Outside of France – A Broad Abroad

Berlin, Germany: February, 2017

I was so excited to visit Berlin! From the time I was in Mr. Lindberger’s German I class at Lodi High School (1981), I’d been interested in the city. Another of our high school German teachers, Frau Duberry, would take a group of students on a study abroad trip to Germany every few years. I wasn’t able to go, but it was so fascinating to hear Frau Duberry and Herr Lindberger describe Berlin’s division into two very different cities after WWII by the Berlin Wall.

Following the partition of Berlin after WWII, East Germany was facing massive defection and emigration to the West. To prevent further loss of its citizens, the Soviets built the wall around West Berlin in 1961, and Berliners were separated from family and friends overnight. Once the barriers had been erected, very few East Berliners were able to escape to the West. Though it was possible for Westerners to visit the eastern part of the city, it was quite difficult to pass through checkpoints.

This is the text from a museum display, which I found useful to understand how The Berlin Wall came to be:

“After the war (WWII), the SED, the ruling party, with the help of the Soviet occupying forces, began establishing a dictatorship, first in the Soviet zone of occupation and as of 1949 in the GDR (East Germany). Large parts of the East German population, however, did not agree with the new political and economic system. In contrast, the Federal Republic (West Germany) and West Berlin, with their offer of freedom, prosperity and modernity, were very appealing. Consequently, a mass migration to the West began in the late forties that by the fifties had reached dramatic proportions. By August 1961 the GDR had lost a sixth of its population.

By 1952 the SED had almost completely closed off its border to the Federal Republic to GDR citizens. Travel to the western part of Germany required approval. Moving to the West without permission was considered an illegal “flight from the republic” and prosecuted by law. When the fortifications at the inner-German border were expanded, it became increasingly dangerous to flee directly to West Germany. Hence many people went across the open sector borders into West Berlin.

On August 13, 1961, the SED began erecting barbed wire and walls to seal off the border all around West Berlin. It was hoped that this would end the growing mass migration to the West once and for all. The SED also wanted to stabilize its power over the people in the GDR and to demonstrate sovereignty to the world. But the barbed wire and walls were unable to completely stop the escape attempts. Therefore, the border barriers in Berlin were continually expanded and reinforced.”

After 28 years of oppression, The Iron Curtain began to weaken during the Soviet era of Gorbachev and glasnost. Shortly after President Regan beseeched “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall…”, the wall did come down peacefully – almost as quickly as it went up, on November 9, 1989.

Plaque on the spot near where American President Ronald Reagan made his famous “Tear down this Wall” speech

Third Reich/East Berlin Walking Tour with Original Berlin Walks

We experienced another great, informative walking tour during our weekend in Berlin. Our guide, Matti, who was raised in Berlin, was so interesting and a font of knowledge on the city’s history. His parents were East Berliners who were born before The Wall was erected. Trapped in East Berlin as young adults, they married and started their family in the shadow of The Wall, and rejoiced when it fell.

In East Berlin, it was not allowed to be called “The Wall.” Instead, it was called the “Anti-Fascist Protective Barrier” – marketing spin to make it sound like it was keeping fascists out, rather than imprisoning its own citizens. The Wall is still preserved in some stretches, and is a constant reminder to what people can do to others in the name of power.

We walked past one area where the Berlin Wall has been painted and tagged by artists (and vandals). Most of the art is the individual artist’s expression supporting the ideals of freedom, peace, free-speech, and civil rights.

Art and graffiti on what’s left of the Berlin Wall

Dmitri Vrubel’s 1990 May God Help Me Survive This Deadly Love (AKA Fraternal Kiss). This depicts the actual kiss between Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honeker in 1979, celebrating 30 years since the foundation of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)

Birgit Kinder’s “Test the Rest” painting of the Trabant car, crashing through the Berlin Wall. Called a Trabi, it was the standard car available to East Berlin residents (if they were lucky enough to afford a car at all).

The spot where the Berlin Wall first came down, November 9, 1989

There is another part of The Wall which has been preserved much as it was during the Cold War. Here, you can see the layers of protection – the tall guard towers, an interior wall, the open, sandy area which prevented anyone from hiding, and the final, taller wall which separated East from West. Over the years, people tried desperately to escape, and many did not get out alive. They tried just about every method possible to get into West Berlin, including hot air balloons, hidden compartments in cars, digging underground tunnels. From its raising in 1961 until it fell in 1989, it is estimated that almost 200 people died trying to cross from East to West.

This piece of art sits in the “No Man’s Land” space at the Berlin Wall, and has photos of those who died at the Wall

A portion of the Berlin Wall and guard tower that have been left in place as a monument

The Wall was built alongside apartment buildings, sometimes through buildings, and even in the underground train stations. The few underground stations that still had train service were blocked-off to East Berlin residents and were heavily-guarded. Called Ghost Stations, no one was allowed to enter or exit – these trains were just passing-through. East German guards were stationed inside cells within the Ghost Stations, there was always more than one guard at a time, as they had to watch each other, to be sure the guards themselves did not escape the East.

Walking Tour guide, Matti, showing us an East Berlin Ghost Station

This is the building where people who visited from the West would have to pass inspection and questioning on the way out of the East. Matti told us its name came from the tears shed as loved ones said goodbye before entering the building. He also told us about the approximately 200 people who suffered heart attacks or strokes inside the building, as the questioning was so stressful. This is what I remember of the process:

Upon entering East Berlin, West Germans were required to exchange Western currency for Eastern marks. The exchange rate was a joke, as East German Marks were basically worthless – this was their way to make sure the more valuable Western Marks were kept in the East. When they left, the Westerners were questioned in small, windowless booths inside the Palace of Tears: who did they visit, what did they buy, how much did they spend? . . . All of the money had to be accounted for, as they were not allowed to leave with any of the money they’d exchanged. Even though Westerners had the right to leave, it was so stressful that some people actually had heart attacks during the questioning. There was always the chance that one could be accused of wrongdoing, and detained in the East.

