris, who studied one year in Illinois. He teaches English.
We rode home. It was very hot. Ike, Jordon, and I climbed "fortress hill." The weather changed while we were up there -- a cool wind, then rain. We got back to our room before the rain started. I showered, washed out clothes, and napped. Supper was cheese Ravioli -- not tomato.
Introductions followed supper:
Joe -- fourth season as IBT Coordinator. He also guides and drives. He is married, has two children, and lives 15-20 miles away.
Peter -- our driver, second season with IBT. was a criminal investigator in Munich. Motorbikes in south Africa. Retired. Small village of 2000.
Ike Strunsey -- Grandpa here with daughter, Jan, and 2 grandkids, Drew and Jordan. Has been retired for 16 years. Cycling, backpacking on Appalachian Trail, cross country skiing. Came through this area in tanks with General Patton at the end of World War II.
Jan Wynn -- Ike's daughter, Trey and Jordan's mom. Jazzercise, 4-8 classes weekly.
Trey Wynn -- High school. Sails with dad. ROTC
Jordan Wynn -- Grade 8. Tennis, softball, piano, friends.
Phil Ryan -- Grandfather to Peter. Bicycling since 1950. Has been on 8 IBT trips. Bomber pilot in World War II. 80 years old. 7 children.
Peter -- Phil's grandson -- music, guitar, drums
Rob Kelly -- teachers grades 4-5 in Washington D.C. Wife has a new job. No children.
Fran Kelly -- Rob's mom -- works for Merrill Lynch. Widowed. Raised 3 kids alone.
Ada Oyster -- Phoenix, Seattle. Taught Ted Bundy in grade 1.
Marty Hutt -- Jewish. Retired physician -- Denver 47 years. Outdoor biking, cross country skiing.
Thelma Hutt -- 4 kids, 11 grandkids. Retired nurse. Rides rails to trails.
Dale Westbrook -- Mount View California. Bicycling group. Health psychologist. Kaiser Hospital. Walking.
Ed Cassidy -- Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Retired technical computer manual writer. 10th IBT tour -- 5 in U.S. 5 in Europe. Family group on tour: wife, Dotty (somewhat strange and cliquey with family), Jane and David Jett (who joined third day), Katherine and son Steve (shack-ups).
This was a big day of riding at last. We went all the way to Passau. It was a beautiful ride, even though if rained lightly from time to time. We rode a lot of bike paths and highways. Some of our riders didn't follow the rules very well, refusing to leave the prescribed spaces and ride single file. But the ride was pleasant.
We stopped at a Catholic church in Niedlealtide. Abbey monks cleared the woodlands beginning in 741. They finished in 1300. The Danube kept moving and flooding. The first written laws were from 741 - 743. Huns destroyed the abbey in 907. It was rebuilt by 990. In 1675, it was destroyed by fire. In 1700, it was a famous painter school. Twelve Catholic saints originate from this abbey. The Institute here researches Russian church history and Orthodox. This was the only meeting between Greek and Orthodox. The church was very powerful. It owned much ground and vineyards near Vienna. It was rebuilt in 1727 in Baroque style and finished in 1735.
We stopped for our noon meal and an afternoon banana split. We then rode on into Passau, in a heavy rain. We reached Passau and rode down under a street. Ada had a flat and Joe went back to fix it. The tire kept going down and he kept repumping it. Joe had Ada ride behind him, and she fell -- hard -- going down a hill and around and under. She walked her bike back. She turned out to be O.K. We got VERY wet during the last half hour on the way to the hotel. A hot soak in the tub and dry clothes felt great. We had a wonderful meal at the hotel and took a walking tour of Passau let by Joe. Then it was time for bed. Verle has a slight cold.
We didn't ride bikes today, but spent the whole day in Passau. After a great breakfast (although I'm needing to cut down on how much I eat), we went to find a place to fix the broken frames on my glasses and a place to get my shoes cut down so my ankles won't rub when I wear the Ecco (brown) sandals without sox. Joe's gave us directions to the Minute Shoe Repair in the Danau Center. We found it, and he could fix my shoes yet this morning. We found an optical place in the same area. The eye doctor there fitted me with new frames to fit my lenses. He worked carefully taking many measurements, and only charged $15 for his labor.
We went back in the afternoon and he finished fitting them. I'm very happy with them. The receptionist gave us delicious cappuccino while we waited for the eye doctor.
After the morning time with the ey doctor, we tried to join the walking tour scheduled for 9:30, but we were 5 - 10 minutes late and couldn't find them. So we rode the boat for the three-river tour. It was a lovely ride. We sat on the top (third) deck. We got a good view of the fortress high on the hill on the north side of the Danube. It was built by Princes and Bishops to control Danube passage. Veste Oberhaus was built in 1219. The most interesting view was the joining of the rivers. The Danube actually runs a dark green. The Inn River comes in very white from the glaciers in the Alps (contains minerals). The Ilz is much darker -- nearly black. From the boat, it was extremely interesting to watch the river colors work their way together. The ship went upstream (west) on the Danube a short distance. Then it turned back east and worked around the point between the Danube and the Inn Rivers, and back west on the Inn. After a short way, it used its motors to turn sideways, and then it used the current to turn us back downstream.
After the boat ride, we got ice cream and went back to the cathedral for a half hour concert at 12 on the largest pipe organ in the world. It has five keyboards and 17,000 pipes. There is a daily concert there. The place was packed and we could hardly find a good seat. IBT paid for the concert tickets. The St. Stephens Cathedral is terribly ornate, with plaster-looking carvings all over the ceilings and sides and gold leaf everywhere. The "pulpit" looks like it is solid gold. The cathedral was rebuilt after a town fire in 1662. The architect made the outside identical to a cathedral in Vienna (or Salzburg). This cathedral owns massive amounts of land and is maintained in excellent condition. The outside has onion spires, and in front is the statue of Maximus turning his back on the cathedral as a sign of his rising power and the declining secular power of the priest. A large and beautiful new bishop's residence was built in the 18th century. The Bishop lived there except when he was in disfavor with Passau residents. Then he would go to the hill fortress, where he could turn his cannon on the city.
The town hall (clock tower) was a gathering place in all European towns in the old times. In Passau, the courtyard is by the river. Lines on buildings at the water front show flood lines reached by the waters of the flooding Danube. One was in the late 1990's. Joe says he snuck in an IBT tour between high water waves!!
In the afternoon, after picking up my glasses and repaired shoes, we spent an hour at an Internet cafe. Back home, we played Nurtz, had supper at the Weeser Haus Hotel, and played another game of Nurtz. This was the first Nurtz game Verle has won in Europe!
