After a great Christmas holiday we settled in to a regular work schdule.with Jess and Sarah off to their duties on base while I made my regular visits to the butcher and the baker. I was doing a lot of reading and napping. Naps are good, as I had discovered in China. Sarah and Jess took a weekend skiing in Austria and Sarah left for 10 days in the US for more fitness and Yoga training. On the Friday morning after Sarah’s departure, January 14, I suffered a stroke. Early in the morning I had a problem rolling over in bed. When I got up, I fell down. Jess hadn’t left for work yet and I called him and told him what was going on. He called the local volunteer ambulance and they arrived within minutes. Two young women had a difficult time, even with Jess’s help, getting me down the stairs in their special chair to ground level and the ambulance. Once in the ambulance we had to wait for a doctor to arrive. After a few minutes the doctor arrived in another ambulance. He spoke pretty good English and he, after some checking, informed me that my brain had an insult, whatever that is. Anyway, soon we were off to Weiden and a hospital about 20 miles away. Two doctors, both female, took charge of me and ran a series of tests, including a MRI. Again, I was told I had a brain insult and shown on the MRI the spots on my brain that were the insults. I think something is lost in translation. Jess stayed with me, took care of paperwork, even gave the hospital a deposit (just like the States, they would like assurances of being paid), and began notifying next of kin. Son Brad, concerned that I was in a Third World Country, made arrangements to come two or three days later and quickly satisfied himself that I was getting excellent care. My first full day in the hospital I had both speech therapy and physical therapy. They don’t waste any time. It was hard to sleep as I was all wired up and just about every time I moved an alarm of some sort would go off. At least when Brad got here, he read me an interesting book. It seems like only yesterday that I was reading books to Brad.
After 10 days of tests and relatively sleepless nights, I was transferred to a rehabilitation clinic of my choice. I chose one here in Erbendorf, which had been recommended by several medical people and was very convenient for Sarah and Jess. Food was ok and the care was great. The rehabilitation was strenuous to say the least. Some days I would be soaked with sweat. Other days just plain exhausted. Generally would start at 8:30 or 9:00 and finish around 4:00. I slept very well as I was usually dead tired by the end of the day. I was able to see progress as I slowly regained use of my left leg and limited use of my left hand. Within two weeks I was starting to walk again, albeit without much confidence. I can now walk with a cane with confidence. The arm has been slower to come back but continues to improve. The biggest disadvantage was no Internet. However, Sarah and Jess kept me well stocked with movies from the base library, which I could watch on my computer. I also read several books. After five weeks in the rehab center I returned home to Sarah and Jess’s from where I speak. I do my exercises every day and twice a week I return to the rehab center to be worked over by Matthias, one of the physical therapists. Matthias is great. He knows when to push and when to back off. I owe much of my progress to him and his persistence. So here I am, tired, sore, and impatient. My future plans are up in the air. I desire to return to Michigan and my home in the woods there but probably am not ready for it. In time I will be, but the question is how much time? Patience was never one of my finer aspects. So, my minor change of plans is that I have no plans at all.
03/12/2011
01/18/2011
Christmas and New Years in Europe
German Update 4
On Christmas morning we opened gifts after a terrific breakfast. Four of my gifts were not here yet. One was shipped on November 30th, another on December 7th. I know it took six weeks for a package I shipped before I left Michigan to get here, but I expected a little better. One package arrived on the Monday after Christmas and the other three I am still waiting for. However, there were enough gifts to make the morning a Merry one. About 10:30 we gave the dogs a good run, got in the car and left for Prague. I’m glad I didn’t have to drive as there was a light snow and the roads were pretty slippery. In Erbendorf we are about an hour from the Czech border and about two hours from Prague. Because of the roads the trip took about two and a half hours. We drove into Prague and went straight to the Opera House where we had tickets to see the ballet Swan Lake.
First, I’d like to say this opera house, built in the late 1880’s is magnificent. It is not large but it is ornate and full of gold leaf everywhere. The acoustics are unbelievable. There was a wonderful small (about 45 piece) orchestra that was really good. I can’t wait to see an opera in this venue. Just a breathtakingly beautiful house. It is the home of the Czech National Opera and the Czech National Ballet, which was putting on today’s performance. They do a magnificent job. The ballet was flawless and beautifully staged. These people are not only graceful but are strong and high on endurance. They are highly skilled athletes with great skills, balance, discipline, and grace. The music was outstanding. The whole experience was topnotch and I enjoyed it immensely.
