Mom’s Christmas Vacation
My Mom has been traveling in Europe with my brother Greg and his family the last two weeks, and today she sent an email so I’m sharing it below for others who know her and check in here from time to time. If you’ve wondered where I got the genes that make me want to travel and write about it — it’s Mom’s fault.
Hi, everyone,
I arrived in Amsterdam today–and they have free internet service so I will try and send a message.
We have had a good trip. The weather has been cold (upper 20’s) but not wet and windy like it was the week before–so we feel we lucked out.
After we left Basel, Switzerland, we stopped one day in Kayserberg, France where we visited the albert Schweitzer Museum (He was born in Kayserberg.)
The next day we were in Strasbourg, France. We thought we would have a sightseeing tour of that city on boats through the canals. But because of all the rain the week before the water level was too high and that had to be cancelled. (There wasn’t room for our boats to get under some of the bridges on the tour.) We did have a walking tour through the city and a visit to the cathedral.
Friday, Dec. 14th we entered Germany. Our first tour was of the city of Baden-Baden. This is a city of second homes for the very wealthy people–it is clean and interesting. A treat for me was having a friend, Gudrun Mairs, come visit me there for a couple of hours. She lives in Kashule, which is about 20 km from where we were. I met Gudrun in India back in 1993 when she was a young 32 year old woman traveling on her own.
Then Sat. Dec. 15th we went on to Speyer, Germany where we toured the Heidelberg Castle. Quite a fascinating place! The big excitement of that day was that my room mate, Doreen, got separated from the group. She found us several hours later at one of the Christmas markets–she has her own experiences to share about that adventure.
Sun. Dec. 16th we were in Mainz, Germany and toured the Gutenberg Museum and saw a demonstration on how the first printing press was developed.
Monday Dec. 17th we arrived in Cologne–after cruising through some of the most scenic parts of the Rhine River Valley. The main thing in Cologne was a visit to the Cologne Cathedral–which is the largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe. There is also a Chocolate Museum in Cologne. We went to the gift shop of the Museum–but not to the Museum itself–I was just too tired to be able to enjoy anything but getting back to the ship and getting off my feet.
Wed. Dec. 19th We sailed to Dusseldorf, Germany–a rich cosmopolitan city with some great history. We went on a walking tours in most of the towns and cities we stopped at. And visited Christmas Markets in all of them also. These “Christmas Markets”are a cross between our “farmer’s markets”and “craft shows”. They are rows of outdoor shops selling all kinds of Christmas ornaments and local (and imported) items. There are all kinds of local foods being sold and music playing–so it is a very festive atmosphere of sights, sounds, and smells.
Thursday Dec. 20th We sailed to Nijmegen, Holland. Doreen and I took the optional tour to the National Liberation Museum in near by Groesbeek. This was a well done museum showing what it was like for the Dutch people during the Nazi occupation. The bus trip to and from Groesbeek was through scenic countryside–farms mainly and some vineyards.
Friday Dec. 21st We sailed on to Amsterdam today and disembarcked the “River Melody”–the ship that has been our home for these last ten days. Since we could not get into the hotel until after lunch, we toured the Van Gogh Museum and the Gasson Diamond Factory this morning. We spent the afternoon un-packing and resting. Then at 4:30 pm we had a tour of Amsterdam via it’s canals–on an enclosed , heated boat. The only bad thing was that it was so foggy and starting to get dark so I did not get any good pictures.. At the end of the canal tour, we went on a walking tour of the “Red Light District”–then had dinner downtown and took a taxi back to the hotel.
Now I am ready to go to bed. Tomorrow I plan to go to the Anne Frank Museum and then meet Greg and family for dinner. They are staying at a different hotel quite a ways from here and will leave for France on Sunday–so this will be my last time to see them before we get back to the states.
Hope you all have a blessed Christmas and I’ll be in touch after I get home.
LaVonne
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 22nd, 2007 at 2:05 pm. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on December 23, 2007 at 12:47 pm Lynn wrote:
Wow, what a trip! You may or may not know that Megan’s grandmother’s grandmother came from Weisbaten , just across the bridge from Mainz. Her grandfathers family came from Rotenburg. Just read about a distant cousin by the name of Straus who helped Anne Frank’s father Otto get out of Holland during the war. It was too late for the rest of the Frank family.
on December 23, 2007 at 11:55 pm LaVonne wrote:
Lynn,
No, I did not know Megan had any ties to places in Germany.
I have printed your e-mail to share with my room-mate and some others here.
Merry Christmas to you! I don’t think I’ll see Doug and Megan for a few days. He said they were going to try and give me a little time to get over jet lag first.
on December 24, 2007 at 10:26 am Doug wrote:
Hmm, this whole business of hiding from both families at Christmas is really complicated when both mothers involved are commenting on my blog.
Uh, Mom, can we pencil you in for Christmas afternoon? To hell with your jet lag, anyway.
And Lynn, do you have a favorite weekend in January we can come help celebrate? Sigh.
on December 24, 2007 at 4:44 pm Lynn wrote:
Doug, my calendar is open for you anytime. Molly and Querido are coming over tonight to celebrate. Unfortunately by the time they arrive (Molly now says they can’t get here until 7) Elton and I will be ready for bed. Oh well. They’re spending the night so they’ll just have to get up at 5 when we do. I love you guys. Mom/Lynn