Little Peter - We are home!

Little Peter can be found all over town

Petermännchen, a Schwerin castle ghost, must have heard we were coming to Europe.  He decided to follow us around and play a few tricks on us, nothing serious of course!

First, little Peter arranged for me to get us lost when riding bicycles through the tulip fields near Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands. Friendly Dutch folks provided good directions as we were completely "off the map."

Then the little guy arranged for the German train drivers to strike just in time for our Amsterdam to Berlin train ride.  No problem, we were rerouted to Cologne to catch a Cologne to Berlin  train.  Oops,  as we approached Cologne, we transferred to a local train headed for Dusseldorf. The Cologne - Berlin train had been cancelled so it seemed.  No problem, we arrived in Berlin in time for spargel soup at a local pub.

Train strike over, we decided to visit Potsdam.  Upon arriving in Potsdam we found that the bus drivers for the bus to take us to Park Sanssouci had staged a sympathy strike, not all the drivers it seems, just the ones for the route we needed. No problem, we took a tram.

Little Peter apparently needed a break, so we didn't hear from him until it was time for our Cologne to Brussels trip.  The train drivers were back on strike. The Cologne train station was relatively empty. But Peter was kind to us - our train ran. 

All on board for our flight home, the pilot announced that Brussels radar had lost power - no arrivals or departures. Hearing nothing from airport officials for an hour, our pilot asked us to deplane.  After two hours of hanging around the boarding area while many inter-European flights were, one by one, cancelled, we reboarded our plane to wait another hour before our plane could leave. We were the first plane out.  No problem - we had a long layover coming up in Newark.  

Throughout the seven hour flight, a mom with a screaming kid sat next to Joanne.  Peter wasn't so kind to her.  I was lucky. The actual flight was uneventful for me.  As I stood up to get off the plane, the kid seated across the aisle from me vomited all over the floor and all over his pants.  There was nothing his poor mother could do as people had crammed into the aisle waiting to move forward. It was all I could do to stay out of the vomit or have him rub his vomit covered pants on me.  I did have extra pants with me so wasn't in any real danger anyway. Little Peter was just having some fun with us.

Just one more trick - Little Peter moved a line of thunderstorms through Newark just in time to delay our plane to Fort Myers by one hour.  

My cousin Constance and her husband Bill made a late night pickup and we were home about midnight without mishap.  

P.S. The Belgian train drivers went on strike the day after we left! Little Peter must be playing tricks on someone else now!

Farewell to Friendship Force of the Belgium Coast

Dancing with the Belgians at our Farewell Luncheon

We received quite a "send off" for our last day here in Oostende.  The day began with a tour of the city complete with views of the North Sea, sand castles and pretty boats.  Next was the almost 5-hour "good bye" luncheon at the Charles Lindberg Restaurant.  The meal had many courses - champagne, wine, 

1st Course - croquettes!

appetizers, croquettes, salads, steaks with choice of many sauces, ice cream sundaes, coffee.   We sang, danced (there was a keyboard player), and thanked our hosts for a great time.

Our wonderful host, Flo

Some observations about Belgium:

-They pay 52% of their wages for taxes with no complaints!  They are socialistic in their views and think that society should take care of the poor. 
• -They have great healthcare and the UK even sends some of its overflow here because of the excellent quality hospitals.
• -Like the rest of Europe  they have an efficient rail system which many use- it is very economical
• -They are not very religious.  Although they are Catholic, not many attend church except on major holydays e.g., Christmas or when their children receive Communion or Confirmation
• -They have many immigrants into the country
• -They have 2 dramatically different cultures - the Flemish in the North and the Wallanoons in the South (French) but they get along with 4 different government organizations - the French of Brussels, the Flemish, the Germans (miniscule) and the Wallanoons.

  

  The beautiful Belgian coast

-While they have monarchs (King Phillip and Queen Matilda), they are not as concerned about them as the UK.  Their government is a complicated democracy.  If you do not vote, a policeman comes to the door and you are fined. At one point they had no government for 22 months, but they just went on functioning.  They try to compromise.