We ate breakfast at the hotel at 6:30. Then we climbed the hill to the fortress "Veste Oberhaus," built in 1219 and overlooking the point where the Danube, the Inn, and the Ilz Rivers join. It was a steep climb, taking (they said) 30 minutes. It may have been less -- we came back down in 7 minutes! Maybe it took 30 minutes from the hotel! It was foggy, so we were limited in what we could see, and we couldn't get out to the point, because it didn't open until 9. There are two youth hostels in the castle area. On the way back to the hotel, we followed the north bank of the Inn River for several blocks. It flows more rapidly through Passau than the Danube. We also had a good view of the Ilz as we came down -- it's definitely blacker!
We met in the lobby, loaded baggage in the truck, and picked up our bikes and left Passau over the Inn River about 10. We followed the loveliest ride possible, and the day was perfect. We rode along the Danube -- white/blue now from the addition of the white Inn River. We rode through lovely forests, past small villages and fields, but always along the Danube. It was peaceful and as nearly perfect a riding day as one might imagine.
We stopped to learn about a boat builder's craft -- Konigsdorfer RO BOOT -- he builds boats along the Danube using wood trees sliced into planks, after drying the wood for three years. The trees have to be cut during a two-week period when the sap is just right. He makes some boats following the ancient ways, and also makes more modern and fiberglass ones. The ancient boats have seams packed with moss, covered with a board, and stapled. If boats are left in the water, the boat seam will last 30 years. This builder's boats (he and his sons) are sold world-wide, including Japan. The smallest boats sell for about $600, and take 30 hours to build. His wife helps him, too. Boat building has been in his family for generations -- 500 years or so.
We took a ferry across the Danube and got food to picnic. We ate on benches along the Danube and used the WC in a museum.
We passed another castle / monastery, Obernzell--the Bishop of Passau's summer residence built in 1426. Trappist monks keep the church, working from 3:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
We crossed the German/Austrian border three times today. At the end of our beautiful ride, we took another ferry across the Danube to our hotel, Schlogen. What a beautiful place! It's not a city -- just a farm and a hotel -- and a lovely hotel it is. We have the most wonderful room we've ever had -- the door opens onto a patio -- across the lawn is the river flowing between 2 wooded mountain sides and curving beyond us in a horseshoe -- it is SO lovely.
Verle and I climbed and climbed to an overlook above the river. What a view!!! After a wonderful trout supper -- soup, salad, trout, and potatoes, apple strudel with vanilla sauce -- Verle and I moved furniture outside and played cards again. He won. I'm still ahead 3-2.
Joe says that the large ship that stopped at our dock is like a bus with regular stops up and down the river. We see a lot of local people with loads on their bikes traveling the bike paths.
We got up to our beautiful view of the Danube -- this room has been such a joy! We had a wonderful breakfast -- even scrambled eggs, and left early for our bike ride for the day -- in the rain. It was just a light rain, and lovely riding, and the rain soon stopped. (My cold seems to be making me sleepy.) We rode through some of the most beautiful places today. The Danube is a slow peaceful river.
We stopped at the Villering Church and Monastery. The place is built from a "stift" -- a gift of a family -- land and money -- for absolution -- to buy one's way to heaven. The church was built in 1146 in Boroque style. Rococo was added later. In the 11th century, the Catholic church was at the peak of its power -- this was true all over Europe. In 1733, all building were destroyed by fire started by a twelve-year-old girl, who was told to do this by her boyfriend. She was forced to watch his execution, and became mentally ill.
In 1933, the monastery was closed and the monks died in concentration camps. After World War 1, noble and rich families couldn't maintain their estates without the earlier free labor. Their buildings became government buildings. (We learned this on our walking tour of Linz.)
As we left the monastery, we rode down a steep hill. I braked almost to a stop at the bottom where the corner signaled a left turn -- it was onto thick and very loose rocks. My turn skidded my bike and I went down and skinned my knee pretty bad.
We continued riding through the loveliest of countryside. We bought food for a picnic and rode a half hour to a lake where Verle and I ate our food at a picnic table with Marty and Thelma. We rode on, later stopping for a break at a cafe -- Verle and I had yummy confections. When we left the cafe, it started raining again. We rode on to Linz through rather heavy rain. We reached the Arcotel hotel in eastern Linz -- another lovely hotel.
Hotels and even hostels in Europe seem to all have a bottom sheet and a separate comforter covered with a second sheet. the pillow is usually in a sort of butterfly fold.
After another wonderful supper, we took a walk through the old and newer center city of Linz. We saw the balcony where Hitler addressed the people of Austria after the bloodless takeover of their country. Hitler had studied art at Linz, and preferred the city of Linz to Vienna, where he had been rejected as a student.
The Old Market Square in Linz is pre-1500. Both this and the newer square are the same brick-covered streets and open squares that we've seen all over Europe. We saw the statue in the center of the newer market square -- Trinity--tribute to the end of the Black Plague that killed thousands (millions?) throughout Europe. We went back to the hotel and went to bed -- colds bothering both of us. My cold has made me sleepy today.
(Radfahren = bikers)
We slept later (8 a.m.) and had a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel including all the usual plus fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, and ham. We slept awhile longer and then to the bus to Mauthausen Concentration Camp. It was a prison before Hitler. This is the only concentration camp not designed specifically to kill Jews (and others).
The prisoners were unloaded from train cars and forced to march up the steep road to the camp. Many died on the way. We saw the entrance area where all their clothes and possessions were seized and they were given striped prisoner's clothing. Later, this clothing ran out and they were given clothes taken from other prisoners with numbers and sometimes a star of David sewn on them . Meticulous records were made for each prisoner. The area was kept very clean by the Germans and the prisoners, including flowers around the barracks.
We saw a statue of a Russian general killed by having him stand naked in frigid February weather and continuing to throw water on him until he turned into a block of ice. He was killed because he refused to say that he would renounce the Russian system.
A monument by East Germany renounced any responsibility for the Hallocast, even though they were as fully involved as the rest of Germany.
We passed through the gates of the Point of No Return. We saw many sketches (made by survivors) of conditions in the camp. A signboard listed those killed at this camp by countries including:
Mussolini and Franco sent their opposition here to be killed.
We saw a Jewish Menorah statue covered by many stones placed by Jewish faithful. We saw the quarry, the main work for camp prisoners, and the steps of death walked four times a day by prisoners, walking carrying heavy rocks. Many died there.
We saw quarantine barracks and then went to the most uncomfortable part of the prison -- the hanging chamber, the gas chamber, the oven, and Dr. Mengolssen's room for studies of the cadavers and removal of gold teeth, hair, etc.
A sign quoting Hitler states, "Tolerance Means Weakness." Only about one out of ten prisoners were women. The whole visit was sad and sobering.
The bus took us back to the City Center and Verle walked me back to the hotel, where I took cold medicine and slept all afternoon to try to recover from my cold, which was making me very weary. I need to get better so I can ride bike again tomorrow. Verle went to use the Internet while I slept.
