German Church Service and Gardens

July 7, 2009 at 8:38 am (my life in france)
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Sunday, March 15, 1992

David proceeds to the show; Erin sleeps in; and I attended a German church service with the Bokers.  In the afternoon Erin and I took the fast train to Hamburg, visting St. Michaels church, the harbor and explored the city.

Monday, March 16, 1992

Erin and I visited HErrenhausen Gardens in Hannover – beautiful displays of cactus, amaryllis, orchids and many other plants.  Now it was time to catch up on some shopping.  Early dinner at a wonderful restaurant in the city centre and to the house to pack.

Tuesday, March 17, 1992

We leave Hannover 7:40AM on the ICE train to Mannheim, Germany, changing trains and arriving Paris at 5PM.

Wednesday, March 18, 1992

David is back to work in Paris and Erin and I toured Notre Dame, Sarbonne University, Cluny Museum, the Latin Quarter, and the Pompidou area in Paris.

Thursday, March 19, 1992

Bible Study for me; Erin manages to take the train to meet David and they tour the Louve and Orsay Museum.

Friday, March 20, 1992

One day trip for David to London.  Erin and I dash off to the market, catch a train to Chartres to visit the beautiful cathedral of Chartres.  Absolutely beautiful weather the last few days for touring.

Saturday, March 21, 1992

7AM TGV train to Lausanne, Switzerland and visiting the beautiful Eastern part of France and the Swiss Alps (this time of year covered with lots of snow.)  Train from Lausanne to Montreaux to visit the Chateau Chillon, enjoying a picnic lunch at the Chateau park area on Lake Geneva amidst the beautiful Swiss Alps.  Just breathtaking!  Boarded another train in Montreaux and went to Brig, Switzerland, a little farther into the moutains.  Beautiful city and gorgeous scenery.  Back to Lausanne to catch our TGV train, arriving Paris Saturday night about 10:30PM.

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A Train to the Show

June 29, 2009 at 12:39 pm (my life in france)
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Wednesday, March 11, 1992

We took the train to the show and watched as lovely snow began to fall.  In the evening a few of us stopped at the huge Bierhalle for a wonderful dinner and listened and danced to the music of 2 German bands.

Thursday, March 12, 1992

I slept in as David proceeded to the show.  I drove in later with Mr. Boker.  This evening we attended a reception for all the U.S. exhibitors given by the U.S. Ambassador.  Very nice party.

Friday, March 13, 1992

David proceeded to the show and I took the ICE (fast) train in the midst of heavy snow to Hamburg, Germany (a very neat port city).  Another reception tonight with top officials in Germany at the City Hall.  As we leave the show for the City Hall on the tram the sun is shinning; we exit the tram downtown and are greeted by heavy wind and lots of heavy, blowing snow – so much that we could not see the building we were supposed to be going to.  But we made it and enjoyed good German food, live music, met more new people and had lots of fun.

Saturday, March 14, 1992

5:30AM train to Dusseldorf, Germany.  Erin was waiting there from her journey from the U.S.  Back to Hannover to the show and a big party at the Bierhalle for the American exibitors.

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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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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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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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Luxembourg and My Bible Study

December 2, 2008 at 7:00 am (my life in france)
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Thursday, January 23, 1992

Early one day trip for David to Luxembourg and my day for Bible Study. In the past I have been driving the car but today David needed to use it. So, it’s 20 degrees this morning and I’m walking to the train. I get on the 8:55 am train. We sit in the station for a while and are not going anywhere. An announcement is made that neither this train nor any others will be going from this station for quite a while. But, we could go out of the train station and they would provide busses to transport us to our destinations.

So, everyone departs the station and stands outside for about 30 minutes and no busses come. A workman comes to the street and announces the train will go as far as Chatou Crosissy and then busses will continue the rest of the way. Aboard the train again and wait. I had to make some quick decisions now. How late did I really want to be? I once more got off the train, went out of the station, and proceeded to get a taxi. The young driver told me the train was not going to go to Paris and stop at Rueil (my destination), so I ran back for the train. (He could have made some money by taking there, but didn’t). The train was still there and so were lots of other people by now. Finally, we depart – it’s 9:50 AM now and I really have no idea how far we’re going.

Well, he did stop at Rueil and I take off to find my bus. And guess who is on the same bus – 3 other BSF students and the lady lecturer. Everyone had problems getting there. Apparently, a gasoline line was leaking somewhere between the town of Rueil and Nanterre, toward Paris. Therefore, trains were neither coming or going for quite a while. I finally reached my destination about 10:20 AM. What a morning.

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A Drive to Den Haag

November 30, 2008 at 7:00 am (my life in france)
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Tuesday, January 14, 1992

After an early meeting in Utrecht, we drive to Den Haag for yet another meeting. I check out the shopping center “Babylon” at the Central Train Station. We depart for Paris and return home about 10PM.

Wednesday, January 15, 1992

Usual work day for David and it’s “move furniture and put the house back in order” for me – the carpet looks great!!

Saturday, January 18, 1992

What a beautiful day! The sun is shining for the first time since our return to Paris on the 29th. of December from home. In the A.M. David played golf with Ray and in the afternoon a drive out of Paris to the Northeastern part of France where we discovered beautiful valleys, small towns, and Roman medieval buildings in the town of Provins. What a beautiful old sigh to see.

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Appointment with the Prefecture in Versailles

September 5, 2008 at 4:46 am (my life in france)
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Monday, November 18, 1991

9:30AM appointment with the Prefecture in Versailles.  Early train to Paris Centre to get our translated papers.  Real Surprise! The lady meets us on time and they are ready.  Off to the metro.  We stop by an American Express machine to obtain some cash from our U.S. account, but it’s not working and won’t take our card.  Across the street we go to a Carte Bleue machine to obtain money from our French account.

Only David can’t remember his “pen number”, puts in the wrong number and it keeps his card, telling him to check with his bank.  I’ve never used my card and can’t remember my “pen number”.  Time is clicking by.  Off we go with very little cash in our pocket and I don’t carry the French checkbook with me.  Back to the metro to connect to an RER to go to Versailles.

We see the sign for Versailles CH thinking its Versailles Chateau and board the train.  (The Prefecture is located across the street from Hotel De Ville and the Chateau).  For some reason, I had the feeling we were on the wrong train.  I recalled the time when several years ago, my mom, sister and I tried to take a train from Paris to Versailles to visit the castle.  Not knowing the train system at that time, we finally did get a conductor to try and tell us the name of the correct train.

I told David I remembered him saying “Vick” and I knew we weren’t on “Vick”.  David jumps up, looks above the door at the diagram of the train’s direction, and finds that this train changes tracks soon and is going to Versailles Chatilier (who only knows where that is).  Our problem now is – what station do we exit so our correct train would stop there?  Well – David chose one and off the train we go.

A sign appears and 1 minute later the correct train also.  What luck!  We arrived Versailles with 10 minutes to spare.  David uses his French and asks a passerby in French “Where is the Hotel DeVille?”  We were pointed in the direction and began to speedily walk.  We walked into the office with 2 minutes to spare.  Wow!  The receptionist took us to Mr. Lequiller’s office for our appointment and we let out a deep breath.

His secretary seemed a little surprised at our arrival and asked us in French what time our appointment was.  We could even tell her in French – 9:30AM!  He was obviously not in.  So, we wait.  One hour goes by.  People in and out of the office.  There seems to be some confusion.  The secretary decides we must be at the wrong office.  There are 2 Mr. Lequiller’s.  We’re again pointed in another direction (1 hr. late now) and visit with the right gentleman, hand over our numerous documents and copies and are issued a temporary residence card. WOW!

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