Modern Memorials to Victims of WWII

The modern Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, opened in 2005, is truly dramatic. Filling the space of a large, open square, it is a series of concrete blocks of varying size, which invites visitors to walk between and (almost) get lost among the taller blocks. Designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold, the structures were intended to encourage each person to have their own experience and interpretation of the design as it memorializes the millions of Jewish victims of WWII.

Another moving, modern memorial is the 2008 Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism. Designed by artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, this concrete cube sits among trees and flowers at the edge of Berlin’s large Tiergarten (a large, central park). In the window, one can view a video loop of men kissing. Originally, the video was limited to men kissing, because there is only clear documentation of gay men being persecuted by Nazis. After some discussion, it was decided that the video be changed every two years to include women kissing as well.

This large metal profile of Georg Elser, by Ulrich Klages, sits on Wilhelmstraße. Elser is remembered for his brave attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. In 1939, Georg Elser carried-out plans to set-off explosives during a speech Hitler was to make. The bomb went-off just as planned, however, Hitler had left the venue unexpectedly early, thereby missing the explosion. Eight people were killed and more than 60 injured, but Hitler was unfortunately spared.

Modern Berlin

Today, Berlin is a really cool, young, vibrant, cosmopolitan city. One can visit museums, war monuments, the Bundestag (its building is called the Reichstag, where the German Parliament meets), gardens and parks, churches and monuments (some heavily-damaged during WWII). There are tons of great restaurants and places to shop. In addition to all of the local eateries, it was a fun surprise to see Dunkin Donuts — a treat from the U.S. (and a truly LARGE cup of coffee)!

We were able to get tickets online to visit the Reichstag. This historic building is popular with tourists, so get your tickets early if you’re visiting during the summer months! The Reichstag has transformed since German Reunification. Its 19^th Century structure now has a glass dome, and visitors can actually see down into the floor of the Parliament to watch government in action. The symbolism of the glass as transparency and openness of government to its people is strong, highlighting Germany’s clear break from it’s difficult past.

Berlin’s famous department store: KaDeWe

Mark and I at KaDeWe, all decorated for Valentine’s Day

Much like Harrod’s in London, Berlin’s KaDeWe Department Store (pronounced “kah-day-vay”) is worth a stop – even for me, a non-shopper. Where else can one buy a collector’s item Steiff stuffed animal, a beautiful assortment of charcuterie and cheeses, AND a pickle in a can? You name it, they’ve probably got it at KaDeWe.

My favorite Stiff ever: a Welsh Terrier! At €139, I just admired it, and left it on the shelf. The clerk gave me quite the look, as I handled the collectable stuffy — she would have preferred I keep my hands to myself (but there were no signs stating one could not touch). Pfffft to her!

Pickle in a can at KaDeWe (a much less expensive souvenir)

German Food

I probably should have had a feature on food in each city we visited, since it is always a highlight for Mark and I to try the local cuisine wherever we go. German food is often hearty, with plenty of meat (sometimes breaded and fried, as in wiener schnitzel, sometimes beautifully roasted). They don’t shy away from carbs (and why should you, in moderation?). Späetzle (little noodles), knödel (large, round, boiled dumplings), or potatoes of various preparation are usually among the side dishes, and their breads (especially those with seeds) are delicious. Of course, there are plenty of healthy choices, both traditional and contemporary, but these were some of our favorites. . .

Wiener Schnitzel with warm cucumber salad Goulash with späetzle, Äpfel Strudel, Sausage with potato puree, Roast pork with knüdel, and currywurst (yummy street food)

Some of the fine chocolates at Rausch Schokoladenhaus, down the street from our hotel

Kraków, Poland: History, Old and New. November 11 – 13, 2016

A three-day weekend for Veterans Day (U.S.)/Remembrance Day (Europe) gave us a little extra time to go further afield and visit Kraków, Poland. We’ve been excited about going to Poland, a country neither of us has visited before, and it was even more special because of two holidays in one. In addition to the holiday celebrating the veterans after the end of WWI, Poland also celebrates its own National Independence Day on 11 November, commemorating the anniversary of the restoration its sovereignty in 1918, after having been partitioned (yep, divided-up!) for 123 years by the Russian Empire. This holiday made our visit even more special, as the Polish flag was hung in streets and on buildings, and we even got to see a bit of a military parade.

Thursday Night

Kraków Airport & Train

Arrival in the Kraków airport couldn’t have been easier to manage. It’s small (think Burbank), modern and clean, and is directly attached to their (also very clean) regional train. Like all cities we have visited, the automated ticket machines allow you to buy your tickets with a choice of English instructions (super important here, because Polish is nothing like any of the languages we are familiar with). Within a few minutes, we were sitting in a train car with about a dozen rowdy Brits on holiday, and two couriers from Michigan who were delivering some mechanical something to a company in Kraków. It was a hoot to listen, and then chat with these guys in the 30-min trip to Kraków Old Town train station. If we arrive somewhere new at night, we take a taxi from the train station to the hotel when we arrive, to make things easier. From the station to the hotel, it was only a few minutes (an easy, safe walk, we knew we’d skip the taxi on our return).

