Alicia’s Travel Journal
10/96
DREAM TRIP
This time, join us as we follow my aunt Ann on her dream trip to Europe. Ann was in Europe for about a week, spending time in France and Switzerland, but most of all, Germany. She was able to go on this dream trip because her husband, Todd, who carries for Carrier (no pun intended) at his store, earned a group-rate vacation. Follow us as we trace her steps through Europe...

To Europe we go!
My Aunt Ann and Uncle Todd, who live in North Platte, Nebraska, flew out of Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday, September 21. They flew to St. Louis, then on to Cleveland, Ohio, and from there to JFK airport in New York. They flew a 747 jet to Geneva, Switzerland.
They arrived tired from the long flight, and Ann says her first glimpse of Europe was the shops in the Geneva airport.
Still pinching themselves, trying to believe they were actually in Europe, the group flew from Geneva, Switzerland to Munich, Germany, where they would spend two days. In Germany, “Munich” is spelled “Munchen” and pronounced the way it’s spelled. Ann said when the stewardess announced they were nearing “Munchen” Ann couldn’t figure out what she meant!
Munich was beautiful. Ann saw plenty of onion towers, and climbed the steps of a cathedral.
From their hotel, the fancy “Maritim Hotel”, they could walk to the October Fest.

October Festival
In Munich, Ann and her group went to the October Fest. At the October Fest, tourists from all over the world crammed to partake in the activities. There were parties, serving whole halves of a chicken, huge pretzels, and fish sandwiches: a whole fish on a bun.
There were also rides. Ann wanted to ride a gigantic Ferris wheel, but wasn’t able to.

The Cruise
Ann’s group took a five or six hour train trip from Munich to Dusseldorf, Germany, which was where they boarded the Britannia for their cruise down the Rhine River. The cruise was for five days and four nights, beginning at Dusseldorf and ending at Basle(also spelled Basel or Basil), Switzerland.
The ship was beautiful. There was a pool on the top deck, but it was a little chilly for it’s use. There were observation windows everywhere, for their convenience: in the bedrooms and dinning room, so the passengers didn’t always have to stand on the upper-most, open deck to watch the sights.
Ann described the boat as “like playing house” and “made the trip relaxing, not overly busy and stressful”. She says the food was also very good. They had big, fancy dinners.
The waiters were also very nice. Ann says she isn’t sure, but she thinks that they were all mostly from northern Europe. One thing that Ann and Todd noticed was that the Europeans seemed to be “big” on mineral water. When Ann asked for a glass of water, what she would get was mineral water. When the waiters realized what she really wanted was “plain” water, they got it for her. They called it “American Champagne”!
They went through thirteen locks on their cruise, the first one just before Strasburg(France).
Although they did sleep on the boat, the Britannia stopped at the ports of various towns along the Rhine for her passengers to tour. These towns were: Cologne, Heidelburg, Koblenz, Speyer, Mannheim, Nierstein, Strasburg(France), and Basle(Switzerland).

The towns
Cologne: In Germany, this is spelled Koln. They saw two historic places at Cologne: one, the cathedral. Built in 1248, it took many generations to build. It also contains the relics of the magi. It is also known as the cathedral the Allies avoided bombing during World War II, when they saw the towers from their planes. This was Ann’s favorite cathedral because of all the history it held. The other place was the 4711 Glockengasse. The famous cologne, 4711 (said “forty-seven eleven”) originated there.
Heidelburg: This was Ann’s favorite town because it was old fashioned, clean, and pretty. It was quite picture like, a fact which the souvenir picture Ann got to remember it by (it was actually of Rothenburg, but it looked like Heidelburg) attests to. Here they also saw the only castle they toured.
Koblenz: Ann described this town as “full of history”. Here they saw (at night) a huge statue that is in remembrance of Kaiser Wilhelm the First. They also went to a German wine tasting. Later, after a surprise toast for their 25th anniversary, Ann and Todd received a bottle of German wine from Koblenz, along with German cards that the whole group had signed.
Strasburg(France): This was the only town in France they toured. They saw a cathedral there, also. It was built in 1015 and is known for it’s rose window.
Basel(Switzerland): This was the last town on their trip down the Rhine. What Ann remembers about Basel is a school they saw near “needle park”, which is a big heroin spot, that was covered with barbed wire to keep the kids safe. “It looked like a prison,” Ann said.
From Basel, they went by bus to Zurich, Switzerland, where they spent another day of their fantastic trip. They stayed at the expensive “Movenpick Hotel”, and toured the Zurich cathedral, which was beautiful, Ann says. The church was built in the early thirteenth century, and had gorgeous stained glass windows designed by Marc Chagall.
They looked around downtown Zurich, where there was a really tall tower with a clock in it that you could see from all sides- North, South, East, and West.
Another thing Ann remembers about Zurich is that there was a very pretty lake there- especially pretty, she said, because the Alps were behind it.
Ann and Todd had an extremely expensive dinner while in Zurich: sixty dollars for a couple hamburgers and beer. Each hamburger was $17.50. “The hamburgers were served with coleslaw on them,” she said, “Which was different. But we ate it!”
Ann laughs as she recalls another incident in Zurich, when they paid 80 pfenning to use a self-cleaning restroom. “It was hilarious, she said, “Because I turned around and the toilet seat was going ‘round and ‘round, cleaning itself! We laughed and laughed.”