We sat at supper (spaghetti) at a table by ourselves because of our colds, and Joseph sat with us. He told us more about his family and post-war comments. His brother was forced into the army at about 15 -- shortly before the war was over. He was under 16 when the war was over, and the German soldiers were placed in Allied POW camps. Because of his age, Joseph's brother was freed, but he had no food and nowhere to go. The other soldiers threw him bits of food at regular times. Joseph's parents were married after the war. They'd lost spouses and family. Only his mother's mother was still alive. It was a marriage of convenience -- two incomes, one home. Joseph was placed in a daycare each day before daylight. Both parents worked from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. six days a week. Only his father had a bike, and Joseph remembers being awakened very early and riding behind his father in the dark to and from work.
Joseph's family were moved to Croatia and settled there by Maria Theresa in an effort to stop the constant Turk invasions. After World War I, they were expelled by the Croatians and shipped by train back to Germany, where the Germans were forced to take them back into their homes (barns) and countryside. They worked hard and slowly made a life for themselves.
I felt much better today. I am taking Tylenol Cold Medicine that we brought along. We rode almost 40 miles today. It was sunny and warm in the morning and threatened rain in the afternoon. It was an enjoyable and easy ride. We left the Danube path and rode through some villages and fields to buy food and to eat our picnic and for the special apple strudel in the afternoon. We got to our hotel in Grein -- the Golden Kreus (Cross). It is an older hotel where nobility stay when visiting the noble family in Grein. I slept awhile after a good shower. My knee is nearly healed except for one deeper spot. Verle and I had a supper of sauerkraut and sausages -- local specialties.
After supper, Joseph gave us some history about the town of Grein. 300 years ago, it was very rich. The Danube had rapids nearby, and all cargo going through had to be unloaded and transported to the next town. Somehow the town could sell the merchandise for 3 days before it continued down the river. The barges had no engines. 3 barges together were drawn by up to 30 horses along the tow path. The lead horse went the entire distance. The small barge was to transport him across the Danube when the tow path changed to the other side and a new set of horses was used.
In the 16th century, 78 houses burned down. The house causing the fire had to pay 20% of the damage to all the houses. It was the house of prostitution next to the theater. They were so rich that the manager could pay the 20% by barely dipping into her store of gold.
The theater started in 1791. It is the oldest private theater playing continuously. Prisoners in the prison next to the theater could watch the shows. The theater was founded to raise money for bread and soup for the poor people.
This day quickly became a very hot day, but it was reasonably cool as long as we were riding, and the morning ride in the shade along the Danube was glorious.
Before our ride, we climbed to the Schloss Greinburg ship museum. It is in a nobleman's castle (Saxikolberg?) where noblemen still live. They are visited by other noblemen from Denmark, England, Sweden and are related to the King of Sweden. These visitors often stay in the Golden (Cross) hotel where we stayed. We had a good view of arched ceilings used for strength.
There were many models related to shipping on the Danube. Sailors and ship workers were chosen because they couldn't swim. This forced them to stay on the ship and keep working. After a barge or raft had carried its load down the Danube, it was burned, because the people feared diseases such as the Black Plague. However, the Black Plague was actually carried through drinking water that was too near the sewage. Barge traffic has significantly decreased since the war in Kosovo, because bridges were blown up there. There used to be 20-30 barges going by in a day. That's more than we've seen in the whole trip. Now that Milosavick is out, western nations will help rebuild. The barges are now going by the Black Sea.
We saw a model of a mill on a boat that anchored from town to town to grind grain into flour. The current moved the grinder wheel.
Other models showed special uniforms for the various trades -- soldiers, border guards, shipmen, carpenters.
Vienna glassmakers were #1. Then glassmaking moved up the Danube to Bavaria and the Bohemian forest where there was sufficient granite, etc.
In 1790, there were rocks and rapids at Grein. These have been blasted out. Locks were built in the 1850's, and the trains in the 1870's.
Austria's energy averages 95% water power -- the rest is from coal. 80% of the water power comes from the Danube. Europe uses 50 Hertz. U.S.A. uses 60 Hertz.
Wooden cobblestones in the entryway look like rock. Wood was used because was quieter for entering carriages. The courtyard is lovely, with greenery growing all the way around all the arches.
The nobleman was often also the Bishop. The noble room of this castle is the oldest Renaissance room in Europe.
You can tell real marble from fake, because real marble feels cold -- wood is warm. "Bitte nicht beruhren" means "Please don't touch."
We spent a warm night, but our clothes dried well. After breakfast, we walked up to the 900 year-old Benedictine Abbey of Melk. This Abbey is called a Stift, because the Bohmengburgs wanted to bring monks to this area to care for their monuments and burial grounds. Passau was the highest authority and had to verify the Bohmenburg Shift. The complex was constructed to receive royal guests with entourages of 200 - 250 persons. First built in 1089, and reconstructed from the 16th to the 18th centuries, the abbey houses a public/private high school, a library, a wing for Imperial guests, an area for simple living quarters for (now) 30 monks, and the residence for the head Abbot.
The Benedictine order follows St. Benedict from the sixth century and his book of rules adopted in the 9th century under Charlemagne. Benedictine monks enter an abbey and stay till death, unlike many other orders, whose monks move around. The 30 monks here do serve 23 parishes and live in their parish, but they return to the abbey every week or so.
In the Reformation of the 16th century, most of these monks converted to Protestantism. In the 18th century reconstructions all across Europe, the rather gaudy Baroque style was adopted to express the glorification of God -- and the triumph of Catholicism over Protestantism. Austria is 90% Catholic.
Baroque: It's more important what it seems like than what it really is. (fake marble, etc.)
In the 1618-1638 war between Protestants and Catholics, St. Colomen, a patron of Melk from Ireland, was hanged as a spy. Legend says that his body didn't decay. He was buried here by the Bohmenburgs. The Habsburgs gave money to encourage the Baroque style as a triumph over Protestantism, and to show the monarchy. They supported this imperial castle and monastery, and the veneration of the saints. Only the door frames of the castle are real marble. The roots of Melk go back to the Roman Empire. Paintings in the ceilings make ceiling look much higher. They are only 1 meter, but it looks like 10 meters or more.
There is a wonderful view of the Danube area and of Melk from the Abbey terrace. I love it there.
The library (several rooms, several floors) are the same books as in the 18th century, all bound nearly alike -- lovely -- and a treasury of old knowledge. Old manuscripts are stored in a special room. There has never been a fire at the abbey, so the ceiling frescoes (1730's) have never needed to be restored. They are beautiful.
The high school is a public / private institution. It is the public high school for Melk residents. It is a private high school for others from outside Melk. Private students pay 1000 shillings per month. Their are 80 teachers. Five are monks. The school has been continuous since 1140. Only monks and noblemen could read and write back then. The common people were kept unschooled by design. High school dormitories have recently been closed.
The building complex has 500 rooms and 1400 windows. The abbot was the highest authority in law.
In 1780 to 1790, the Austrian version of the French revolution occurred. Joseph II (son of Maria Theresa) was the Hapsberg ruler. It was the Age of Enlightenment in which that "politically correct" belief is that we can't see everything with only our senses. Joseph II dissolved the abbeys and implemented reusable coffins.
