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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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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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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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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A Drive Thru Belgium and into the Netherlands

November 27, 2008 at 6:37 am (my life in france)
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Saturday, January 11, 1992

Early up to finish our shampooing.  Bet our neighbors below are enjoying the noise.  We departed St. Germain at 11:30am, for Utrecht, Netherlands, leaving our wet floors behind, arriving there about 4:30pm.  Driving thru Belgium and into the Netherlands, the fog was so heavy we could barely see 100 feet away.  If there were any Dutch windmills, we couldn’t have seen them.  About 1 hour out of Utrecht, a temperature sign told us it was -1C, which was cold enough for us.

All of sudden we noticed frost had overtaken the sides of the road that we could see and then we were in the midst of snow.  Just beautiful!  We had to stop at a park area to admire it and, of course, take pictures.  There was just one little stretch of it and suddenly we were out of the snow.  Our arrival at the hotel was painless enough but we couldn’t really see the city for the fog.

One thing you quickly realize, though, people have bicycles instead of cars.  There are bicycles everywhere!  It’s easy to get run over by one.  They have regular lanes on the streets for bicycles and they even have their own stoplights at street crossings.  Amazing.

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Halloween, but Not in France

August 19, 2008 at 5:58 am (my life in france)
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Wednesday, October 30, 1991

David leaves early A.M. for London returning late night.

Thursday, October 31, 1991

No Bible Study today as tomorrow is a holiday in France – “All Saints Day”.  Today is Halloween but you wouldn’t know it here.  The practice of Trick or Treating is not done here.  There are no candy bags for sale, nor any costumes.

We have only seen one small specialty shop with a few decorations in the window.  We had wondered how children would be able to trick or treat if it were a tradition here, as the access to apartment buildings and houses is only with a key thru common front doors, gates, etc.

Well, the car is packed.  It’s 5PM.  David was to leave the office at 1PM???.  He didn’t make it.  We’re driving to the Brittany area for this 3 day weekend.  guess we’ll leave tomorrow as it’s getting dark.

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Sunday, June 2, 1991

April 16, 2008 at 10:44 am (my life in france)
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This is the first post in the journal writings by Georgia Christal. They are being re-written in chronological order exactly the way she originally wrote each entry, starting with the journal, My Life in France, when she and her husband moved to Paris France for work. The title will always be the date of the original entry.

Departure for Paris – Sunday, June 2, 1991

Departure for Paris. With my family of well wishers to bid us farewell we finally boarded the plane only to wait thru a major rainstorm. But American Airlines Business Class was good and the Champagne was great!

Editor’s Notes

Images below were a family gathering before David and Georgia leave for Paris. Photos were taken May 19th, 1991 and the caption on the back (if any) says (1) Lunch w/ family prior to departure for Paris, France, (5) Angela Adamcik & Chase Hetmer.

Family gathering before departure to Paris France

Going away party for David and Georgia

Going away party for David and Georgia Going away party for David and Georgia

Going away party for David and Georgia

Going away party for David and Georgia

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