The Countries
Switzerland: Ann didn’t feel like she really saw a lot of Switzerland- just three towns, really, and one of them -Geneva- they really didn’t see all that much of. She did comment that the Alps were beautiful.
What Ann noticed about Switzerland was her people. They spoke five languages! German, French, Italian, English, and their own native tongue. In this way the Swiss people were different from Americans: they are used to hearing -and more required to know and speak- foreign languages.
Germany: This was Ann’s favorite country, simply because she saw the most of it. Ann said that Germany, overall, was clean, and pretty. “I didn’t ever see any pollution,” she said. “The towns were well kept up. There were real flowers in the window boxes, and clean, brick-paved streets. The Germans were real big on recycling.” There were clocks, called Das Glockenspiel, on the outside of tall buildings, that put on a little mechanical show on the hour.
“They were real friendly,” Ann also said of the Germans. “Quite a few of them spoke good English.” They were more “tolerant” to the English language than, say the common American, would be about speaking in German to a person in America. In fact, the Germans enjoyed listening to Ann and her group talk English. “Just talk English. We don’t care what you say; we just want to hear it.” one group said.
France: Since she only saw one town in France, Ann didn’t feel she could really comment much on the French people as a whole, but from what she did see in Strasburg, the French were sort of “uppity”. “They didn’t want to talk English; just French,” she said. ”It seemed like they were more impatient -’short’- than the other Europeans.”
The French people were big on fashions. Ann’s description was, “There were lots of scarves everywhere, and big, clunky shoes.”
Overall, Ann thoroughly enjoyed the trip and would love to go back again sometime. The trip was something she never thought she would ever do. “It broadens your history and sort of helps you realize where we’re from.” she said.
The Bissells got lots of pictures and post cards from each country. Each day was exciting and they were never disappointed, there was so much to do.
The worth of the American dollar was down, so it was very expensive. The ship had a money changer on board for their convenience.
Europe was beautiful. “I don’t know how to describe it,” Ann said. ”Their green was somehow greener than ours. More lush.” She also said that the vineyards were pretty. It happened to be rainy while Ann was there, but otherwise the weather was nice. “I think they must not have tornadoes there,” Ann speculated after relating this story: “One time we were standing outside of a church -I think this was in Munich- and someone mentioned that [Todd and I] were from Nebraska. There was this little boy standing there and his eyes got real big and he said ‘Twister!’ -that was it; just that one word.” She laughed. “They were showing the movie, ‘Twister’ over there.” They also played a lot of American music, in all three countries, she said. “So I guess they like our music.”
Another thing Ann noticed was the bike riders. There were a lot of bike riders. “I saw whole parking lots full of bikes,” she said. There were little “roads” for the bikers just like regular streets for vehicles, and the bikers had right-of-way. Ann enjoyed the fact that the bicyclists were required to have bells on their bikes, much as a car is required to have a horn. She has a bell on her bike at home and is always teased about it.
Ann also said,”[The Europeans] had some interesting accents. It made us listen to them better. It was kind of fun.”

Home Again
From Zurich, Switzerland the group flew to Geneva. They had enjoyed themselves, but they were ready to go home. The M11 they were supposed to fly back to New York was delayed when a group from Senegal, Africa tried to get on -in fact, did get on and were forced off- the plane to America with false visas!
They reached Omaha, Nebraska, September 29th. After the trip of a lifetime, they were home.


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