-Their history is one of turmoil with invasions from the French, Germans, the Austrians, the Dutch and Spanish.  They became their own small country in the 1800s.

We enjoyed visiting with our hosts, Roger and Flo, and learning all about this interesting country!

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Visiting Flanders Fields on Memorial Day Weekend

 

Flanders Fields
 

Today is our "free" day and since it is Memorial Day weekend, we asked Flo, our host to take us to see Flanders Fields.  On the way, we stopped by one of Flo's friends who have a nice place in the country with fish ponds and chickens. We had coffee and talked sailing with Mark, one of Roger's sailing partners.    The town of Ypres is about 30 miles from where we are staying, in the seaside town of Oostende.  Flo dropped us off at the Menin Gate, an impressive monument to those victims of WWI.  We had a picnic lunch atop a

Liverpool Scottish Cross

 berm that runs along a canal.  There was a moving exhibit with panels pleading for peace in the world.  We also visited Hooge Crater where Welch miners fighting for the crown dug underground mines to detonate German artillery.  This action created a huge crater in the landscape.  We read signposts about it and viewed old shells and remnants of the war.  Today is a gorgeous sunny day.

Peace Exhibit - very moving!



Menin Gate commemorating lives lost in WWI

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A day in Brussels

The famous Mannekin Pis statue

Off we went with our Belgian Friendship Force Friends to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and also the seat of the EU and headquarters of NATO.  Immediately we noticed that most people here speak French while the area we are staying in speaks Flemish (very much like Dutch).  Our guide pointed out the Grand Palace.  King Phillip and Queen Matilda were out for the day so unfortunately we couldn't meet them !  The Mannekin-Pis (peeing boy statue) had the biggest crowds.  Every day they dress the boy in a different costume and today's fashion statement seemed to be an outfit in the colors of the Belgian flag.

The chocolate shops were everywhere and we enjoyed the free samples  We checked out a few lace shops. These days the lace made by the Belgians is rarer and very expensive.  We were told that lots of lace is imported from poorer countries.  There were comic strips characters painted on some of the buildings.  Belgium has produced some of the world's most popular comic characters, including Tintin and the Smurfs. 

Group picture in Brussels - warmer sunny day!

We had a lovely lunch of traditional Belgium pork sausage on a bed of smashed potatoes containing veggies.  The town was very crowded because its the start of a 3-day weekend, Pentecost.  Even though the country is Catholic, most of the young people attend church only on significant Church holydays or for Baptism or Confirmation.  We found this true of Germany also.  The Belgians are proud to host the EU and that peace has endured for the most part since the end of WWII.  



Chocolate shops everywhere



Lace shop displaying its wares

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Bruges

Bruges' lovely canals

Bruges is known as the "Venice of the North" and when we walked into the town this morning, it did remind me of Venice with its beautiful canals, cafes, Bell Tower and cobbled streets.  Swans were swimming everywhere on one part of the canal while the chocolate shops were doing a booming tourist business.  Our guide hit the top spots - the beautiful Church of Our Lady where we enjoyed viewing Michelangelo's sculpture, Madonna and Child.  The Begijnhof, a women's Benedictine retreat was interesting with its tree houses that were built for reflection.  The group had a wonderful lunch and many of us enjoyed strolling around window shopping and people watching. 

Swans on the waterways

Belgium has 120 different varieties of beer and over 580 brands - more than any other countries.  It's interesting that each beer is served in its own particular glass that has been designed exactly for it.  Since we were in the city of beer connoisseurs, some of us decided to participate in beer tasting at one of the local breweries.  The variety

100's of beers

is endless - there is even coconut beer! 

Michelango masterpiece

Bruges name comes from the Viking word for wharf.  Right from the start, Bruges was a trading center and in the 14th century became the most important cloth market in northern Europe.  It declined in the 16th century because its harbor silted up.  Then, in the 19th century, a new port, Zeebrugge, brought vitality back to the city and today tourism helps it prosper.  It is uniquely well-preserved and fun to wonder around. 

