The wall is gone 1989
She’s singing my song
Stuck in the ’70’s
Something that I care about
If you know anything about me you know I went to high school in the 1970’s. So what’s it like to be stuck there?
- Disco
- Oil Embargo
- Jimmy Carter
- Inflation
- Gas is 30 cents/ gal I noticed my keyboard doesn’t even have the cents sign anymore
- Nixon visits China
- The Brady Bunch-are you kidding?
- Peter Max
- Psychedelic art
- Bell Bottoms
Osaka Daimaru 1979
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
MADRID
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
b. 1696 Venice, d. 1770
Madrid I saw this painting at the royal palace in Madrid and fell in love with Tiepolo immediately Apotheosis of Spain. Below see his crucifixion from the St. Louis art museum. It has recently been removed from public view. Trained in Venice, Tiepolo also worked in Spain and Germany. His work is simply awe-inspiring.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo – Apollo and the Continents – WGA22323 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Italian
Born into a wealthy and noble family in Venice, Giambattista Tiepolo was recognized by contemporaries throughout Europe as the greatest painter of large-scale decorative frescoes in the 1700s. He was admired for having brought fresco painting to new heights of technical virtuosity, illumination, and dramatic effect. Tiepolo possessed an imagination characterized by one of his contemporaries as “all spirit and fire.”
2nd third of 16th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A gifted storyteller, Tiepolo painted walls and ceilings with large, expansive scenes of intoxicating enchantment. In breath-taking visions of mythology and religion, the gods and saints inhabit light-filled skies. His ability to assimilate his predecessor and compatriot Paolo Veronese’s use of color was so profound that his contemporaries named him Veronese redivio (a new Veronese). His style was also influenced by renaissance artist Tintoretto. He was the great eighteenth century painter of the baroque and rococo periods.
Dominican
Last supper
Tiepolo Crucifixion, Saint Louis Art Museum, SLAM
Tiepolo’s commissions came from the old-established families of Italy, religious orders, and the royal houses of Spain, Germany, Sweden, and Russia. His frescoes adorn palaces, churches, and villas, and his artistic legacy consists of some eight hundred paintings, 2,400 drawings, two sets of etchings, and acres of fresco. When Tiepolo died at the age of seventy-four, a Venetian diarist noted the “bitter loss” of “the most famous Venetian painter, truly the most renowned…well known in Europe and the most highly praised in his native land.”
- David Teniers, younger
Würzburg Residence
Würzburg is a town on the romantic road in Germany. Also on the romantic road Castle Neuschwannstein and Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Wuerzburg Residenz
Tiepolo was active in Italy, Germany, and Spain.
This ceiling and staircase made quite an impression on me the first time I saw it 36 years ago.
Margaret Lewis told me the first time she saw the his ceiling frescoes in Venice it left her in tears, also Rembrandt and Venus de Milo.
- Mid-18th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What artist has influenced you?
What trip or city have you visited that has had a particular influence on you?
Do you have a favorite painting in your home city?
Do you know of another artist with as far reaching a range as Tiepolo?
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- Gemaldegalerie Berlin guide: Director favourites (telegraph.co.uk)
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REDS!
Iron Curtain: eiserne Vorhang
1977 Supreme Soviet of the USSR declare the dictatorship of the proletariat fulfilled
University of Regensburg 1965
Is Putin trying to revive the failed Soviet Union?
I was still in divided Germany in 1977 for the sixtieth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Regensburg was less than an hour by car from the Czech border and the Iron Curtain. The outcome of the Cold War was far from clear.
Boris Kustodiev and Nicholas Roerich
Related articles
Europe Madrid 1974: More on one of my popular blogs
Europe Madrid 1974
Verocchio
Michelangelo
Now, I’m asked tell us more about that first trip to Europe in 1974. The one when you were 17. The one forty years ago.
Madrid was the first city I visited in Europe.
Well, actually I was supposed to go when I was in 8th grade with my PE teacher, but that one fell through because we didn’t get enough people to sign up. There were other trips to choose from including ones to Germany and Salzburg.
The great thing about that Madrid trip was we spent a month studying the art, history, and culture of the countries before we left. Europe has some great art museums. We spent time in Madrid just walking around looking at shops and supermarkets. They had interesting soft drinks and coffees for sale. I am very excited. It is so much fun just walking around the hotel looking at things. We also visited Retiro park, the Rastro, Botins, a bullfight, and my favorite department store in Madrid el Corte Ingles. We also visited the Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace.
There is no king. Other landmarks include the great post office and telecommunications building and plaza mayor.Our trip also included a side trip to the ancient capital of Toledo. Madrid is a lively city with a great nightlife. I returned there in 1975, 1978 and with my wife in 1992. Well with the death of Franco in November 1975, Juan Carlos became King of Spain. He served until 2014 until he
abdicated in favor of his son Felipe VI.
We ate most of our meals in the hotel, chicken I think, a few times we got beef. I went to my first discotheque in Madrid. Some of the girls got their nails done at Elisabeth Arden. After a few days in Madrid we flew to Rome on Alitalia.
Madrid has a different culture. Everything shuts down after lunch. Shops close. Dinner often isn’t taken till after 10 o’clock at night. The national delicacy is pulpo in su tinta squid in its own ink.
Edie’s big five art museums, two are in Italy.
- The British Museum, London a little different no paintings
- Vatican Museum, Rome the atlanten, Gallery of mosaic maps, and of course the Sistine Chapelhttp://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gallery-of-maps-galleria-delle-carte-geografiche
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence Botticelli, Leonardo, and Raphael. Now you have to wait in line forever. In 1974 you could just walk right in.
-
Hermitage
Hermitage, Leningrad/Saint Petersburg I went there twice.
- Louvre, Paris the word’s most famous and most visited museum with all those goodies. O, where to begin? You can visit the Louvre for free any day until your 18th birthday. Closed Tuesday.
Runners up
The Prado, Madrid
Goya Clothed and Naked Maja
KHM Infatada Maria Thersa
Museum of Fine arts (Kunsthistorishes museum) Vienna http://www.khm.at/en/
Old picture gallery, Munich (Alte Pinakothek) http://www.pinakothek.de/en/home
National Museum, Tokyo http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3019.html
- What is your favorite museum?
- Do you remember your first trip abroad?
- What interesting drinks or foods do you remember about that trip?
- What was your favorite thing of memory about high school?
Leonardo Alte Pinakothek
Billy Liar
Billy Liar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Lindley Players present Billy
This West end play, I first saw in London in 1974 continues to enjoy popularity especially as a new generation of boomerang kids finds itself trapped at home. Billy is a sort of Walter Mitty character with two fiancées and a rather vivid imagination. Here is a review as well as some original ARTWORK. The 1963 movie stared Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie.
A Musical based on ‘Billy Liar’ by Keith Waterhouse and Willie Hall. Book by Dick Clement and Ian La Francis, Music by John Barry, Lyrics by Don Black. This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd
This riotous musical comedy, based on Keith Waterhouse’s all-time classic play ‘Billy Liar’, is bound to have you splitting your sides with laughter and tapping your toes to its tunes this summer.
Set against the grim background of 1960s Yorkshire life, it tells of the dreams and lies of Billy as he seeks to escape his humdrum job, his overbearing family and his two fiancées in the search for the bright lights of London in the believe that some of us ‘belong to the stars’
Billy (musical) (Photo credit: Wikiublished: 2005/05/03 13:24:35 GMT
BILLY (Sony Music)
Like My Sister Eileen and Auntie Mame, Billy Liar is one of those properties that has succeeded in multiple incarnations. The story of a young undertaker’s assistant who escapes his dreary Yorkshire existence through elaborate daydreams, Billy Liar was first a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse. The following year, it became a well-received West End play by Waterhouse and Willis Hall, originally starring Albert Finney, who was succeeded by Tom Courtenay. . . .
The lyrics were by Don Black (Bombay Dreams, Dracula, Aspects of Love, Song and Dance, Sunset Boulevard), the music by John Barry, who had already composed the scores for the London musical Passion Flower Hotel and the American road-closer Lolita, My Love. Barry was the winner of several Oscars for his work in films; he and Black had collaborated on the Academy Award-winning song “Born Free” and on the title song for Thunderball, one of several James Bond films Barry scored. In 1982, Barry and Black would reunite to write the score for one more musical, Broadway’s The Little Prince and the Aviator, which closed in previews.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Billy was a brassy, Broadway-style musical, and it took advantage of the services of top-notch American choreographer Onna White. But its trump card was its star, Michael Crawford, who had done the film versions of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Hello, Dolly! but was making his musical stage debut. At the time of Billy, Crawford was a household name owing to his role on a recent BBC TV comedy series, “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em.”
Circle Triangle square after Kandinsky by Ted GastLoaves and Fishes Original Artwork by Ted Gast
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1986 So this is what happened 1/4
Español: escritor argentino jorge luis borges (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Satellite image of the falls (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Katie and I decided to go to South
America. We had just bought our house on Berry Avenue in Cincinnati. It was 1986.
In the 70’s Argentina had been known for wild inflation, death squads and the Dirty war when tens of thousands of people just disapeared.
we missed our bus to the falls. We should have just followed the crowd. You must see the falls from both the Argentine and Brazilian side. The views are quite different, although I now understand Brazil now charges Americans $150 for avisa. Back then you could just cross back and forth across the border as many time as you wanted. The view from Argentina is up close. The view from Brazil gives a better perspective of the immensity of the falls.
That night we met a charming guy with Scotch whisky and a pick up date at a cool hotel with an outdoor restaurant and colored lights. It reminded me of Christmas even though it was August.Related articles
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London:A Toby Jug for myself 1974
May Day Parade 1957. Left to right Georgy Zhukov, Nikita Khrushchev, Nikolai Bulganin, Kaganovich, Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov and Anastas Mikoyan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
7/29 Monday London
Last day in London. I got up early today to get David a present. I think I have something for everyone now. I got a nice porcelain vase for my grandmother.
Finally found a Toby jug for myself. Harrods didn’t have any. Can you believe it?? After that I came back and went to a pub with Cindy to use the rest of my luncheon vouchers.
Flew back to Chicago on TIA, then back to St. Louis by bus. The longest bus ride of my life. I’m so excited. What a great trip! I had a great time and have so many new friends now. I can’t wait to tell my friends about it.
A week after I got home Richard Nixon resigned. August 1974.
FINIS! End of Post
http://www.seawaychina.com/character-jugs-royal-doulton-derivatives.aspx http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/04/a-curious-way-of-spotting-russias-next-leader/?iref=storysearch http://americanhistory.si.edu/maroon/hr_frm.htmhttp://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/khrushchev/ http://www.enstudio.com/monuments/
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was born in 1894 to an illiterate peasant family in Kalinovka, a village near Russia’s border with Ukraine. To supplement his family’s meager income he began working at an early age, but despite this, and despite his father’s second job as a coal miner, Khrushchev’s family was unable to survive as farmers. In 1908 they moved to an industrial center in Ukraine, where young Nikita began working in a factory. It was the beginning of his activist career: at the age of 18, Khrushchev joined a group of workers who had organized a strike protesting working conditions. He was fired.
Khrushchev found another job but continued his activism, helping to organize strikes in 1915 and 1916. In 1917, after the Russian Revolution had ousted the Czar, Khrushchev joined the Bolshevik forces of the Red Army in the Russian civil war, serving as a political commissar. He was now a dedicated communist.
After the war, Khrushchev was given a series of political assignments and received his first formal training in Marxism at a Technical College. After graduation he was appointed to a political post in Ukraine, where Lazar Kaganovich, a protege of Joseph Stalin, was head of the Communist Party. Khrushchev joined Kaganovich in supporting Stalin in his power struggles against Leon Trotsky and Nikolai Bukharin. With Stalin’s success, Khrushchev’s career soared. In the 1930s Khrushchev was promoted from one political position to the next, until finally, in 1935, he became second in command of the Moscow Communist Party. In Moscow, Khrushchev oversaw construction of much of Moscow’s subway system, and in 1939 he became a full member of the Politburo.
Khrushchev’s rise to power coincided with one of the darkest periods in Soviet history: the Great Terror. During the 1930s, Stalin began a series of bloody purges to consolidate his power. The terror spread throughout the Soviet Union, and Khrushchev was part of it, denouncing several fellow students and workers as “enemies of the people” and willingly taking part in the extermination of the Ukrainian intelligentsia.
By the time Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Khrushchev had been sent to head the Communist Party in Ukraine, which put him near the front lines. He saw the devastation of war first-hand as the Germans routed the Red Army, then again as the Soviets turned back the Nazi advance.
After the war, Khrushchev was called back to Moscow, where he soon became one of Stalin’s top advisers. When Stalin died in 1953, Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin won a power struggle against Stalin’s successor, Georgi Malenkov, and secret police chief Lavrenti Beria. Beria was executed, and Malenkov was forced to resign. Bulganin became premier, but Khrushchev, in charge of the Communist Party, soon became the dominant figure.
Khrushchev’s leadership marked a crucial transition for the Soviet Union. From the beginning, Khrushchev set out to make the Soviet system more effective by curbing Stalin’s worst excesses. In an historic speech to the 20th Party Congress in 1956, he attacked Stalin for his crimes — acknowledging what many people believed, but which no Soviet leader had ever dared mention. What Khrushchev dared not mention was his own complicity in those crimes.
Khrushchev’s advocacy of reforms contributed to a groundswell of independence movements among Soviet satellite nations in Eastern Europe. While promoting change, Khrushchev would not tolerate dissent: he supported sending tanks into Budapest in 1956 to brutally suppress a Hungarian rebellion. The Iron Curtain remained in place.
In relations with the West, Khrushchev’s tenure was marked by a series of high-stakes crises: the U-2 affair, the building of the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban Missile crisis. At the same time, he was the first Soviet leader to advocate “peaceful coexistence” with the West, and to negotiate with the United States on reducing Cold War tensions.
