Luck of the Irish??

Welp. We almost missed our flight in Dublin on the way to Dallas. It happened like this…

We got onto our Zurich to Dublin flight with no worries. Bags checked, passports stamped, bags inspected, easy peasy. Yay, Aer Lingus! Then, we land at Dublin in need of a new boarding passes from American Airlines. A gentleman in a pink vest pulls us out of line and sends us to the gentlemen in yellow vests who assure us that we have to pick up our bags from the carousel and start over by going outside the airport and re-entering through the American Airline desks.

This sounds wrong, but they have official vests… so we comply. 

I was 90% sure our bags would not be coming on the carousel because they were sent to St. Louis in checked bags… and sure enough, they didn’t come out. By the time we fretted over lost luggage and followed directions to the American Airline desks, we had used up the hour and a half we had after the Aer Lingus plane dawdled on the tarmac for forty minutes.

Cue the running through the airport! The gentleman in the suit says “Follow the American flags—I’ve told them you’re coming!” We have our carry-ons checked again, run to check-in area 408, I run ahead to hold the flight, make to our gate 405, and… wait with shaking hands. The German lady at the door is unsympathetic, but Daragh, the lovely Irish man in a yellow vest, has found my parents, whom I thought were right behind me in the mad crush of people* on the way to gate 405, but who only heard me yell 408 to them and had by-passed 405**. Daragh*** called the German lady, deposited Mom and Dad at the gate, and we were off! Literally no minutes to spare, we were the last ones to sit on the flight.

On the flight. Oy. The lady in front of us was in some sort of gastrointestinal distress. Never have I ever been on a more malodorous flight, and I fear the smell is in my hair. It could have been worse, though—German lady would have us leaving  from Dublin ~tomorrow~.

*If we don’t have or develop Covid in the next five days, we are never going to get it. God bless Dr. Fauci’s science.

**This was my fault, and I still feel bad—I thought I had yelled 405 behind me, but Mom and Dad for sure could not have heard me in that crowd.

***I’m for sure going send Daragh all the good vibes and a thank-you tweet.

Homeward Bound!

It's 10:26am in the Zurich airport. We docked last night in Basel, woke up to our last full breakfast (complete with breakfast dessert--the little pain au chocolats I've gotten maybe overly used to having each morning...), and boarded a bus through Basel to Zurich. And now from Zurich to Dublin, from Dublin to Dallas/Fort Worth, from Dallas to St. Louis, from St. Louis to home! I hope Sophie still loves me.... It's been the most marvelous of trips! 

Some takeaways: 

 You'll make lots of new friends on a small boat! We met Shelly and Steve (who is a keen photographer, and we bonded over the castle pics), Grace and Bob (Grace is game for all adventures, but Bob is not so much), JoAnn (who speaks loudly and slowly, always a talker, and who revealed little by little that her husband is a programmer who's created four patents in his lifetime for software of various sorts), and Margie and Yolanda! Margie and Yolanda became our plus ones at dinners and excursions--they walked at our pace and enjoyed the same things we do. They live in South Carolina and Virginia, respectively, and were the kindest of ladies--I'm glad we bonded over the days of our trip. We've exchanged social media addresses and I hope we keep in touch! They gave mom and dad a card and some Lindt chocolates for their anniversary and were our guests at the celebratory dinner. 

You'll see lots of things but not too many things! I was expecting to see four monuments before lunch and to clock ten miles on my watch every day, per my experience with other group tours, but no, no. That is not the Avalon way! We sleep in! We take the Gentle Walkers tours! We get an hour for lunch! Dinner is two hours and always at 7:00! Then, after dinner, NOTHING. You're free to wander about the boat, taking pics and chatting with your new pals.... Who knew that touring and vacationing could be RELAXING?? 

 I heart my fam. They are my very favorite people, and I'm so, so happy we got to do this together; we know each other's paces and preferences and humor and triggers, and traveling like this is the most comfortable kind of travel. I'd do it again tomorrow. Isn't it lovely when your family are your friends? Of course, we wish there were others present today, but we Three Musketeers do okay. We're waiting for our takeoff from Zurich, and mom is reading, dad wants to go get in line, and I'm blogging. All is normal. :-) See you soon, mes amis!!

