The Mail-Journal, Volume 13, Number 24, Milford, Kosciusko County, 7 July 1976 — Page 12

THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., July 7,1976

12

Europe: A vacation dream come true

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Elaine Stichter is in charge of the composing room at The Papers Incorporated Milford plant. Her article on her trip to Hawaii last year is followed by her recent trip to Europe.) By ELAINE STICHTER Europe has always seemed to be such a far away land to me. visited only by the very lucky. So when I had the chance to become a lucky one, I could not resist the opportunity. It took two seemingly never ending weeks before I got my confirmation. I was going to Europe for 15 days in June! .. The countries on my itinerary were Jo be the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, England and a short stay of one night in Belgium. On Friday night, June 11, Carolyn Elliott of Syracuse, June Reimer of Richmond and I left on a chartered flight from Cincinnati to Amsterdam. The flight lasted over seven hours and with the time difference between home and Amsterdam we got to our destination at 11 a m. Saturday. The people on the plane were divided into different tours, each going in different directions Forty-three of us were to be together for the next two weeks Os the forty-three, only four were men — all doctors. Emhage Tours assigned a brilliant young guide to our group Colette spoke five languages and she had a degree in art history— a great asset to our travel Our tour was to be the only one she was going to do this year so we felt honored. Amsterdam Charming Amsterdam is a charming big city with its canals, bridges and narrow houses But the traffic. It was unbelievable! There is/no system to the layout of the streets — at least to my eyes Electric trams'are popular — buses and cars drive in front and back of them on the tracks The traffic lights were a bewildering maze More than once I found myself wondering if it was safe to cross a street! But I was to find this way of driving normal in Europe What amazed me was we saw only one accident while we were there. There are over 100 canals and 1,000 bridges in Amsterdam Lining all the canals are houseboats With a population of 13 million in the Netherlands housing is sky high Since most apartments rent out for S3OO-5400 a month, the people pay taxes to the government to live on the canals They then receive gas, water and electnc But not all the people pay for this privilege. Os the 5.000 houseboats on the canals. 3,000 are illegal * Their boats are shabby and they receive no gas or electric The canals are filthy and some smell There is 60 miles of these canals and every night 40 per cent of them are cleaned by the North Sea with the use of locks. On one afternoon of our stay in Amsterdam, we took a canal cruise We were finally told why the houses are so narrow — the narrower the house is. less taxes have to be paid The narrowest house in Amsterdam is one door wide Because the houses are Io narrow, the doors and stairs are too. So the only way to get furniture in is by the use erf pulleys and hooks from the roof of the house and taking it in thru the window Since the Netherlands is below sea level, a house has to be specially constructed. The foundation consists of poles — cement now, trees before. These are sunk in the sand and the house then constructed on them The bank in Amsterdam, where the country’s gold is stored, uses the sea level to advantage. Its vault is 15 feet below sea level. If anyone tries to break in without * the combination. the vault will fill with water! All of the Netherlands is not called Holland I wondered about this and Colette told our group that the Netherlands is divided into 12 provinces, one of which is Holland We travelled by bus on our different tours through the country. Several places we visited in the Netherlands impressed me more than others. Monday we took a drive through the countryside to a fishing village, Marken This is a quaint village with many of the old customs still being practiced. Monday happened to.be wash day and many of the ladies, in colorful traditional dresses, were hanging out their wash. An elderly lady - took us through her small house and told us many of their customs There are only 17 wedding dresses in this village of 1.700 people. These dresses are handed down from generation to

... A.’.Jk J WASH DAY — A drive through the countryside took the group to the fishing village of Marken. This was a quaint village and was visited on Monday which was wash day. Many ladies, in colorful traditional dresses, were seen as they hung out their wash. Marken is in the Netherlands and people there still keep many of the rid customs.