Hotel in Old Town

Our hotel was right in Old Town (Stare Miasto), and we couldn’t have been happier with the place. Hotel Pod Roza is located in an elegant 16th century building (Kraków hotels have very reasonable prices, compared to Western EU). They’d upgraded us to a suite, which I think is actually bigger than our fairly spacious Paris apartment (though no kitchen). It was comfortable, and had a terrific breakfast as well.

Since we’d arrived in the evening and hadn’t had dinner yet, we walked to the main square, and chose an outdoor table (heaters and blankets provided). One of the things we wanted to do in Poland was to try some authentic local food. We ordered a charcuterie and cheese board to share with a variety of local cold sausages, baked pork terrine, and cheeses (sheep and cow), radishes and a sprinkling of large salt crystals. It also came with a super-yummy condiment of horseradish and cranberries. Mark tried a local beer (which I also liked a lot), Ksiażece. For dessert, we both ordered hot chocolate, which was thick, very chocolate-y, topped with whipped cream, and amazing — almost like hot pudding. The evening was cold (near freezing), but clear, so we walked around the square before heading back to the room for the night.

Old Town square at night — Kraków square at night: caption – Kraków’s medieval Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is St. Mary’s Church

If you’re interested, here’s a link to Rick Steves’ Travel video about visiting Krakòw: https://youtu.be/blg6CY4iYXI

Friday

Old Town Walking Tour

We love taking a guided walking tour on our first day, to get oriented. This morning, we joined a Free Walking Tour of medieval Old Town, to learn about Kraków’s history. Our guide, nicknamed Golden, has a law degree and is fluent in six languages. Having grown-up under communist rule, he had an interesting perspective and was a great story-teller, incorporating stories from his family and childhood to make the place come alive. We saw the fortified outpost, Kraków Barbican (1498) and what remains of the medieval city wall, the market square and cloth hall, Jagiellonian University (since 1364), and finished with a walk up the hill to the Wawel Castle and Cathedral. Golden pointed-out the part of the castle which used to house prized horses, and eventually became the garage for royal cars, saying in his Polish accent, “Times change-ed, toys change-ed, but boys didn’t change-ed.”

Barbican: This gothic fortified outpost, built around 1498, was originally the first point of entry and attached to the city wall. Nobody got through here without permission.

Market square and cloth hall, Europe’s largest medieval market square (1257)

After the tour, we had just enough time for a delicious lunch at a Hungarian restaurant (beef goulash soup for me, and potato pancakes topped with beef goulash and sour cream for Mark. Mark also tried hot, mulled beer, but wasn’t a fan).

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Just a 30-Another UNESCO World Heritage Site close to Kraków is the Wieliczka Salt Mine, mined for table salt from the 13^th century until 2007. Mining was stopped due to a freshwater flood, which damaged the mine and made much of it unsafe, as well as the declining profitability of salt mining. The guided tour begins at a mine closest to ground-level, around 400 steps down, in an area mined in the 1500s. Eventually, we descended another 400 steps to the most recently-mined part of the site. As visitors pass through hallways of shiny, smooth grey-and-white salt, as well as hallways fortified with pine logs, they see monuments which were carved by miners, mining equipment, salt-water lakes, and two underground chapels (one which still hosts events, weddings, and regular Sunday services). One thing that really stood-out to me was the working conditions. Certainly, every kind of mine had terrible working conditions, and this was no exception. Sadly, they also used horses to pull heavy loads – and once a horse was brought down into the mine, it lived there, in darkness, for the rest of its life. The tour takes about 3 hours (there is a bathroom break), and the site is interesting – but we had a terrible tour guide. Her monotone explanation of the mine and the fact that she clearly did not care to answer questions (we tried) fell quite flat. We noticed that the other guides didn’t sound any more interesting than she was. Eventually, the tour ends in a gift shop (don’t they all?) – and another gift shop, and another. . . and then you get to take a miner’s elevator, squished together with other visitors, to the surface. Thank goodness for the elevator – we had already walked over 17,000 steps today!

St Kinga’s Chapel, completely carved out of salt. They still host regular Sunday services and weddings.

Saturday

Podziemia Rynku Museum: Following the Traces of European Identity of Kraków

This museum lies directly under the cloth hall in the old town square, and contains interesting displays of the articles found in the excavation of the site under the building. Some large sections of dirt have been left intact, with exhibits explaining when in the city’s history each layer was created (different layers of earth and wooden sidewalk curbs, etc. that were exposed). The articles found in the excavated areas included things of daily life from 1,000 years of history: shoes, rope, clothing, combs and jewelry, game pieces and toys, iron, silver and goldsmithing implements, cookwear.

Kraków Free Walking Tour: Communism

This was so interesting! We met the same tour guide, Golden, who had taken us on Friday’s Old Town tour, for a closer look at the communist era in Poland after WWII. Tram tickets in hand, we took a short ride with Golden and five others (from the U.S., Belgium, Portugal, The Philippines, and Germany) to a nearby suburb of Kraków, Nowa Huta, which was built by the Soviets (1950s-80s) as a factory town for the new steel mill.

Post-WWII times were difficult on the Polish people. About six million people (about 1/5^th of their pre-war total) had been killed, they had high unemployment, a shortage of housing, and an entire generation that had basically missed years of education during the war. Communism promised electricity in every village and education for all. The steel mill improved the local economy by employing thousands, and the housing created for workers, their families, and the community around it brought stability to the area. The first blocks of apartments, built in the 50s, were mostly like dorm rooms. They were single rooms, with shared bathrooms and kitchens. This was fine for the young men who were assigned to build the town and the steel mill – they needed a roof over their heads and education. In the 60s, more blocks of housing were built, but these were a little bigger, including a separate bedroom and a kitchen. As they moved into the 70s and 80s, people hoped for a little more each decade: meat two or three days a week, a second bedroom, maybe even a car. If I remember correctly, he explained that it was something like: every block had its own kindergarten and restaurant, every few blocks had its own doctor, grocery, and middle school, and a larger area of blocks had a high school, cultural center, hospital, etc. The convenience of having everything one needed near their homes is actually what makes this area still a popular place to live today. These were the benefits of communism. It was not extravagant, but compared with wartime, people had security, jobs, education, and food.