We started our ride after the visit to the abbey. We stopped on the way and climbed to the area where the Venus of Willendorf, a 4 inch chalk statue said to be 25,000 - 30,000 years old, was found by workers building a railroad. A much larger replica stands there. She is fat with huge breasts, a symbol of fertility. I thought it was made of potatoes!! It was found in August 1908. Similar statues have been found in Italy and throughout Europe.
Our next stop on this VERY hot day was at St. Michael's in a village by the same name. Our guide was a lady who lives in Vienna and spends her summers explaining the old church to guests. She loves the old church. The parish was started in 804. There was no town. It was the first Catholic church. The castle was build in 987. Farmers in the area raised potatoes, corn, and mushrooms. They stored meat in the communion room at the church. The church is still used for baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Every house had a coffin. If someone died in the winter, they were placed in the coffin and stored frozen in the attic until spring. After winter, the body was taken to St. Michaels. The cemetery space is used for ten years. Then a new body is placed in the plot. Each house had a little window to allow the soul of the dead to go to heaven, and a new baby soul to enter. The midwife baptized the baby in winter. After the winter was over, a second baptism was performed at the church. The first stone church was built in 1100. In 1500, many battles were fought with the Turks. The church was like a fortress. It had a wall and 5 towers. Only one tower remains. Farmers brought animals to the church in wartime and kept them in the cemetery. There were 70 members. Now there are 20. The church was closed from 1784-1946. It was reopened and renovated twice. Now it is also used for special masses and concerts. The organ is 350 years old. One person must work the bellows while another plays. There are 440 pipes. They play very old music. They aren't allowed to play the Wedding March. An artist painted a lion with chicken feet. He didn't know what a lion looks like. Our guide likes the painting of Mary and the crucified Christ. Mary is depicted as an old woman. The Keunringer Castle ruins in Durstein are the place where Richard, the LionHearted was held. He was captured in street clothes. Someone recognized him by his ring. His mennesinger, Blondel, went singing from castle to castle. When he reached Richard's castle, he heard Richard singing in answer to his song. So Blondel went back to England and raised the equivalent of $9 million in silver as a ransom. After his release, Richard married the princess of Narvana. She wouldn't leave Narvana. After Richard's death, she became the queen of England and ruled from Narvana.
Krems: A walled city with 4 openings, one in each direction. There is a replica of the wall in the city. Most towns had a hospital for the poor. Now socialized medicine cares for them.
We started riding about 8 a.m. We appeared to be in for another hot day until a cold front moved through. We expected rain, but it never came. It was cool enough that we almost needed a jacket. We rode almost straight till noon. It was cool and lovely, and we had a tail wind!
We stopped at a 1978 nuclear plant that was built but never used. A 50.7% vote blocked use of the plant. It never was charged up.
Our other stop was for homemade donuts and elderberry blossom juice (1/4 juice, 3/4 gas. It was excellent with the donut. Dale and I shared a donut. We rode our last leg to Lulln where we gave up our bikes and said "goodbye" to Peter. We got in about 12:30 and had until 1:55 to eat and shop before boarding the bus. Verle and I had a little fruit and I bought lace curtains for the sewing room -- $18 -- it's the souvenir I wanted to take home. I've loved the lace curtains in homes all over Europe! (I had to leave the group to run and find a WC right before we surrendered our bikes!)
We arrived at our lovely Vienna motel rooms about 3 p.m.
Verle and I showered and walked to the train station to get our tickets for Prague on Wednesday morning. We took the Tram D back to our hotel to help us figure out how to get to the train station on Wednesday morning with our bags. We ate supper and played more cards. We found out that our total tour mileage equals 250 miles.
We had a lovely hotel room -- separate rooms for toilet and bath, etc. We even had a fan. Glass-topped tables with doilies, more plug-ins, lights, chocolate on the pillow, pictures of old Vienna on the walls. We had two big windows. It's just a lovely and comfortable room.
a.m.: Guided Walking tour of Vienna.
After the tour, we visited St. Stephens, a very old church in the center of Vienna. It's our first example of Gothic architecture, but it has an ugly tiled roof. We couldn't tour the Opera House because they'd closed the door for the hourly tour, even though it was 2 minutes before the hour. We didn't want to wait another hour in the cold rain. We walked on, and spent an hour in an internet cafe, touching base with the kids. We picked up a picture of Alannah! We looked for Swiss bike paths and found a good one on the lap top. We got a phone card and tried without luck to call the Prague Youth Hostel and the Krimml bike rental o6 564 72 14, but we couldn't make the card work because we couldn't understand the Austrian error message at the end of the process.
We had our farewell supper. Dotty, Paul and Katherine walked straight out, not looking left or right or saying "goodbye" to anyone.
We got up, showered, washed hair, dressed, ate breakfast and left our lovely hotel room. I sorted out almost half of my stuff to send home so we'd be lighter for biking the rest of our trip. We walked to the train station, found the right gate and car. The train was sitting on the track, but the door wouldn't open. We were able to make the phones work and to reserve two bikes in Krimml to ride to Salzburg for 1370 shillings (we think. English was a real problem. We also found a post office next to the train station and mailed 2 big boxes home. We're down to bare essentials now, and hopefully we can carry the rest of our stuff on our bike trips from Krimmel and perhaps in the Swiss Alps.
The train left exactly on time, is comfortable and air conditioned. It cost $60 of our money. We're saving our days and not using our Eurail passes for this trip to Prague.
The conductor checked our passports and stamped them on the Austrian side. Then an officer with a gun came through and checked them again just before we crossed into the Czech Republic.
An obnoxious kid with a loud voice (6 rows away) talked to new backpack friends about his European travels, learning to roll a joint, being high, using a fake ID to buy alcohol in the US, DWI fines, etc.
Across the border into the Czech Republic, things looked much more shabby than in Germany and Austria -- more like in the Ukraine. The fields look bigger here. There is much ripe wheat. It is wheat country. There are also lots of sunflower crops, corn, big grain elevators. There are still castle ruins on hilltops and red tile roofs in villages. We are passing through deciduous forests. The houses and other buildings in the villages are less well kept. We passed through Brno, a fairly large city. The police came on board. There are tunnels through the hills.
We reached Prague and relief from our non-stop talking disgusting teenage friend. As we left the train, other passengers around us said, "Please don't judge San Francisco from that guy!"
We got our train tickets and couchette reservations for tomorrow night. Several people approached us with room offers, but left us alone when we said we only plan to stay one night. We went to the "i" (information) window and got a room at a Hostel in downtown Prague for a total of only $17. Good room -- large.
We went out walking around the old city and took a fun boat ride along the Old City area. It sprinkled a little. We found a bar and got two fine meals for only $6.30. The Czech Republic is inexpensive. We found the Metro -- it was sprinkling -- and rode the long way around to get close to our hostel. It was sprinkling hard when we came up, so we ran the 5 or 6 blocks back to our hostel.