Black Forest Pics!

 Ha! My pictures loaded backwards—so here’s my day in reverse!!

A Volkswagen wearing the Bollenhut! This is maybe the most German picture ever, and please note that the red balls mean that this car is unmarried.

The clockmaker! His father is 87 and still carves the little details of the frames and faces of the clocks.

One of the cuckoo clocks that is in the running for the contest this year

So we learned today that the Gutach people are  extremely superstitious (unmarried women, for example, wear mirrors in their hair so the evil spirits do not attack from behind—after they’re married, the husbands protect them), and one way to ward off evil spirits is to hang an ox head in the rafters of your house….

To keep the floors clean, you’re to wear these shoes made of straw—Hausschuhe.

The dark rooms of the old German homes

This is butter that my dad churned!

Here he is, an expert churner!

This lady, in 80-degree weather, is wearing socks made of rabbit fur, a velvet vest, two skirts (one a wool blend, one silk, a puffy shirt, bloomers, a collar, a hair covering, and a Bollenhut on top of that. This outfit cannot be laundered. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

This is a typical German home from the olden days (although the ones from the modern days look a LOT like this)—note the flower boxes, as people compete to have the most beautiful ones, and the thatched roof, which will last at least fifty years before needing replacement.

A Visit to the Black Forest

Today, a big bus took us on lots of skinny roads that wound and twisted and turned through the most dense forest I have ever seen—and the valleys looked like they fell MILES to the bottom, soooo I closed my eyes and maybe snoozed a little to pass the time. Shhhh… I don’t want our guide to think I wasn’t hanging on her every word about the pines and the peaks and the valleys, but I did catch the most important things: It is called the Black Forest because the Romans, who found it after the Celts, saw the impenetrable trees, so dark and so dense, and called it that—the silva nigra—and I suppose the name stuck. Also, the Brothers Grimm lived here and wrote the darkest, creepiest children’s books of all time, and this tracks. If you were surrounded by the witches’ huts that Hansel and Gretel made famous, you’d probably write about dark spirits, too.

At our destination, we toured some of the ancient homes of the German farming and dairy communities—the houses are hundreds of years old, but the wood floors and walls still smell like the smoke that would have pervaded the houses at the time, as the ladies of the house cured meat and cheese for the winter. The rooms are low and dark, but really spacious, and surrounded entirely by dark, aged pine. 

After seeing some of the buildings, we had two demonstrations—the first was about the traditional costumes of the Protestant women of Gutach. A lady in a black skirt, socks made of rabbit fur, a black vest, and an enormous hat made of enormous balls of black yarn explained to us all the things she was wearing. Her costume, native specifically to this city, indicated that she was a married woman (black balls of yard instead of red ones) from a wealthy family (hence the pretty gold chain she had on), and then explained that she would not have been able to wash this outfit. A lady made it and wore it forever without ever damaging it in water or anything—the skirt was made of a hybrid of linen, wool, and silk, and felt DEEPLY uncomfortable and scratchy (she let us feel it), but y’know. She had those sweet rabbit fur socks and frilly white bloomers on to keep the scratchiness at bay.

Then a butter churning exercise! My dad made butter for us! The lady asked for a volunteer, and when no one stepped up, he did! He turned the paddles until the butter stopped him, and then we all ate the butter—it was delicious, and I will vouch for his butter-making skills.

At lunch, we were offered a buffet of German foods to try, so when it was my turn, I wanted little nibbles of all the things, and when I said that to the server, who definitely thought he was funny, he heaped the noodles all over my plate. When I laughed and reminded him, “no, no. LITTLE bites,” he TOOK A HANDFUL OF THE NOODLES WITH HIS HAND AND PUT THEM BACK IN THE BOWL. I don’t know who all was behind me, but they for sure got some German noodles that were handled by German hands….. Everything else was delicious. :-)

On to the cuckoo clock workshop! The last man in Gutach who knows how to wood carve by hand and then assemble the clocks showed us his process. The tiny bellows that connect to the clock hands and the tiny wheels and cogs that have to go together are so intricate that I don’t know how he knew what he was doing, but the clock he made functioned when he was done! Dad wanted a clock—and had wanted one for a while—so one is now on its way back to Elkville as we speak!