generation. The one was saw was 200 years rid I got the feeling this village is not quite the tourist trap’ some of the places are. That same afternoon we made a trip to Ma du rod am This is a historically correct reproduction of an average Dutch city and its surroundings built on the scale of 1:25 This tiny city was constructed as a memorial to the war hero son of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. L. Maduro. Ships travel up and down the tiny waterways* Church music comes out of cathedrals Planes taxi in find out of the airport It was exciting to see the buildings in miniature I had seen on my trip so far. it made a funfilled visit The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is almost 100 years old. Most of Rembrandts paintings’ are here, since he was born in the Netherlands The main reason we went in this museum was to see his famous Nighwatch’. Last fall this painting had been slashed by a madman. The painting had just been returned after its repairs. It was in a glass enclosed room so no moisture could get to it I am no art lover so-4 did not know much about it. but toeople beside me. looking at claimed it looked better and the colors more brilliant than before One room had been set aside to explain and show the procedures taken to repair the huge painting That to me was more interesting than the painting itself Os course we visited a wooden shoe'factory and a cheese factory And there were plenty of windmills to try our photography on! Germany Unfriendly Then it was on to Germany. The border crossing station was the most imposing looking of all we crossed The next three hours were dull; the houses were drab and the countryside flat and dry looking There had been no rain for over a month. Coal is the main, industry m Germany and it was here we saw some air pollution — the only place Our first night was spent in Koln or as we spelled it, Cologne Here is the most splendid cathedral we saw on the trip. It is a Gothic cathedral and it took over 800 years to build it One can imagine the size <rf.it — big I had been told that the hotels were not first class in Europe A lot of the rooms would not have bathrooms Cologne was the only place we did not ha ve a bathroom — we may not have had a bathroom but we had an indoor pod! All of the hotels we stayed in I considered first class for Europe — we were fortunate We were not allowed to drink

A * ■ * i S iifl hK IN GERMANY — Thß splendid Gothic cathedral in Cologne took Me years to build.

any water in Germany, except for at the Holiday Inn at Heidelburg. Six cases of diphtheria had been reported. It was a dry two days for us! We found the Germans unfriendly and I was anxious to leave. That was before the Rhine River cruise. The Rhine River is so much a

I II Mte.: i • i un'iWTj"» * ■ lllllm|bff R: - mb TlF*'****«» . f’XTT- 9* -*•- LN SWITZERLAND — Shown here is the Swiss city of Lucerne with the chapel bridge, water tower and Mount Pilatus in the background. Switzerland proved to be the favorite place of the trip.

part of the world's history. I found it a fascinating two hour cruise Castles and fortresses line the river on the hills on either side The castles are not lived in year around but anyone with the money can rent one for a week end or a wedding Or some are for sale such as the Pfalz Castle, a little white castle on an island; it’s only $300,000. Switzerland Favorite On Thursday, June 17. we arrived at my favorite place of the trip — Switzerland Our bus took us through the Black Forest to get there Lucerne was where we stayed for 24 days. Our hotel faced Lake Lucerne, with Mount Pilatus in the distance The Swiss people are very friendly Switzerland’s countryside is just as I pictured it to be The Swiss chalets are quite pretty set in among the green hills. 1 saw a lot of farms where the barn and house were one building One afternoon some of our group took a cog train up to the top of Mount Pilatus, 6.800 feet up: The air was quite cool — some snow could still be seen Houses and barns dot the

mountain side, all the way up. Near the top stands a quaint little church. We returned to the bottom of Mount Pilatus in cable cars. T enjoyed this ride more than the cog train. I had not spent much money yet — and then I hit Lucerne! Everyone visiting Lucerne must visit the famous watch dealer, Bucherers. Trays of watches are brought out for the customer to try to find one he likes. Os course, music boxes are a must in Switzerland. Wood carvings of any shape can be bought. A few of us did refrain from buying a cuckoo clock. It was going to take a great country to outdo Switzerland. But we had to leave and head for France. The trip was long and hard to Troyes; the roads are bad to say the least. The countryside is almost as flat as Germany; the buildings drab compared to Switzerland’s. On To France So we sang our way to Troyes We arrived just in time for supper and the stores were closed. So nine of us decided to walk uptown. . Troyes was having a summer festival and we were fortunate to be there to enjoy it. We listened to French rock and roll bands, a puppet show was entertaining, a clown was walking on stilts. And

it was w’all to wall people. This was not a show for the tourists, this was their ‘thing’ and I was glad I saw them do it ‘the French way’! The next morning we left for Paris. On the way we made a stop at Fontainebleau, a huge and beautiful chateau built by the kings of France Started in the 13th century, each king and queen either added on to the Chateau or just redecorated. When Napoleon became emperor, he made Fontainebleau a state palace. It was here Napoleon spent his last days before his abdication in 1814. My first impressions erf Paris? It is big. dirty and there are a lot of people. We went to the Louvre museum our first afternoon there This museum is so big it would take one three months, from 8 to 5, to see all that is in it My group made a stop at the Mona Lisa and the sculpture of Venus DeMiloand that was enough for me. One evening most of our group went to see the famous Follies of Paris I had been told to be sure to go see them. The Follies are just a glorified burlesque show in my opinion. It is a French song and dance show

MiTririiTrrß*' ’I Ji AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE — This bagpipe band is shown at Buckingham Palace during ceremonies which honored the visiting president of France. The pomp and circumstance of London is quite refreshing in this modern world.