After the performance in this truly enchanting theater we walked to the subway station very near the opera house and then had a lengthy discussion about where to go for dinner. All this is at the head of Wenseslas Square, a historic part of Prague but about a mile to “downtown” or “old town.” The Square is named after the good king. Sarah and Jess knew some great places in old town but it was decided that we would find something on Wenseslas Square and then head for home. We lucked out and found a huge Czech restaurant in the square that had a very modest front. We walked in and the restaurant went back several hundred feet and then tripled in width and continued back even further. It was very big and had very good food. We had a fine Czech dinner and then headed for home. We got home about 9 or 9:30 and immediately called son Brad on Skype. Brad and his family were in Tucson with son Scott and his family, along with their mother and sister, Ann. We had about a 45-minute video discussion with sons, grandkids, daughters, daughters-in-law, and even a former wife. What a great way to end an extraordinary day. Christmas, 2010, a day that will never be forgotten.
Sarah and Jess worked for three days between the holidays as we planned our New Years trip. We decided on going to Budapest and Vienna. We left about 5 AM on Thursday morning (New Years Eve was Friday) and drove through the Czech Republic and into Slovakia. For many years after WWII these two countries were combined as Czechoslovakia and controlled by the Soviet Union. When the Iron Curtain dissolved in 1989 the glue that held these two diverse cultures together was gone. About three years later the two separated peacefully becoming two independent countries on Jan 1, 1993. Slovakia, the less cosmopolitan and more rural of the two suffered considerably with unemployment hovering around 20%. The leaders, however, were gradually changing a very centrally controlled economy under the Communists to a market economy. In 2003 Slovakia adopted a “Forbes Style” flat tax of 18% as opposed to the VAT adopted by most other European countries. By 2005 unemployment was in the 5 % range and industry was flooding to Slovakia. It became a major car manufacturer with VW, Peugeot, and KIA all building large plants there. Sony and Samsung both have large facilities manufacturing LCD and Plasma TVs. The Slovakian economy has been the fastest growing economy of the European Union since 2005 and has continued to hold that position through the latest worldwide economic downturn.
We stopped for 3 or 4 hours in the Slovakian capitol, Bratislava. What a lovely city! Situated on the Danube about 100 miles from Budapest and 70 or so miles downstream from Vienna. They have preserved the old walled part of the city and it is very beautiful and friendly. However, I’m afraid in the near future this will change as there is construction everywhere and new people are moving in all the time. This is definitely a city on the move.
The above picture is the “White House” or palace that serves as the center of government for Slovakia. It is one of many picturesque buildings in this lovely city.
This statue directly in front of the French Embassy in Bratislava shows a barefoot French soldier with his hat over his eyes and clearly depicts the Slavic attitude towards the French. This is on Embassy Square in Bratislava and they are preparing for a big New Years Eve celebration, which will be centered here.
After a fine lunch at a small café we departed Bratislava bound for Budapest, about a two-hour drive away. Arriving in Budapest we drove directly to the hotel Sarah had reserved. What a pleasant surprise! It was a very nice urban hotel and when we checked in they asked if they could switch us to a two-bedroom suite over the two rooms we had reserved. The suite was a two-bedroom, two-bath, large common area suite. It even had jetted tubs. It was so nice it almost made me want to stay in and enjoy it. However, common sense prevailed and we immediately left to do some exploring. We walked to a New Year’s Market in the retail section of Pest, a very toney area..
Budapest was originally two cities; Buda on the west side of the Danube and Pest on the east. In 1849 the first permanent bridge between the two cities opened. It was only the second permanent bridge on the entire Danube river and it’s first suspension bridge. It was considered one of the “wonders of the world” and is known as the “Chain Bridge,” named after the chains that served as the suspension cables suspending the roadway. It led eventually to the combination of the two cities and to Budapest becoming a world power. The bridge was destroyed by the retreating Nazis in 1945 and rebuilt in 1947. The bridge provides pedestrian walkways and continues to be a main connection between Buda and Pest although 5 or 6 other bridges have been built.