Would you believe chocolate owls

With our host, Roger Longhorn

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Visiting Belgium Coast Friendship Force

Ghent's water front

We left Cologne on the 11 AM train and even though there is a train strike, the German Railway decided to run its "international" destination trains.  So, off we went and arrived in Oostende, a beautiful Belgian port city on the North Sea.  Since it was dinner time, the club had a lovely pot luck for us all at the home of their president, Marie Paule Blonde.  I tried a cherry beer that

President, Marie Paule

tasted more like soda than beer with a little zing - very good.  Beer is their national drink and even the ladies indulge liberally.  Our host, Roger Longhorn, took us to his home and set us up in a nice bedroom with a private bath.  He's an American from Iowa married to Flo, who is a resident of the UK.  They've lived in Europe almost 39 years in different countries (UK, Luxembourg, and of course, Belgium). 

Today we had a wonderful time touring the medieval city of Ghent.  It became wealthy from the textile and grain trades and for a time, was one of the biggest cities in Europe.  During this prosperous time, it erected ornate houses and grand churches. 

Joanne with Renate demonstrating Ghent candy noses

Eventually, its fortunes fell, but today it is a thriving city and is home to Belgium's biggest university.  One of the club's members, Arlette, is a professional tour guide.  She took us on a fantastic walking tour and covered the highlights - The Church of St Nicholas, the Belfy (with a dragon rather than a cross on top!), and a renown altar piece, Van Eychk's Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (circa 1432).  The day finished with a guided boat tour along the city's canals and sampling a Belgian waffle. 

Belgian waffle with ice cream

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A brief stop in Cologne

The Beautiful Gothic Cologne Cathedral

Early on Monday we parted Schwerin station for a 6-hour train trip to Cologne, Germany. The group thought that this would be an ideal on-the-way stop for a few days before we started our next exchange in Belgium.  Cologne has the distinction of being the most bombed city in WWII - it was bombed in retaliation for Germany's bombing of London.  It is amazing to look at the pictures posted near the cathedral and realize the rebuilding that has taken place to put it all back together.  Yesterday we took a pleasant boat ride on the Rhine River and today we booked an English guided tour of the old city and the cathedral. 

The cathedral is huge and reminded me of St Patrick's in New York City - only much larger!  It's construction began in 1248 and was finally finished in 1880.  We toured the Museum Ludwig next door.  It features Picasso works and art that was saved from the Nazi's control.  We rented headsets and that helped us a bit in understanding some of the more non-traditional works! 

Tomorrow we are headed to Belgium,  but we heard today that the rail strike is back on!  Hopefully, our train will be able to get through.  Never a dull moment!

We order pig knuckle for dinner with mashed potatoes



Dennis in his unique hat

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Farewell to Schwerin

 

Schwerin Water Tower circa 1889

Today is Sunday and our last day with the Schwerin Friendship Force Club.  It began with a lovely breakfast and listening to outdoor jazz.  Later, we went out for Greek food - very good in Germany!  Our host, Elke, made a special black forest cake (pictured below) for the Good Bye dinner at the top of the town water tower.  It was the first time they've gotten permission to use it and it is a very unique place to meet.  The views of the town were awesome!

I thanked their club and gave them a donation from our club and then we all participated in a "Florida" show.  A translator helped them understand all the facts we had about Florida, e.g., "F" if for the Fountain of Youth that Desoto was looking for when the Spanish discovered it.  You get the idea!

All the club members made awesome homemade desserts.  Following that, there was a barbeque with grilled pork chop steaks, all kinds of salads, liberal wine and beer and more special puddings with sauces.  We will need to diet when we get home!



Elke's delicious home-made Black Forest Cake - YUM

There was a sun shower and suddenly a gorgeous rainbow appeared.  We are sad to leave these wonderful people.  Tomorrow we travel about 6 hours to Cologne for a few days on our own, then we will start our next Friendship Force Exchange in Belgium. 


A Rainbow Ending for our Farewell Party - just beautiful!