By 1964, his reforms had alienated too many powerful Soviet constituencies. A group of conservatives led by Leonid Brezhnev ousted Khrushchev, and he retired to a dacha in rural Russia, where he died in 1971.
http://www.sprachwiss.uni-muenchen.de/idgalb/freunde/bair.htm
Bairisch als Sprachbezeichnung bezeichnet den oberdeutschen Dialekt, der in Ober- und Niederbayern, der Oberpfalz, in Österreich (Ausnahme Vorarlberg) und Südtirol heimisch ist. Im heutigen Bayern gibt es daneben noch das Schwäbische, das Ostfränkische, das Rheinfränkische und das Thüringische. Bairisch war einer der Hauptdialekte im späten 8. Jh. Bei den sprachlichen Merkmalen fällt auf, daß die zweite Lautverschiebung im Bairischen besonders konsequent vollzogen worden ist.
http://www.sprachwiss.
http://www.germanistik.uni-muenchen.de/ueber_uns/fachteile/ndl/index.html
http://www.uni-regensburg.de/sprache-literatur-kultur/fakultaet/
Bavarian, as a language designation denotes the upper German dialect, which is spoken native in Upper and Lower Bavaria, the Oberpfalz, Austria (with the exception of the Vorarlberg) and South Tirol (Northern Italy). In Bavaria of today, there also exist the dialects of Swabian, East Frankish, Rhine Frankish and Thuringian. Bavarian was one of the main German dialects of the late eighth century. What is notable, linguistically is that the second sound shift is particularly consistent in Bavarian.
Simply stated, the Bavarian dialect is not spoken exclusively in the German Land/state of Bavaria, where other dialects are also spoken, but also in other countries such as Austria, Slovenia and N Italy. (trans. tcg)
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Does London remind anyone of Italy, 1974? 1974
7/27 Saturday London
Rome Piazza Navonna
Walked down Oxford Street today and then went to Harrod’s. I like going out by myself because I can do what I want. When I meet someone from the group I can stay with them awhile but I don’t feel obligated to stay with them. Harrod’s is really a fantastic place. I still can’t figure out its shape, but I think it’s square. When I ask people on the street where to get things, they name a few shops and then say “Try Harrod’s. It has everything.”
Went to Fortnum and Mason. What a fantastic store!
http://www.fortnumandmason.com
Men in morning suits assist people with their shopping. It’s really cute. The crowds are similar to those at Via Veneto, but not really. Anyone can walk along Via Veneto and window shop. Not everyone can or would come to Fortnum and Mason. People on Via Veneto are well dressed (those who buy), but in a different way. Some people send their butlers to Fortnum and Mason. No one would do that on VV. The FM crowd is more quaint the people are older and there are more women. Also, FM isn’t as crowed as VV. http://www.roma2000.it/
The Kremlin Moscow
VV sells more clothes and other things than FM. FM is most famous for its food hall. Personally I like Fortnum and Mason better than the Via Veneto.
English: The Clock striking One at Fortnum and Mason (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeomen_Warders
I really liked Billy, the musical we saw. I thought I wouldn’t after seeing the pictures on the marquis. After the play Ann, Lisa and I went to Trafalgar Square and had a riot with the pigeons. I took a little boy’s picture and he thanked me in a cute way. When his sister told him people swam in the fountain on New Year’s Eve; he wanted to swim right away. I helped another boy fish tins out of the water.
The crowds at Trafalgar are different from those at Piccadilly. There are more English at Trafalgar and people of all ages. There are many more young people at Piccadilly. Many families come to Trafalgar. There are more typically English at Trafalgar and more children. From the above stories, I’ve decided people are friendlier at Trafalgar. I had no experiences with kids at Piccadilly. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean I don’t like Piccadilly. Piccadilly is more a night place. I was there during the day and it’s really different; nothing happens. We saw no student hangouts or squares in Moscow, or places where people really hang out, but then Red Square was closed. http://www.travellondon.com/templates/attractions/gallery_piccadillycircus.html
http://www.kreml.ru/main_en.asp
The Kremlin seemed really empty, despite the long line everywhere in Russia I wouldn’t call a museum, store, etc. a hangout. Those people were there for a different reason. The Piazza Navona is similar to Trafalgar. There were lots of kids there too, but not with their families. There was a street soccer game. There were old people too, but there were fewer people at the Piazza Navona than a Trafalgar.
Kremlin and Piazza Navona
For Dinner we ate at a Chinese restaurant. I had roast duck that was really good. I tried the girls’ food too: Sweet and sour pork and curry chicken, which was also good. I also had Chinese tea, strange but good. After dinner the girls left and I went to Piccadilly. I saw a building on fire and watched that for awhile.
From what I’ve seen and heard people say, England (at least London) is a lot like the U. S, besides having a common language and history we share many of the same problems: Inflation, housing, pollution, and energy. From signs in the tube it looks like they’re having trouble with mass transit (not enough employees). On top of it all they have Ireland, a sore thumb like Watergate that no one really understands or can explain. Maybe there were the same similarities in other countries, but because of the language barrier I didn’t notice them (not being able to communicate with ordinary people or read signs or newspapers).
http://www.roma2000.it/znavona.html
7/28 Sunday London
Cheri Queen of the Tootses
Sunday a day to relax. My first day of breakfast since Moscow. I had Corn Flakes. Was it good! Went to Hyde Park with Cheri ‘queen of tootses (toots (toots) pronunciation like took n. Slang. Babe; sweetie. Girl or young woman) , Kim, Susie, Lisa, David and me. Made a hilarious pose with a statue (wait till you see the pictures). Went for a rowboat ride and had a ball. My first time in a rowboat. Ate lunch in the park. Went to speaker’s corner. Located on the corner of Park Lane and Cumberland Gate, opposite Marble Arch tube, Speakers’ Corner is the spiritual home of the British democratic tradition of soapbox oratory.
Every Sunday since the right of free assembly was recognised in 1872, people from all walks of life have gathered to listen to speeches about anything and everything… and to heckle.
The coherence of the speakers varies greatly as do the topics of discussion, but as a whole it makes for great street theatre. So, if you have a burning desire to share your opinions with the world, take something to stand on and start pontificating.
Although Sunday morning is the best time to visit, speakers can now be found on the corner throughout the week.
What are you waiting for?
We saw communists and socialists, but the most interesting was the anti-American. We had just been in the Soviet Union so we had lots to say.
We had fun defending America against him, along with other people. One of his points was that America didn’t send enough aid to countries like Greece, Chile and Bangladesh. Then he contradicted himself by saying we were involved where we shouldn’t be. He said we had no business in other countries like Vietnam. Basically, when we weren’t involved we should have been and when we were we shouldn’t be. Despite what he had to say, the fun was in arguing with him. Even though, I didn’t agree with him, it’s good he had a chance to say it. Some of his speech was sarcastic and funny.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/down2basics/My%20Clip%20Art/sz94eh.gif
He said he was a CIA agent sent to start revolutions and wars in other countries. When he started attacking Blacks a Black man came over from another soapbox and they started arguing. It was hilarious.
http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Attraction/Speakers_Corner/4460/
After speaker’s corner I looked at the artwork on the railings and ran into Mr. Cordell. I bought a beautiful acid etching of the Tower Bridge.
For dinner we went to Oliver’s. I went on the metro and passed right by it. The food was good and I liked the dessert, especially. I think Susie had a good time for her birthday. After dinner Kent, Phil and I went out to a Pub and had two pints of beer apiece. We talked and listened to people and watched two dogs playing in the pub, one was a cute bulldog. When we got back we all had to go to the John so bad it was funny.
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Another day in London 1974
7/26 Friday London
Claude Monet
Tower Guard Beefeater
The tour today was one of the best we’ve had on the trip, despite the fact it was late. I slept so well last night I didn’t wake-up until 9:10 when I heard a lady yelling, “Has the tour been postponed? I thought, God I hope so. We have been having American style breakfasts here with bacon and eggs and corn flakes. We are staying in an apartment tower kind of thing with a common dinning area somewhere in London. Near the newly constructed BT Tower in the west end near Regent street. I have been using the stairs instead of the elevator. I have developed a bad cough. Nolting told me to get something for it at the Chemist’s.
Our RAP is named Tobie he is a proper English gentleman with black hair and a beard. I’m still researching grocery stores. I went for a walk tonight with Shelley. We got lost on the way back and nice women helped us. When she was done she gave us a cheerio and walked away. Toby told us that phrase is not used much any more.
Proper Gentleman
Something new in Britain this year is currency reform. Great Britain now has a decimal system like the US with 100 pence to a pound. They no longer use the shilling, sixpence, farthing system with 240 farthing or 80 pence to a pound. The thing I don’t like about the pound is that it is worth about $1.60 so if something is 50p it’s almost a dollar. It would have been bad to miss this tour. http://www.westminster-abbey.org/tour/images/nav_warrior.jpg I like the idea of not having to go back and forth for lunch all the time. We should have done that in some of the other cities. I really enjoyed many of the sites. I’m glad I got to see the Albert Memorial. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d211769-Reviews-Albert_Memorial-London_England.html accessed 2012 April 4. I’ve got to go back. I was sorry to hear that the Crystal Palace burned down in 1930, but Tobie(our RAP) said there’s a copy in Houston. http://www.westminster-abbey.org/tour/images/coro_chair2.jpg I liked Westminster very much. O, Rare! Ben Johnson he’ll always have his name misspelled. Westminster is completely different from St. Peters. Westminster is gothic although some of the restorations are in other styles. Westminster has all kinds of famous people buried there. Mainly popes are buried in St. Peter’s. The popes are buried under the main storey in St. Peter’s; each tomb has a little chapel. Just below this window you find the grave of the Unknown Warrior which commemorates the many thousands killed in the 1914-18 war who have no grave. . In Westminster the people buried under the floor. People can walk over their graves, not so for the popes. http://travel.yahoo.com Another difference: St. Peter’s is a Cathedral and Westminster is an Abbey. St Peter’s is under the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church. Westminster is controlled by the Queen and is Anglican. The Popes are elected in the Sistine Chapel and the Kings are coronated in Westminster.
I’m glad it wasn’t crowded at Westminster. Chris a buxom, typically British lass and Toby’s girlfriend, said tours usually don’t see anything. We just happened to be there at noon so we got a special benediction.
Burials
Some of the most famous to lie here, include the poets John Dryden, Tennyson, Robert Browning and John Masefield. Many writers, including William Camden, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Hardy are also buried here.
Charles Dickens’s grave attracts particular interest. As a writer who drew attention to the hardships born by the socially deprived and who advocated the abolition of the slave trade, he won enduring fame and gratitude and today, more than 110 years later, a wreath is still laid on his tomb on the anniversary of his death each year. http://www.westminster-abbey.org/
Via Veneto
Rome, Italy
I didn’t get to see the jewels because of the bomb scare. It really messed things up. When we got to the gate guards wouldn’t let anyone out. I think it was just a scare, no real bomb. Someone said the bomb squad had been drilling, It was exciting, but I had to miss the jewels. The only things that didn’t mind staying at the tower during the scare were the ravens, because their wings are clipped. I’m having a good time here. We went to the Discotheque and I stayed late-then went gambling and won. It was so late there were no buses or tubes. We walked most of the way home.
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- Third day in London (baandmatownsend.wordpress.com)
- St Peter’s and St Paul’s (500adventures.wordpress.com)
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Leningrad: History of the Great October Socialist Revolution part 23/27
Builders of the Leningrad. 1958 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Map of the Russian SFSR in the USSR (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
two scissors for Left-hand and Right-hand. Clean up of previous image. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Russia (Photo credit: ccchan19)
7/23 Tuesday Leningrad
This morning we went to the museum for the history of the revolution. After the tour we saw a propaganda film on the siege of Leningrad. The film was in English with a few Russian subtitles. They kept talking about the fearsome, fascist forces and other things. It was so obviously propaganda it was funny. After lunch we went to the Hermitage, winter palace. The palace is just beautiful. I especially like the use of gold everywhere. Saw two paintings of da Vinci and other famous artists, including Raphael, (copies, original in Ufizzi). The Raphael collection was not very large. The throne room was fabulous, it’s hard to describe the splendor of the palace with sounding corny, but it is definitely the best on so far. The map of Russia is just beautiful. It was added after the revolution and is made of stone and precious and semi precious gems. The sea is lapis lazuli, the green (part of land) is malachite, the route to the North Pole (by the first Russian) is set in diamonds, and a Ruby represents the capital of each Soviet Republic. I made some very good trades outside the museum and finally got a package of those backwards Russian cigarettes. After dinner we went to the circus, on the bus I talked to two Russian in Russian (not at the same time) or at least the talked to me. http://www.ticketsofrussia.ru/theatres/circus One was nice but the way the second one kept smiling I think he was calling me names or something. The circus was fun and I made some more good trades. After the circus I went back to Todor’s and had a screwdriver made from Tang (with tap water) and Russian Vodka (I’m still living from the water and Vodka) at midnight I called Lisa; it was her birthday and she came up for awhile. I also called Ann.
7/24 Wednesday Leningrad
Went to the museum of Scientific Propaganda to see the technology of Russia, It was fun. Many of their newest products are already obsolete in the U. S. The thing that summed up Soviet progress the best was the leaky roof (HaHa). After the museum all, R. c. and I stopped to buy cakes for Lisa. She was really surprised at lunch. I didn’t notice in the store but the cake had a treble clef on it and Lisa is a musician. After lunch we went to the summer palace and I gave a tour on the way. We only saw the outside gardens but they were beautiful. I loved the gilt fountains. I saw some of the trick fountains, but would have liked to have seen more. I walked with Mr. Cordell for awhile. On the hydrofoil back I talked to Alla again. This time about my being left-handed. She had never heard of it, or seen anyone before. I’d noticed other people staring at me too. You’d think ion a commie country they’d want everyone on the left. http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/children/chance-lh-child.html accessed April 4 After dinner I went up to the party for one last time.