We walked to the New Years Market and saw many great food stalls. Between the grilled sausage, steak, pork steaks, and vegetables, we admired several candy stalls with about every version of marzipan imaginable. As they prepared for New Years Eve many places were setting up to sell silly wigs (it seems that tinsel hair is all the rage in Eastern Europe), horns, champaign, wine, and mulled cider. We walked by the first MacDonalds to open behind the Iron Curtain, and it is still thriving 25 years later.
We returned to the hotel in the late afternoon. Sarah and Jess decided to go to the Baths. I decided on a hot shower and a rest. Budapest is built on a geothermal dome and as a result has a number of baths. These baths date back to Roman times and are famous throughout Eastern Europe. Spas are very important in Europe. I used to work with a great man from Austria who had been captured by the Russians at the end of WWII. After five years in a Russian gulag he got back to Austria, found his wife and daughter but couldn’t find work. The Austrian and German economies were struggling during the post war period. He had a cousin who had come to Detroit and was working at the old Deluxe Tool and Die who got Deluxe to sponsor him to come to the US. All this took several months of correspondence and finally Johan asked his cousin where Detroit was. The cousin informed him that it was very near Mt. Clemens, which cleared everything up. Most Europeans knew of Mt Clemens because of the mineral baths there but had no idea where Detroit was.
The next morning we set out on a 5-hour walking tour of Budapest starting at the Hungarian Parliament.
The building is huge, deceptively large, and today’s parliament uses approximately one eighth of it. It was built in a time when “grandeur” was the rage and cost was no object. This view is from the opposite side of the Danube (the Buda side). On the other side of the building is a square housing their eternal flame honoring those who died in the 1956 revolt against the communists which was very brutally put down by the Soviets.
This is the Hungarian Eternal Flame with the Hungarian Parliament in the background.
On this same square in 1956, Hungarian students erected a Hungarian Flag with the communist coat of arms cut out of the center of it. The communists had added the symbol to the flag years before. AVH (Hungarian Secret Police) and Soviet troops on the rooftops of nearby buildings opened fire killing 53 on this spot. The Hungarians don’t forget easily. The flag with a hole in it became the symbol of the Hungarian Freedom Movement, which although effectively crushed by the Soviets continued in pockets and underground in Hungary for years.
We walked on and visited several churches and buildings that were of beautiful construction. Then we stopped at the Budapest Central Market, a totally fascinating place. Having long been a lover of Detroit’s Eastern Market, Sarah knew I would love this place, and I did. It was not only a beautiful building, it housed restaurants, eating stands, butchers, bakers, and just about every kind of fruit and vegetable stands imaginable. It was a bustling place and really fun to visit. We had some goulash, the national Hungarian dish (not at all like the goulash in the US), and some Polish stuffed cabbage for lunch and watched intently all the people and the shopping going on. It was great fun.
A bit later in the day we went to the Hungarian National Opera House. Another building of the late 1880s and “grand” just doesn’t do it justice. It is another magnificent opera house similar in many ways to the opera house in Prague, which was built about the same time. When this was built, Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Emperor, Franz Joseph, found his home in Vienna, which already had a magnificent opera house. He didn’t think they needed another opera house but the Hungarians were very insistent. He relented and gave permission with one proviso: it couldn’t be larger than the Vienna Opera House. The Hungarians proceeded to build an opera house slightly smaller than Vienna’s but much more beautiful. The Emperor was upset but allowed it to stand. It is remarkably beautiful.
The interior is very ornate and extremely beautiful. Hungarian craftsmen did all of this magnificent work as the guide pointed out, proudly, several times.
We returned to the hotel. I was very tired after our “walking tour,” and rested a bit. It being New Year’s Eve, Sarah and Jess readied themselves for a big night on the town. I walked out with them to the nearest Doner Kabob place and had two for New Years Eve before letting Sarah and Jess move on. I went back to the hotel and went to bed early.
New Year's morning we got up and had another terrific breakfast at the hotel (breakfast came with the rooms, and it was a really fine breakfast), checked out, and headed for Vienna. Arriving in Vienna about noon we checked into our hotel. Not as luxurious as Budapest but functional. We immediately left, walked to a nearby subway station, and took the subway to Saint Stephens Square. Here is the magnificent St. Stephen's Church or Cathedra (it is called both).
This beautiful Cathedral was first constructed in 1160 but various projects of reconstruction and repair continued on until 1511 when the building was completed as it stands today. What a beautiful place.