 Now, back to the ship to pack and prepare for the journey home. We leave at 6:45 in the morning, head to Zurich, where we go to Dublin, from where we go to Dallas, from where we go to St. Louis, and then home. Oof. Gonna soak up the pampering while I can!! Stay tuned for the last leg of the journey—am hoping our luggage makes the journey with us….

Pics!! Finally!!

Our Lady of Strasbourg

The most gorgeous rose window—stolen by Nazis and hidden in the salt mines, to be found by the Monument Men! Americans to the rescue!

An astronomical clock! You can see the season, the hour, the quarter hour, the zodiac sign, the holiday, the artist’s painting… it’s a very busy clock!

The opening of the Maginot Line—Four de Chaux—this entrance is deceptive. The tunnels are 100 feet underground and the temperature is 54 degrees all the time. You’ll find a kitchen, an infirmary with surgery equipment and a dentist, a movie theater, and also SO MUCH military artillery.

Our guide, who, thankfully, knew the ways through the tunnels.

This tunnel goes on FOREVER.

They should warn you about the mannequins. But they don’t.

The soldiers entertained themselves with artwork! Mickey Mouse was huge in the 1930’s.

Back on board, Mom and Dad were feted with champagne, flowers, chocolates, a cheese plate, a cake, and several cards! They were celebrated so beautifully!

The happy couple—Happy 50th, Mom and Dad!!

 

Beautiful Strasbourg, American Cheeseburgers, and the Maginot Line

It was another busy day today! We landed en France ce matin, so we were bused into the beautiful and ancient city of Strasbourg for a walk around the city center. We visited La Petite France’s Notre-Dame cathedral, which looms so high over the oldest parts of the city—the stained glass windows survived WWII only because the Nazis hid them in the caves of the salt mines of Heilbronn, Germany, and the Monument Men found them! Like in the movie! 

There was also a clock the size of a house that keeps the time, the month, the year, the season, the zodiac sign, the holidays… and pays homage to science and religion and astronomy and art all at the same time. this clock might stay busier than my phone and watch combined. We were there to hear it tell us it was 10:30, and the old man of the first half hour was replaced by the young man of the new half hour as a skeleton kept pace. As I said. Busy clock.

After that, we rebounded the ship for a picnic on the top deck! We were served American cheeseburgers, Alsatian fries, and German beer, as is only appropriate. The British couple behind me advised me that they were watching me to see how to assemble a proper cheeseburger, so I made sure to offer tips—ketchup for your fries, not mayonnaise, and yes, you must put cheese on the burger. Tomato will make the bun soggy, so be sure to put lettuce as a barrier. I hope they were as pleased as I was with our menu this afternoon….

Then, some history to cap the day—we went to see the fortress on the Maginot Line called Four a Chaux (the Lime Kiln). We were warned that it was cool in the fort, but it was actually 54 degrees in there, as it is every day of every season. A person could not tell if it were day or night, December or July, Monday or Friday down there; you’re completely closed off from the world, but also surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and hemmed in by pretty narrow walls in some places. It’s damp, as water runs down some of the walls and down the ditches beside the walkways; one has to walk carefully among the railway lines that brought ammunition from the surface to the different tunnels and turrets in the fort. We saw the kitchens, the infirmary, the dentist chair, the officers’ quarters, the soldiers’ quarters, the (single) hot-water shower, and all the other places the men might need in order to maintain this boundary between France and Germany. History tells us it did not work, necessarily, as intended, but one cannot deny the ingenuity of the Alsatian population willing to fortify the borders in this way. As we headed out of the fort, we had to go down 215 steps, after having climbed 100 steps to the top, where the French fired on the enemy, only to be greeted by the machine guns poised at every corner near the entrance and exit. This place is cold, she says, because of its depth in the earth, but also maybe because it’s haunted. You cannot change my mind on this.