In communist times, one had to have a special permission to own or use a camera like this

Communism had its cons, too, because (as Golden pointed-out) “People are greed”(y). The system says everyone is equal, but corruption flourished. There was a market for Western goods that had to be purchased with U.S. dollars or Deutche marks, and one had to save for years for these prized items. Golden remembered clearly that for his fifth birthday, his daddy told him they would take him to the Western store to buy a Lego. His parents and grandparents had saved from the time he was born, and they had $6 to spend. It would be a small box, and he was told to choose wisely. He chose the Lego farm, and that toy is still a treasure to him today: a reminder of hard times under communism. He told us proudly how he had recently bought his own daughter a Brio farm (her choice) that was in a huge box – and how he still marveled that he could just pay the money and get something so easily for his little girl.

As we walked past the blocks of look-alike buildings, he pointed out the defendability of the housing in case of attack: doors easy to blockade, basement windows and rooftops built for sniper cover, wide roads accessible to tanks, if needed. He also mentioned that every neighborhood had people whose job it was to spy on each other. We talked about how both sides (West and East) feared the other would launch missiles during the Cold War. Mark and I both recalled the bomb drills “duck and cover” when we were in elementary school, and that we weren’t sure if the world would survive long enough for us to grow-up. Golden said it was the same for him and his friends, growing-up under communist Soviet rule. Part of the 4.5-hour tour included a stop at a neighborhood House of Culture. During communist times and still today, these are places where you could take music lessons, play sports, watch films and visit the library. We all ordered coffee or cocoa, while we watched a communist-era propaganda film touting the bright future of Poland and the young people who were building the community and steel mill of Nowa Huta for the good of their country.

Watching the communist propaganda film of Nowa Huta

Another hold-out after the end of communism are the still-thriving, much-loved cafeterias called “Milk Bars” (so named, because they did not serve alcohol). These have always been subsidized by the State, providing low-cost but tasty, filling, nutritious food. As you might imagine, they are still popular, especially with pensioners and college students. Golden told us that this is a place where community is at its best – that often the elderly and the young will mix. An older lady might ask to sit with the college kids, and they’d get to know each other. The young ones might offer to help her with difficult chores, and she may spend her ration of flour and sugar to bake them a cake in return. His own wife befriended a widow whose children live abroad, and she now comes to their home for the holidays.

Milk Bar dinner: delicious! Tomato and rice soup, sausage and potato soup, pirogies, and salads (carrot, cabbage, and beet)

Sunday

Oscar Schindler’s Factory: Museum of Nazi Occupation of Kraków in WWII

On our last day in Krakow, we took the tram out to Oscar Schindler’s factory, which has become a museum on the Nazi Occupation of Krakow during WWII. The amount of information and artifacts, which included many Nazi flags, uniforms, items with swastikas, and information on the erosion of human rights was sobering.

Artifacts from Schindler's office — Artifacts from Schindler’s office

One hopes that humankind has learned from these lessons of history. The documentation of the depression and elimination of the free press, the enforced internment of Jews into a walled ghetto, and their eventual deportation to concentration camps (Auschwitz is nearby) is chilling.

Some of the first steps to controlling the population: eliminate free press, and disallow higher education.

“(…) the entire Polish information system must be liquidated. The people should not possess radio sets; they must be left with newspapers only; opinion press must not be allowed.” – Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels, October 31, 1939

“(…)Your attempts to carry out examinations and to resume the University’s normal operation are an act of malice and hostility towards the Third Reich. Beside that, the Jagiellonian University has always been a centre of anti-German propaganda. Consider yourselves arrested. You shall be taken to a POW camp where you shall be properly informed of your real situation. No questions should be asked. . .” – SS Strumbannführer Bruno Müller

This is the trailer for the Oscar-winning movie, Schindler’s List, if you haven’t seen the movie, you should.

https://youtu.be/M5FpB6qDGAE

Stockholm, Sweden: Visiting the Motherland. October 28 – November 1, 2016

What a thrill to spend four days visiting Sweden! Mark’s dad, Dale, is 100% Swedish, and their family is so proud of their heritage. Imagine my delight to find out from my DNA analysis through 23 and Me that I was 38% Scandinavian. I was even more thrilled to learn, upon finding my biological mother’s family that my great-grandparents had emigrated from Sweden as well. We definitely felt at home among the Swedes.

This was a four-day weekend for Mark (due to All Saints Day holiday in Europe), so we flew to Stockholm, to make the most of our time. We were really fortunate to have perfect (albeit cold) Fall weather for all but our last day, when it hit a low of near-freezing and was raining steadily.

We stayed at the Stockholm, Slussen Hilton, which was a fantastic location to visit the old town (Gamla Stan). It was an easy walk either to Gamla Stan, or just a couple of blocks to the nearest metro station, which was only one or two stops to the best locations.

view-from-our-room — The view of Gamla Stan from our room.

For the first two days (Saturday and Sunday), we bought the Stockholm Pass, which gives visitors free or deeply-discounted access to many of the local attractions, plus the hop-on-hop-off bus (and in the case of Stockholm, boats as well). It was nice to be able to show the pass, and have free admission to museums, but the bus wasn’t worth it. I think I’d do it differently next time, knowing how easy it was to use the metro and bus system.