We got up, ate a good free breakfast at the Hostel, found our way by Metro to the Market Square, and joined a bus/walking tour of Prague:
After the city tour, we went to information to find sports stores for Panniers (recommended: Ortlieb--waterproof, welded seams) and to begin inquiry for a possible RV for Jacob and Julia. We found 2 stores and bought panniers, a tire pump, and repair patches. The RV source was far out from the old town, and we were tired and running out of time, so we stopped at an Irish Pub and ordered 2 meals and fruit juice -- curry and chicken salad--$8 total! We had ice cream and waited around for the Mozart Requiem concert to start. We didn't have reserved seats, so we wanted to get seats on the aisle in the balcony so we could leave early to catch our train. (We'd taken extra stuff back to our locker, and we practiced and perfected our route so we could leave the concert at 9:30, and catch our 10:10 train.
The concert hall was beautiful. We weren't familiar with any of the songs played and sung, but it was an enjoyable bit of culture. We left right before the last piece started at 9:20, so we could easily get to our train and make up our couchette beds. (6 in compartment -- 2nd class -- not so enjoyable.) A Korean couple had the middle bunks, and 2 boys came rushing in breathless, just barely catching the train. They said they'd been drinking since noon, and paid a cab driver $20 to get them there in time. The beds were fine, but we didn't sleep very soundly.
We arrived at the train station in Munich at 6:30, and found our train for Salzburg. We had time to pick up rolls and hot chocolate for breakfast. The big mouth from the train to Prague was in the station--he'd ridden the same train from Prague to Munich. We caught the train for Salzburg without difficulty. The ticket person in Prague said we didn't need reservations. We chose a 4-person compartment, and had it to ourselves. The conductor gave us the track number for a fast switch in Salzburg, and it was not problem. However, the train left Salzburg 10 minutes late and we had only minutes to switch trains to Krimml at Zell Am See. The ride from Salzburg to Krimml followed the general area of our upcoming bike ride. There was much rolling scenery -- Alp-like. Gorgeous.
It rained all day, and was still raining as we reached Krimml. The train station attendant said we could get bikes from 8-11 in the morning (Saturday). They directed us to a Krimml trainstation Bed and Breakfast--wonderful--beautiful room--mountain view and patio! I slept awhile, and then we caught the bus up to the town of Krimml where we could see the falls in the distance.
We had a very good meal and bought a poncho for Verle to cover his head. It continued to rain all day. Verle and I went played Nurtz again, and then went to bed very early to try to sleep off this cold.
Haus Leutgeb (Private Zimmer)
Christine and Franz Leutgeb
Vorderkrimml 27
A-5743 Krimml
Salzburgerland
Nationalpark Hohe Tauern
haus.waiti@aon.at
haus.krimnl.com/haus.leutgeb
+43/(0)6564/7575
We woke up after a wonderful peaceful long night of sleep beside the mountain stream. We had a good European breakfast at the B & B, packed the panniers, and decided what to do. It rained a bit while we ate breakfast, and there was still some haze in the hills. My cold is better. By check-out time at 10, it looked as though the skies were getting lighter and the rain had stopped, so we took our things to the train station and rented our bikes. They're 21 speed bikes with a rack on the back, so we were able to hook our stuff on with no trouble -- Verle's new panniers on his bike, and my back pack on my bike. We used a spring-loaded brace to hold it on, although it makes my bike a bit top heavy.
We got everything ready and tried to ride up to Krimml to see the falls, but the road was mucky and very uphill. We came back and left the train station at about 10:50. The bikes ride great, and the scenery was gorgeous!! Smelling the fresh-mown hay and the farms -- hearing the cow bells and the church bells -- the high hills with homes, the forested mountains. Some had snow on top. Another looked as if it was above the tree line. It was a beautiful day for riding and a beautiful place to ride. We did get tired of riding UP into all the small villages -- then the road settled back to back paths through farms and pastures and along the stream. The farms all seem to be working farms. Most have livestock of some kind.
We rode until 5:30 or 6. We went through Zell San See, and around the lake of the same name. We decided that the places there by the sea looked expensive, so we rode on to Maishofen. We rented about the first Zimmer we came to for only $25 including breakfast. It's a nice place, with a shower next door, and a WC down the hall.
We showered and cleaned up and went out for a walk. The lady of the house told me that there was a festival with music over by the church (mostly using sign language!) We walked over -- what fun! It was like a fair.
We went home and played a game of cards. Verle beat me soundly. I never did go Nurtz.
We woke up and had the usual breakfast plus a boiled egg at about 8. Checkout time was 9, so we packed up and left even though the fog was still covering all but the bottom 50 feet or so of the gorgeous scenery all around us. We didn't want to miss the scenery, so we rode slowly around the town. We watched as men packed up the rest of the props from the festival last night. We were amazed at how clean everything was -- no garbage or trash.
We watched men load skewers of cooked chicken from one truck to another -- lots of chickens. I looked around in a cemetery, and finally the sun burned the clouds away and we had our gorgeous view again. We left at 10:30, and rode a leisurely pace, because it was all so gorgeous. We watched a man driving his milk cows down the road and out to pasture. He had a bike, but he had to keep going from side to side and switching the cows with a stick, because they only wanted to eat the grass along the road.
At 11:30, we reached Saalfelden. We'd had to walk up some steep hills, but we put our bike seats up and it helped.
We used the WC beside a lovely lake at Saalfelden and got a Magnus ice cream bar at a miniature golf course. Two men were playing table tennis. We saw a new game we'd never seen before. It was like miniature golf, but was played on tables about 12' by 3', and was played with a pool cube. I mentioned to the proprietor that we don't have such a game at home, and he gave us a tray of 4 balls (each table specifies which ball to use.) They are solid rubber, but some are denser and bouncier that others. The game is called Pit-Pat golf. The proprietor says he bought the things from Germany. Verle took many photos -- it would be fun to make for the grandkids -- and their parents. We played a whole game. It was fun. Verle beat me 68-56.
We resumed biking again about 1:00. The route all day was gorgeous. We often followed the Salaach River -- a white tumbling ever widening river. Sometimes we rode through lovely forests. Always, high mountains were above us -- sometimes rocky granite, usually mostly covered with forests. Many prosperous farms lined the valleys. Most seem to be dairy farms, pasture, and hay ground. We saw hay tedding and cutting, but no grain crops in this area.
Between Unken and Underjellenburg, we had three areas of very steep, often stony climbs, and a couple of steep downhills where we could hardly hold our bikes as we walked. It was hard to walk our bikes up, too. By the time we reached Unter-jettenberg, we were glad to find a Zimmer-frei and glad to find it cost only $35 with breakfast. We couldn't figure out why the cost quoted was only 70 shillings until we looked at the big map and realized that we were in Germany! Germany juts down into Austria here. The Zimmer has a lot of mountain antelope and skulls. Our host had shot them in the hills in this area.