Large Map of the former Soviet Union
http://englishrussia.com/2011/11/03/the-precious-map-of-the-ussr/ accessed 2012 April 4 A few years later I experienced a similar phenomenon is China while travelling with my two brother. All three of us are left handed. People would say, that’s great that you know how to eat with chopsticks, but who taught you to use your left hand. Tomorrow on to London and our Last city
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Post 1974 Leningrad/St Petersburg USSR
7/21 Sunday Leningrad
Leningrad looks a lot nicer than Moscow. At night during the Summer they raise the many brides over the Neva. If you stay out late and are on the wrong side of the bridge it can be very expensive to get back to your hotel. However I’m dying for a drink—of water that is. This is the first city in which I can’t wait to leave. I got that feeling a lunch, but I hope that changes. Being sick doesn’t help my attitude either. I hope I don’t offend to many people but I think I’m turning mean. We are staying at “Druzhba” (“Friendship”) Hotel. It is on Krestovsky Island in the gulf of Finland. I’m rooming with David. They gave us a suite, because they said blacks are oppressed in the United States and David is black. http://www.saint-petersburg.com/history/siege.asp
(In 1999 I would return to Leningrad, renamed St. Petersburg with my family including Aunt Margaret from Cincinnati https://mrted57.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/travels-with-my-aunt-margaret/) The tour of Leningrad was much better than that of Moscow. Alla seemed to know a lot more, or at least told us more than the other guide. I once did a project of Russia, which involved the revolution. I’m glad I can see some of the things I read about. like the Aurora, winter and summer palaces Finland station and other places. I don’t see why a Czar would have a winter and 
summer palace in the same city. I also can’t see a Czar spending the winter in a cold place like Leningrad. The ballet tonight, Swan Lake was good but I don’t like ballet. It seemed that we went to a tourist place the titles were given in English. In addition, 
half the performance was taped, not live. Nevertheless, I still had a good time although I didn’t like the ballet. I hope I can find something to drink soon.
The PISKARIOVSKOYE MEMORIAL CEMETERY is dedicated to the men who died during the siege of Leningrad. There are mass graves and http://www.cityvision2000.com/city_tour/piskarev.htm row after row of them, two million in all. The statue is dedicated to Mother Russia; she looks out over all her sons who died in the war. They also have their own Trevi fountain in the cemetery. It works the same way.
Leningrad was originally named St. Petersburg, it was changed to Petrograd during WWI, and after Lenin’s death changed to Leningrad. Peter the Great founded Leningrad on May 16, 1703. The city was built in order to help Russia hold the land it had won from the Swedes. Peter wanted Russia to have a sea outlet so he fought the Swedes, won. Took some land, and built a city on part of it. The first building was the Peter and Paul fortress, which soon came to be used as a political prison. Another early building was the Peter and Paul Cathedral. St. Petersburg was the capital of Russia until after the revolution, when it was moved to Moscow. For many years no stone buildings could be built anywhere but in Leningrad, during the Czars.
Moscow Novodevichy Convent Part 18/27
English: Russian alphabet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Map of the Volga watershed with the Moskva highlighted; the two rivers are directly connected by the Moscow Canal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in the 1975 film. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: took using mobile phone on 7 September, 2008, in Moscow. River Moskva with Novodevichy Convent in the distance. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Repin, 2004.06.21, Helsinki (Photo credit: Kitruk)
7/17 Wednesday Moscow
This morning we went to a Kindergarten it was fun. The kids looked scared at first but when we left they were friendlier. They played the cutest games. A woman explained the way they indoctrinate the kids. (I was amazed as the woman claimed these kids would be brought up by the state, with practically no need for parents, who are busy working.) Alla said that most people accept things without thinking about them. I guess that’s what they do to the kids. Everything is ordered. At the Kindergarten they even have a set method to teach the kids how to count. I wonder what these kids will be like when they are grown up in 1984, hah-hah. I was sorry we didn’t have more to give them. The one matron reminded me of big nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Every time the inspector came they put on an act for him. We saw a kid with a bloody nose. They said he had been playing with the chickens. I bet that kid with the bloody nose wasn’t playing with the chickens. I didn’t even see any chickens. They could at least have washed his bloody face. In the afternoon we went to the Tretyakov Museum. I liked many of the paintings, but the icons did not impress me. Many of the landscapes looked almost real. Ivan Kramskoy Christ in the Wilderness. 
Khrushchev new grave and tombstone There was an interesting portrait of Christ’s return from the dessert Alexander Ivanov although the commentary was biased also liked the Death of Ivan the Terrible’s Son by Repin. Nikolay Gay. Peter the Great Interrogating the Tsarevich http://arthistory.heindorffhus.dk/frame-Repin.htm The pictures with political themes were the best. In the evening we took a boat ride on the Moscow River. It was nice to see some of the buildings, but the most interesting part was my discussion with the man from Poland. First he helped us pronounce Aeroflot and then the Russian alphabet. Then I discovered he did not speak Russian or English only Polish and German. After that I had a very nice discussion with him. I guess I didn’t realize until this time that Polish was a separate language. I have been having interesting conversations with Alla and Roger, sometimes.
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Friday Vienna 1974 part 15/27
English: Pappelstraße in Vienna’s 14th district, Penzing, showing a residential area bordering the Wienerwald. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Herrerian façade of the Monastery of El Escorial. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: El Escorial Spain Gardens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Vienna Woods near Breitenfurt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Collage of Vienna with pictures of Vienna City Hall, Schönbrunn Palace, Wiener Riesenrad, State Opera house, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Kunsthistorisches Museum, view of Vienna towards the Vienna Woods, Sachertorte, monument to Johann Strauss II, Secession hall, Donau City, and Hundertwasserhaus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
7/12 Friday Vienna7/13 Saturday Vienna
Went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum and loved it. It is the best museum so far. I bought a guide in German. I liked the KHM because everything is so well preserved. The tapestries, unretouched had not faded. The color was still bright. There must be something about the climate. Even the paintings had brighter colors and hadn’t faded. The paintings were much better too, better perspective, more realistic, good subjects. Saw a man painting a copy of G. Batoni’s Return of the Lost Son. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodigal_Son The museum had an excellent collection of Albrecht Duerer, whom I love and a few Holbeins—also Velasquez, J. L. David (Napoleon), M. van Oosterwyck, Rembrandt, Rubens, A. van Dyck, Jordens, and others. There were also sculptures and Egyptian relics. They had a famous Italian Renaissance collection including the Salzfasz (salt cellar) by Cellini: 1500-1572).
Salt Cellar
It is small for a statue but large for a salt cellar. It is about 10 inches long and 6 inches high. It is gold platted with green, blue and red lacquer. It shows a Greek temple with a woman on top of it. On the left is Neptune on the right a woman. This is one of the most famous Renaissance works of art. The salt is held in a little blue tub in the front. (recently stolen; it was one of the greatest art thefts ever.) http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/arttheft/topten/cellini.htm
I went to the Hapsburg treasury, but it was closed. Then I went to a café for lunch. Since I went alone I sat and talked to an Austrian man in German. The food was really good and I had a delicious pastry with chocolate and cream for dessert. After lunch we went for a tour of the Wienerwald (Vienna woods). They were beautiful. Roger took pictures with everyone’s cameras. It was really funny. We stopped in a small town to see the monastery. It was beautiful. It was supposed to be like El Escorial, but wasn’t even half completed.
Oberdeutsch/Bairisch
Karten:
[ZEH S. 17]
Bavarian Dialect
Bairisch als Sprachbezeichnung bezeichnet den oberdeutschen Dialekt, der in Ober- und Niederbayern, der Oberpfalz, in Österreich (Ausnahme Vorarlberg) und Südtirol heimisch ist. Im heutigen Bayern gibt es daneben noch das Schwäbische, das Ostfränkische, das Rheinfränkische und das Thüringische.
Bairisch war einer der Hauptdialekte im späten 8. Jh.
Bei den sprachlichen Merkmalen fällt auf, daß die zweite Lautverschiebung im Bairischen besonders konsequent vollzogen worden ist.
http://www.sprachwiss.uni-muenchen.de/
After dinner we went to a wine garden in Grinzig and had a riot. There was a little kid, who didn’t speak English, he had lost his cat and wanted us to find it. After we found it, someone took his picture and then he wanted everyone to do it.
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On to Vienna/Wien 1974 part 14
Wien, Peterskirche, Seitenaltar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Germans at Princeton — Weitzer – Lt. Reichenau – Dr. Bemer – Carl Diem (LOC) (Photo credit: The Library of Congress)
7/11 Thursday Vienna
I really enjoyed the train ride to Wien. It was my first time on a train. I’m glad I got the top of the couchette. I’m sorry I missed the Brenner Pass but I forgot about it so I didn’t stay up. (Lowest of the Alpine passes, 1,370 m/4,495 ft; it leads from Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy, to the Austrian Tirol, and is 19 km/12 mi long). Connecting Innsbruck, Austria, with Bolzano, Italy, it is one of the chief passes through the Central Alps. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0017988.html We arrived at the Westbanhof where we had lunch. Unfortunately I left this journal there and had to go back the next day. We are staying in the dormitory Studentenheim of the agriculture university (Hochschule fuer Bodenkultur) in district XIX. http://www.boku.ac.at/home.html?&no_cache=1&CMD=singleView&uid=24
I’m having fun using my German, but haven’t had much opportunity. I’m glad to hear some of the people who didn’t want to come to Wien, say that they enjoy it. I was surprised by the preciseness of the Austrian. Our RAP and guide argued with someone about the correct time for 2 minutes. One said the time was a minute later than the other. I’ve noticed the use of British English more than I have in the other countries. Arnold the guide always uses lift and gives the time in fragments of the hour e. g. quarter past ten. Our RAP seems to be well qualified with a Ph.D. in modern history, but I haven’t seen much of him. I hope he stays with us more. I’m glad http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Bairisches_Mundartgebiet.PNG
We’re finally getting some of the foods of the country’s. Tonight we had Sauerbraten. Arnold says we will have wiener Schnitzel for lunch. The RAP seems very concerned about the food; he asks everyone if they enjoy it. I really wanted to come to Wien. I’m glad I finally made it. Whenever we read about someone famous in German he always ends up moving to Wien. I want to get an opinion of Austria other than Frau’s. (My high school German teacher was from Austria) She doesn’t think much of von Schussnigg. She has great respect for the Austrian Estates, but generally I think she likes it. I’m having a little trouble with the dialect.(I now know it was the Austrian /bairisch dialect) http://www.linz.at/Archiv/nationalsoz/ekapitel3.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/kurt-von-schuschnigg
7/12 Friday Vienna
Peter’s Church (Peterskirche) is completely different for the Duomo of Florence. For one thing St. Peter’s of Wien is smaller than the Duomo. The Duomo was gothic; Peterskirche is baroque. The original gothic church burned down.
Duomo, Florence
Peterskirche, Wien
http://www.arca.net/dbimg/duomom.jpg http://www.peterskirche.at/pknew/Pk51.jpg
It has round arches. It has a vertical marble pattern rather than a horizontal zebra look. The colors blend better than in the Duomo. It is more aesthetic, no zebra look. Peterskirche has an oval dome not a round one and wasn’t built with two shells. http://mstecker.com/pages/austriavienopera.htm There are frescoes on the dome. The chapels aren’t as conspicuous as in the Duomo. Peterskirche was rebuilt on the ashes of the old church in 1701-1733 to repay God for ending the pestilence. The Dome fresco depicts the coronation of the Virgin. The altar depicts the healing of the lame and also shows Peter and Paul. After Peterskirche we went to St. Stefan. The view from St. Stefan is similar to that in Rome and Florence. It gives a good panoramic view of the city. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and raining when we were there so we couldn’t see far. http://www.stephansdom.at/data/derdom/einfuehrung/index.php
We could barely see the Ferris wheel at the Prater. On a clear day the view is supposed to be fantastic. After the church, I looked for a book to teach English to Germans, but couldn’t find one. Then I went to St Augustines (Augustinerkirche), After asking around for directions in German. http://www.augustinerkirche.at/augustinus_kirchenfuehrung.php The hearts of all the Hapsburgs are kept in http://www.khm.at/data/page443/DuererMaximilian250.jpg urns in the basement of St. Augustine’s.
After lunch we went to the Staatsoper for a tour; it was fun, we were lucky there are no operas in July so we got to go backstage and see them clean the chandelier. Then I went out shopping and then back to the train station to get my journal. What an exciting adventure! No one knew English, I really got to use my German. After explaining about five minutes; the manager finally remembered the group and got my journal out of his desk. To get home I asked for directions, auf deutsch and met a nice man. He told me how the trolleys ran and explained the numbers, and showed on a map and took me half way home on the trolley. At the next trolley stop I met another couple who helped me to the bus stop. They got off before I did, but I think they told the whole trolley when I should get off, because when we got to the bus stop everyone told me to get off. That night we had Sauerbraten. I played cards with the girls and won a beer.
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More Italy 1974 Florence 1974 part 11, 12 and 13
English: Coat of Arms of Florence, Italy, traced off of File:Firenze-Stemma.png (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
7/9 Tuesday
This morning I went to the San Lorenzo market and bought a chicken head for show and tell. I went for my report on grocery stores. I really enjoyed the market, watching them chop the meat and skin the fish, etc. A chicken head costs L50 (10 cents) and the feet are free. I also went to the Ponte vecchio and shopping. Found a million lire watch (about $2000.00). This was the day of the work strike. During lunch I made my presentation of Grocery stores. Everyone was surprised to receive by blessing with the chicken head. I have been nicknamed St. Ted of the Chicken head. Cheri is the Queen of the tootses.
Tonight I went to Harry’s American Bar for a peach juice and vodka and had a good time. I’ve decided Roland doesn’t know anything about drinking and will probably end up like Rothman. The bar tender at Harry’s was very nice, and we had interesting conversations. http://www.10best.com/Florence/Restaurants/Italian/index.html?businessID=24140This afternoon I took a tape tour of the Uffizi. http://www.arca.net/db/uffizi/uffizi.htm What a fiasco! I had so much trouble with the machine I couldn’t enjoy the museum. A walking guide in a book would have been so much better, or even a book similar to the one from the Prado. I don’t have a good impression of the Uffizi. Talk about looking like a tourist, and on top of it I was all tied up in the cord, what a dumb idea! The fact that they had moved the pictures all over made things worse. As far as the paintings: I still think the works of the Germans like Duerer are better, maybe because they painted in a later century, his pictures are clearer, have better perspective, and look more realistic.
http://www.vacationidea.com/florence/gallery/ponte_vecchio_florence_Gallery2.html
7/10 Wednesday Florence
Went back to the Boboli gardens to the dwarf, took Lisa and Susie. They didn’t like the gardens either. The dwarf and the pig are two sculptures in Florence. The Dwarf is a stone statue of a fat naked man on a turtle. It was built during the Renaissance. At that time dwarves and other oddities fascinated people. Some say it depicts one of the Medicis, and was done by a jealous rival to bring bad luck. But today rubbing the dwarf’s stomach brings good luck. The pig stands at the front of the straw market. It is not the original statue. The original was a marble one from Roman times but it was stolen. There has always been some kind of statue there, though. Always of a pig but not of the same material, marble granite, bronze.
