Night Train to Hanover Germany

April 21, 2009 at 7:44 am (my life in france)
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Monday, March 9, 1992

Night train to Hannover, Germany, leaving Paris at 9:35PM and arriving Hannover 8:40AM on Tuesday.  This time we have our Eurail passes from the U.S. for much easier traveling.  We quickly stashed our luggage into a train station locker and proceeded to set up the booth for the upcoming Cebit ’92 show.  The booth was sponsored in conjunction with the ITRC in Dallas and I was delighted to see Byron Cain there, allowing us to catch up on old times of our work days together.

In the evening (now Tuesday) we gathered our luggage and were driven to the home of Karlheinz and Erika Boker in Garbsen, a suburb of Hannover.  They were our guest host family, an older German couple who had traveled in the states; he spike some English and she spoke only German; lovely 3 story home; Karlheinz is a retired President of the Glassworkers Union in Hannover and still a member of parliament; Erika is the Vice Mayor of Garbsen.

Each morning we were treated to a German breakfast and lots of good company in the evenings.

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Church and a Baby Shower

April 7, 2009 at 11:58 am (my life in france)
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Sunday, March 8, 1992

Early to church and an early evening baby shower couple’s party of the Young Couples Group at the Church.  It was held at Marjo and Mark’s apartment and was lots of fun.

As we exited the metro station (close to the Eiffel Tower area), I said to David that the area really looked familiar.  He said he had never been to this side of Paris.  But it still looked as though I had been there before.  Well, I had.  When we walked by a familiar hotel, I realized it was where my Mom, Betty and I had stayed back in July 1989.

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Finally Grilling Some Fajitas

April 6, 2009 at 8:48 am (my life in france)
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Saturday, March 7th, 1992

David’s kneww is much better.  He played golf with Ray in the morning, shot a 76.  Early afternoon we grilled fajitas, inviting Ray, Maura and Stephanie and Michael Watson.  They were great!  Not a single one left over.

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Drive to Chambourcy to Shop for Dinner

April 1, 2009 at 7:43 am (my life in france)
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Sunday, March 1, 1992

9AM train to Paris.  This is an all day train, returning to Paris at 10:30PM (exhausted).  Lovely dinner in the dining car on the train and beautiful scenery thru Austria and Germany.

Tuesday, March 3, 1992

I decided to drive to Chambourcy to a large grocery store to once again look for charcoal.  We are so wanting to grill fajitas.  After much looking I found some in the gardening section.  Don’t know if it’s self lighting or not and I looked at every can and container in the store, but no luck in finding the lighter.

Well, it’s David’s turn.  He decided to look at a camping store on his way home and there it was.  Starter in a large tube, gel form.

Wednesday, March 4, 1992

Now, it’s look for fajita meat.  We know we have seen some.  We bought what looked like skirt steak and will just try our luck.

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Lipizzaner Horses at Spanische Reitscule

March 31, 2009 at 1:20 pm (my life in france)
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Saturday, February 29, 1992

Very tourist like day for us.  We attended the training sessions for the very famous Lipizzaner horses at the Spanische Reitschule, Josefsplatz, (Spanish Riding School), visited the absolutely beautiful St. Stephens Cathedral, took a horse carriage ride thru Vienna, ate lunch at a fish and chips place, visited the Imperial Palace and had an afternoon snack in the revolving restaurant in the Donauturm Tower overlooking Vienna.

Stores are only open until noon today, including souvenir shops (their one time a month to be open at all on Saturday).  Enjoyed the eating of a Wurztel, much like a German sausage and very, very good.  Happy hour in the hotel bar listening to a very good piano player.

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Overlooking Stratford Park and Danube River

March 25, 2009 at 10:01 am (my life in france)
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Friday, February 28, 1992

Arrived Austria at 6:30AM, checked into our hotel overlooking Stratford Park and the Danube River.  Quick change and David’s off to his meetings.  I rested some more and then checked out the city of Vienna.  Now my $1 USD is worth 9 Shillings.  Lovely dinner at the Rauchfangkehrer restaurant consisting of delicious wienerschnitzel.