We rested awhile, showered, and walked around the town looking for a place to eat. We found none -- all we've had since breakfast is an ice cream bar, a one-dip ice cream cone and 1 juice. We went back to our room and played Nurtz. I beat Verle a lot! We went to bed hungry.
This was a day of difficulty finding our bike trail, especially in Saltzburg. We had a nice breakfast at our Zimmer in Unterjettenberg -- especially welcome since we hadn't had a meal since breakfast yesterday. The Zimmer has a ceramic stove -- big and green -- with a white concrete dome on top. We saw a similar one in a cafe in Krimml.
It was a beautiful day, with no low clouds hiding the mountains, so we started out right after breakfast at 8:30 or 9 a.m. We were confused almost right away. They just didn't give us enough Taunerwege trail signs. We did have a beautiful ride through a lot of wooded area with mountains and most of the riding was pretty easy. We didn't have to walk our bikes up or down any inclines. We got to Saltzburg around noon and REALLY couldn't follow the map because there weren't nearly enough green signs. The first time we thought we were wrong, we came to an "i" sign, and our helper drew on our map the route back to the "t" trail, but we couldn't tell where to turn and not to turn. We ended up missing most of the lakeside with the Sound of Music castle, although we did see the castle in the distance and took a couple of pictures. While going through an underpass, Verle thought he saw some paper money. We went back and picked up 40 shillings.
Verle asked directions from a man with a bike. It turned out that he is from New Jersey -- a pianist -- and his wife is from Red Cloud, NE -- an opera singer in Salzburg and Vienna. She's teaching now at a college in Boston. He led us part way and we were able to get to the Old City Center and the rest of the way to the train station without trouble. We walked and rode around in the Old City -- similar to many others we've visited. The castle is very predominate and right next to the city center up on a high hill. It gives Salzburg a distinctive look. This is not the same castle as the one in the Sound of Music movie.
We got night train tickets for 12:39 (after midnight) for tonight. We will try sleeping seats instead of couchettes -- much cheaper.
We rode back out to look for a place to eat. Verle stopped to take a picture of the castle and the Old City from the west bank of the Saalzach River. A couple stopped him and suggested that he take it from the middle of the bridge -- this is the most famous view of the city. We asked about a place to eat, and they suggested Sternbrau--in the Old City just off the Saalzack, and told us where to find it. We took our bikes and found a table outside where we could watch our things. We picked up our food at self-service and ate slowly -- we had a lot of time to kill before our 12:39 p.m. train! We sat with a couple and their grown daughter, Annabell, who were biking Salzburg on rented bikes. They were from the Dusseldorf area and recognized Louisendorf, the Kilzer homeland. He's an engineer.
We decided to do some more biking, so we rode south of town on the west bank of the Sallzach for about an hour, and over a bridge across the Saalzach, and back to Salzburg on the east bank of the river. Most of the ride was on bike paths and through wooded area. It was enjoyable. We sat on a park bench across the river from the castle and the old city -- lovely.
We rode on back to the train station and found a post office open until 9:30 p.m. We had an hour to repack my things into my lightweight green backpack and send our heavy backpacks home. We're now down to my green backpack and Verle's panniers -- we're really traveling light. We need to make a list of just what we've retained!
We used up most of the time on our Austrian phone card to call Mother and Marilyn and Maureen. Lukas says he's interested in genealogy. Maureen is on radiation, which makes her weak and tired, but not in pain or nauseous. Karen found a lump and had a mammogram. She's O.K.
We found the train station waiting room, changed from our riding clothes, and got on at 12:30 to sleep in sleeping chairs overnight to Zurich.
Day 1: Krimml, Wald, Neukirchen, Bramberg, Hollersbach, Mittersill, Stuhlfelden, Uttendorf, Niedersill, Plesendorf, Kaprun, Zell an See, Maishofen.
Day 2: Pfaffenhoffen, Tho (Pit Pat Golf), Lenzing, Lofer, (hard ride), Utterjettenberg.
Day 3 (1/2 day): Bad Reichenhall, Leopoldskron, Salzburg
We slept reasonably well on the train (in our seats) until 5:30 when the conductors came through to check passports and the tickets. We were worried about ours because of the conductors' mistake in stamping a second 7-20 in the space where we wrote 7-24, but he'd written a note and none of the conductors had a problem with it. A baby cried and people moved around, made noises, etc. But we did get some sleep. We got to Zurich at 6:30. The information area didn't open until 8, so we got some food for breakfast from a train station market -- 2 coffees for 6.60 franks-terrible. Verle shaved and then we started questioning to try to find a good Alps Swiss bike route that we could follow. No one seemed to know much, but we gathered enough information to choose the Rhine bike tour from Andermott to Lake Constance (north edge of Switzerland) I was just as interested in the Rhone route that starts at Andermott and ends at Lake Geneva, (and was marked EASY). But we'd already gone that way by train and boat to Montroix and Lousanne, so it seemed best to follow Verle's lead. A lady at the bookstore was most helpful, and we got a good map of the route similar to the one we had for Krimml. (Andermatt Rent-a-Bike 041 888 75 11 20)
We got a train schedule (leaving in about 20 minutes, double-checked for bike availability, and were on our way. It was a beautiful ride as the Alps became more and more rugged and beautiful. We were getting higher and higher and looking farther and farther down. The last 10 minutes were by bus on a steep hairpin road. We began to worry about riding down such a steep area. We got to the station and rented the bikes. We asked where the route started and learned that it required a HUGE climb right away. We still had the pass to go over. Seeing our fear, the railroad man suggested that we take the next train to the top of the pass -- it left in an hour. So we had a good dinner at the train station. We asked about a plate we saw dished up and learned it was called "menu." We had read about that in Allen's book. While we ate, we did more checking and realized that the route marked "easy" didn't start until Disentis. So Verle bought an extension to our train tickets to take us there (the end of the line.) We changed clothes and hurried to load our bikes. It was a gorgeous train ride above the tree line. There was water running everywhere. The Andermott area is the source of both the Rhine and the Rhone rivers. We decided we were glad we were in the train instead of on our bikes, and we began to worry about the climb marked at the start of our Disentis route. We got to Disentis at 4 p.m., got our bikes out -- and my gears didn't work. The chain had a twist. We worked with the train station people to use one of their bikes in trade for the Andermott one, and they'd return to bad one to Andermott. The train station lady will also call Andermott and clarify that are four days will be Wednesday to Saturday, since we had the bike trouble and couldn't start today. The train station "i" lady helped us find a low cost Pension. It's a very old home and not as nice as the other's we've stayed in though it is more expensive. We showered and played Nurtz (I won) but didn't feel like tackling the hills of this town again to try to find supper, so we didn't eat.
Pension Schuoler, 7180 GR (Switzerland) Phone: 081-947-52-46
Disentis to Versam -- only 24 miles!
We ate breakfast at our old Zimmer -- the simplest breakfast so far -- sliced bread, butter, jelly, a little cheese, coffee, tea. We ate everything in sight.