After a tour of the Church we walked a brief distance to Figlmullers, a very famous restaurent. They have added a second and third location and are famous for their schnitzel. We all know wiener schnitzel, which is a vienna style schnitzel or cutlet. In German Vienna is Wien, hence the wiener schnitzel. Figlmullers which was founded over one hundred years ago is the home of the wiener schnitzel and is known all over Europe for their schnitzel. Of course, we had to have some and I certainly enjoyed it. It is really good and very distinctive.
Even Sarah enjoyed her schnitzel very much.
These schnitzels are as good as they look. They use special rolls to grind up to make the breading and then cook them three times at three different temperatures. They are outstanding, as is the service. The original Figlmullers is small, crowded, and staffed by a group of formally dressed waiters who are all business and no nonsense. We waited about 20 minutes to get in. In summer, a three to four hour wait is standard.
On to the Hofburg Palace, the home of the Habsburg empire and the Sisi museum. Franz Joseph ruled from 1848 until his death in 1916. He was married to his cousin, Elizabeth (Princess of Bavaria), also known as Sisi, until she was assassinated in 1898. The Habsburgs ruled from the mid 1200’s until the end of WWI in 1918 and survived the unrest of the late 1700’s, which saw the American revolution, the French revolution, and others, because they were progressive leaders who ruled and built the empire through marriage and not through force. Maria Theresa, who ruled from 1740 until her death in 1780, had sixteen children. Those surviving to adulthood were married of-- with empire in mind. One daughter, Marie Antoinette, married the future King of France and lost her head over it. (Editor's note: Groan) Two of her sons would succeed her as Emperors. She reformed the practice of serfdom and was always aware of the “people.” Later Franz Joseph, as emperor would start his day at 4 AM and generally work until after dark. He spent one day a week meeting with any member of his kingdom who requested an audience. All he required was that they appear in clean clothes.
The entrance to the Hofburg Palace
There is a beautiful collection of silver and china, which surprisingly is one of the most interesting things on display at the palace. It takes a lot of china to serve the number of meals the palace served and the china and the silver show the changing tastes over 500 years. This part of the museum was my favorite.
We walked to a small Vienna café and had a snack before heading back to the hotel. The next morning we started fairly early and returned to the Hofburg Museum to take a closer look at some things. We then walked next door to the Spanish Riding School. This facility was built over 400 years ago by the Emperor to welcome the school from his brother, the King of Spain. So, for over 400 years this has been the home of the Royal Lipizzaner Stallions. Only several days before, they had scheduled a performance on Sunday, Jan 2. They normally don’t do any performances in late December and all of January and February. Even so, there was no way to get seats. The stadium is very small and tickets are normally very difficult to obtain. For scheduled performances, tickets are sold out months in advance. Luckily standing room was available and we bought three tickets (this was done several days before, shortly after the performance was announced). They sell tickets to the exercise periods every morning and those are usually available. However, we were in luck and got to see a formal performance that morning. What a treat. These are beautiful animals, which have been trained to perfection. The stallions generally don’t even begin performing until they are 12 years old and perform well into their 20s. The performance was impressive and I consider it a privilege to have watched the performance in this historic setting.
After the performance concluded we walked the short distance to the Vienna Opera where I took a tour. Sarah and Jess went to do some shopping. The Vienna Opera House is another fabulous building. It was virtually destroyed by Allied bombing in WWII and then rebuilt. Of course, the rebuilding was well done but couldn’t replace the workmanship done a hundred years before.
This is certainly a lovely, historical building and it is well used. Over 300 operas a year and a number of ballets and symphonies are performed. Often there are two performaces each day. This building is the center of culture in Vienna, a very cultured and historic city. Vienna is considered by many as the most cultered city in the world. Historic buildings and museums abound. Music is everywhere and is celebrated everywhere. What an experience to feel the atmosphere of Vienna. It is truly a wonderful city with a sense of why it exists and where it comes from. I can’t say enough about the city. It is clean, it is friendly, it is easy to get around in, it is beautiful, and it is fun to be there. What a place.
We returned to the car and headed home, about a 5 hour drive. What an extraordinary trip. Sarah, again, did a magnificent job of making arrangements and being our tour guide. It was a great experience and Christmas and New Years certainly will never be forgotten.