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Early Train to Zurich Switzerland

March 18, 2009 at 10:27 am (my life in france)
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Sunday, February 23, 1992

After church we decided we had better put together our income tax information since our French taxes must be prepared by March 2.  What an afternoon!

Thursday, February 27, 1992

Early train to Zurich, Switzerland.  We arrive at the Paris train station and David’s ticket out of the Metro station would not work?? David turns to go to the ticket window and a nice, French gentleman came back thru and put his ticket in the machine for David to go thru.  We board the train early and are approached by a man asking if we speak English.

He has a good story, entertaining, and we listen.  “He was with Texas Instruments in Nice, France, for 29 years, lost his briefcase in Paris yesterday and had to sleep on the steps of some building.???”  By this time we knew what he was leading up to.  “He had been at the police station getting new paperwork so he could return to Nice but needed 35FF for photos??” (In France, you need photos of yourself for everything and photo booths are everywhere).  He was smart to go after Americans who could understand the bureaucracy he was going thru and could sympathize with him (if his story was true).

So, David says sure we can spare 35FF ($7 USD) and we are free of this character.  Soliciting on the trains and subways is very prevalent.  We departed Paris at 8AM, arriving Zurich at 1:30PM.  David dashes to this 2PM meeting and I put our luggage in the train station lockers and proceeded to explore the city.

Evening dinner overlooking Lake Zurich consisting of excellent grilled steaks.  7:30PM train to Innsbruck, Austria – an absolutely beautiful train ride thru the snow covered Alps (especially the city of St. Antone, covered with snow).  We arrive Innsbruck at 11:20PM, transfer to the next platform, leave at 11:25PM exhausted and most ready for the sleeper train to Vienna, Austria.

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Met For a Trip to a Wine Cave in Elancourt

March 17, 2009 at 12:26 pm (my life in france)
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Friday, February 21, 1992

Met a friend, Linda Barstow, for a train ride into Paris.  We toured the Bastille, Notre Dame, Latin Quarter, and left bank area of the River, eating crepes for lunch at a restaurant on the left bank.  A very enjoyable afternoon.

Saturday, February 22, 1992

Met Louis for a trip to a wine cave in Elancourt, outside of Paris.  What a place!  Lots of French people go there to buy their wine.  It is available in bottles but also by the liters.  People were coming in with jugs, small barrels, etc. and filling them up as you would a gas can at a gas pump.  It was great fun to watch.  Needless to say, we purchased several different varieties (with Louis’ help).

Our average cost per bottle was $3.70 USD (amazing).  In the afternoon we drove to Chartres, France to visit the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame there.  The tour was fantastic!  We learned so much about the Bible stories portrayed in the beautiful stained glass windows and saw the robe of the Virgin Mary kept here.  It is said to be the robe she wore when she gave birth to Jesus.

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TGV to Albertville France

March 9, 2009 at 12:24 pm (my life in france)
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Wednesday, February 19, 1992

Very Exciting Day!  We took the TGV (high speed train) to Albertville, France to attend the ’92 Olympics.  What a fast and wonderful train ride and beautiful country.  Arrived Albertville at 3pm to find a small town surrounded by beautiful mountains alive with thousands of people, activities on the streets, bands, lovely shops, and good food.

In the evening we attended the ladies figure skating event.  It was great!  USA’s Kristi Yamaguchi was first with Nancy Karrington second, with a third USA contestant in 6th.  Let’s hope they can hold on to these positions after their second tryout on Friday.  Left Albertville at midnight taking the sleeper train back to Paris, arriving Paris at 8am, Thursday.

Thursday, February 20, 1992

Arrived at home at 9am – quick freshening up – off to Bible study for me and the office for David.

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American Church Visiting Choir

March 5, 2009 at 7:51 am (my life in france)
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Sunday, February 16, 1992

Once again the American Church had a great visiting choir.  An afternoon of catching up on office work for David and an evening Baptismal party at Ray and Maura’s for Stephanie Ann.

Monday, February 17, 1992

Actually saw our first snowfall in Paris today.  It was beautiful, but by the time I could get my camera, it was finished – a total of about 2 minutes.  The temperature was 39 degrees at the time so none of it stayed.

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