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Schwerin Castle & Grinding Mill - May 16

Today was the day to tour the inside of the Schwerin Castle and it was magnificent.  It is the Versailles or Sanssouci of Mecklenburg.  It was built by Duke Frederick who in 1756 began to convert his father's hunting lodge into a palace.  The highlight was the Throne Room, just what you would imagine, very ornate with red velvet and gold everywhere!  There were signs in English in every room that described the furnishings in detail and many pictures of the royalty in all their finery.  Check out the links for descriptions.


After visiting the castle, we snap a group photo of our FF Club

Schwerin Castle

Inside the Castle

They told us a great little story of Little Peter,
Petermännchen
who lived in the castle.  There are figures of him everywhere!



Magnificent Throne Room

Later we visited an ancient Grinding Mill, where we received a demonstration of how the rocks were mined and polished to create the granite and marble castle finishings.  Check out Grinding Mill  link.  It was a cold day yesterday - in the 40's.  They say that it is a cold spring this year so we bundled up.  Thanks, Mom, for the scarf you gave me last Christmas.  It is getting good use!

Our last day is tomorrow and our hosts have booked a jazz concert with lunch for us.  They have gone out of their way to be the very BEST hosts and have made us feel so welcome.

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Elke told me that you must have 3 things to be a member of Friendship Force:

  1.  You must like to travel
  2.  You must have the means to do so.

But MOST IMPORTANT

  3.  You must have LOVE for people...and they do!



Elke and Hartmut by their garden by the sea with LOVE!

Wismar - May 15

St Nickolai, Wismar

The club leader took us all on a gorgeous one-hour train ride, past yellow fields of rapeseed (canola) fields to the ancient town of Wismar.  Founded in the 12th century, it rose to prominence because of its large harbor on the Baltic Sea.  We toured its magnificent Gothic cathedrals
St Nickolai - one of the largest brick churches that was undamaged in WWII.  Brick making was demonstrated at St Mary's  and we viewed St  George that was heavily damaged but after reunification with West Germany, it was reconstructed with donated funds.



Richard found a mermaid

Sweden conquered the town and for 150 years had soldiers stationed there.  We ate a delicious lunch at  Alter Schwede, the oldest (1380) gothic townhouse in the city.  We toured a recently opened UNISECO world heritage site with an example of a merchant's home.  We viewed the Water Gate, the only part of a city wall that still remains.  The boats in the harbor were of interest - two huge masted sailing ships as well as a cute wooden sailboat called the Elephant. 

Two Friendship Force Presidents
Joanne with Hans

We treated our hosts to dinner on Lake Schwerin, where we dined on veal cutlets (schnitzel) and real German potato salad.  I'm really enjoying their white wine and Richard loves the beer! 


Richard enjoys a beer

Check out Wismar Churches

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Man's/Father's Day at seaside town of Warnemuende

Joanne testing out cold Baltic Sea

For our "free" day in the itinerary, our guests took us to see the Baltic Sea and the quaint seaside resort city called Warnemuende.  It has an attractive sandy beach on which hooded wicker beach chairs are set up.  It was too cold that day to sit on the beach, but we snapped a few pictures.  Hartmut and Elke brought their good friends (who are also in their Friendship Force Club), Dagmar and Walter with their dog, Kayo.  The Germans know how to relax and take in a good day at the beach.  It all started with us sipping cappuccino coffees.  A little later as we strolled along, they pulled out tiny bottles of vodka with fruit juice (just a few sips to warm up!).  We strolled along past small bars and fish restaurants.  It's a fun village atmosphere with families all enjoying the day.  It was a holiday - "Man's Day" (what it was called in East Germany) and now "Father's Day" where the men have off from work and party all day long.  Partying involves drinking or biking or watching soccer games or whatever.  By the way, when we had breakfast that morning, Elke had a gift for Richard for the day - a little bottle of whiskey and chocolate candy!