We started on what we knew would be a beautiful route with some difficult climbs -- and it was both.
We saw a lot of people working with hay. It is full season. They do a lot of handwork, especially raking, with whole families out in the fields (hills). Even when they use mechanized equipment, they scythe edges and rake them. One woman who was raking spoke to us -- she'd been in Canada. She said that raking is hard work. They were working on hillsides so steep they'd have been hard just to stand up on, let alone to work.
The man and his daughter that had eaten breakfast with us at the Zimmer finally passed us. They live near Zurich and had biked from Andermott. We bought picnic food and ate part of it in front of the market. We carried the nut mix and granola bars to eat later.
After walking our bikes all the way up the long first climb, much of the rest of our riding was downhill or very short uphill parts where we walked our bikes. After Ilanz, however, we came to a long (2 miles or more) uphill highway climb. It was a gentle but continuous uphill. We could ride our bikes for part of it in low gears, but finally our legs gave out and we had to push our bikes the rest of the way. The public water fountain at the top of the first climb was SO welcome! After the second climb, we came to Versam. It was after 4:30, and our legs were fried, so we decided to stop at a Zimmer (30 rooms) in Versam, even though it was more expensive than we wished. We really didn't know if we could enjoy another climb in the same day, or whether we'd find another place at a cheaper price. We showered and I slept an hour and a half or so. We ate at the excellent restaurant that's part of the Zimmer. Verle beat me at Nurtz, and we went to bed. It's so beautiful here.
About the time we got proud of being able to follow the trail, we blew it big time. (See below!)
The Zimmer included a wonderful breakfast and we ate very well. We chatted a bit with a group who were about to kayak on the Rhine, and with a very nice family from Zurich with a young son and two lovely daughters.
We started out with a beautiful downhill ride from above the Rhine "Grand Canyon." But we had several uphill climbs during the day and usually had to walk our bikes. The scenery was fabulous -- again, we were often looking down from above instead of always looking up at the hills.
We rode past some large strawberry fields and saw the one-man pickers. None were operating, but they reminded us of the cucumber picking contraptions in Austria. We rode past several dairy farms -- one was very large. They were all neat and clean and not smelly. Verle remarked that their cows must all be housebroken!
We were confused about our bike path in Landquart, and a man and his wife, who were also biking, helped us. We must have done it wrong, because he personally led us to the right path. He said that one route goes to Lake Bodensee (the one we want), and the other to Zurich. He led us to the spot we needed to follow. It was another example of the kind people we've met on this trip. We followed the path past a small castle with a long wall and much land and some buildings inside.
We came to the town of Jenins and went past another home with beautiful flowers. A 68-year old sharp lady was trimming her hedge. She spoke English, so we asked the names of her flowers. She had lovely pink hydrangeas and a purple one with white sub-blossoms that she said was a kind of wild hydrangea. She asked us in for tea and served us homemade nut bread and homemade elderberry syrup to which she added gas water -- it was great! Maybe I could make grape syrup from my grapes and serve it that way. The lady's name is:
Elsa Rutz
19, Malanserstrasse
CH - 7307 Jenins
Graubunden, Switzerland
Elsa explained that separate families own the grape vineyards. One is hers. The machine we saw outside is used to spray the plants. They have to cut the leaves away from the grapes so they can spray them to keep them from rotting caused by insects. The vineyard always needs work -- pruning, tying, etc. Her son (and his wife, who is learning) also help. Elsa explained that the next town, Mainfeld, has hot springs that attract many guests. It is also the town that is the setting for the story, "Heidi". The town has capitalized on this with "Heidi Street" "Heidi snacks," and even the "original house of Heidi." I had always been watching the hills and towns, looking for Peter and his goats, Grandma's house, etc.
We walked our bikes up and up and up -- it had to have been a couple of miles or more. We again begrudged this trail being marked as "easy." We came to a town at the top of the mountain marked "St. Louisteg." It was the top of our climb. We checked our tour map book (written in German, or something), and discovered that our climb had been at right angles to our designated route!!! We had just passed the road to Flaash, so we went back and took it -- a sharp down road with a very bumpy asphalt road. We might have guessed sooner that we were on the wrong route, but our book had marked a climb (which we probably had made before we got off the route), and so we were expecting a climb, but it turned out to be a REALLY long one. We had wondered why we hadn't met any bicycles coming down!!
Once in the town of Flaash, we found our route again fairly easily. We really enjoyed our gentle downhill along the left bank of the Rhine on a wonderful asphalt road atop a levee, even though we had a fairly strong head wind. We came near the town of Tribbach, went under the highway, saw the train station, took an underpass under the railroad, and expected to see if the information area was open to ask about housing. There was a hotel/restaurant directly in front of us, and they charged only 70 francs for a room and breakfast. We showered, napped, ate supper at the hotel, and went back up to play Nurtz, but we were so tired, we lay down to sleep a bit first and slept all night.
We woke up about 7, and ate our free breakfast at the hotel. It was another sunny, warm, beautiful day. We rode all day on basically flat roads. It got very hot. We saw a number of large dairy farms and quite a lot of truck farming. The landscape leveled out to small "mountains." Again when people saw us puzzled about our route, they came to help us. One man called to us and suggested Hotel Schiff (but it was too expensive.) One family led us through a real confusing path. We wish there would be more signs along the way. Many times we come to a cross road and have no clue about where to go. It was really, really hot. We bought picnic stuff and later ate a whole box of banana split ice cream ($2.80.) We got to Rorshach about 5:30, went to the train station, and found out about a new youth hostel nearby, which is right on Lake Bodensee. The desk guy said, "You're lucky -- there's one room -- the guy who had it reserved fell off his bike. You can send him a card!" The hostel cost 35 francs each, including sheets and breakfast. Our room was very small, but included pools, lakeside, etc. We ordered one order of spaghetti and split it -- great. We ate outside by the lake and played Nurtz there. Verle won. We walked along the lake and then went to bed.
Our fourth day of biking from Disentis was along the Rhine. We had an excellent breakfast at the hostel and went to the train station. We can make excellent connections. We can ride our bikes along the lake to Constance, take the Rhine River boat to Schlauffhausen, and take the train to Zurich and from there a night train to Belgium. We were surprised to see it all working so well! We biked all morning, mostly along the lake-- a lovely, easy ride, mostly on bike paths. We didn't have much trouble following the signs, but it was quite warm. We really started getting tired after noon and seemed to be taking an awfully long time to get to Constance. We came to a town that Verle didn't remember seeing on the map, and he checked the map -- we'd missed Constance! On that hot day, we backtracked to the border guard (border between Switzerland and Germany) and they directed us to the train station. We found the Swiss end (Constance is in Germany), but they didn't check bikes in there. We found our way to the K station with the help of the Constance border guard. We checked in our bikes (I was SO hot and tired) and took a one-stop train to the place where we could catch the Rhine boat to Schlaffhaussen.