12/22/2010
Christmas Markets And Such
German Update 12/22/10
One thing I’ve noticed about the German culture is their love of festivals, markets, etc. It seems that each village and town has a festival or a number of festivals of some sort. This time of year it is Christmas markets. Then there are Octoberfests honoring the fall harvest, Alpenfests honoring the Alps of southern Germany and Switzerland, the Summerfests celebrating summer, burgerfests, wintersolsticefests, Epiphany, and Fasching (a week long festival that culminates with Fat Tuesday, as does Mardi Gras in America, Carnival in South America, Venice and other areas of Italy). Fruit and sweet filled donuts, krapfen mark the Fasching festival. Krapfen, as far as I can tell, are the same as Polish paczki (pronounced punchkee) which all of us Detroiters are very familiar with.
A few weeks ago we attended the Pressath (a neighboring town about 6 or 7 kilometers from Erbendorf) Christmas Market. Pressath is a small village but annually has a market around Christmas and it is a really big deal in and around this village. There were booths selling soaps, candles, Christmas decorations, sausage, cheese, candy, nuts, spices, wines and mulled ciders, and the ever-present brass band playing some Christmas music among their traditional favorites. Some townspeople had opened their homes and turned the front room into a small pub or snack bar. There were booths selling butcher meats and bakery goods, but more importantly, many selling great sausage sandwiches and leberkasemmel. Leberkase is whatever is left at the butcher, ground up in a fine mixture, formed into a loaf, and baked. It is then sliced about half to three-quarters of an inch thick and served on a hard crusted roll. Often a little mustard is added. It tastes much like a hot dog and is inexpensive and very delicious. Most of the local butchers serve sandwiches made with leberkase, hence the leberkasemel, at lunchtime. It is a treat. We Americans refer to them as flat hotdogs.
After slicing the leberkase, the man is serving it on a bun
This last weekend we decided to go to the “world famous” and “world’s best” Christmas Market in Nuremberg. Although I have never heard of it, I have been assured that it is “world famous.” We left about 9 on Saturday morning and drove to Bayreuth about 25 miles to catch a train. It would have been faster to just drive to Nuremberg but with parking a problem there and our desire to go to Bayreuth anyway, that is the route we chose. The best-laid plans often go awry as did this morning’s plans. Two Nuremberg trains were canceled and ours was scheduled to be 15 minutes late. Then 30. Then 40, but finally it did come. It was packed. We hardly got on and then managed to ride the hour’s trip standing in the door of the train. Tired and uncomfortable we arrived in Nuremberg and began the walk to the Christmas Market, which was in the very middle of the city about a 20-minute walk from the train station. The market was impressive, but as it was in China and elsewhere many booths were selling the same stuff. We ate well, however. Nurembergers (three small bratwursts on a hard roll), langos (the German equivalent of an Elephant Ear), sardine sandwiches, and smoked salmon sandwiches were the main fare. I have found that often people attend these markets and fests only for the food and drink. We enjoyed the Market and ate well.
Sarah and Dad enjoying a Nurnberger
As you can see from the people leaving the Market, it was crowded
Nuremberg is very old, very Gothic, and very picturesque
We left the fair and Jess did some hiking-boot shopping but no luck.. Walked back to the train station and caught the next train to Bayreuth. It was a very pleasant ride as we all had seats and some of us even took brief naps. Got back to Bayreuth around 5 and it was already dark. We walked downtown and visited their Christmas Market. Not nearly as big as Nuremberg’s but just as nice. A good brass band and very friendly people. What more could you ask for. Will cover Bayreuth more in future releases as it was dark and we were tired. Did a little more hiking-boot shopping but no luck again. Jess is an avid hiker and loves a particular German brand of very expensive boots. Cabela’s carries this brand in the U.S. but they are not the same as the ones sold in Germany where people really take hiking seriously. Jess knows what he wants and isn’t going to settle for anything less. Bayreuth is the former home of Richard Wagner, the famous German composer of operas and other noisy music. There is a very beautiful opera house here that attracted Wagner to this town in his youth. The opera house remains the home of the Wagner Festival every August, which draws tens of thousands of visitors every year.
