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Gretl's Travel Log
I am a well traveled little girl and have been to quite a few countries. I lost track after five, so I am going to record them here. My first country was Germany, kind of by default, because I was born there. My last country was France. My next country is ...?,
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Most recent Countries visited! FRANCE and HOLLAND
We just visited France 24-28 May 2003. We went to Paris last week and had a lot of fun. We rented a car and drove about 6 hours to get there, plus all of the stops on the way. We spent half a day at the Versailles Chateaux gardens, which we walked all around enjoying the flowers, animals, buildings, water fountains, and the day. We spent the rest of the day with some friends of Jack, with a large family. It was a very enjoyable afternoon with a French family. The next day we took the train into Paris, we did not want to drive or have to worry about parking. We had a nice long day, standing in several lines. The first to go up to the top of the Eifel tower and the second to go up to the top of the cathedral of Notre Dam. We took Gretl’s picture with the tower and the gargoles (from the Hunchback of Notre Dam). The next and last day we drove through the countryside and stopped in the lovely town of Chartres, where we visited the Cathedral, toured the old town, had lunch and got Gretl a French Doll. The only thing a little annoying about France was, that you cannot eat dinner in a restaurant until after 7:30, which is a pain. We did go to a Walmart type store for some recommended French stuff and into a second hand baby store, where the second hand clothes were as expensive as new stuff in the states. It was amazing. The food in France was good, but they are not quite as helpful with English menus as in some countries. We had to guess for the most part and tried to get a couple questions answered by the waiter. I was surprised how big France is, probably about the size of Germany. There are a lot more interesting parts of France that I would love to see, but we will see what the future holds. France was Gretl’s 10th Country.
We then visited Holland 23-24 April 2003 to visit the tulip fields that we missed last year. Gretl enjoyed smelling all the lovely flowers, well I guess I should say she loved playing with them and her parents enjoyed smelling them and taking pictures of Gretl in the flowers.
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POLAND March 22-26, 2003;
SWITZERLAND January 28, 2003;
AUSTRIA January 19-22, 2003
I just had a lovely lady, a distant cousin of mine from California (Shirley), come to visit me. We were in Poland from the 22 -26 March 2003 with a cousin, Shirley, from California. We went to visit some of the towns, where my ancestors lived. A lot of the towns of my ancestors are extremely small. Several of them are not even on the most detailed map. One that was on the map, had no road going to it, just a stream. We followed a road near it, that supposedly went to two towns the first 2 miles in, well we went about 3 or 4 miles and only saw one house, which probably was the first town.
We spent two days in the archives in Poland. It is definitely different to go through old church records and find the little treasurers they reveal, that is after you decipher the handwriting. The archives in Poland were wonderful. We also got to have our hands on
an original copy of the old records, instead of microfiche. We spent two days going through a book of random records from early 1820s to 1876. The neat thing was that my great great grandfathers birth was recorded on the very first page. It was interesting to try to decipher the handwritings and we were not always successful. We were so lucky that most of the people at the archives spoke German, one lady spoke it very fluently and had a soft spot for Gretl. She was very nice and took good care of us, making sure she
answered our questions and explained the rules. Gretl explored the books, the cabinets, the doors, the card catalogue and constantly keep empting out my purse. It was one of the few things that she wanted to do, because her toys were unexciting, she wanted to explore the new and unusual. She was also the youngest researcher to have come to the Polish Archives.
Gretl did awesome in our long days in the car. She definitely prefers the new direction of her carseat. She also loved nibbling on crackers and nilla wafers, and of course getting out to stretch and play with the steering wheel and all the stuff you can reach from the drivers seat. Hey, she already knows how to turn the lights on and off, use the turn signal and turn on the windshield wiper. She also can work the radio, her favorite was the volume buttons.
Then there was Switzerland. We were there on the 28th of January 2003. We took the train from Freiburg to Luzern, Switzerland. Our first destination was the beautiful covered bridge, mommy said the pretty pictures were missing. We saw some lovely swans and other birds in the lake. Then we wandered a little around town and looked for some souviners. Our last stop was the large lion monument. Then back to grab a bit to eat before getting back on the train.
I went to Salzburg with my Mommy, Carey and Kacey. We visited as many Sound of Music sites possible. Did you know I was named after the youngest child in the movie? Well we spent the first day in Mirabell gardens, before taking the Sound of Music tour. On the tour, we saw the sites outside the city with a lovely beautiful view of a winter wonderland in the alps. On the second full day, we adventured into a small town called ?????, where we took a horse drawn sled ride, Kacey went sleding, but I was a little young. On the third day we tried to see the Salt mines, but Kacey and I were too young, so we wandered around Salzburg. We toured the concert hall that the Trapps sang in the festival and trekked up to the abby to debate on what was filmed. We left early the following day for an exciting long day at Oberammergau and Neuschwanstein.
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ISRAEL October 2002
Sunday 13 October through 19 October 2002: Israel with friends. Here you got your first two teeth, well they popped through your gums on the 13th. You also figured out how to wave, but you didn't quite grasp why to wave. It was so cute to watch you wave and discover more of your hands. Tzala und Haral took us to Old Jaffa, Jaffa port, drive through Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem. We also went to Tzala's and Haral's wedding. Your first hebrew wedding, but not your first wedding. Tami, Omer and Amitik took us to a Kabutz (socialist style community), where you got to ride in a crib on wheels. Pinky took us for a drive on the Mediteranean beach. Tami's parents took us to the small town of Zippori for shopping and the gardens, they also took us to Ceasara, where we took a nice walk on the Mediteranean Sea, your first time in the Mediteranean. Tami's sister (Yalali) took us to a small Drew town in the Carmel mountains. Amer, Yosefa, Omri, Yotom, and Nimrod took us to Nazereth, the See of Galilee, and the border of Lebanon. You loved going back to sleeping with help from mommy and daddy. We did not bring your stroller, but you were just as content to be carried by Daddy or Mommy.
USA July and August 2002
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HOLLAND (NETHERLANDS) June 2002
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LUXEMBOURG April 2002, BELGIUM May 2002
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