Vreui Fraueufelder
Roseubergstr. 51
8212 Neuhausen
Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Mariam Zafi
Falkenstr. 7
8200 Schaffhausen
Switzerland
While waiting for the 4:10 boat, Verle met two women from Schlasshaussen. They invited us to have something to drink with them (Applestaff) and paid for ours. By the way, the train station had charged us no extra fee for turning the bikes in, and the ship captain accepted our Eurail Pass for full payment without marking out a day. The Rhine trip was beautiful and relaxing. Our women friends explained many things to us, and we had a really wonderful time. We shared our remaining snacks with them. When we got to Schlasshaffen, they showed us around the old city, including a monastery with a lovely formal herb garden, and the pharmacy where one of the women had worked for 40 years. The front of the building was covered with Greek and Roman mythology paintings. Many of the houses had built out windows.
We got food and took the night train (couchettes) to Brussels and connecting to Brugge. The couple who shared our compartment (upper bunks) didn't share with us except that they were going for a holiday in Brugge. Brugge is a lovely and very interesting town, as we discovered on a bus and a boat tour which we shared with a couple from Rhode Island. He's a railroad dispatcher, and she teaches HS French. She told me about getting geraniums that hang down from her local greenhouse. We saw them all over Europe -- they're a different type of geranium.
We had a very unpleasant time getting information and money. the information people were gruff and not at all helpful. Two ATM machines didn't work. We had to walk to the city center because we had no money for a bus ticket. We weren't especially sad to leave Brugge. We spent the rest of the day riding the train around Belgium. After making Paris Comfort Inn reservations through a very helpful young man at the Liege Comfort Inn, we split a steak supper at a nice restaurant, and then reboarded the 1 hour late train to Amsterdam/Hoorn. The train started to stop at additional small towns and got later and later. We decided to get off much earlier than we'd planned at a small town where the lady across the aisle lived. Most of the info places are closed because of Sunday. Also, Europeans are flocking out of the cities for their summer vacations, and we knew it might be hard to find a place. We couldn't get help at the small town, so we went on to the next town, a college town, Ubrecht Cental. The information there gave us information for a hostel and a camp ground, but we couldn't make the pay phone work with coins. Verle bought a phone card and we tried again. Both places rang busy, probably because they were full. What to do??? We found a train to Den Hegen -- that should take until 2 a.m. We could sleep the 2 hours on the train and then try to sleep in the train station until time for the first a.m. train to leave. We did get some sleep on the ride, but when we got to Den Hegen, the train station was closed, so we couldn't even lock our things in a locker. There were some seats outside the station and we learned that a train was leaving about 5:30, so we decided to walk around the town there. It was a nice evening and the time went by reasonably easily. The were cleaning the trains, so at 4:15 we went to watch, and at 5 we got on the train and went to sleep. It was a night like we had expected the whole trip -- a night with no place to stay. It was not fun, but is wasn't all that bad, and it was FREE!
We rode the train to Amsterdam and got off and walked a ways into the town for 2 small rolls, coffee, tea -- $10 -- a real rip off.
We got back on the train and rode back to Ubrecht, because we liked that train station and the information help. With information help, we discovered that we didn't really have time to go across the Channel to England, or to go over to Normandy, so we got our reservations for Paris for 6:10 in the evening from Brussels and took a train to Rotterdam. Rotterdam really looks more like an American city in diversity of people, architecture, homes built in many different styles. This is in comparison to the rest of Europe where nearly everything is alike in an area. Rotterdam has an excellent system of tourist information, and we were able to find our way to the Water Tour though the seaport. What a beautiful city of large, modern buildings, and what a thriving seaport! It was SO interesting, especially the very artistic bridge somewhat like a couple of bridges we saw in Austria. Also remarkable was the huge number of containers for shipping on trucks, barges, and trains. They must lead the world. I kept falling asleep because of losing so much sleep last night, but it was a pleasant, relaxing, informative ride. We hurried back to the train station, got our stuff out of the locker, and caught the Brussels train 1 hour early. That was good, because yesterday's trains ran an hour late, and we have to get to Paris and meet the time frame for our motel and air tickets in Paris.
All went well -- our train to Paris was a Thymus -- super fast and smooth. We have request forms to fill in for a refund because they didn't serve us a meal -- only snacks. We both slept some, but mostly we enjoyed the countryside of northern France -- large fields -- farmhouses in the villages.
We reached the train station and took the Metro to the airport, found information and they called the Comfort Inn to see where we were to meet the shuttle (Level 3 Departures, Gate #22.) We didn't want to wait for hours like when we arrived in Paris. 01 60 03 6565
When we got to the motel, it felt so wonderful to shower, wash hair, and get off sweaty clothes after 3 days in the same clothes (Couchette Saturday night, park bench and train Sunday.) We skipped supper and slept early and long.
We woke up well rested, packed everything up, and went down to catch the 9:30 shuttle. My Visa wouldn't work (we found out later that they'd issued a new one in mid-July and canceled the old one.) The shuttle bus was full, so we had to wait to get to the airport. We found our way to the United check-in. A gal on our shuttle said they are 50 overbooked. She'd been working most of the night to try to get her sick mother home. We had to stand in a forever-longline-and met a neat couple from France in the process.
christophe.Pe-clainche@libertysurf.fr
Aebane
Christope
LE CLAIMCHE
Firve de la Janaie
35530 NOYAL SUR VILAINE
France
They are traveling to the West Coast to spend their holiday with a couple they met when the U.S. couple traveled in France. The airlines sent a representative through the line to offer a bump ($400 flying credit each, a nice hotel and food, business class trip home tomorrow.) We signed up as standby's, but boarding time came, and they didn't need our seats. We had front row seats in the plane, which gave Verle a lot of leg room. I slept very well the first part of our flight. We ate well, and the 8 hour flight went quickly.
We called David from Chicago, and learned that Bruce's family was at Worlds of Fun and would come to pick us up. It was wonderful to see them all again, and we really talked non-stop about our experiences. We took them to the Cracker Barrel for supper, and then stayed overnight at their house. Maureen had spent the day relaxing at a hotel in Kansas City. It is so hot and humid. We thought our last week in Europe was hot, but this is much worse.
We took Carsten's car home Wednesday a.m. When we got home, the place was mowed up. We got our mail and some perishable groceries and began to reorient ourselves to our home and the U.S.
Bruce called that Carsten needed his car for senior photos Wednesday night. We were planning to take it back then anyway, so we drove it to Pioneers Park and met Carsten, Maureen, and Bruce there and then took our van back home since we couldn't make contact with Jeremy.
And so ended our most wonderful 2 month vacation in Europe. We'd gladly have stayed longer, but once it was time to come home, we became very excited about getting back. When we discovered that Bruce's had come to meet us, we were glad that we hadn't gotten the bumps in Paris!
Bare Necessities for 2 month biking trip:
Rain Jacket - Gore TexThelma and Martin Hutt
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