For dinner I had my first doner kabob. I had never heard of of them before, either. Germany and much of Europe have been inundated with Turkish immigrants. And with these immigrants has come some food. The doner kabob is found in virtually every city in Europe. The term “doner kabob” literally translates to “rotating roast” and is very similar to s Greek gyro, or an Arabic shawarma. Primarily processed lamb roasted on a vertical spit that rotates. The meat is sliced off and placed in a flat-bread with some yogurt or other dressing and some lettuce, cabbage, etc. Very common in Europe, very inexpensive, and very tasty. Have heard complaints about the price of ‘doners’ in Switzerland but here they run about two to three dollars and are very filling. Sarah and Jess say there isn’t anyplace in Europe that you can’t get them. They even pointed out a small ‘doner” café here in Erbendorf.
After dinner we headed home. Got home around 8:30 or 9:00 and fairly promptly went to bed. I was tired from all the walking and glad to get home. It only took me a day or two to recover.
A few words about my car. Yes, I have a car and, in fact, a very nice BMW. This last summer after I had decided to come to Germany in the late fall, some friends of Sarah and Jess’s were leaving the post, being transferred to the U.S. Sarah and Jess loaned them a vehicle, as they had to ship their main vehicle home six weeks before they left. This BMW was their second car and as both worked they needed two cars. Because Sarah and Jess had done a number of favors for them they offered the car to them at a very reasonable price. Sarah called me and I sent her the money and became the proud owner of a 1992 BMW 500 series. Of course, I wasn’t expecting too much from a ’92, but it is a very nice, comfortable car. It is surprising some of the features it has considering its age and it runs great. On the autobahn it feels very good at 100mph. Has a good ride, is very stable and will get me to where ever I want to go. One slight problem is the owners manual is in German and getting an English version is impossible as the cars exported to English speaking countries are different from the cars sold in Germany. Also, I have to get a German drivers license. I go to drivers school after the New Year begins and I also start German lessons. Maybe I’ll be able to read the owners manual.
I’ve been learning a little German since I’ve been here. So as I finish this update, here goes;
Frohe Weihnachten, allerseits
11/27/2010
Normandie & Paris
On an early Sunday morning the three of us (daughter Sarah, husband Jess, and I) left for Nuremberg to attend a craft festival featuring many Christmas options. Sarah was looking for stuff and for ideas. It was very disappointing as just about everything was very overpriced. We spent about 3 hours and left. This is an annual Christmas craft fair and was “highly recommended.” So much for high recommendations. We left the fair and decided to go to the Nuremberg Rally Grounds.
Although Munich was the site of the birth of the National Socialist Party (Nazi), Nuremberg was considered its “holy site.” It was in Nuremberg where the Party held huge rallies with thousands of troops and civilians all chanting and honoring their glorious leader, Hitler. The film clips we have all seen of Hitler on a big podium mesmerizing huge numbers of followers and throngs of cheering, chanting, passionate devotees, are invariably from one of the numerous rallies held on the Nuremberg Rally Grounds. Beginning in the twenties and through the thirties about every two years there would be a major rally. People and troops from all over Germany flowed to Nuremberg to attend. These were carefully planned and staged affairs to elevate Hitler to “rock star” status. Women screamed and fainted. Many bragged about ‘how many times they had seen the Fuhrer’. He was a true cult figure. The 1935 award winning movie “Triumph of Will” by German director Leni Riefenstahl was filmed at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally and was a major piece of propaganda skillfully raising Hitler to God-like status.
All 11 square kilometers of the Rally grounds remain, as do a few of the buildings. The Kongress Hall remains and houses the “Documentation Center,” a special museum documenting the rise of the Nazi Party and Hitler’s assumption of power, a little at a time, until he was all-powerful and it was too late to do anything about it. The Center is well worth a visit as it documents how in this generally peaceful county the Nazis could assume total power. The Rally Grounds were never totally completed because once Germany had begun hostilities against the world in 1937 they didn’t have the time or the money to complete the Grounds. After the War many (including the Russians) felt the trials of Nazi war criminals should be held in Berlin. Nuremberg, however, prevailed because of its symbolic status within the Nazi Party. Thus the Nuremberg Trials were here in 1946 and 1947, and it was here that many of the high ranking Nazi leaders were hanged after being found guilty of crimes against humanity.
