"We go rolling along"

It was not very long before I found myself with too much extra time on my hands. Remember, we only had a 1000 sq. ft apartment. The girls were both in school all day, and of course, Lee worked most days, albeit short days. Compared to Lee's last assignment, the 130th station hospital at Heidelberg was a "dream" job. While Lee was assigned at Walter Reed Army Hospital, he routinely worked 10-12 hour days.
I enjoyed playing golf and tennis, however I really did not care for a lot of the "ladies" activities. I attended when I needed to, but it wasn't really my "cup of tea", no pun intended.
I talked to Lee about it, and as always he was supportive of my new interests. The hospital, as well as many other facilities on post, always needed volunteers. Actually, as an officer's wife there was an expectation to help out and volunteer. While Lee was stationed at Fort Devens I volunteered at the Thrift Shop, and both of us taught Religious Education which I enjoyed. The hospital was the place I was most interested in, and subsequently made an appointment with the Director of Volunteers. As I remember, I barely stepped foot in the office, and was "hired," so to speak. They needed a volunteer for the OB/GYN clinic, I was excited, and planned to work one day a week. Since a large number of the military were young, and childbearing age, the clinic was extremely busy. As I said, I planned to work one day/wk. The staff would call me almost every day to come in to help out, and many times I did answer the call. At one point I was working in the hospital 4-5 days a week. I did that for about i year. It was a wonderful experience for me, and I learned a great deal. In the months that I had volunteered, I had noticed that there were many positions open for employment in the hospital. I decided to apply for a position in the hospital's central appointment office. Keep in mind, this was 1980, and I had not been gainfully employed since 1966 when our second child was born. Needless to say, I was rather anxious at first. I had been out of the work force for over twelve years. The position entailed manning several telephones, and remembering the order of the calls. Appointments were made for all of the various clinics, and we also made referrals for Landstuhl General Hospital for the various specialties. My 40th birthday was looming in the fore front. Most of the girls I worked with were in their early twenties. They accepted me quickly and I enjoyed the work, and I really enjoyed receiving a pay-check. In retrospect, this position in the hospital did wonders for my self esteem. Lee was on the staff and therefore I knew many people immediately, and felt accepted and valued. Now, I could contribute to our travel fund, and we could actually travel more with the extra income. Monetarily, it was not the best time to be living in Europe. The dollar was weak against the German Deutsche-mark. On our arrival in Germany, the exchange was 2 marks per American dollar. It proceeded to get weaker and weaker, and I believe at one point it dropped to 1.65 German marks to the dollar. When we arrived in Germany, many Americans told us that it was very expensive to travel. They told us if you travel, you can't afford to purchase European products, so it is either/or. Therefore,based on this information we purchased a camping travel within the first couple weeks of being in the country. It turned out to be a wonderful purchase for us, and allowed us to do much more traveling. Our daughter's were at a perfect age for travel, 9 and 11 years old. When we left Germany at the end of Lee's tour, we sold the trailer for the exact same price we had purchased it 3 1/2 years earlier. While living in Germany we were exposed to products all over Europe, and the United Kingdom. One of our first purchases was Waterford Crystal, made of course in Waterford, Ireland. In 1978 we purchased water goblets for $18.00/stem. In 1998 I had to replace one which was broken by a friend while helping me with the dishes. The replacement was $75.00/stem. They will be passed on to our daughters, therefore I wanted them to have 6 stems each. As an aside, ever since that happened I delay washing the dishes until our guests leave. Actually, it is two fold, I want our guests to relax, and I like to visit with them after the meal.
Returning to the purchase of the travel trailer, one of our first trips was to Ireland. The trailer was packed with provisions for an entire month. Fortunately, we had shipped our Chevrolet Suburban to Germany, and it was the perfect vehicle for us, albeit large and not economical. The girls had lots of room to play and were comfortable, and had plenty of room to sleep. That car was a conversation starter every where we traveled. At that time, European cars were all compacts pretty much. However, many Europeans loved the large American autos! Once in Wales, we were stopped at a traffic light when pedestrians began to crowd around our car. They were exclaiming what a "lovely" automobile it t'was, and it even has a third seat in the rear. I can still hear that Welsh accent as they marveled over that car.
Our voyage to Ireland was one of the most wonderful, and memorable for me, being of Irish heritage. We drove from Heidelberg to Belgium where we boarded an enormous ferryboat which took us to Dover, England, a trip of approximately 3 hours. That evening we all wanted to have a nice hot shower. We soon discovered that the facilities were somewhat antiquated, compared to what we were accustomed to. Our oldest daughter came out of the shower with a quizzical expression on her face. The shower was sort of like an upside down tin trash can cover with holes in it. There was a chain to pull to let the water down, and it seemed a bit complicated, therefore we took a shower together. I pulled the chain for her while she soaped up, and then vice-a-verse. We were laughing and having a good old time.
It was our first visit to England, therefore we trooped around London to see as many sights as we could on foot. We also used the subway, (called the Tube,) and the red doubledecker buses. It was all great fun, and we were in awe of this beautiful city. The one down side was that it poured rain, and even with slickers and umbrellas, we were all soaking wet. In retrospect, it turned out to be fortuitous for us. Since we were trying to cut corners on expenses, we had planned to eat in restaurants as little as possible. Lee and I talked about it, and decided that we wanted the girls to get warm, and perhaps dry out a little. The last thing we wanted was for them to get sick, especially just starting our trip. So we went into a restaurant and enjoyed a lovely meal of English fare, albeit expensive. Everything on the menu is alacarte, therefore it can be pricey! This was my first experience of eating Plaice (a mild, delicious white fish) The girls really enjoyed everything as well, especially the "fish n'chips" and "licked the platters clean", so to speak. The reward for which was a wonderful dessert of raspberry trifle, and of course their first experience in an English Pub.
The next day we were scheduled to board another giant ferry from Fish guard,Wales which would transport us to Wexford, Ireland. Little did we know that the Sea Links Ferry was experiencing what they referred to as a "slow down." Consequently, the line to embark the ferry was very long. Our family was the last to board the ferry, this was related to unhitching our travel trailer so that the crew could maneuver it into a corner of the ship. It was a beautiful sunny day in Wales and we were informed that due to the slowdown it would be several hours before we would be boarding the ship. As time went on the weather turned warmer, and we all began to get out of our automobiles and mingle with one another. There was a young Irish family ahead of us, they had a beautiful baby girl, and she was just such a delightful, happy baby. She had black curly hair and bright blue eyes, with porcelain looking skin. I talked to the baby and she had the most beautiful smile, and a sweet disposition. I commented to "Alison's mum that her baby is beautiful. Thus, started a wonderful relationship which has endured over 30 years. >
This offering for my blog sort of took on a life of it's own, therefore it is continued on the next blog.
Thanks,
Carol