The costumes are beautiful — when the costumes are worn. We managed to see all the monuments and famous buildings except the Sacre Coeur, a church on Monmartre hill. One can overlook the city and there is an artists’ colony there too. Our bus driver, Chris, tried to drive us there at 11 o’clock one evening '

The streets in Paris happen to be narrow and winding and the people of Paris do not know how to park properly, unless you call parking on the sidewalks and double parking proper. A bus happens to just barely fit on one of these streets. Chris backed up as much as he went forward in his effort to reach the top. It finally got so tight that a fqw men from our big audience we accumulated lifted a truck for us and set it on the sidewalk. When that did not work we backed up and returned to our hotel, defeated. Ferry To Dover We finally changed our mode of transportation on Tuesday of our last week. In Callis, France, we caught a ferry across the English Channel to Dover, England. The trip was smooth and relaxing. The white cliffs of Dover are as beautiful as I had been told they were. Was it great to hear English again and fascinating to listen to the accent! It took me a while to get used to seeing traffic driving on the ‘wrong’ side but the adjustment was easily made. For the next three nights we stayed at the comfortable Kennedy Hotel in London We even had English speaking TV’s to watch the Wimbleton! The first supper there we were served — surprise — chicken! (This was only for the sixth time.) The food in Europe was a little disappointing. I had expected to have their traditional foods at least once. I had actually planned to have a lot of fish (once), no french fries (all the time), some beef (once at a steak house); and lettuce was limp and brown. Our breakfasts and suppers were paid for in advance so we ate at our hotels. Every breakfast, except in Amsterdam, we were served HARD rolls and tea or coffee. Oh, did I wish for one soft egg! The weather we had the first week was beautiful, in the lower 70’s, sunny and no rain in sight. Then we hit London during a heat wave. Did you think we could find any air conditioning? I went to one store that had air conditioning and that was the only place. But we did come to England at the right time. The president of France, Valerie Tiscard Destaing was in town, the first French president to visit England in 16 years. On Wed-

nesday, we had just visited Westminster Abbey and were returning to our bus parked across from the House of Parliament. We noticed TV cameras across the street and elegantly dressed people were entering the parliament. Our guide told us President D’estaing was going to speak there. As we were going to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard we were stopped by the president’s motorcade leaving the parliament, going to the palace. When we got to the palace, waiting for the ceremonies. Queen Elizabeth arrived in her horse drawn carriage. The pomp and circumstance of London is quite refreshing in this modem world. The minute I saw the taxis in London I had to ride one. They look like small, black limousines. There are 11,000 of these taxis in London, all built to specifications, one which is they all have to be able to make a utum on any street in But the best part about these taxis they are cheap to ride — refreshing for us tourists. The last day we had in London was a free day. Carolyn. June and I spent the morning shopping. then at noon we went to Madame Tussand’s Wax Museum. It was quite startling to look at these wax figures when they looked so real. The only wax figure we did not think looked real was the one of President Ford; we could not decide what it was that made us think this The afternoon was then spent on a tour to Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace. All the ferries to Zeebrugge, Belgium, from Dover are booked solid for three months except for the 8:30 a m. one. So we had to get up at 4 o'clock to leave. What away to spend a vacation! But it was another beautiful trip across the channel. This time it took four hours to cross. Our stay in • Belgium was hardly worth our effort. Our bus was late to pick us up so we only stopped an hour in Brugge to shop. W’e arrived in Antwerp in time for supper and by then the town was dead; we wished we had stayed in London. In the morning it was back to Schipol Airport. Amsterdam, for our flight home. We boarded the 707 chartered plane only *to disembark because of a faulty fuel gauge. Over an hour and a half later we finally left Europe — tired but a little sad to leave all the beautiful places we had visited. It was quite hard for me to visualize the long history of these countries we had visited. When I saw the palaces, castles and even some of the houses I had to think that those buildings are older than the United States. And we think 200 years is a long time! Everyone should have a chance to see how the other side of the world lives. But do not expect it to be like home’. Some of the rider people in our group could not seem to, realize that service is slower and our language is usually the foreign language in Europe. The vacation was the chance of a lifetime and dream come true . I would like the chance again sometime. Parked car broken into A car parked near Center Lake Park. Warsaw, belonging to James Conway of North Webster, was broken into Saturday morning, July 3, and several, items taken. Conway reported a Timex watch valued at S4O. a high school class ring worth $lO and four blank checks issued by the Counting House Bank missing from the car.