The next Wednesday, November 17, we flew to Paris. From Nuremberg to Paris is an hour’s flight, about the same as Detroit to Chicago. I may never get used to how close things are in Europe. With the European Union, the same money is used, no visas, no immigration officials to clear. Just get off the plane and go. The thing that does change is the language. I was just getting barely used to German and now it was all different. A whole country full of people who all talk too fast. More on the French later. We rented a car and drove to Normandy, about a three hour drive. Stayed for two nights in a lovely B and B in a small port town, Port en Bressin, located on the English Channel between Omaha Beach and the three British Beaches, Sword, Gold, and Juno. This is a lovely fishing village and the home was just great. The wife, Sophie, is a teacher and organizational development specialist but is often able to work out of her home, and the husband, Jean Vincent, is a painter, decorator, and an excellent cook. We were treated at breakfast with crepes and homemade jams and jellies. Great food. lovely home, really good people.
Our first day in Normandy we covered Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery, Point du Hoc, the German Cemetery, and the artificial harbor constructed at Arromanches-les-Bains.
The American Cemetery is a moving experience with over 9,000 American buried there under the American flag. It is American territory. It is very peaceful, yet very moving. One can’t help but feel the weight of the day, 6 June 1944, when most of these men died. There are lovely manicured grounds overlooking the ocean and the beach that claimed so many of them.
To the west is Utah beech and between the two beaches is Point du Hoc. This was a heavily fortified German position with large guns, pillboxes, and extensive underground facilities. The guns could bear east to Omaha or west to Utah Beech. It was a high priority target for the Americans in order to minimize the effect of these guns. The Point was targeted by Navel gunfire and bombing for several hours before the troops came ashore. Several companies of Rangers were assigned to climb, using special climbing equipment, 200 ft. up the Point’s steep cliffs and neutralize the position. When they got there the Germans were gone. The bombardment had been so severe that the Germans withdrew a kilometer or so to wait it out. The Point is littered with craters, some over 15 feet deep. It is hard to imagine how anyone could have survived such an intense bombardment even in fortified bunkers.
Several miles away is the German Cemetery which is home to over 22,000 German soldiers. It is one of 3 or 4 German Cemeteries in the area, although it is the major one. It, too, is a moving experience.
From there we traveled the few kilometers to Arromanches to see what is left of the artificial harbor constructed there. When planning started two years before D-Day, it was realized that in order to supply the number of troops that would be put ashore
on that day and shortly thereafter (approximately 250,000) that they would need a full scale harbor. The nearest harbors at Cherbourg and Le Havre were heavily fortified and protected by the Germans who were also fully aware of the Allies’ need to
supply any invasion force when and if it came. So plans were made to construct a harbor at Arromanches. Approximately 70 caissons were constructed in England and sunk in the river estuaries so they couldn’t be seen by the Germans. Some were several hundred feet long. By D-Day these had been refloated and were being towed across the Channel. On D-Day 15 older ships were sunk to form a breakwater. Then the caissons arrived and were sunk on the perimeter of ships making a sturdy harbor. Docks and floating piers were installed and within a few days the harbor was operational, unloading supplies, trucks, tanks, etc., etc. This was an amazing feat. It exemplifies the intricate intense planning required for such an enormous military operation. I can only say, Wow! The Allies called this Mulberry Harbor as the Mulberry bush grows very rapidly. The harbor later became known as “Port Winston” and was to eventually land over 2.5 millions troops, 500,000 vehicles, and over 4 million tons of supplies. Quite an engineering feat.
After a lovely dinner at a local café in Port-en-Bressin, I began my education about French sausage. The Germans do sausage. The French don’t. The French do great bread, but the sausage leaves something to be desired. Part of the meal was andouille in pastry. It was pieces of meat in a pastry sauce. It didn’t taste good but some things are difficult to judge. The rest of the meal was outstanding. The next day I had a nice big piece of andouille sausage, which was inedible. After doing some reading we found that the andouille sausage in Cajun cooking is a smoked, heavily spiced, pork sausage. I love it and often buy it at Eastern Market in Detroit. It certainly is not available in Mancelona. In France, however, andouille is stomach and intestine linings, often called tripe. No wonder I didn’t like it. I know now to avoid sausage, especially andouille, in France.