And, finally, a surprise! Mom and Dad came back to a room stocked with French and German cheeses and chocolates and sparkling wine, and at dinner (a formal dinner! With six courses!), they were given flowers and balloons and cake and ice cream and champagne and all the applause from the whole boat!! It was the sweetest way to usher in their fiftieth year of marriage and the inspiration for our trip. I love them so, so much, and I’m eternally grateful that they are my parents and that their love has endured this long. We’ve had some hard times and some tears in those years, but we’ve also had fun and celebrations, and we always have each other and so much love. May they have another fifty. Cheers to Joyce and Larry!!

Edit: I can’t get the pics to load! Will try again at breakfast.

Guten Morgen, Heidelberg!

A new day, a new castle! This one, while now in ruins, features all the things you want in a really great castle: there are walls thick enough to withstand siege, a too-young regent (14!), his love match to a beautiful queen, their happy marriage, their exile, his early death, her battle to re-throne her eldest son…. I often think I’d like to swan about a castle, wearing crowns and demanding snacks and so forth, but royal lives often seem awfully drama-filled, yeah?

And then lunch! We were on our own for lunch, which is a lovely part of adventuring overseas, and when in Germany, one finds weinerschnitzel, obviously, with a side of fries, and enjoys the flavors of places new and delightful.

Shopping! I finally found an artist who was painting the local scenery—these artists are so easy to find in France, Spain, and Italy, I assumed I’d find the same thing here, but they are elusive. I’ll be coming home with a watercolor of Heidelberg and looking for the same in Strasberg if we have time.

We pecked at dinner tonight, much to the dismay of the waiters, but once you’ve made your way through a giant weinerschnitzel, there just isn’t much room left (apologies to our waiter and the chef). We went exploring a little bit tonight, discovering a little lounge that has cookies and tea and coffee and books you can take if you leave the one you finished and games you can play IF you’re bored. It was a fun discovery, but never have I ever been bored here…. I found my dad up on the sky deck, and the temps tonight were so perfect; sometimes there’s a nip in the air on the water, but tonight, after a really hot day, it was just fresh and pleasant. No humidity… no heat wave… I’m crossing my fingers that the A/C holds out at my house while all of that is going on at home.

Today’s adventures:

A view from the castle walls

“You MUST see the biggest wine barrel in all of the land.”

A beautiful palace to impress a beautiful young queen

Weinerschnitzel!!

“Be sure to find the monkey when you’re walking around; he’s good fortune.”

Quick Housekeeping Note

I can see your comments but cannot respond!!  Grrr!!  I want to send messages back to the sweet readers who had comments for the posts, but ALAS.  I’m working on it, though, so just know that I see your words and appreciate that you’re following along!!

The Romantic Rhine and Rudesheim

 Today was another lazy start day! Starting to lean in to these “mornings”—the boat is on the move until about 2:00 or so, so we entertain ourselves on the boat by eating, treadmilling, eating, sitting in lounge chairs on the deck, and eating… you see the pattern here. Please note that I am not complaining and am starting to see the virtues of being fed every two hours or so….

The Rhine is called Romantic because it is—both literally and figuratively. The castles you see along the river are often Gothic or Medieval and then renovated in the Romantic period, which gives them elegant turrets and beautiful architectural additions. There are about 60 castles total on the Rhine, and we saw about two dozen of them today. If you have about two million euros, the guide says, you, too, can have your very own romantic castle! Some re-assembly required!

Then, a German lunch—today’s fare was more savory than sour, and I loved everything I tried, but the apple strudel, of course, was the highlight. Finally, after a morning of taking pictures and sampling local wines and foods, our boat docked at Rudesheim—roo-dess-hime—and it was time to take a tour!

We stopped first at a music museum, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would—all the musical instruments we met today played themselves, either through German or American engineering. There was a carousel machine that played the music you hear as you circle around on, well, a carousel, a player piano that also played violins at the same time, and a grand player piano in a knight’s hall—turns out the museum also doubled as a former knight’s keep, complete with a great hall that was modest in size but properly old; the foundation dated back to the 12th century.