Some saying rubbing the pig’s nose brings good luck, but others say in a more specific way. Rubbing the pig’s nose will make a fair, young maiden or anyone pregnant. I wonder what will happen to Scott Rothman, who rubbed the nose. The fountain is also used to take collections for a hospital in Florence, they’ve collected lots of money there. http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~wilsonp/images/photos/travel/florence/22.jpg
http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/boboli_garden.html
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More Rome, Florence 1974 part 10
The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant by Andrea da Firenze (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Annunciation, painted by Fra Angelico (1387-1455) (Florence) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Santa Maria Novella with the trinity by Masaccio Florence, Italy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: A vertical panorama of a copy of the statue of David by Michelangelo on the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy. Nederlands: Een verticaal panorama van het standbeeld van David door Michelangelo op het Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italië. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The equestrian statue to Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, by Giambologna, Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Medici (Photo credit: Groume)
7/6 Saturday Rome
http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/img/david.jpg
I am starting to like Ann. Mike says she is too good for me, but what does he know.
Left Rome for Florence via Sienna. Sienna was a nice place but somehow I got the feeling I saw all there was to see in the few hours we were there. How ridiculous! In Sienna I could definitely see the hills. I liked the head of St. Catherine. I guess one of the disadvantages to being a saint is having your body cut up and parts sent to different churches after you die.
7/7 Sunday Florence
The façade of Santa Maria Novella
- The façade of Santa Maria Novella, completed by Leon Battista Alberti in 1470. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
First day in Florence. It is a beautiful city. Went on a tour this morning. First stop was the galleria dell’accademia. This gallery contains the original of Michelangelo’s David (moved there in 1873). It also contains another of Michelangelo’s pieta’s. The four unfinished prisoner statues, also by Michelangelo, help give a better understanding of the way by which a sculptor transforms a chunk of rock into a beautiful statue. Next we went to the monastery of San Marco. http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Italian%20Images/Montages/Firenze/San%20Marco.htm This building was first a Dominican monastery, work 1437-1452. Michelozzo built it for Cosimo de Medici. The frescoes were done by Fra Angelico. There we also saw the cells of Savonarola, Fra Bartolomeo and Cosimo de Medici. We saw the home of the foundlings, which was the first Renaissance building.
Next we went to the Medici chapel. Almost all of the Medici’s are buried here. http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/medici/0view.html
The palazzo vecchio http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/monu/spvecch.htm
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/micheldavid/side.jpg used to be the town hall of Florence, but today it is used as a museum. It houses the famous statue the Wrestlers by Rossi a student of Michelangelo, showing Hercules wrestling another man, Diomedes. For some unknown reason no male can view this statue without experiencing a sense of pain.
Michelangelo’s David stood outside the palazzo vecchio in the piazza signoria until the 19th century, when it was moved indoors to the academy and replaced by a copy.
The food here is really good and the place is nice too. We are staying at a pensione run by nuns. They do all the cooking. A specialty of Florence is unsalted bread. After lunch we took a walking tour of Florence. We visited the Duomo and baptistery. The Duomo was constructed between 1296 and 1436 in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. The baptistery is Romanesque and is the oldest building in Florence. The doors of the baptistery contain the gates of paradise all done by Ghiberti. The south door depicts the life of John the Baptist. The north door shows the life of Christ and the east door depicts scenes of the Old Testament. Including: expulsion from Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah, Sacrifice of Abraham, Joseph, Moses and the Queen of Sheba meeting Solomon.
Then we went to Santa Maria Novella with the trinity by Masaccio. http://www.studyworld.com/newsite/ReportEssay/SocialIssues/Religion%5CMasaccio__the_Holy_Trinity-34948.htm This fresco shows Christ on the cross with God above him and the holy ghost appears as a bird and it is hard to see at first, because it looks like a collar around God’s neck. There are two saints on the sides of the fresco. This is a Renaissance painting because of its dimensions, looks 3d, perspective, colors and sense of realism; typical of Renaissance works. Next to the church of Santa Croce (Holy cross), which is another Gothic church. This one has a beautiful wooden roof, because the people ran out of money, while building it. It contains the tombs of famous people including Michelangelo and Galileo.
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Rome Madrid 1974 part 9
7/5 Friday Rome
This is the last day for which I have a journal entry for expenses for the trip. According to the journal I spent nothing.
Today we went to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel , St. Peter’s cathedral, and Vatican Museums. http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/MV_Info_Ingresso.html Ann and Lisa got lost in the Sistine Chapel. To me the Sistine Chapel wasn’t what I had expected. It seemed darker and smaller than what I had imagined. I liked some of the other frescoes better. This does not mean I can’t appreciate what Michelangelo did, though. I think it’s sad that I don’t like it. Went into St. Peter’s and it was beautiful. Went to the top. It’s easier to appreciate the magnificence of the basilica from the balcony inside the cupola. I could see much better that the letters really were six feet tall. From outside I also got a fantastic view of Rome. I could see all around and even into the private gardens of Pope Paul VI, the top of the Sistine chapel and could barely see the forum. I could also see that the hills of Rome have really flattened out, until they are almost non-existent. The best was to tell you are on a hill is by what’s on it not by noticing the slope.
After lunch I walked to Castel Sant’Angelo (Hadrian’s tomb) with Simon a little boy with Jamaican parents, who is staying at our hostel, but it was closed. Hadrian is buried there. This place is really well fortified. In times of danger the Pope used to sneak from the Vatican over to it, through a secret underground tunnel to avoid capture. I really wish I had gotten inside, that was one thing I wanted to see. After that Simon had to go to the bathroom so I took him in a tunnel. We almost got caught. Since Hadrian’s tomb was closed I walked to St. Peter’s again to find Simon’s mother. While I was there I went under the church to see the tombs of the Popes. I finally found a Swiss Guard and had a chance to talk to him in German. This one was guarding a gate and wouldn’t let cars in or out. I asked him where the Pope, Paul VI, lived and he told me. I had a lot of fun today.
After dinner we went to the Tivoli gardens. There are many fountains there. My favorite was the walk under one and the imitation of Rome. I started out with Lisa and Ann and they got lost. Later they said they were molested by some Germans. I guess they can’t scream like Cheri. I walked around the gardens with Michael, Simon and some others after the girls got lost. On the bus ride home I made up some more stories.
Rome madrid 1974 part 6,7,8
Colosseum and Arch of Constantine – panoramic view outside (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
![[Forum Boario, Rome, Italy] (LOC)](https://i0.wp.com/farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4755211032_814a061ccf_m.jpg "[Forum Boario, Rome, Italy] (LOC)")
[Forum Boario, Rome, Italy] (LOC) (Photo credit: The Library of Congress)
Front of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls – Roma – Italy. Italiano: Facciata della Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura a Roma. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
7/3 Wednesday Rome
First day in Rome. We are staying in Trastevere. Rome is more exciting for me than Madrid. I knew very little of Madrid before coming. Surprisingly I am beginning to remember many of the things I learned in Latin, even some of the language, even though it has been three years. I found that I knew many of the things that the guide said and also that some of the things she said were wrong.
Marion Gast
2011
This morning we took a tour and visited the Capitoline Hill, the Colosseum, saw the forum and the wedding cake and many other places including the church of St Paul outside the walls. San Paolo fuori le mura St Paul’s Outside the Walls 186 Via Ostiense (Metro: Basilica San Paolo) Patriarchal basilica dedicated to St Paul the Apostle, at the site of his tomb.
Saw the statue of Marcus Arelius and the huge statue of Constantine. I would like to go back and see the forum in more detail. I liked the Colosseum very much, because I have wanted to see it since I was a little kid. http://data.greatbuildings.com/gbc/images/cid_aj1294_b.jpg
(My grandparents went to Rome in 1964 and brought back a little model of it for me. ) It was also good to see the site of the martyrdom of so many Christians. I was disappointed to learn that none of the structure of the Circus Maximus is extant, strangely enough my book of Rome has a picture of the ruins, how did they do it. That is the actual site of the martyrdom of all those Christians. We learned in Latin that the Christians had stripped many of the ancient works for use in other buildings. Today I saw the extent of this especially at the Colosseum. In the afternoon I took a walk with Mr. Cordell and Andy. We passed by St. Peter’s and Hadrian’s tomb. Then we walked down the Via Veneto, http://www.roma2000.it/zveneto.html but most of the stores were closed, which took us to the Spanish Steps. There we met David Declue. The Spanish Steps are interesting but not many people were selling things there. We did see some artists, though. Then we went to the Trevi fountain, where I took a bath while diving for coins, L 140 about 30 cents. I pitched a coin into the fountain so that I would return to Rome. One the way back to the hotel, Mr. Cordell and I stopped for ice cream.
7/4 Thursday Independence Day Rome
Went on a tour of the forum today with the RAP (resident assistant principal) and others. Michael P is really well informed. It was really interesting, The forum was the center of Roman life, spiritually, socially and politically. Many temples were in the forum including that of the Vestal Virgins, who also lived there, The most important function of the forum was social. It was the market area of ancient Rome. It also served as a meeting place between friends. The forum was important politically because the senate met there. Later the emperors built palaces overlooking the forum . The rostra in the forum was important politically and socially. Politicians delivered orations from the rostra, also when a patrician boy reached age 12 he had to give an oration from the rostra to show he was a man. The forum is in ruins because it was the primary target of barbarian invasion because they wanted to destroy the center of Roman life. After the Romans were finally defeated they did not rebuild it. Also the forum is many centuries old and most of it was neglected during medieval times and became covered with dirt and was not excavated until the late 19th century. The Arch of Septimus Severus was dedicated in the second century A.D. It is one of the three arches still standing in Rome. One of the other arches is the arch of Titus. It is dedicated to Titus’ victory over Jerusalem in 72-75 A. D. There are scenes depicting battles from this war. It shows Roman soldiers marching into Rome carrying the plunder from the city including the Torah.
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/titus/spoils2005sm.jpg Which by legend eventually came to be lost in the Danube. The last arch of Rome is the arch of Constantine. This arch is dedicated to the first Christian. He himself was a Christian Emperor of Rome under him Christianity was allowed to exist. I did not write this last paragraph someone has been writing in my journal.
Took another bus tour this afternoon went to St. Peter’s in chains (saw Moses) Today many people visit the Church of St.Peter in Chains (San Pietro in Vincoli, above) to see one of Michelangelo’s great masterpieces, the statue of Moses, part of the unfinished tomb of Julius II found on the right front side of the church. But this church is more than a museum for a great artist’s masterpiece; it points to treasured memories of another kind. Near here, Christians were sent to martyrdom during a dramatic early persecution, and the apostles Peter and Paul were among them. http://www.cptryon.org/hoagland/travels/stpeterchains/
Related articles
- When In Rome: The Colosseum and The Roman Forum (thequestforsimplepleasures.wordpress.com)
- 7 Breathtaking Sites to Visit in Rome (channelvoyager.com)
Leaving Madrid for Rome 1974 part 3
NBC Nightly News open, 1972-1975. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
7/1 Monday Madrid
Went to the Prado. I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been sick, I really felt miserable. At least I saw all the famous paintings. I was so thrilled when I saw the Albrecht Duerer. I had seen pictures of that painting so many times, it was coincidence almost to see the real thing when I wasn’t looking for it. The three most famous Spanish artists are El Greco, Velasquez and Goya. They are all controversial but Goya is probably the most, because he painted portraits. Making people as he saw them not as they saw themselves. He could have been killed by one of the members of the royal family out of anger. Also saw his picture of the nude and unnude (clothed) duchess of Alba. Las Meninas is the painting Velasquez painted while waiting to paint a portrait. Instead of painting the portrait he painted the whole room and the people in it as they prepare the princess for her portrait. Since Velasquez painted it in a mirror the painting (a huge one) is in a room by itself with a mirror in the corner to allow the viewer to see the scene as it was. Looking in the mirror is also said to make the portrait appear to be 3d. After leaving the Prado I took pictures and then got on the bus, but since I rode it too far I missed lunch. In the afternoon I went back to the Plaza Major by myself and had a ball asking for directions, since I don’t speak Spanish. I really had fun walking around the old city taking pictures. After dinner we had another party with more success, except I ended up having my toenails painted.
http://www.abcgallery.com/D/durer/durer22.html http://www.geocities.com/uttamkumar44/goya_selfportrait.jpg
7/2 Tuesday Madrid
This morning Mike, Bob and I went to the Royal Nunnery. http://www.patrimonionacional.es/en/descreal/descreal.htm We had a tour in Spanish but fortunately Mike could translate the important things and ask questions. The nunnery was constructed in 1713. Many people are buried there, Margaret of Austria, Maria of Austria, Crazy Juana, sister of Catherine of Aragon http://www.artchive.com/meninas.htm and wife of Philip the Handsome. There are also beautiful portraits and jewels. There are robes form the 16th and 17th century made from gold thread that are still used. Saw the Portrait of daughter of Felipe II, Also a genuine Bosch. By regulation only 33 nuns may live there but only 24 are there now.
After lunch we went to the Royal Palace. I couldn’t believe the size of the rooms, fantastic. The decorations were stupendous, no one lives there now but every year on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudillo October 1, Franco sits on the throne for a ceremony. Phillip V ordered the palace in 1764 but Charles III was the first king to live there. There are 2,800 rooms but we only saw fifty. Charles IV collected clocks, while he was king there was a clock in every room. Some of the clocks were fantastically ornate, and had very complicated mechanisms. St. Felix is buried in the palace. He died when he was 17. The Frescoes in the throne room are by Tiepolo. The palace is strange, though. There are no halls, one room leads into the next.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalissimo_Francisco_Franco_is_still_dead The death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco during the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1975 served as the source of one of the first catch phrases from SNL to enter the general lexicon.