The next morning we left the B&B after a great breakfast and drove to Pegasus Bridge. This was a relatively small bridge over a canal that linked the village of Caen to the ocean, about 1o km. It was on the eastern flank of the invasion. British airborne troops were assigned to take the bridge and hold it to prevent any German reinforcements from crossing the canal and attacking the left flank of the invasion force. They were to destroy the bridge if they were unable to hold it. Six Horsa gliders, each carrying about 25 men, flew into the area and the British had secured the bridge before the Germans knew what was happening. These were the first Allied troops to land in France as all this took place about midnight, a full six hours before the invasion began. The bridge has been named Pegasus Bridge after the winged horse that appears on the British 6th Airborne seal and patch.
Pegasus Bridge today Pegasus Bridge in 1944 (note the Horsa glider used in assault in background)
Leaving Pegasus Bridge, we drove to the Charles De Gaulle Airport outside of Paris and turned in the rental car. Took the bus and subway to the apartment Sarah had arranged in the Rue Cler district of Paris. This is a toney section of Paris known for its markets, shops, and the numerous foreigners (Americans) who live in this area. Sarah and Jess walked to the Eiffel Tower that evening, but I had had enough for the day and went to sleep.
The next morning we had a fine breakfast in the apartment and then set out on a walking tour. Started at Notre Dame,
wandered into the Left Bank, visited bookstores., had a great lunch a a local café, walked to a wonderful Church, La Sainte-Chapelle, with the most intricate stained glass I have ever seen. This beautiful church is located inside the Hall of Justice, which was built around the church long after the Church construction was completed in 1248. It was built by Louis IX to house holy relics, namely the “crown of thorns” which he had purchased. It is a beautiful building and considered by many as the most beautiful in France. It has 15 large stained glass windows; five windows on each side and five at the end of the gallery. All of these windows depict various Bible stories and chapters in over 1100 scenes and are approximately 6500 square feet in area. Truly spectacular. The large rose window at the back end was added two hundred years later and depicts the apocalypse.
We ended the tour with a vist to the Eiffel Tower. It’s worth seeing but very crowded as everyone goes there. Since you have all seen pictures of the Eiffel Tower I will spare you any more.
The next morning we took the train to Versailles, the opulent palace of Louis XIV, the Sun King. They call him that because he thought the sun revolved around him. I suppose a visit must be done to this historic site, but it is crowded, even in November. I can’t imagine it in the summer. At the Sainte-Chappelle we waited about 25 minutes and I was told that in the summer it is nothing to wait for four or five hours. I’m not the world’s best waiter so crowds and long waits are not my cup of tea. You won’t find me waiting for four or five hours for anything, let alone a Church. The Palace of Versailles is a magnificent display of excess. It is truly over the top. If you walked all-day you couldn’t see all the rooms. Acres and acres of gardens, fountains, even small villages, and mini-palaces where the king and queen could escape the ‘pressures of royalty’ or visit with their lovers. The site covers more area than the island of Manhattan, some 37,000 acres. The Palace could host more than 5,000 people at one time. After the French Revolution the Palace was looted and permitted to run down but was reclaimed some 15 years later by Napoleon when he came to power. The magnificent Hall of Mirrors is the location of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles which formally ended World War I (and according to many began WW II). When constructed in the mid 1600s, mirrors were a very rare and highly valuable commodity. Hence, a room 240 feet long with numerous floor to ceiling mirrors is an epitome of the opulence of the Palace.
After touring the Palace Sarah and Jess went to the distant gardens and visited a peasant village built by Marie Antoinette so that she could be ‘closer to the people.’ It is a 30-minute walk there and 30 minutes back. I chose for the 25-minute walk back to the train station and a McDonalds where it wasn’t cold, wasn’t raining, and was a comfortable place to wait for two younger and much more energetic souls. It was a wise choice.
Teaming up at McDonalds, we returned to our apartment to gather our stuff for the return trip to Germany. Subway and train ride to Charles De Gaulle Airport, a large and confusing airport with eight different terminals for arriving and departing aircraft. It is said that the airport motto is “to have never been lost is to never have lived.” I believe it. Anyway we lived through it and made our six o’clock flight back to Nuremberg. Got the car and drove the hour or so home and began the process of recovering from and outstanding trip.
One comment about our trip. I don’t want to brag on my daughter but she is one heck of a tour guide. She made all the arrangements, reservations, etc. She did all the driving. She carried her trusted and beloved Steves guidebook everywhere and directed our attention to things we would have otherwise missed. She gave us a broad view on each of our sites and then got into detail as we walked the site. Everything went as planned yet there was flexibility at every turn. It was an outstanding trip and she made it happen.