M The Column ■ X ME A Sideshow Os MB Events In Milford

JULY 4 will truly go down in history as a great day . . . many were involved in the celebration, each doing his own thing but each honoring America! There were parades, family outings and picnics, people quietly observing the holiday in the peace of their own home. At night there were fireworks for all to enjoy. Tomorrow is another special day in American history! It was on July 8 in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was publicly read for the first time. FRED POWELL of near Our Town has joined the EMS unit. DOT AND Don Boyd and daughter Sharon are in Milford for the next several weeks visiting her mother, Mrs. Sarah Lakeland Locals Mr. and Mrs. James Wolf of Atwood entertained Monday evening. July 5. for their family for supper. Present were Mr. and Mrs. Herman Miller of Milford, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Wolf, Jennifer and Jim Bob, Pam Wolf and Marvin Klinger, all of Atwood, Mr. and Mrs. Woody Slabaugh of Nappanee visited with Mr. and Mrs. Herman Miller of Milford on Friday. July 2. Vacationing in Epworth Forest. North Webster, this week are iMr. and Mrs. Myrle Seany and family, and Mrs. Mary Pope, all of Richmond; Jeff Chaney and Lisa Wesseler of Cambridge City, Ohio; and Mr. and Mrs. Ken Metzger of Harrison. Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Don Boyd and Sharon of Hollywood. Fla., have arrived in the Milford area to visit relatives here for the next several weeks.. Mrs Maxine Coleman of Syracuse and her aunt, Mrs. Thelma Syndram of Fort Wayne, left South Bend airport Saturday morning. July 3, for a nine day visit with Mrs. Coleman s son, Randall L. Evans and family. Her son lives at 452 Billy Mitchell Blvd., Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. John L. Miller, Shari. Sheli, Shawana and Shantel of r 3 Syracuse spent the 4th of July week end in Indianapolis at the 500 Hydrodyne open water ski tournament at the Fairland recreation center. Mr. Miller was chief scorer and Mrs. Miller was assistant chief judge.

\ v Update - Your image... Letterheads say a lot about a company. When you can’t make a call in person, you have to rely on your stationery to project the impression you want. We specialize in modern design. four Letterhead Is You The Mail-Journal Milford Syracuse 658-4111 457-3666

Slabaugh and other relatives. The Boyds are from Hollywood, Fla., and Don, a wellknown golfing enthusiast, is sporting a Bicentennial red, white and blue golf bag. Son Scott did not make the trip as he is working at a resort in New Jersey. MRS. ESTHER Charlton has subscribed to The M-J for 50 years. She said the newspaper was given to the Charlton family 50 years ago as a gift when son Don was born. It was the gift of the Scott Hardware. Checking into the hardware we found many remember when it was located in the building which now houses Amazing Motors. DOUBLE RAINBOWS are rare but one was seen in the east on July 5. It was beautiful and those who missed it missed a rare sight. ONLY IN a small town can you dial a wrong number and chat with the party on the other end of the line. This was brought to light Monday when AEB dialed a wrong number and daughter Jane, who now resides in Indianapolis. broke up laughing over the fact he carried on a conversation, not with her Aunt Edith, but with the the other end of the line. X._ Jane, her husband Mike and their young son' Jason were in Our Town for the holidays. MR. AND Mrs. Fred Haab and family of Glen Burnie, Md., are visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Haab and other relatives • in the Milford area. Car is backed into another auto A car driven by Brian K. Wolfe, 19. of Syracuse backed his vehicle into an by Mary Snoke Main, 55, of Three Rivers. Mich., over the holiday week end. Wolfe said he was driving his car on Lake Side Dr. at Pickwick Rd. , when he stopped to speak to a friend. He backed his car away from the friend and struck the Main auto causing $325 damage to her auto and $250 to his own car. Billfold taken at beach Kirk Prickett, Syracuse, lost a Wilfrid containing sllO worth of American Express Travelers checks. Prickett said the brown leather billfold was taken while he was swimming at Syracuse city park beach Saturday morning, July 3.