Franco lingered near death for weeks before dying. On slow news days, United States network television newscasters sometimes noted that Franco was still alive, or not yet dead. The imminent death of Franco was a headline story on the NBC news for a number of weeks prior to his death on November 20.
http://www.moreorless.au.com/images/franco.jpg After Franco’s death, Chevy Chase, reader of the news on Saturday Night Live’s comedic news segment Weekend Update, announced the dictator’s death and read a quotation from Richard Nixon: “General Franco was a loyal friend and ally of the United States. He earned worldwide respect for Spain through firmness and fairness.”[1]; as an ironic counterpoint to this, a picture was displayed behind Chase, showing Franco standing alongside Adolf Hitler, both of them giving the “Nazi salute”, a photo similar to this one: [2].
From that point on, Chase made it clear that SNL would get the last laugh at Franco’s expense. “This breaking news just in”, Chase would announce– “Generalíssimo Francisco Franco is still dead!” The top story of the news segment for several weeks running was that Generalísimo (sic))Francisco Franco was still dead. Chase would repeat the story at the end of the news segment, aided by Garrett Morris, “head of the New York School for the Hard of Hearing”, whose “aid” in repeating the story involved cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting the headline. The line was also a perceived slap at then-NBC Nightly News main anchor John Chancellor, who due to his background as a foreign correspondent, felt the network should weigh its news more heavily toward world events, keeping Franco’s deathwatch at the top of the headlines. Chancellor reportedly was miffed at both Chase and SNL over the running gag.
After the palace we left for Rome. From the plane I could see a beautiful sunset. I left David’s camera on the plane, but fortunately I got it back.
Related articles
- Why the heck did I choose_____________as my research topic? (lakefronthistorian.com)
- Anger over plans to restore General Franco’s mausoleum (thetimes.co.uk)
- Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and other tyrants’ lairs open to all (warhistoryonline.com)
And then there was more Switzerland, Italy Spain 1975
7/14 Monday Switzerland
Today I went to buy cigars for Jill’s dad with Jamie, Vicky and Jill. We mailed them home from the post office. Her dad likes contraband cigars. We went to visit Mount Pilatus. There is a restaurant and observation deck on top.
Switzerland is not as exciting as I thought. I would rather have spent more time in Germany; I would rather have gone to Munich and spent less time here. (Thinking it over after 30 years I think is was wrong, I’m glad I got to see and do those things in Switzerland with my friends while I had the chance. I got to spend much more time in Munich and Germany later.)
I took Vicki and Vicky for a night tour of Luzern. We went to a café but it was very crowded and we had trouble finding a seat. I am very popular because I am going to college and have been to Europe last year; also because I can speak German. I am very tired and went to bed early.
7/15 Tuesday Lucerne
Alan’s alarm went off at 5:30 am instead of 6:30. We stopped in Brienz at a wood carving place. Brienz is actually near the headwaters of three major rivers Rhone, Rhine and Danube. Also famous for its cuckoo clocks.
7/16 Wednesday Grindelwald
Slept late 9:00. There are four people to a room here. The guys from Iowa did their wash in the sink in the room and hung up their wet clothes. They told us not to do that here. I was mad.
It seems that half the people here are mad about something. I think it is the Foehn (a particularly warm, dry wind with low barometric pressure also known as a rain shadow.) People say that it is very clean here. They are right.
I bought an English book here Englisch fuer Auslaender. The publisher is Langenscheidt. It teaches people who know German how to speak English. I still have that book. Spoke German to the lady at the printers and in the Bookshop. We had lots of salad for lunch. Went out with Nolt and Kirch and Zem(enski). Left them, Bought a Swiss army knife with graduation money from Aunt Sue. I kept that knife until 2003 when I mistakenly left it in hand luggage and had to give it up on Magadan Air flight from Alaska to Siberia. I gave it to our Bus driver.
Then we had dinner. Gave another walking tour of the pedestrian bridge of Luzern with its famous murals of the Dance of the Dead. Went to the Swann Gasthof for a beer. Took a shower and packed. Dianne and Vicki are up to something.
7/17 Thursday Interlaken
The driver got a commission but the prices were cheap anyway. I wanted a music box with a traditional Swiss tune, but all they had were popular American tunes like Frank Sinatra. I still have the Swiss music box my Grandmother bought me when I was a kid. It plays The happy wanderer. I bought a music box for my Dad. He still has it. It has a picture of an old man on it. I also saw a beautiful music box with good tone it played three songs. I cost 2400 Swiss Francs ($1000.00) half the price of this trip.
Oberer Gletscher. We had lunch at the Wetterhorn Hotel. From here you can see the Eiger and Jungfrau mountain peaks. We are right in the middle of the Swiss Alps. It is beautiful here.
I went for a walk alone after lunch. I walked right up to a glacier it was cool. Glaciers are actually a compact for of ice that doesn’t melt in the summer. Some glaciers have an amazing pale blue color. You can walk right up to them and touch them and they will not melt. Glaciers are constantly moving. Albeit very slowly, about a half inch per year. It is the repeated freezing and thawing as well as the pressure that forms the glacier.
I am in a bad mood. I think I have a chip on my shoulder and am determined not to like it here. I think it has something to do with the weather.
It rained in Interlaken. The quality of life in Switzerland is equal to the US but not better. I wanted to feed the swans but it was raining. Came back wrote in Journal and post cards home. Dianne is mad at me but I don’t know why. Could the weather here be the Foehn? Went down to have a coke with Jill.
Italy Venice
Venice
Train transfer to Venice 10 hours. There was a nice couple on the train with a dog. They had an interesting kind of milk in a tube. They spoke German and Italian only. They thought I was English and complimented me on my German.
They offered Becky and me some Cognac. Susie choked on a sip.
Two Swiss kids from Switzerland couldn’t understand my German until their mother explained it was Hochdeutsch (High German). I taught them Some phrases in English What is your Name? And do you speak German?”
We are staying in a cheap hotel. The hotel is actually in Mestre on dry land. The hotel is old but it is okay for sleeping. The electricity kept going out whenever the girls tried to use their hairdryers. Our RAP is Pasquale. He is old and kind of strange. He has very tight pajamas. I think he is a little too interested in the girls. He is Italian but harmless. Someone tried to play a practical joke on me while I was asleep. I was not amused. I think it was Zem.
A note says I spent L 2,000 for meals about $2.50.
We had hard rolls with butter and jam for breakfast today and coffee of course. I’m drinking coffee now. Black, my friend Sharon says any other way and you’re only fooling yourself.
This morning was our tour of Venice. We saw many interesting things including the Doge’s palace, Prison and Weapons of Leonardo including a chastity belt. We saw Chiesa San Marco one of the great Byzantine cathedrals of the world. Walked to the top and stood right behind the famous horses.
7/18 Friday Venice
English: Piazza San Marco in Venice Italiano: Piazza San Marco a Venezia Español: Plaza San Marco en Venecia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Venice is the only city of its kind in the world because of the way it was developed: it was built on over 100 islands in a lagoon four kilometers from terra firma and two kilometers from the Adriatic Sea. If you have ever seen the movie The Italian Job then you will know what I’m talking about.
The entire historic center, crisscrossed by canals connected by hundreds of bridges, is a treasure from the artistic and architectural point of view.
It takes on an exceptional atmosphere during the phenomenon of “high water,” when the high tide exceeds the level of dry land and floods the main streets and piazzas of Venice.
For these reasons, Venice is one of the cities most visited by tourists from around the world. From the administrative point of view, it is the capitol of the province and of the Veneto region. It has 310,000 inhabitants. http://www.giroscopio.com/english/enciclopedica/venice.html
Today we went to the glass factory it was very interesting. This is a very old City. Enjoyed a coffee with Roger at the Piazza San Marco. We ate lunch on the piazza. We met Sally’s mom here and she treated us all to ice cream. That was nice.
Venice is built on islands and completely surrounded by water. The gondolas are really cool. For longer and faster trips you can take a vaporetto. It works just like a city bus but it’s a boat instead. After lunch I went on a walking tour with Nolting. Customs house. Church of Santa Marie del Salute. We went to the L’Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia but it was closed. Then the Ca’ Rezzonico palace and Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and school where we saw the altar of Frari by Titian and where we lay on the floor to look at the ceiling frescoes. http://wp.me/p5kCL-dO It is an abandoned Benedictine monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary. My favorite museum in the wold. Guggenheim Museum in Venice. http://tinyurl.com/3cysasb
Venice: acqua alta in Piazza San Marco. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dianne and Sharon spread toothpaste on my lips while I was asleep. I woke up of course. What a practical joke! I finally figured out what they were up to.
The Remains of St. Mark the evangelist were brought to Venice from Alexandria in the ninth century by Italians. 
The only building on the San Giorgio Maggiore Island, this church was built in 1566 AD. It is built inside a Benedictine monastery (that was erected in 1000 AD) in accordance with a plan by Andrea Palladio. The bright interior is covered with paintings by Carpaccio and Tintoretto, such as ‘L’ultima Cena’ and the ‘Raccolta della Manna’. From the bell tower, there is a magnificent view of San Marco. Mass (with Gregorian chants) is held every Sunday. http://uk.holidaysguide.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-93520-action-describe-chiesa_di_s_giorgio_maggiore_venice- date accessed 7/29 2006
Mestre http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/winged_lion_of_st_mark.htm
7/19 Saturday
Feast of the Redemption
This was a big day. Went back to the Piazza San Marco and bought a book about for two dollars. I really like this place. Then to the Accademia. It was open this time and we took pictures. And the Ca’ Rezzonico palace. And Piazza it is built right on the water. Had lunch at a Student place and met a student from Denmark named Paul at the International hostel.
Walked around. Took the vaporetto across the wide part of the Grand Canal to San Marco. Found a junk market where I ran into Cam and Randy, the guys from Iowa. Took a nap in the piazza San Marco. Saw the altar and walked around the inside. I chased the birds in the square and an old lady got mad at me. Bird walk. Came back early and took another nap. We had dinner at the facility. Went back to the Piazza San Marco another time. They are celebrating the Feast of the Redemption of Mankind. This festival is unique to Venice. It has been celebrated for 400 years. It is a Feast day of the Catholic Church. It is like the 4th of July for Venice.
They had great Fireworks. We had a very hard time getting from Mestre because of the crowds. First we missed the bus, then the first boat. Jack and Vicky got the next boat. I think there is a little romance starting here. Nolting left with most of the group. Marcie, Roger and I got the next boat—we found Jack and Vicky under the Lions tail. Sat at café—ordered one of those big ice cream gelato with cookie rolls chocolate sauce and strawberries and sparklers. It was really cool.
Return to Nolting and group and bus station Fireworks.
7/20 Sunday Padua
Sunday Bus transfer to Florence. The bus was late, stopped in Padua. The Giotto Frescoes are beautiful. Scrovegni Chapel http://www.giottoagliscrovegni.it/eng/monum/storia_dipinti.htm
http://humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=c&a=p&ID=954
Florence
We are staying in a pensione again. The food is delicious and the location is good. The girls are washing clothes. We had pizza for dinner with ice cream for dessert. I took Vicki on a tour of Florence seeing the David, Duomo and Baptistery. She is sick. Talked to Sylvia and Marcie.
I was just about to enter my pensione when I hear a woman passing by in a Carmen ghia convertible, screaming my name at the top of her lungs Teddy—-It was my High School English teacher. I didn’t know she was going to be in Florence. See travels with my aunt Margaret
I’m making Friends with Vicki. She is a junior. She bought a very nice necklace for herself today on the Ponte Vecchio. Had fun at the San Lorenzo Market again, bought some leather goods, including a pair of driving gloves. This is one of my favorite places in Italy. In addition to the leather market there is also a fresh food and meat market here.
I’ve discovered the trattoria got the bill for dinner tonight L 17,000 about $26.00 for six people including wine, water and bread. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I thought it was going to be $1000. I had roasted veal, pasta and red wine. I’ve discovered sparking water is cheaper than still and much better for you too. I found some interesting licorice flavored gums called charms. They sell them at the espresso bars.
Pisa
A day trip to Pisa in the morning.
Pisa was very good; we had a tour with a good guide. We climbed the leaning tower. There are also a Baptistery and Basilica here dating from the twelfth century. Pisa was ruled by the Ghibellines. They were the mortal enemies of Henry the Lion and the Welfs from Bavaria.
Leonardo La ultima cena
http://www.artbible.info/art/large/150.html date accessed 8/9/11
7/24 Thursday Assisi
On the way to Rome the bus makes an excursion to Assisi, Umbria. The visitor feels as if he’s on a journey down the aisle toward the altar. No approach could be as spectacular or as appropriate as this. On the wall to the right of the staircase are frescoes done by Cimabue, who taught Giotto to paint. The largest and most famous is the Madonna with Four Angels and St. Francis. Assisi is a beautiful medieval town built on a hill—just being there gives a better understanding of what medieval life was like. St. Francis was a very interesting man. The girls are talking about the movie Brother sun Sister Moon. The churches are good. The Giotto frescoes are excellent. Saw the black body of St. Claire and a cloistered nun. Her face was covered.
Got to Rome before dinner. Facility on top of hill. Casa Tra Noi http://www.tranoi.it/movimento/princip.htm Good location for St. Peter’s and Vatican. Had meetings. Didn’t go out. Told jokes in Vicki’s room.
It is very hot in Rome this year about 30 C, in fact it is so hot the asphalt is melting in front of the Caesar forum.
I’m enjoying the little pieces of coconut for sale by street vendors for 100 lire about 25 cents. I’ve learned that it only costs 50 lire to sit down, while drinking your espresso, that’s less than 15 cents. Saw some great maps of the extent of the Roman Empire by the Forum today.
Rome still my favorite city in the WORLD!
7/25 Friday Rome is still great!
It’s the Holy year.