Saturday

On Saturday, we took the 3-hour morning Archipelago Boat Tour. A refurbished steamship takes passengers on a guided tour through the islands in and near Stockholm. This is a really beautiful way to get to know the area – and as an added bonus, you can sit for the whole thing! For all of the walking we do when we visit a new place, having a sitting tour is a real treat.

boat-tour-red-house — This red with white trim is a traditional color (and most popular) on Swedish houses. I love it!

After the boat tour, we visited the Vasa Museet (museum). The Vasa, a warship built in the 1600s, capsized in its maiden voyage 300+ years ago. It was found buried in mud in the 1950s. The preservation and detail of this ship and its artifacts is astonishing! They’ve got the entire ship displayed in the center of the building, with different floors containing artifacts that wrap-around the ship. As you move from floor to floor, you get to see different levels of the ship. There is also a neat set of models that show exactly how the Vasa was gently raised from the sea floor in one piece.

A super bonus to this museum: they’ve got a really great café, with some of the best Swedish meatballs, potato purée, lingonberries, and pickled cucumbers.

The remainder of the day was spent wandering the streets of Gamla Stan.

Sunday

Our first stop for Sunday was the Nordiska Museet (Nordic Museum), just down the street from the Vasa Museet. This museum celebrates Swedish culture from the 1600s to the present. There were displays of holiday tables through the years (dinnerwear, menus, food and decorations, mostly for Christmas and Easter), clothing (including some pretty funny stuff from the 70s and 80s), toys, jewelry, folk art, and the things of daily life. I thought the exhibits were a little disorganized – the floors aren’t set-up to easily view in chronological order. I also wished that the lighting was better in some areas (not things that needed to be protected from light for preservation). I wanted to see all of the detail of the Christmas morning livingroom! Overall, I’d say go, but it isn’t a must, and it doesn’t take long to view everything. Also, their café pales in comparison to the Vasa Museet’s. MEATBALLS!! They did have a pretty cool exhibit on beer-making, though.

Our second stop was a guided tour of the Stadhuset, Stockholm’s City Hall. The massive brick building, complete with a tower and courtyard, is quite modern (completed in 1923). This is the location of everyday municipal business, but it is best known for the Nobel Prize Banquet, held in the Blue Hall every December. Fun fact: there is nothing blue in the Blue Hall! The original design called for it to be blue, but the architect liked the look of the red bricks so much (hand-distressed to appear old), that he kept the bare bricks. The Blue Hall also hides Sweden’s largest pipe organ, which has 10,270 pipes.

Stadhuset Blue Hall, where the Nobel Prize dinner is hosted every December

On this tour, you get to go into the Gold Hall, an enormous hall with walls decorated entirely in tiny mosaic tiles, most of which are gold. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the room absolutely glows!

More fun facts about the Stadhuset: Weddings take place in a small hall every Saturday, and anyone can apply to be married there. You can choose a long ceremony (about 5 minutes) or a short one (under a minute). Same-sex couples have been legal in Sweden since 2009.

This afternoon, we took a Free Tour Stockholm of Gamla Stan. Many big cities have these Free Tours – it costs nothing to join the tour, but they expect (and deserve) a tip at the end of the tour. We’ve done a few of these now, and they’re great! The guides always have loads of information to share, they move you through the most interesting parts of the city, and can even recommend places to shop/eat/visit after the tour is done. Kevin shared with us that the old town area is especially popular to live-in, because of the beauty of the historic buildings, but that it is incredibly difficult to find a place to rent or buy. With a 20-year waiting list for subsidized housing, people used to sign-up their children when they were born!

Monday

Our day was spent discovering Skansen, an open-air museum where one can view real historic buildings, homes, and farms (some dating back to the 1500s) from all over Sweden. Because we were here in off-season, only a handful of the buildings were open for viewing inside. I would have loved to have seen more, but what we did get to see was really cool. There are docents in period clothing inside the buildings, and they’re ready to answer your questions. In one 1700s farmhouse, we learned that every family member had their own wooden spoon, which was cleaned and stored in a rack on the wall in-between meals. One small farmhouse may have housed the family (people typically had 6 or 7 children) and the farm workers, all in one room.

Rounding-out the experience at Skansen, they’ve got farm animals of the same breed as would have been present hundreds of years ago. You’ve heard of heirloom tomatoes? This is heirloom livestock!

Tuesday

This was our last day in Sweden, but our flight wasn’t until late afternoon, so we tried another Stockholm Free Tour. It was tempting to stay in and relax in our room, as it was near freezing, and raining pretty steadily, but the tour was calling! Bundled-up and on our way, there were several hearty souls who showed-up for the tour, and off we went! Along the way, we met two young women who were from Juneau, Alaska. We got to chatting, and learned that one of them was originally from Oregon, and had graduated from Western Washington University in 2015 (where Molly goes to school)! Small world!!

Stockholm Free Tour on a very cold, rainy morning

Boardgames for Mark, Sightseeing for Me: A Weekend in Essen, Germany. October 14 – 16, 2016

Living in Paris, one of our main goals for the weekends is to travel to places close enough for a weekend getaway. The question is: Do you go back to places you’ve visited and loved, or go somewhere new and different? I guess the answer for us is: do a little of both.

Mark, in his element :) — Mark, in his element 🙂

Every year, Essen, Germany hosts the largest game convention in the world, Internationale Spieltage. Approximately 100,000 visitors enter the convention center over the space of 5 days: people who design, publish, sell, and play games are all mixed-together, and it is a family affair for many.

