Trip to Europe, Part Three

This is the third part in an exploration of my grandmother Vivian’s journal of a trip to seven countries in Europe. She and my grandfather spent 35 days there in 1967 touring and working. He was chief electrical engineer for Champion spark plugs at the time and visited auto shows and factories intermittently. After my grandfather’s second wife died in 2008, I acquired this journal of fascinating tidbits, not only about their trip, but my late grandmother, in particular. I was only 12 when she died in 1976, so this bit of writing in longhand is quite a treasure for me. And while it may not be directly included in the book about her mother/my great-grandmother Leta, it nonetheless is influencing the emotional component of writing the history.

During their trip, Vivian found the toilets in many of the places they visited unusual, to say the least. In Copenhagen, she experienced that the toilets were rather large: “I thought I was going in and my feet didn’t touch floor.” (She was about 5’1”.) In Amsterdam, their hotel room had “twin beds, a view of the canal and another odd john. Flushes to the front.” But she disliked the bedding, generally a bottom sheet and a feather comforter. Leaving Frankfurt, she noted, “Glad to leave the feather bed quilt, too warm.” However, in Rothenburg, their very next destination, she learned “feather bed covers again” and the chairs in the restaurant were so high, “my feet didn’t touch the floor.” “In Switzerland had sheet & blanket in addition to feather comforter.” I strongly suspect this provided a little relief for them, and they didn’t use the comforter. (When I was in Germany and the Czech Republic a few years ago, I also found this form of bedding rather warm.) During their drive to Munich, they learned via experience that rest areas had “no johns so went in woods (where everyone else goes, I guess).”

In my own travel journals, I don’t usually note what I had for meals unless there is some specific reason. In Ireland, for example, I described the Irish breakfast I had at the Bed & Breakfasts (but only once). However, my grandmother noted her meals, and why shouldn’t she? Here’s a sample lunch: “cold pot[ato] soup, wine, roast filet, pot[ato] croquettes, ice cream sundaes served in dish of ice.” And here is a banquet dinner (with my grandfather’s work colleagues): “Had glass of champagne, celery soup, fish course, veal and pot[atoes], partridge and pot[atoes], 3 wines, champagne, ice cream cake with wh[ipped] cream frosting decorated with red candy colored cherries which had been dipped in rum. Carried in a stretcher with lighted spark plug candles, cookies, coffee, cognac.” Now, I don’t know exactly what she ate of these choices or how much, but I suspect that she tried a little bit of everything, at least. No wonder she writes very early on: “Must quit eating & drinking.” However, the extensive eating continued throughout their trip. Three weeks later in Walldorf, Germany, their evening meal consisted of: “filet steak for two: onion soup, red wine, French fries, potato puffs, green beans, mushrooms, carrots & peas, tomato, cauliflower with sauce, 1 spear asparagus and a mixed salad of green beans, carrots, cucumbers, tomato, cabbage, lettuce & dressings. Way too much food.” In London, she liked Irish coffee so much, she got the recipe.

“Gaelic coffee recipe:

Warm glass

Mix:

  1 tsp. Brown sugar

  1 shot of whiskey

Add hot black coffee and stir.

Get coffee spinning and take 1 shot heavy cream and pour inverted spoon onto coffee.”

Not all the food they were served suited their tastes, however. In Frankfurt, she “ordered an egg as all they serve is rather hard rolls and jam and getting tired of them.” For lunch in a café, she ordered a sandwich, but was disappointed: “Won’t order another sandwich as bread like a rock.”

While I don’t recall them being art enthusiasts of any kind, they had two specific art experiences during this trip. First, she writes with great interest about the paintings of Hans Memlinc (1433-1494) who took 4-7 years to finish a painting, used only one hair brush and painted on both sides of the piece of wood. “48 Memlinc paintings in the world,” she reports. And in London, they saw a play by George Bernard Shaw that “had been running 6 years & as of the present performance longest run in London Theater….Wonderful show.”

My grandmother's bracelet, note the silhouette of me.

Alas, their European adventure was stopped abruptly when they received a telegram that Ed’s mother Ana had died. Their friend Syd kissed them good-by. “Seems Londoners are more inclined to that. Syd a very nice person,” she concludes.

As I was only 3-1/2 at the time, I don’t remember their absence for such a long period of time. I do remember, however, their return, the gifts they gave us and the long slide show of their adventures. My grandmother also writes about collecting charms, which reminded me that she had a charm bracelet. At that time and into the 1970s they were quite the rage. My mother and younger sister both had one. And, I do still have one of my gifts, a doll replica of one of the Queen’s Buckingham Palace guards. Yep, it’s one of my treasures.