The “Heavenly Jerusalem” is a metaphor for the Catholic Church. And in Rome, St. Augustine saw a metaphor for God’s society of goodness and order and peace in the world based on its role as the heart of Christ’s Church. The singular authority this Church has maintained over two millennia of changing civilizations makes that truth abundantly clear. Amid the ruins of the former empire and its pagan temples, the Church of Rome stands as the living and unfolding history of the Christian legacy. It is only natural that the pilgrim’s journey should lead here. http://www.adoremus.org/6-72K.Gribben.html
Catholics usually gain special indulgences by going to Rome during a Holy Year and performing certain devotions, such as visiting St. Peter’s Basilica or other main basilicas such as St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran or St. Paul Outside the Walls. The Pope inaugurates this Holy Year with a solemn Mass, often celebrated on Christmas Eve of the preceding year (in this case 1999). He will also open the holy door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which has remained bricked up since the last Holy Year in 1975, and close it again at the end of the year; the dates for those ceremonies have not yet been set. Other rites, usually including special papal audiences, beatifications and canonizations, are also celebrated, but no schedule of events has yet been issued.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9E03E4DA1031F93AA15751C1A960958260 http://www.sspx.ca/Communicantes/Mar2000/Jubilee.htm
Pope John Paul declared a special Holy Year in 1983. 2000 was also a Holy year
Michael Petracioni is our RAP again.
Because I’ve been to Rome before I’m getting to do some things on my own without the group. In a few days, I’m planning to go out to the model city of EUR it is very far away and hard to get to. I also visited the ancient Appian Way and church of San Sebastian and tomb of Cecilia Metulla. I’m using the little orange guide book I bought last year.
Went back to the Tivoli Garden tonight with the group it is such a silly place.
The ruins are beautiful. St. Peter’s looks big this year. Probably because of all the other churches I’ve seen. Last year I had nothing to compare it to. Went back to the Sistine Chapel and Vatican museums, the Raphael frescoes didn’t appear as good as last year. This time I liked the Sistine chapel. The impressive mosaic maps of Italy in the map room were also as remembered. Saw the holy hammer used to open the holy doors for the holy year. Walked to the top of St. Peter’s again this year—no film. It was Fantastic.
7/26 Saturday Tour of Rome
Saw the Pantheon, pyramid of Cestius, Spanish steps; San Paolo fuori le Mura, St. Peter in Chains saw the Michelangelo Moses. Tre scalini was on strike. Later went to St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran on my own. There is a communist Festival in the village of San Giovanni.
I tried to get a Vatican stamp for my passport by the Swiss Guards but they wouldn’t do it. Apparently a stamp gives permission to enter the Vatican and not just show that you have been there. The Vatican does have its own special stamps and coins however. Paul VI is still pope. He is at Castel Gandolpho for the summer. Saw Aida at the baths of Caracalla with camels and horses but no elephants.
There is a special story about the Knights of Malta. Their territory is located on the via Condotti next to all of the fancy shops. Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
The Sovereign Order of Malta is a sovereign subject of international law. The Order – which is based in Rome, in via Condotti – has its own Government, an independent magistracy, bilateral diplomatic relations with 94 countries and is granted the status of Permanent Observer in many international organizations, such as the United Nations. Its operational activities are managed by the six Grand Priories, four Sub priories and 46 National Associations of Knights in the five continents.
The Order issues its own passports and stamps and creates public institutions, endowed with independent juridical personality. Order’s life is governed by the Constitutional Charter and the Code, reformed in 1997. http://www.orderofmalta.org/struttura.asp?idlingua=5 I still have never made it to the Borghese gardens or Naples in all of the times I have been to Rome. Update it is 2011 and after another attempt in 1986 I finally made it to the VB. It was well worth the wait. Went to the Zoo with KT and met Marion after lunch we had to make reservations several days before. Naples and Sicily another time I guess just spent ten days in Rome again. Fantastic I really love that city.
Public bus #118 goes from the Colosseum to Via Apia Antica. The church of Domine, quo vadis is there and the tomb of Cecilia Metulla. The bus line ends where the ancient road begins. http://en.beijing2008.com/07/80/article211998007.shtml
Some people in our group said they saw Dan Rather downtown in Rome. CBS reporter and recently appointed 60 Minutes correspondent received national attention due to reporting on Hurricane Carla.
Jack and I played a trick on everyone. I had him dress up in a sheet like Caesar with powdered face and laurel crown. I had everyone assemble in the court yard and at the right time Jack jumped out from behind the curtain. I told everyone I had found a statue in the Forum.
http://www.romeartlover.it/Vasi21.htm
Olympic stadium
Drove by the Stadium from when the Olympics where in Rome in 1960. It doesn’t look anything like our Olympic field at home in St. Louis.
The History of the Olympics: 1960 – Rome, Italy It had been Coubertin’s wish since 1904 to have the Olympics hosted in Rome: “I desired Rome only because I wanted Olympism, after its return from the excursion to utilitarian America, to don once again the sumptuous toga, woven of art and philosophy, in which I had always wanted to clothe her.”* Fifty-six years later, Coubertin’s wish was fulfilled.
Italy created a mixture of modern and ancient sites to hold the contests. An Olympic Stadium and a Sports Palace were built for the Games while the Basilica of Maxentius and the Baths of Caracalla were restored to host the wrestling and gymnastic events respectively.
The 1960 Olympic Games were the first Olympics to be fully covered by television. The history of the Olympics http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa081000r.htm date accessed 8/6 2006.
7/27 Sunday
7/28 Monday
The night before leaving we went back to the Piazza Navona and Tre Scalini, another big group. You know how much I hate that! Well I made the best of it. I had another tortufo with the secret center; it’s kind of a tradition with me.
7/29 TUESDAY LAST day in Rome Went to EUR.
Public bus #93 from the Termini to EUR http://www.photo.net/italy/rome-eur
Yes, it’s probably more accurate to think of Fascist architecture as either the product of Italian Rationalism (a kind of cool, minimalistic modernism) or a variant on the Art Deco style (in this case a stripped down classicism). Granted, much of it is monumental, cold, and uninspired. Part of that is due to the fact that so much of it was in the form of public buildings. They were often built on large undeveloped (or newly razed) tracts over a relatively short time frame, which tends to encourage architectural monotony.
http://www.romeartlover.it/Appfratt.jpg
In recent years, there has been some re-evaluation of the qualities of the architecture of this period. It is not entirely fair to dismiss it with the evils of Fascism. Buildings may certainly convey a sense of power and become dehumanizing, but qualities like these are not exclusive to architecture built under dictatorships. There is an understandable natural tendency to project a dark symbolism into Fascist architecture. There is also a remarkable tendency to reinterpret such symbolism when the same forms appear in a democratic context.
http://www.romeartlover.it/Obelisks.html#Quirinale
For example, do you recognize this structure in the photo I’ve attached? No, it’s not Saarinen’s St. Louis Arch, gateway to the American West. It’s an unrealized Fascist project for E 42 (now called the E.U.R.).
Part of the Museum of Roman Civilization was closed but I did get to see the model of ancient Rome and some of the other things. Walked around, saw the sport palace from a distance also found beautiful gardens.
Went to St. Peter’s for the last time. I wanted to buy a candle but there were none. Used Holy water. Tried to get a pin for the Holy year. Left for Madrid after lunch.
7/30 8/3 Sunday Spain
We flew from Rome to Madrid
Madrid. We flew from Rome to Madrid. We saw some soldiers on a catwalk with machine guns at the airport in Rome. Due to the killings on an El Al Israeli airlines flight. A couple of men got a little unruly on the plane Alitalia I guess they were drunk. Went to a special department store downtown. Bought a wallet El Corte Inglés. We are staying in a nice hotel again. Went to the café Iowa bar near the Plaza d España.
I’m glad to be back in Madrid, because I had so much fun here the last time. It seems strange to be ending up the trip here this time. We had a tour of Madrid with a terrible guide. We didn’t see too many things. She kept taking us to shops and asking, “Don’t you want to buy something.” I think Kirchoffer was angry.
This year our trip includes a visit to Philip II royal palace at el Escorial our guide is a hoot she is chiding the girls for not paying attention to her history lesson. I can still hear screaming about Titian’s Charlie the V fighting the Araps (sic). She wouldn’t answer questions. The tombs were beautiful marble.
Valley of the Fallen and el Escorial
This controversial monument is a Roman Catholic Basilica and now contains the tomb of Spanish dictator Franco.
The most beautiful of the many grand squares in Madrid is the Plaza de Cibeles. The heavily trafficked square is surrounded by majestic buildings. http://www.aviewoncities.com/madrid/plazadecibles.htm
The Plaza Puerta del Sol is the perfect starting point to explore Madrid. This bustling, centrally located square is one of the city’s most lively places. http://www.travelinginspain.com/madrid/puerta_del_sol.htm
La Cibeles http://www.fotosearch.com/PDS126/200358863-001/
Everyone went to the new Burger King downtown. I did not go. I don’t see what the big deal is. We returned to my favorite the Plaza Mayor at the center of Madrid. We did not eat at Botin’s this year.
So I ended up in Madrid again where I had begun my adventure a year ago.
Sunday
Went to el Rastro. Today the Flea market bought a couple of things – a very large brass key and an antique metal box with a lid. There are a lot of veterans here selling trinkets from WWII. Security is tight at Madrid Barajas airport. There are lots of soldiers with guns. Edie M. had to have a hand search because her underwire bra set off the metal detector. That was scary.
Flew back to Chicago and then to St. Louis on Ozark. It was a lot better than the bus last year.
1973 December 17th – Italy, Rome Airport: five Palestinian terrorists began shooting as they pulled weapons from their luggage in the terminal lounge. Two people were killed there. The assailants then made their way to an American Airlines 707 preparing to take off for Beirut and Teheran. Hurling incendiary devices inside the aircraft, they killed all 29 people aboard and destroyed the plane. Next, they herded five Italian hostages into a Lufthansa jetliner and killed all 29 people aboard and destroyed the plane. Next, they herded five Italian hostages into a Lufthansa jetliner and killed a sixth person, an Italian customs policeman, as he tried to escape. The plane, carrying the hostages, crew and terrorists, took off and the pilot was ordered to head for Beirut. Lebanese officials refused to allow the plane to land, however, and it flew on to land in Athens.
In negotiations with Greek authorities, the group demanded the release of two Arab terrorists held since August 1973 for an attack on the Athens airport. (It is unclear whether the Greek government refused to release the terrorists or whether, after their release, the two Arabs refused to join the terrorists, as they were from a rival Palestinian group.)
In an effort to gain compliance with their demands, the terrorists killed one of the hostages and threw his body onto the tarmac before leaving Athens. The pilot had urged Greek authorities to meet the terrorists’ demands, reporting that four other hostages had been killed. (He was unaware that it was a hoax designed to place more pressure on the Greek authorities.) The plane then flew to Damascus where it took on fuel and food during a two-hour stop. Later that day, after landing in Kuwait, the terrorists released their hostages in return for free passage to an unknown destination.
Bombings shootings at airports. http://www.emergency-management.net/airterror_shoot.htm date accessed 8/6/2006
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More Fun Transfer to Paris, Germany und die Schweiz 1975
Français : Plan de la place des Vosges, Paris (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Hotel de Sens, Marais, Paris, France Français : Hotel de Sens, Marais, Paris, France (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hôtel de Sully, rue Saint-Antoine, Paris, headquarters of the Centre des monuments nationaux (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
7/6 Sunday Transfer to Paris.
Laundry day. I went to the laundromat it’s so much nicer than doing it in the sink. We have all kinds of soaps, clothespins, laundry line and other things to do the laundry.
Canterbury and Dover.
2 Paris
Transfer to Paris via hovercraft Dover to Boulogne.
This is my first time in Paris. We had to skip it last year because of the cost of Moscow. I’m so excited. I would return again in 1978, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1992 and March 2001.
We crossed the English Channel by Hovercraft at Dover to Boulogne after taking a bus from London and stopping in Canterbury and Rochester in Kent. We could barely make out the white cliffs of Dover in the fog. We would return here with Teddy, Marion and Margaret in 1999. The cross-channel service was discontinued in 2005. We took a bus to Paris from Boulogne
Our RAP is a woman but after 30 years I cannot remember her name. She doesn’t speak English very well, but I like her. She is nice and very well-informed. She is a University student in Paris.
Tonight I got a letter from the phantom writer, I wonder who it could be? It was a love letter. We stayed in an old college Stanislaus with lots of rooms on the sixth floor and no elevator. And a big staircase. I took the room on the sixth floor because Susie T. complained. I remember singing as I came down the stairs.
They drink coffee here in bowls mixed with milk and sugar, also hot cocoa. We take our meals in a cafeteria in the college. The servers are mostly old women but very friendly.
7/7 Monday Paris
Tour of old city of Paris torn down to make way for new market.
http://www.invalides.org/pages/historique.html date accessed 7/27 2006
L’Hôtel national des Invalides.
.
Our Rap is a student of French History. She took us to Le Marais and gave us a very special walking tour of the 4e arrondissement including the place de Vosges and the Jewish quarter. This tour was of the medieval heart of Paris. Le Marias means swamp and was originally a swamp. Much of this area has now been torn down to make room for the Marche de St. Quentin. Discover Paris. Walking tour of Jewish quarter and old shopping district of Paris with Ralphie and group.
Little story of Le Marais.
Paris’ original attempt at urban planning, the Place des Vosges is now its oldest square. The square symmetry of the square, with its ground floor arcade, consists of 39 (some say 36) houses – each made of red brick with stone facings. Its construction was under Henri IV from 1605 – 1612. The site was originally occupied by the Hôtel des Tournelles.
The project was probably designed by Baptiste du Cerceau, and originally named the Place Royale. The kings and queens pavilions were the center south and north gateways respectively. The square acquired its present name in 1799 when the Department of the Vosges (near the southwestern German border) was the first to pay its taxes associated with particular military campaigns of that time.
Several of its houses have their own particular histories, and among these are the Hôtel de Chaulnes (number 9), the Academy of Architecture; the Hôtel de la Rivière (number 14) whose ceilings by Lebrun are now in the Musée Carnavalet; number 1 is where Mme de Sevigné was born; number 11 occupied from 1639-1648 by the courtesan Marion Delorme; number 17, former residence of Bossuet; number 21 where Richelieu lived from 1615 – 1627, and number 6 – now a museum: Maison de Victor Hugo.
http://www.paris.org/Monuments/Vosges/
http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Paris/Monuments-Paris/Obelisque.shtml date accessed 7/29 2006
Full day tour of Paris including Place de la Concorde, Montmartre home of many famous artists and painter and the church of Sacre Cœur. Tour Eifel. Notre Dame. I love the cathedral. Left bank.