Check out this short video for Spieltage:

Though boardgames are not as popular a hobby in the United States, Europeans are big fans of games, and this is why Spieltage Essen is like a mecca to many, including Mark and lots of his friends. In 2003, Mark and I took our first trip to Europe. In addition to the castles and cathedrals, the Internationale Spieltage in Essen was one of our stops.

This year, it was a no-brainer that we would take the train to Essen, a highlight for Mark to be sure: games old and new, things you can’t buy in stores yet (or in the US), catching-up with some California friends, and meeting people who are long-time listeners of Mark’s podcasts, Boardgames To Go, and Wargames To Go.

http://boardgamestogo.com

http://WargamesToGo.com

You can't go to Spiel without buying some games! — You can’t go to Spiel without buying some games!

I’ll play the occasional boardgame, but it isn’t my hobby, so this trip was my opportunity to explore a little bit of the town. I racked-up almost nine miles of walking each day (by choice). On Saturday, it was drizzling rain most of the day, but I visited the local botanical garden, Gugapark, just the same. There are acres of streams, flowers, ponds, and even a sequoia grove. The grey weather was great for photographing the flowers, which were still holding-on in the cooler Autumn weather.

Inside Grugapark, where it shares a road with the university hospital, is the Ronald McDonald House, Essen. There are more than 350 Ronald McDonald Houses worldwide, “Keeping families with sick children close to each other and the care and resources they need.” If you eat at McDonald’s, you might notice the donation boxes at the registers and the drive-through windows. All of that spare change goes to support the Ronald McDonald House charities. I usually drop my change in there, and I’ve known several families who have benefitted from their services. This house was so interesting to see, and in such a wonderful location. The Essen house was designed by artist and architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and looks more like the house of a child’s imagination than a real structure.

Essen Ronald McDonald House, "Hundertwasser Haus" — Essen Ronald McDonald House, “Hundertwasser Haus”

If you’re interested in the Ronald McDonald House charities, you can find more info here: http://www.rmhc.org

I also walked past the university hospital area, and through the bike paths and hiking trails to a neighborhood called Kruppsiedlung Margarethenhohe. This group of charming homes is named after Margarethe Krupp, who had housing built for the workers at the Krupp steel factories in the 1800s. Her husband, Alfred Krupp, paved the way for workers’ rights, offering benefits previously unknown to workers of that time, such as accident and medical insurance, social programs, care for widows and orphans and education. It isn’t company housing today, but these homes are still much in demand, and you can see why. . .

Sunday morning in Essen, and it was a gorgeous Fall day. I walked a couple of miles (literally over the river and through the woods!) to visit the Krupp Mansion.

I got all of the way there, only to find-out that the buildings were closed (the website had said it was open). I was pretty disappointed, and honestly feeling a little sorry for myself; I think just being alone was getting to me a little bit. Plus, I was tired from all of the walking, so it was frustrating to get to the end of the walk with nothing to show for it. I had hours to kill before our train, but now just felt like taking it easy. I used the MyTaxi app we’d seen in some info about Germany. Easy as Über, I had a taxi pick me up. The driver was a man about my age, from Syria. We had a nice conversation, and I learned that his daughter had recently finished university, spoke six languages, and was now working in Turkey for Turkish Airlines. He also had a son working on a business degree in Germany and another in high school. We shared photos of our kids. No matter where I’ve been in the world, I’ve really found that people are really more alike than they are different.

Back at the hotel, I grabbed my book, found a nice place to read, and ordered a coffee.

Weekend in Leiden, Netherlands: 23 – 25 September

Mark had been in The Netherlands a some years ago for work, and when he had a few free hours before leaving, he visited Leiden – a college town, and a city rich in history. I had hoped to visit someday, and when we talked about going to Holland, we chose small-town charm over the bigger, busier tourist city of Amsterdam.

The high-speed (180mph) Thalys train to The Netherlands

Transportation

Our transportation to Leiden was a little trickier than we had planned, but it all worked-out. It was supposed to be an easy, high-speed Thalys train from Paris to Rotterdam, and then a regional train to Leiden. Shortly before we arrived at the Paris Nord station, tickets were sold-out! We scrambled to purchase tickets on another train, BUT WAIT, there had been a fire in a train tunnel, re-routing many trains that evening in Holland. Got the tickets, and a new itinerary, and were just told to change in Rotterdam on the first available train going to Leiden. This is what everyone else was doing, too. We were lucky to squeeze onto that regional train, together, and have standing-room-only spots in the aisle. This, my friends, is why it is so much easier to travel light (and bring a snack)! We arrived a couple of hours later than planned, but none the worse for the wear.

Mark on the regional train (Rotterdam to Leiden). Standing-room only!

This town, like the rest of The Netherlands, is all about public transportation. Trains and buses are easy to use, and one can get anywhere in town quickly. (As long as you get off of the bus at your stop. We were so busy looking at the sights that we passed our stop, and had to get off the bus to wait for another going the opposite direction, LOL). The KING of transportation here is the bicycle. All ages ride bikes along the safe, dedicated bike paths on main streets, as well as through the smaller streets next to the canals. Families have bikes with big wooden buckets in front, used to tote little kids, groceries, you name it! Smartly-dressed businesspeople commute to work, and retirees do their shopping – all on their bikes.

This is how you get your groceries (or your little ones) home!

Train station double-decker bike storage!

Mark and mass transportation: train above, bikes below.

College Town

The Universiteit Leiden, established in 1575, has educated heads of state and includes among its Nobel Laureates Albert Einstein. Tulips were first introduced to Holland in 1593 by professor Carolinus Clusius, who planted bulbs in the botanical garden he established in the University of Leiden. This cultivation of tulips led to the Dutch tulip industry.