Life goes on..............

Our living situation in Germany was different from the way we were accustomed to living in the States. There were long cinder block buildings which were divided by stairwells. Each stairwell had 4 apartments. On one side there were 3 bedroom apartments, and the other side, were four bedrooms with 2 bathrooms. We were fortunate to get a 4 bedroom, and envied by some of the other stairwell residents. Actually, the truth of the matter was that we had 3 children, one of whom is a boy, therefore we qualified and received a "larger" apartment. The larger apartment had a total of 1000 sq. ft. And yes, we were entitled to a second bathroom, thankfully!
Regretfully, at the last minute, our son chose not to accompany us to Europe. He was able to visit, and we enjoyed showing him all of our favorite sights. Needless to say, he also enjoyed many of the German beers. We also talked on the telephone often to keep in touch, and Lee made a couple trips back to the states to check on our son. It was not a ideal situation, but he did stay in touch with us.
We were very fortunate to be able to travel often, most weekends we visited someplace. It could be a weekend in Switzerland, The Netherlands, France, Italy, all of these countries were only a short driving distance from Heidelberg. Our first trip to Switzerland was like a "fairy tale" to me. We reserved a campsite in a lovely campground in a village called Lauderbrunnen. (This was one of the gems which a friend passed on after their visit) The campground is nestled in a beautiful valley, and is surrounded by the Swiss Alps. The mountains were snow capped and magnificent, and left us breathless! We all went for a long walk after we finished setting up our travel trailer. The country side is so picturesque, it was a lovely autumn day, the leaves were crunchy under our feet. The brown Swiss cows grazing in the pasture wore a bell around their neck, just like I had seen them in the travel brochures. Lee and I were both taking photography courses at the time, and this was certainly a "shutter bugs' paradise. We have wonderful memories preserved on film from our various sojourns while living in Europe.
The first thing our daughters did after arriving at the campground was to scope out the bathrooms. They were happy to report that the bathrooms were spotlessly clean, AND the bathroom was warm. Probably sounds a little insignificant to some people, but for us it was important and a lovely bonus! I must interject here, the restrooms in most of the countries of Europe are very clean. This was the first of several trips to Switzerland. Lee and I celebrated one of our anniversaries there, which happens to be in late November. The weather was bitter cold with several feet of snow. We still stayed in our camper. At that time we used a catalytic heater which was very efficient. Years later, we heard of people who succumbed as a result of fumes from these heaters. Lee assured me that he always cracked a window to prevent such an accident. Thank God!
There was a beautiful church nearby and we wanted to attend mass. We walked to the church and there was a sign which directed us around the church, and continued on to the school. Lee knocked on the door, we were welcomed by a flurry of children who could not hide their delight, and excitement at seeing American visitors. They were so sweet, as they proceeded to hang our coats up, and then quickly get chairs for us. No one spoke English, but it did not matter, we were gathered there for the same reason. It was an austere classroom, but something beautiful happened there that evening. The communion was stored in a Tupperware container, the first and only time I have ever experienced that. After mass, we shook hands with many of the parishioners. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and will always be very special to me.
There was a little town called Wengen on top of the mountain which could be seen from Lauderbrunnen. The only access to that town was by cog wheel train, or by foot.
Lee and I decided to go to Wengen, and we made the decision to hike up to the town. In those days, we were both very physically fit, so hiking up to Wengen seemed like a "lark." How difficult could it be? Turns out that it was very difficult. Now-a-days people say it was challenging. Whatever adjectives you chose to use, it was grueling. It took several hours for the two of us to climb up that mountain. The pathways were well worn, rocky and scraggly, making it difficult to get a good foot hold. It was starting to get dark and cool on top of the mountain by the time we reached the summit. Our sweaters were soaked with perspiration, and we were exhausted, but we were victorious.
That's it for tonight friends,
Thank You,
Carol