Tour of Louvre with Edie. Saw the Mona Lisa again. Margaret Lewis said she cried the first time she say the Venus de Milo it its beauty was so exquisite. In 1969 for the first time ever the Mona Lisa went on a world tour including New York City, Washington DC, Tokyo and Moscow. I saw it in Moscow at the State Pushkin Museum last summer already. At the time it was already valued at $100 million.
Saw other paintings of Leonardo including Virgin of the Rocks, and St. Anne with Virgin and child. . I’ve tried my luck copying this one no wonder it took Leonardo 18 years.
SanChapelle blue glass
I didn’t make it to the Follies Berger. One of my goals on my bucket list. I still haven’t made it but my Grandmother did. Saw the beautiful San Chapelle.
http://tinyurl.com/3vqqm3u date accessed 8/12/11
Took a walk after dinner with Jill, Jack, Meg, Jim and Sally. Ellen had trouble with a French man in a café in the Latin quarter. I guess he got a little fresh. Saw the Paris MacDonald’s. Had a Gin and Tonic at a night club. My new favorite drink. Still no clue on the identity of the phantom writer. I think it must be Dianne.
7/8 Tuesday Paris
Jill and Sally are sick. I went for a walk, looking at artwork along the Seine-postcards, books, magazines.
Our metro stop is near the Tour Montparnasse the tallest building in France. This is the new district of Paris. I love it here. This is the location of the new Galeries Lafayette. http://tinyurl.com/3e2jxfo date accessed 8/10/2006
I helped Jack buy a French birthday card for his sister who is taking French in college. Jack and I went to the Eifel tower. It was very dark, I did not get good picture. We got caught in a big thunder-storm coming out of the Eifel Tower Jardins du Trocadero and got drenched on the way home. We were late for dinner. Went to Montmartre and had a chocolate crepe a specialty of Brittany. At Montmartre there are lots of people from Africa selling things. I don’t mind talking to those vendors and I get to hone my bargaining skills. I bought a ring with the Eifel tower and Jill wants to keep it. I also bought a bracelet for a dollar. I’m using the new Eisenhower’s. The guy didn’t know what to make of it but he liked it because it was BIG. 
His starting price was 200 F ($50.00.) Everyone has told us how expensive Paris is, but I’m enjoying it none the less. I love the Galeries Lafayette. Went to the café Sebon near where we are staying. Had another gin and tonic. I am very tired.
In 1851, Emperor Napoleon III commissioned the construction of a Jeu de Paume court (ancestor of tennis) in the Jardin des Tuileries. With the arrival of outdoor tennis in 1947, the building was converted into a museum dedicated to Impressionism. When the collection was transferred to the Musée d’Orsay in 1986, the gallery concentrated on contemporary art, which is well represented through its temporary exhibitions. It now holds photography exhibitions. Look out for the large glass conservatory and compare its architecture with that of the nearby Orangerie. My Travel Guide http://www.mytravelguide.com/attractions/profile-79020905-France_Paris_Galerie_Nationale_du_Jeu_de_Paume.html date accessed 7/27 2006
Manet Dejuener sur l’herbe
Olga’s Gallery http://www.abcgallery.com/M/manet/manet6.html date accessed 7/27/2006.
http://www.parisdigest.com/promenade/montmartre.htm La chambre de Van Gogh a Arles (Van Gogh’s Room at Arles) 1889 Artchive Favorites Tour GREEK
My daughter will kill me for writing this, but when viewing this painting for art class in grade school she was asked is there anything odd about this painting. She replied they didn’t wash their hands before having lunch. This painting by Manet is widely considered the first Impressionist painting.
Renoir
Date accessed 8/6/2006 The pride of the Phillips Collection WDC 1881 bought from the artist
Venus de Milo Parian marble, h 2.02 m (6 1/2 ft) Found at Milo 130-120 BC
Musee du Louvre, Parishttp://artchive.com/artchive/V/van_gogh/bedroom.jpg.html Date accessed 7/29/2006
A Bit of History
The Eiffel Tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII of England, opened the tower. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a design competition, Gustave Eiffel’s was unanimously chosen.
However it was not accepted by all at first, and a petition of 300 names – including those of Maupassant, Emile Zola, Charles Garnier (architect of the Opéra Garnier), and Dumas the Younger – protested its construction.
At 300 metres (320.75m including antenna), and 7000 tons, it was the world’s tallest building until 1930. Other statistics include:
- 2.5 million rivets.
- 300 steel workers, and 2 years (1887-1889) to construct it.
- Sway of at most 12 cm in high winds.
- Height varies up to 15 cm depending on temperature.
- 15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets).
- 40 tons of paint.
- 1652 steps to the top.
It was almost torn down in 1909, but was saved because of its antenna – used for telegraphy at that time. Beginning in 1910 it became part of the International Time Service. French radio (since 1918), and French television (since 1957) have also made use of its stature.
During its lifetime, the Eiffel Tower has also witnessed a few strange scenes, including being scaled by a mountaineer in 1954, and parachuted off of in 1984 by two Englishmen. In 1923 a journalist rode a bicycle down from the first level. Some accounts say he rode down the stairs, other accounts suggest the exterior of one of the tower’s four legs which slope outward.
However, if its birth was difficult, it is now completely accepted and must be listed as one of the symbols of Paris itself. http://www.paris.org/Monuments/Eiffel/
Ecole-Militaire seen through the base of the tower. http://www.sbac.edu/~tpl/clipart/Photos/Eiffel%20Tower.jpg
Olga’s gallery Le Chasseur de la Garde http://www.abcgallery.com/D/david/gericault.html date accessed 7/30 2006
7/9 Wednesday Chateau de Versailles
This morning our tour included a stop at the famous Chateau de Versailles. Palace of Louis XIV had this beautiful palace built to keep an eye on his rebellious nobles. Most of the furnishings removed during the French revolution are still missing. The famous hall of mirrors has been often copied in other palaces throughout Europe, including Russia and Germany.
Went back to the Louvre. The two great Museums so far are the Louvre and the two-story Jeu de Paume in the Tuileries Gardens facing the Place de la Concorde. I like romantic artist Theodore Gericault’s Horses.
Today I bought newspapers and cigars. As you know I have a collection of them from each country that I visited. I’ve even smoked some of the cigars. Used the cross of St. Ted. The cross of St. Ted is used on people who have been especially kind or flavorful to me originally it was a chicken foot from the market of Florence. Today is Bill’s birthday had a cake and a night tour of Paris. The man liked Susie so he let her drive the boat! Everything is lit up; it is beautiful.
Last entry in Journal for Paris: Paris is very nice. I love the homogeneity of the architecture. The people aren’t all mean, as we have heard. Just be nice to them. They are very proud of their city and rightfully so. It truly is the world’s most livable city. Things just seem to work here. Even this strange running water in the curbs which just seems to come and go and disappear into nowhere.
PARIS IS GREAT!
http://france-for-visitors.com/photo-gallery/paris/versailles/versailles-chapelle-royale.html date accessed 8/06/2006
7/10 Thursday leave for Germany
Divided Germany
We have no chance of visiting a city like Berlin or Dresden.
Germany
Aachen http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Aachen_Cathedral.html/cid_1123537676_00766v.gbi “The Palatine Chapel, built about 796-805 at Charlemagne’s palace in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), is the preeminent surviving Carolingian structure. A domed, double-shelled, two-storied octagon, it presents a type reminiscent of Early Christian and Byzantine architecture. Indeed, it is generally accepted that the Palatine Chapel was modeled closely after S. Vitale in Ravenna and was perceived as an antique revival.”
Site of the coronation of the German emperors.
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/The_Palatine_Chapel.html
Köln http://www.koelnerdom.de/
We took a train from Paris to Cologne. My first time in Germany, It was fun all the boys stayed on the train and passed all of the suitcases out of the windows to the girls who were standing by the track. We’re staying in a Hotel in the city. They say it’s in a bad neighborhood, so be careful when going out after dark. This is unusual for Germany. We are getting about 2.4 marks for a dollar. That seems a lot less than the 4 per mark I had heard about but two years later it would be less than 2.
Cologne is a beautiful city, I was sorry to hear that it had been so heavily bombed. Walked to the top of the Dom (Cathedral of Saints Peter and Mary). The three crowns have been an emblem of Cologne since the 12th century, because in 1164 Emperor Frederick Barbarossa defeated Milan and gave the relics of the Magi as booty to the Cologne archbishop Reinald von Dassel, his faithful chancellor, who then brought them to Cologne. These relics are still being kept inside a golden shrine behind the high altar in Cologne Cathedral. On account of its many and important relics Cologne was considered a sacred city in the middle Ages and proudly called itself Sancta Colonia. http://www.cologneweb.com/arms.htm
The cathedral was built to house these relics in the 13th century, making Cologne the Rome of the north.
Most of the building is new, except for the cathedral which was miraculously saved, being so close to the Bahnhof (train station). My German teacher always threatened to flunk anyone who said Bahnhof like hot instead of hope. Bought some koelnisches Wasser #4711-eau de Cologne. Saw a McDonald’s.
I took care of some guys bothering us at the beer fountain. Das schaut aus, wie ein grosses Schwanz, nicht wahr.—*++-***? Bierbrunnen (beer fountain) Schildergasse, Innenstadt, Cologne, Germany
7/11 Friday Rhine Cruise Germany
German Corner Koblenz
I remember a story my grandfather Gast told me about the Rhine cruise he took with my grandmother in 1960. He said people were so poor they would stand around just to get the dregs of your coffee when you were finished. He also said it was very cold then. Things are sure different now. He also told me how much he and my grandmother enjoyed Rudesheim. We stopped there but didn’t see much. He had a photograph enlarged from Rothenburg OT that he took on the trip in 1960. The boys were wearing Lederhosen. There were no tv aerials or telephone wires.It looked like it had been from the 1940’s.
On another trip to Germany I met my Grandparents in Nuremberg. He told me about Frankie’s maid. She left a camera on a park bench and said she would go back for it after she had finished her lunch. She knew it would still be there. And it was.
My grandparents also went to Berlin on that trip. They made my grandfather the honorary bandleader and the Hofbraeuhaus. He said they had a delicious beer and then ruined it by pouring in a shot of raspberry syrup. The famous Berliner Weisse, it’s actually pretty good. I guess he didn’t like it.
When they landed in Hamburg they were supposed to have a chauffeured car take my grandparents around Germany. My grandmother did not like the driver. She took one look at him and said I’m not spending one minute driving around with that man. Get another driver. And they did.
Bought a newspaper. Koblenz is beautiful. Jill and I ate lunch in the park. Walked around Koblenz. At the end of the cruise at Rudesheim, we took the bus to Heidelberg. Saw a lady in a restaurant that looked like my German teacher. Went to a beer garden. We ran into some boy scouts-toothpaste-wooden shoes-switchblade. We are seeing some of the underside of modern Germany. Dinner was bad.
7/12 Saturday Heidelberg
Last day in Germany. Breakfast was delicious. Tour of Heidelberg today. Saw the famous castle and Trinkfass. Heidelberg is on the Neckar River. It has a famous University and is known for its students. I bought a beer stein (Krug) today. I still have it along with many others that I keep in my living room.
Bier stein is actually dialect used only in the Palatinate, otherwise it is a neologism and only refers to beer scale. Lunch was good. Next we took the train from Heidelberg to Luzern.
http://home.tiscalinet.ch/jud.zwahlen/lu/lutour.htm
Luzern, Switzerland
http://www.gletschergarten.ch/de/loewe.html
We stayed in a Hotel in the heart of town. I remember we had very good service at the restaurant. The waiters were always rushing around and getting things for us. Dinner was rushed but good. I think we were late. Swiss precision and all. I went for a short walk with Jim, Dianne, and Sharon. Mark is complaining about not spending enough time with the other people in the group. Alan started it. He made the situation worse.
7/13 Sunday Lucerne
We had our tour of Lucerne today. There is a covered bridge over the lake and a famous relief of a wounded lion. Lunch was more leisurely. Took a walking tour of Lucerne with the RAP.
I liked the Totentanz on the bridge over Lake Luzern, fed the swans, sat and looked at the lake. see text next blog
For dinner we went to the fondue restaurant. I danced a folk dance with a Swiss lady. Then I danced with the girls. The fondue was all right. For entertainment they played the alpenhorn and had a flag thrower. I met some boring Italian men. Later, I went for a walk before going to bed.
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Travels with my aunt Margaret
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Travels with my Aunt Margaret |
1988 |
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London to Nassau and Back |
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Travels with my A
unt Margaret
Margaret Lewis was my wife’s aunt. She lived in New York City but later in life moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. I had the pleasure of taking many nice trips with her. Here is an account of those trips I gave my son while entertaining him on a drive to his college Carnegie Mellon.
Well, I’m back now. I just enjoyed those trips that I had with your mother and Margaret. We went to some special places of course with you kids and Margaret. The first trip we went on well, I took Margaret and your mother to London in 1988. I was supposed to be going to Germany on business and I asked your mother if she wanted to go and she said sure. Somehow Margaret fanageled her way in on the trip and before I knew it they were going to London and I ended up going to Germany by myself.
But I did spend a couple of days in London with them and that was a blast. And your mother and I got up to Inverness in Scotland and you were a baby but you didn’t make that trip. You stayed home and I went on to Frankfurt to the Achema which is a huge process and chemical engineering show that they have in Germany every three years. It’s really amazing. So that was the first trip that I made with Margaret Lewis. And then I ended up going to Germany again the next year to a trade show Envitec, an environmental trade show, in Düsseldorf and I ended up staying in Duisburg and driving down to the show every day with our German agent, not a secret agent, just a business agent.
That was the year of the Exxon Valdez crash in Alaska and I was in Germany during that crash. I also bought Poppy your famous Steiff stuffed bunny which you still love. The Sahara sand was the strangest thing I ever heard of. Sand from the Sahara desert is carried 4000 miles in the stratosphere by the jet stream to Germany. It is very bad for the cars. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYi1UejjFro
Well, then in 1996 your mother and I went on a Panama Canal trip with Intrav and because my grandfather had told me in your life if there are two places that, if you ever got the chance to go you should go. One was Ephesus in Turkey. With its famous library of Celsus, temple of Artemis, Basilica and tomb of St. John, and nearby the home of the Virgin Mary.