Leiden's city symbol, keys, are everywhere. — Leiden’s city symbol, keys, are everywhere.

Saturday Market

Lots of people bring their dogs to the market.

Leiden’s bustling Saturday market has stalls in the street along a canal. There are vendors selling cheese, flowers, fish and meat, nuts and olives, freshly-made sweets, and clothing. I tried a local treat, a fresh stroopwafel: two thin waffle cookies sandwiched with a warm caramel spread.

One local delicacy neither of us tried: fresh, raw herring. They’re served at the market with their little heads removed, but the tail is still attached. Folks wait their turn to hold them by the tail, tip back their heads, open wide and drop ‘em in. Just like the trained sea lions at the aquarium! I’m sure they’re delicious, if you’ve acquired the taste, but I couldn’t get past their size (not easily swallowed, these require chewing), and the fact that everyone who ate them had to finish by picking the bones out of their teeth. PASS!

Fish of all kinds were for sale, including some really delicious-looking friend cod and shrimp. Smoked mackerel were also waiting to be someone’s dinner.

Not a fan of fish? How about a traditional Dutch pannekoek? These are platter-sized pancakes, thinner than an American pancake, but thicker than a crêpe, and they can be filled with sweet or savory ingredients. Mark had one with ham, cheese and mushrooms, and I chose sour cherries with whipped cream and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. YUM!

American Pilgrims Lived in Leiden Before They Sailed on the Mayflower

“But now we are all, in all places, strangers and pilgrims, travelers and sojourners…”

~ Robert Cushman, Pilgrim leader, 1622

Words just as relevant today as they were almost 400 years ago. America was settled by refugees, people looking for a safe place to worship, work, and raise their children. The Pilgrims fled England in order to be free to practice their religion. Before sailing for the New World (America), they lived for several years in Leiden, Netherlands. These religious refugees and their descendants were the building blocks of the country we have today. “A number of American presidents have had Pilgrims as ancestors, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Bush senior and junior and Barack Obama. Obama’s forefathers, the Blossoms, lived here, on Pieterskerkhof.” (from a plaque at the church)

One of the true highlights of this trip was to see the tiny American Pilgrim Museum, and Pieterskerkhof. The museum is located in two side-by-side homes which have not been changed since the Pilgrims inhabited the area in the 1600s.

The kitchen of a Pilgrim home. They cooked over a peat fire, and the little wooden contraption in the lower right is a baby chair!

This little alcove is the parent's bed. People believed it was unhealthy to sleep lying-down, so they sat, propped-up on pillows. — This little alcove is the parent’s bed. People believed it was unhealthy to sleep lying-down, so they sat, propped-up on pillows.

The American Pilgrim Museum is housed in this original 15th Century building. the lower two rooms are the museum, while the rest of the building is modernized and lived-in!

Nearby, Pieterskerkhof has a cluster of homes which were originally built for the Pilgrims by their leader, then became an almshouse, and still provides housing today.

Those Iconic Dutch Canals

The center of Leiden’s old town is threaded with canals, populated with tourist boats and the boats of locals who are just out for a picnic on the water with friends and family. And dogs! So many of the boats included the family dog – and they were clearly having as much fun as their skippers and crew.

I'm King of the World! — I’m King of the World!

The canals are a great way to sightsee: pretty, inexpensive, and no walking. We took a tour, which was well-narrated (in Dutch and English) by a Leiden college student. He gave us information about Leiden’s history, as we floated through the old town, past the university, historic windmills, and houseboats.

The houseboats ranged from modern places with floating terraces to old, run-down boats. Most, like this one, were very nice!

Leiden was definitely a great spot for a weekend getaway. I’d highly recommend it to people who want a taste of The Netherlands, but prefer to stay away from the larger cities. I think it would be perfect intro to Europe for Americans who have not traveled outside of the US, because just about everyone we met there spoke English. It is a friendly, safe, easy place to be – and everywhere you turn, a picture-perfect Kodak moment!

And Now for Something Completely Different. . .

The blog took a backseat the past couple of weeks, as we had left France to return home for a previously-planned vacation (many months before we knew about France). From 3-10 September, Mark and I, along with another couple, took a Princess Cruise from Seattle, WA, to Alaska and Canada. The ports included Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, and Victoria, B.C.

Mark and I onboard the Crown Princess, Seattle

We boarded the Crown Princess on a warm, clear, sunny Autumn day in Seattle. Balcony Stateroom, Aloha 608, was super comfy, and it gave us the opportunity to stay in the comfort of our room while still viewing glorious Alaska if we didn’t really want to go up on deck.

Juneau – Alaska’s Remote Capital

It was a grey, rainy morning when the ship was pulling-in to our first port city, Juneau. We all had our layers, gloves, scarves, hats and waterproof jackets, so off we went to find our way to the Mendenhall Glacier park, 12 miles out of town. The original plan was to take a city bus to the park (the most economical option, compared with the private shuttles, taxis and ship excursions). We hadn’t counted on the fact that it was Labor Day, and the buses were not running! As we were about to ask the closest taxi/van for their rates, another group of four asked if we wanted to share. Sure! Small world – when we introduced ourselves along the way, we discovered that all of us are from Santa Clarita! One of the other group’s members graduated from Saugus High (where our kids also attended high school).

The first stop at the park: a short walk on a mostly-raised boardwalk along the creek, where salmon were still spawning. We really hoped to (safely) see a bear (or two or three). Turns-out, we missed seeing a mama bear and three cubs by about 15 minutes! We did see salmon, of both the swimming-upstream and spawned-and-dead varieties, along with the wide vistas of mountains, evergreens and the beginning of Fall colors.