After that, a special Rudesheimer kaffee—a Rudesheim coffee, made of coffee, sugar, Asbach Uralt brandy, whipped cream, and chocolate, served in a special mug specifically for this treat. The family who served us are the extension of the family who still make the brandy and Riesling this area is famous for—the Breuers met us and explained the recipe. Can confirm it was marvelous, and faintly Christmassy, which makes sense, because the next thing Rudesheim is famous for is the Christmas market. I definitely helped the economy here by buying the one item I knew I wanted from Germany—a German Christmas pyramid. I have one that goes out every Christmas in my house, and it’s special because my grandma Gene Craig gave it to me, but now I have one from Germany as a souvenir of this amazing trip and a nod to my own German heritage (my grandma Alberna Arbeiter Hickman was fully German and only learned English after she was about seven years old).

Following this adventure, we meandered our way back to the boat by way of the little German shops, where showers and dinner awaited us. Tonight, we enjoyed a lovely classical concert after dinner, performed by local musicians—a violinist and a guitarist—who played all the greatest hits of the Italian and German composers.

Please enjoy these assorted castles, a Hickman fam selfie, and Rudesheim!

“Please watch your ears,” she said, as she fired up the loudest music box in the whole wide world….

This town is so charming… I want to pack it into my suitcase and bring it home.

Düsseldorf and Cologne

Today, we met Düsseldorf from the boat on our way to Cologne! After a leisurely breakfast, the tour guide started a little lecture about the history of Düsseldorf as we passed by it—you can see its church, government center, market roads, and a little fair set up by the river as you watch from the sky deck, where I tried to listen to the whole lecture. But it was a little bit chilly. It was 60 degrees, a little overcast, and we’re on water—I was freezing! But the couple next to me were sitting mildly by, wearing their short and flip flops, unbothered by the arctic air….  I will report honestly here that I finished the tour from the lounge and looked out the windows there. 

With time to kill, I found a treadmill and a Netflix thriller, took a leisurely shower (using ALL the L’Occitane soaps and gels), and then found lunch. The chef changes our menu to meet the new destination, so today’s lunch was very German. Many pickled things and potatoes and sauces, but the rule of traveling is that you try the local fare—all of it—at least once. I left home specifically to try new things! Eventually, the ship docked at Cologne (Köln), and we were off!

By which I mean, we were off at a snail’s pace. We chose the group for the easy walk, since Mom has trouble feeling her left foot and ankle on cobblestones (and Europe is made of cobblestones), but we should maybe have done the next group up. There were some genuinely feeble walkers with us, and it took us about an hour and a half to walk about two city blocks; Mom could have jogged around poor Michael and Tony, whose wives assured us “They’re fine,” when I’m not sure Michael or Tony would’ve pronounced himself “fine.”

But we DID get there! The Kolner Dom is a Gothic cathedral, dating back to 1248, when the city needed a place worthy enough to house the relics of the Three Magi. There were interruptions in the building of the structure, but eventually it was finished in the 1800’s… only to need some cleaning and repairs, and it’s been under reconstruction and cleaning and repairs literally ever since. The church is black with soot and pollution (which I think makes it look more authentically Gothic? like it’s a style choice the church is making?  Maybe they should just not worry about cleaning it….) that cannot be removed because its architectural decorations are made of sandstone; you just have to replace the blackened spires with new ones in fresh sandstone… which will soon be polluted… and need replacing…. You see what I mean? I think they should just let the church live its best life in the mysterious-looking black color, and if ever the chancellor asks me my opinion, I’ll be sure to tell him. :-)

After the tour was over, Mom and Dad and I went into the cathedral, which has that cathedral smell. A little bit of incense, a lot of wax, some furniture polish, but mostly, it’s age and stone and prayer and love and all the things churches house inside. Per tradition now, we lit a candle for Camille and now Bryan, and said a little prayer for them, knowing it was lifted up to the One who sees our travels and travails and knows we miss our loved ones so, so much. 

This was, actually, the first European cathedral I ever saw—Mandy O’Halloran, a dear friend and lifesaver, invited me over after Camille passed, and, deciding life was too short not to take her up on her offer, I went! And landed in the same airport we just landed in a few days ago. This tour is very different for a lot of reasons, but I can assure you that lighting the candle remains forever the same. So do the prayers, and so do the love.