And the subject of St. Paul’s famous epistle in the New Testament. I got to visit Ephesus with Ted D., Roberto and Marisa in January 1978. It was a very cold winter that year.
The other one was the Panama Canal which he went on with the Shriners in 1974. Well, lo and behold we got this brochure about the Panama Canal and I thought boy that’ll never happen and somehow I talked your mother into it and it was November. It was right before Thanksgiving. We flew to Acapulco and the Mexican Navy was in port and it’s a very small navy but it was fun. We could see the ships from our hotel room.
A schematic of the Panama Canal, illustrating the sequence of locks and passages (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Then we went on the cruise and we went to Nicoya and San Jose, Costa Rica and through the Panama Canal and Miraflores and we stopped in Cartagena in Colombia, which I also enjoyed. Many people on the ship said they didn’t enjoy that. They didn’t like the poverty.
And then St. Martin, which is the half French half Dutch island in the Caribbean. And the Dutch side used to have square coins. They were one of the few square coins in the world. They were 15 cents, 15 Dutch cents. And they were widely sought after by collectors. I got a few of them. They still have square coins in Suriname. They were just about as popular as those triangular Tuvan stamps that Richard Feynman collected. I never got any of those. But I did get a picture. I have a picture of them (view slideshow.) And I have his book and maybe a hat and a t-shirt. And then we went to the Virgin Islands where I had never been but your mother had. And we went to Magens Bay in Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas and it’s beautiful. I loved it.
I thought it was more beautiful than Hawaii even though I didn’t put it on my top 10, somehow I think I got confused. Then we went to Puerto Rico for just a day. I’ve always wanted to return and visit the el junque rain forest but haven’t made it yet. The only tropical rain forest in the United States.
I called grandpa from San Juan. It’s just like making a call in the United States you dial one plus the area code and then the number. No cell phones then. Then we flew home.
And we loved that trip so much that the next year Margaret Lewis wanted to repeat that with us and so that was our second trip with Margaret and it was March and it was winter and the port . . . we left from Hollywood, Ft. Lauderdale, Port Everglades where your great grandparents used to live. We stayed one night at the Caribe one night on the way back, but you kids didn’t like it because there was a mean man who didn’t like kids.
And I remember we had to fly through Detroit on some kind of crummy connection and it was snowing and a big blizzard and we almost missed the flight. There was no one to check the luggage and your mother was busy watching you. It was horrible. Margaret was waiting there for us. She had come from Cincinnati. And she was in a panic by the time we got to the gate. The flight had been called and was leaving in 45 minutes. So it was your mother and I and you and your sister. So we flew down to Florida and we stayed in a crummy hotel where a lot of students on spring break stayed. You had to leave a deposit on everything, on the towels, on the fly swatter, on the refrigerator because they were just used to everybody stealing everything. It reminded me of the special towels they have for gun cleaning at the Lake of the Ozarks.
But Margaret stayed with some friends, with Cookie and Mary Carlyle. When they dropped Margaret off Mary screamed my name going down the road in her mom’s convertible. It was a repeat of Terry Cannon in Florence in 1975 with the Carmen ghia (see 1975 I had so much fun).
And so we got on that trip and it was a fun trip. And maybe that was ’97. I think actually it was ’96. It was supposed to be for my 40th birthday and I ended up getting a gold diamond ring and a bracelet, an 18 kt gold bracelet, which I still wear. I’ve never taken it off in 12 years and a nice watch which I still have and uh…
I got your mother another watch but it broke a few years ago, but I still have mine. You shared a cabin with Margaret and your sister. Your mother and I had our own cabin. The picture widow in the cabin was so big that you and Marion sat in there every morning and ate your cereal.
Nassau was where your maternal grandparents went on their honeymoon in 1948. We took a submarine ride in Nassau to see the fish in the bay and they just lifted Margaret into the boat and they called her Mama. She didn’t like that. She didn’t realize they call all women that. It’s a sign of respect. So that was Nassau in the Bahamas and then we went back to the Virgin Islands and we went to St. Thomas and St. Croix this time and that was trip #2. That was your second time in the Bahamas. We took you and Marion to Freeport on a day cruise when she was a baby.
Well, then next I think we went to Nebraska or we met Margaret in Lincoln at the Abbotts, at Mike Abbotts. And we rented a minivan so that the 5 of us could ride comfortably out to Alliance. Do you remember what year that was? I think Marion was about 7. So that was about 1997 or 1998 and we rode the horses and we looked at the airplane but we didn’t get to go up in the airplane because the weather wasn’t good. He was living in Lincoln at the time. Mike had a pond in his yard and we went frog gigging after dark. You kids liked that.Chris owned 49 square miles or sections in the sand hills. His wife was Kim and she was nice. That’s a lot of land. It looked like Mongolia, hills and grass but no trees anywhere. I made you kids ride a horse bareback and without bridles and you fell off in the mud and you still haven’t forgiven me. Margaret had been there before for a big wedding at the ranch. I think it was Dianne. Voss had been to the ranch too.
And then we drove back through Neely and we stayed with one of the Abbott girls. I think it was Helen.The first of the Abbott girls I had met was Andrea. That was a long time ago in New York City. Margaret was there, too. It may have even been before your mother and I were married. Then we drove home and boy that was a long trip in that car back to St Louis. And then Margaret had to get back to Cincinnati. So that was the third trip with Margaret Lewis.
Well then 2 years later Margaret wanted to treat us to a cruise and that was in 1999 and that was the famous Scandinavian cruise. They lost Margaret’s suitcase and she had to go back to the airport and get it. It was a big waste of time. And once again we started in London and the cruise left from Dover. We took the bus down to Dover. And the interesting thing about that trip uh, except for the end which I’ll get to in a minute, the electricity went out in our hotel in London. We were staying at a very, very fancy hotel in London and all the electricity went out. All the cash registers were down and there was no way to pay for anything so they had to give us our breakfast for free and they weren’t very happy about that. They had a shop in the hotel that sold beautiful colored enameled coins. I bought a German 2 pfennig piece and a farthing for your mother that she wears as a necklace. And that’s also when we saw the eclipse; we saw the famous solar eclipse. The druids at Stonehenge went nuts. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot1951/SE1999Aug11T.GIF
Well that was the trip when you bought the third Harry Potter book. You just sat in the pub and read that book No one had really heard of Harry Potter but you had. You said it was going to be big and you were right.
I got a beautiful silk scarf at Liberty’s from two interns from Madrid. Their English was impeccable. We went to the Bigso store from Sweden and got some cool office supplies on that trip too. We all went to the tower of London and saw the crown jewels. That was neat.
One night we went to dinner at a Pub in the Mayfair district of London. They wouldn’t seat us, because we had you kids with us (view slideshow.) The first time in London that had ever happened to me. We ended up at an Italian restaurant across the street it was very fancy and very nice. You all behaved well. It made an impression on me because it was the first time I spent more than one hundred dollars for a meal. I think it was more like $125. But we enjoyed it and it was worth every penny.
And then, well I’m just trying to be brief here. Then we went to Germany and we went through the Kiel Canal and to Berlin.The kids and parents stood along the canal and waved as we passed by. In Berlin we took the train from Rostock then had a tour and lunch. We went to the KaDeWe the world’s largest department store and I got donked on the head in the parking garage. We saw the newly restored Oberbaum Bridge in Friedrichshain, Tempelhof airport recently closed and site of the Berlin Airlift. We also saw the recently restored French and German cathedrals at the Gendarmenmarkt.
Also the old Cafe Moscow restaurant in East Berlin where Ted D. and I had eaten so many years ago (Nov. 1977.) Once a showcase of E. Berlin, it was closed and looked pretty crummy. The thing about that place was it had a huge menu 90% of the things on that menu were never available.
It was my fourth trip to Berlin. Of course the old Berlin wall was gone.
Then the ship went to St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo and finally Copenhagen.
In St Petersburg Margaret and your mother went to the opera performance while I took you kids to the circus. I tried some Vodka and a man thought Marion was so cute he gave her a little wooden doll with a real fur collar. Russia had really changed since I had been there in 1974. You and I had a little adventure in the Hermitage. Some old ladies from Minneapolis were so incensed that you had sat in one of the chairs in the museum that we got separated from the group, missed the bus and had to take a cab then walk two miles back to the ship which would have been alright except I had Marion’s passport and they wouldn’t let her back on the ship till I got there.
And then on the way back to Dover in the middle of the night our ship was struck by a container ship in the English Channel and we were all almost killed. And they called the general quarters and they had the Delta, Delta, Delta with the emergency command. And they had us put on our life jackets and we stood there for an hour but they determined the ship was safe. We didn’t actually have to get into the lifeboats. But as it turned out we were crossing the English Channel and the container ship was coming through. So we had the right of way but it struck us.
The container ship was owned by Evergreen from Taiwan. Containing paint, it caught fire and burned for weeks in the English Channel off Margate.
Ok, I’m back. I had to take a break. That was 10 minutes. I’ll elaborate on that trip later. That was certainly – Berlin and St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen – wonderful, wonderful things. We bought Teddy a watch in Copenhagen, I think; it was a watch wasn’t it? It was a very special watch. It had a compass, calculator and many other special things (view slideshow.)
We went to the store where they painted the Royal Copenhagen figures. That was a special shopping street. Margaret liked that. That night we went to the Tivoli amusement park and had a faartarme. That’s a special thing they have for kids in Denmark filled with candy and little toys.
Well, okay, so now I want to get to the last trip before I forget. Um, which was to France? We went to… This time we took Margaret. It was March of 2001. Katie got an internet bargain for us. We got a week’s hotel in Paris and airfare for the 4 of us and then we added Margaret on at no extra charge. So we stayed in Paris for a few days and went to the Louvre with the kids. And that was probably the highlight of the trip was getting the Louvre trip with Margaret. And then we went to the Jardin de plantes which was Marion’s pick. Everybody got a pick. The cab driver was interesting and he wanted to know why the kids weren’t in school we said spring break and he didn’t understand then we said Easter break. And then we went to museum of Cluny and saw some famous tapestries and Roman baths in the basement. Everyone liked that museum. http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ang/homes/home_id20393_u1l2.htm And of course we went to many book stores. We got around Paris pretty well although we had trouble in the beginning because the hotel that we were supposed to stay in was overbooked. So we ended up getting in the 15th Arrondissement which is a residential area. But Saturday morning we just walked down the big boulevard looking in shops and cafes. We enjoyed that. We eventually ended up getting split up on the Metro but somehow got together again for lunch at the Louvre. We found a nice shop selling office supplies from Japan and I ended up having something strange for lunch. That turned out to be a great day. We had a hard time getting a taxi for five people you had to order them because taxis don’t cruise around the streets the way they used to because of the price of gas. Margaret could barely keep up with us.
We had a hard time picking up the rental car it took over an hour and a half. We couldn’t find the office and didn’t have a GPS. We rented the biggest French car they had but the kids thought it was too small. We should have rented a Buick.
Well, then we drove to Normandy. First we went to Rouen the capital of Normandy. I had read about it in French class. It was beautiful. We saw the tomb of Richard Lionhearted and Mathilde daughter of Henry I and Queen of England and Germany. The Plantagenet family ruled this part of France from England until the time of Joan of Arc. They were all entombed in the famous cathedral, the one that Claude Monet painted for his study of light. We would visit his home in Giverny on the way back. http://tinyurl.com/6r2z4k
Also Napoleons home Malmaison.
We drove to Honfleur which was beautiful and on the coast and Winston Churchill had stayed there and it was very near the big port of Le Harve. Margaret and I had crème brulee every night for desert. We stayed in a very nice refurbished old hotel. We loved it.
But we went the other way. Katie had always wanted to go into Mont Ste Michelle. So that’s where we went. And we drove there and spent 3 or 4 hours there and watched the tide come in and out and then we drove back and it was spectacular. On the way there we found a little village that made copper pots just by accident, just little cooking pots. They were very reasonably priced. So we bought a pot and we bought little vases and we had a very nice lunch, and they gave us a little tour of their factory. This was right before the euro conversion in 2002 and the euro stood at about 60 cents to the dollar. Everywhere we went things were very reasonably priced. Marion and I had a seafood cocktail tower in Honfleur which was about oh I don’t know 16 or 18 inches tall and it had every kind of seafood you could imagine from lobster to mussels to clams to prawns and it was delicious.
Back in Paris we drove right by la defense, the business district of Paris. I remember because I did most of the driving. Also, in Paris we went to a special Alsatian restaurant right on the Champs d’Elysees and I told the children it was going to be too expensive. We wouldn’t be able to eat there. But we could just walk along the Champs d’Elysees. But actually we ate there. I think with the 5 of us even with wine it cost about $125. So if we went back today in 2009 it would probably be $300. So anyway that was the last trip that we took with Margaret Lewis. It was trip #5.
This year, 2011 we returned from Rome. It would be at least a hundred dollars a person because the Euro is so strong.
There was one more trip. That was with Margaret, Voss and Tom to Greg and Anne’s wedding in Hamilton, Bermuda. I didn’t go on that trip but your mother did
Okay, well, this is an addendum to that previous memo because we’ve been talking about it and I’m going back to that ’99 Scandinavian cruise and for the sake of thoroughness I believe our ship was going through the channel and the container was crossing from Dover to Oostende or another port maybe in the Netherlands or Belgium and the international seaway rules state that the ship going the shorter distance, which would be the one crossing the canal would have the right of way over the ship going through the canal which we were coming from Copenhagen which makes sense because it gives you more time to maneuver.
Anyway that accident, as we discovered later on another cruise, was one of the most studied accidents in maritime history.
On our Alaskan cruise we met a pilot and he was amazed that Katie and I had been on that trip. I never thought I was going get your mother to go on another cruise again in our lives. It took some convincing on that Alaskan cruise to the Aleutian Islands, Bearing Sea and Kamchatka. We enjoyed that. We’ve enjoyed all our trips. But that’s for another blog http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/428667.stm
http://tinyurl.com/3bf9lmk
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Back in ITALY, again 2011
Katie and I recently celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary by visiting our daughter in Rom
Things that I care about 