Near Mendenhall Glacier, just outside of Juneau, Alaska

The Mendenhall Glacier is part of the Tongass National Forest, and there is an easy, level, 0.8-mile hike from the parking lot of the Visitor Center to the beach of the lake where one can easily view the Glacier, as well as get up-close and personal with towering (377 feet high) Nugget Falls. (Side note: we have friends who got engaged right on this beach about a year ago!)

My friend, Janet, getting a closeup photo of Nugget Falls. Near Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, AK

Skagway – Gateway to the Klondike Gold Rush

At Skagway, our second port, there was a light rain most of the day – but off we went. I have to say, it is crazy how large these cruise ships are when they’re docked at the end of the main street of one of these little towns. I wish I’d taken a photo, because the ships absolutely dwarf the buildings (and there were two next to each other, as well as another two on the other side of the inlet). With over 3,000 people on each ship, that was 12,000 tourists descending on Skagway, a town with a peak summer population of just under 1,000 people! Right off the ship, we hopped-onto the local SMART shuttle ($5 bucks for an all-day pass – have them stamp inside your wrist, so it doesn’t wash off!), and took it out to the stop nearest the town’s historic cemetery. 1898 Gold Rush-era scoundrel, “Soapy” Smith, along with less infamous citizens, were buried here on the slope of a forested hillside.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapy_Smith

There were a few old, original headstones, but most of the headstones were actually new, white-painted wooden markers. Kind of like the ones you’d see in the neighborhood on Halloween. I know that the cemetery is authentic, and heck, the wooden “headstones” probably were made of wood and had degraded over time, requiring the new ones. However, if you’re looking for a really old, charming cemetery, this is not it. Keep walking up the hill, though, and you can take the trail to the waterfall. It is a short, simple hike up the hill to the falls, and look in the water – you might even see little flecks of gold!

Skagway, Lower Reid Falls, near Gold Rush Cemetery

From the falls, we walked over to the entrance of Jewel Gardens, where we caught the SMART shuttle back into town. The whole downtown area of Skagway is actually part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, with its charming buildings, dating back to the 1800s, lovingly restored.

After a lunch of locally-caught halibut fish & chips and a Spruce Tip Ale at the Skagway Brewing Company, we took two park-ranger-led tours of downtown. These tours run throughout the day, and have several different themes. The tours are free, but can fill-up, so visit the park Visitor Center on 2^nd and Broadway to get tickets ahead of time. The tours we chose were about an hour-long, and while both included Skagway’s Gold Rush history, one was focused on how goods and services were (and still are) brought into the remote location for the use of the citizens, while the other provided information on the lives of minorities during the Gold Rush era (including the African American “Buffalo” Soldiers sent here to serve in 1899, as well as the Japanese (and other) women enslaved by the sex trade.

Historic Skagway Crib (where prostitutes were forced to work during the Gold Rush days).

After about 20,000 steps around Skagway, it was time to warm-up and enjoy dinner on the ship!

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

This was the highlight of our cruise – the day the ship spent in Glacier Bay National Park. The ship arrived in Glacier Bay in the morning, after being boarded by Rangers from the National Park Service, who would set-up a temporary Ranger’s Station onboard and broadcast information about the glaciers, bay and wildlife throughout the day.

Most of our time was spent in the bay next to the tidewater glacier, Marjorie. The face of the glacier (about 20 stories high) was crackling and crunching while we watched, and it calved several times while we watched. The sound was fascinating to experience, and unlike anything we’d heard before. As large chunks calved off of the face of the glacier, the deep rumbling boom was followed by more crackling and a wave of new icebergs flowing into the jade-green water. The water of the bay, as with any body of water near a glacier, is full of ultra-fine particles of glacial silt (powdery sand). Silt is created when the glacial ice grinds the rocks as it moves past/over land, and is deposited into the water, leaving it quite opaque.

Gorgeous silt-filled water in Glacier Bay, AK

Moving further into the park, the ship entered Johns Hopkins Inlet, giving us a more distant view of the Johns Hopkins glacier.

Johns Hopkins Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, AK

Ketchikan – Alaska’s First City, The Salmon Capital of the World, AND The Rainiest City in the US

With up to 200 inches of rain per year, we were happily surprised with a sunny Autumn day on our visit to Ketchikan. Pulling into port, we spied bald eagles in the shorleline trees (look for their white heads in the evergreens) and floatplanes taking off over the bay.

Mark & I on the main street in Ketchikan, AK

Today, we walked from the ship, through downtown Ketchikan, to the tourist shops along the creek. Filled with spawning salmon, there was a lone seal in the creek, barking at greedy seagulls. This path leads to the salmon ladder, where you can watch as they choose to either climb the ladder, or swim up the natural waterfall to the wide, shallow creek above. They were there, spawning and dying by the hundreds (no fishy smell, I promise).

Ketchikan's Creek Street — Ketchikan’s Creek Street

Walking along the creek, we took a few minutes to visit the Totem Heritage Center ($5, not a lot to see, but it was cool to view some of the oldest surviving totem poles in Alaska, along with some Native Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian art).

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Our final port for the cruise was a night-time visit to Victoria. Primarily a sea day, we arrived in Victoria with just enough time to visit downtown and stop at a pub. We had all been to Victoria before, so missing-out on Butchart Gardens wasn’t a disappointment. While it would have been fun to see more of this pretty Canadian city, the capital of British Columbia, we enjoyed a nice post-dinner walk on a clear evening.