After our visit there, we made sure to buy some cologne, obviously, and some ornaments to remember this trip, and then off on another adventure—we were after some Kolsch and a warm, buttery pretzel. We were told by no less than three guides that we must try the local beer and pretzels, and so we made our best effort—the Kolsch was as advertised: cold, crisp, light, and refreshing. The pretzels were elusive, however, so we made do with German bread and cheese, and as we paid our tab and wandered out into the German bustle again, we turned a corner and found…pretzels. By the dozens. Oy. Oh, well. We’re sill in Germany tomorrow, so I *will* get my pretzel served with butter.

Back on the ship, we had a lovely dinner (as per uszh) and some entertainment! A band was hired to sing in the lounge, so we went up there to listen for a while, just to round out a lovely day. I kind of want to live on this boat now….

Düsseldorf

The lovely Kolner Dom in her Gothic glory

The Gero Cross—famous because it is the first depiction of Christ dead on the cross, not still alive in His suffering

The prayers

A little entertainment

A little bliss

Muiderslot Castle Pics

The view as we approached! Finally! A proper castle!

Who DOESN’T need a hearth you can stand in?

Time for a castle selfie!

The view from the gardens—there were two—one for flowers, mainly, and the other for food… in case of siege.

Everything’s in bloom right now.

The charming little town on the way to a refreshment

Always near the boats and canals

 

On the Move!

I thought today was going to be a simple day—a seated canal tour and a look inside a Medieval castle—but the day brought so much more than simplicity! After the canal tour took us by the famous streets of Amsterdam, including Anne Frank’s house, the Dancing Houses, and the Waldorf Astoria, we were asked, “would you like to tour a diamond factory?” Um. Yes. 

The Gassan Diamond Company has existed since 1945, due to the survival of Samuel Gasssan, a Jewish diamond cutter who escaped to Switzerland for the duration of the war. Returning in 1945, he reestablished his business and has been a source of beautiful diamond cutting and shaping for the entire globe ever since. There is even a Gassan 121 cut—a brilliant diamond that has 120 facets and 1 face on top. We were allowed to play in the diamonds after a demonstration of the process, but alas, not allowed to keep any. Ah, well.

Then we toured the Muiderslot Castle in Muiden, which was famously the home of Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, a Dutch poet and playwright (the Dutch Shakespeare, I’m told) in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s. Before him, the castle was built by Count Floris V, who was held prisoner in his own home (he had it coming, don’t worry), then the castle was demolished and fully rebuilt on its own foundation. This castle has had a busy history, as evidenced by the military fortifications around it and in the towers, and features an all-purpose dungeon. Y’know. For holding your enemies in the stocks before you behead them a couple months later. After they’ve had proper time to Think About What They Did.

Now we’re back on the boat and the Avalon Vista is on the move!! She’s taking us up the river? Even though we’re headed south? Because Amsterdam is at sea level… I’m gonna need a minute to make my peace with that. I’ve been thinking this whole time that we’re going down the river and the Shannons, my former teachers and Mom’s colleagues, were going up the river. But nope!

We awake in Cologne tomorrow!

The view from inside the canal boat

Bridge inception! You can see several bridges through this bridge. The guide was v proud of this!

The Dancing Houses! Amsterdam is built on a swamp, and the enterprising Dutch built canals to drain the water, but the downside is that… it’s still swampy. The houses lean if they’re not anchored to a post that reaches all the way to the rock under the water; these houses were anchored by wooden beams, instead of the new steel, and so they’ve bumped into each other over the centuries. (They’ll still cost you two million euros, though, foundation or no foundation.)

The Hickman fam on a boat!

Our tour guide to the diamonds

A little raw diamond! Destined, she says, to become a brilliant cut stone (her fave)

There were artists working on stones, and this is the work accomplished while we watched.

Sadly, not a parting gift

Hm. Medieval castle pics do not want to upload to my iPad. Calling it technical difficulties and will try again in the morning. Reader. I do not have to be anywhere but the breakfast and lunch tables until 2:30pm tomorrow… I can… read? Use the gym? Walk around on the sky deck? Order chocolate shakes? The possibilities are endless!