Joanne with Dagmar and Kayo

A few hours later, they took us to a fish restaurant, where we had crab sandwiches (they had the herring) and beer and special white wine.  Their friends are lots of fun and Dagmar speaks English very well.  We had lots of laughs!!  We watched a sailboat race - oh, then it was time for pizza at another restaurant!  By then, it warmed up a bit to sit outside in the sun.  The Germans take every opportunity to eat outside whether it is cold or not!  They have to soak up the sunshine that they have.  There is a long pier where we watched old wooden vessels transit the area.  All very interesting!   We had lots of fun with the dog - just a sweet gentle animal who attracts attention everywhere they go.  We then headed for home - a wonderful Man's/Father's Day for all!

Strolling along Harbor Front on Man's/Father's Day



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Schwerin - May 13

The beautiful castle in Schwerin, Germany, where we are visiting

After a nice 1-1/2 hour train ride from Berlin, we were greeted by the Schwerin Friendship Force Club.  Our hosts, Elke and Hartmut, took us to a restaurant with a view of the city for coffee and delicious cake.  There was a brief Welcome by their president and all the members of their club, 28 in all.  They explained that Schwerin was in the former East Germany and our hosts and most of the people in their club lived under Communist rule under the GDR (German Democratic Republic).  They could not travel outside of Germany, Russia or Poland.  They lived in government housing and there was little money.  They had to work 7 days a week - work, work, work - but everyone had a job.  They could see television from the west and knew what was happening in the rest of the world.  However, on the upside, Schwerin is a city on the shore of 7 lakes and beautiful wooded areas and farmland. 

In late 1989 some of the people in Schwerin bravely demonstrated.  They wanted to join the rest of the world and have independence,  So, they lit candles and walked together and even sang, "We shall overcome."  It was a scary time because the Police followed them around and they were not sure what would happen to the demonstrators.  Fortunately around that time, the Berlin Wall came down and "reunification" occurred with West Germany.  Some were able to get their homes and land back.  However, it has been difficult because there is still a high unemployment rate in this area - 15 to 20% - and that means that many of the young people have started to move away to the larger cities to obtain employment.  Others have to travel long distances to work.



With our hosts, Elke and Hartmut

Our hosts, Elke and Hartmut, are retired and have a nice home in an historic building that they purchased in 1999.  We have a nice room on the lower level with a private bathroom and sitting area.  They learned Russian in school and only a little English.  However, we have been  communicating well with a dictionary and Richard's little knowledge of German (which he took many years ago).  Elke and Helmut are lovely, warm people and we are enjoying them very much.  Tonight they took us out to eat and "German" bowling with their friends (who bowl once a month).  This is quite different from American bowling - but we got the idea and had a great time.  During the day, everyone went on a tour of the city, castle grounds and theater.   Tomorrow, they are talking us on a trip to see the North Sea.  Check out our photos below.

Our Friendship Force of Southwest Florida Group posing before the lake in Schwerin- HI EVERYONE!!

 

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Monday in Potsdam

Our friend, Sue Linehan, told us not to miss Potsdam so today we hopped a train, rode about an hour, and visited Frederick the Great's opulent palace playground.  It was a great day for it because the sun came out with 80 degree weather, quite a change from yesterday's biting winds and low 50 degree temperature.

Whoops - the bus that was supposed to whisk us from the train to the palace grounds was still on strike!  But all was not lost, we took a tram that required quite a bit of walking (but we needed some exercise).

The palace grounds were quite impressive and we decided to tour the Neues Palais (New Palace).  Well, not quite so new - it was built in 1769 with more than 200 rooms to accommodate all of Frederick's political guests and to show the world that Prussia was a force to be reckoned with!  We made it through 20 ornate rooms complete with some original furnishings - not quite our taste, but we could appreciate the craftsmanship of the royal rooms. We really enjoyed a complementary golf cart ride back through the gardens - the lilacs and azaleas were blooming and fragrant.

Check us out having a bowl of spargel soup for lunch.  Spargel is white asparagus that is only available mid May to late June.  It is delicious and we cannot get enough of it!  Just yummy!

Tomorrow we leave via train to begin our first Friendship Force Exchange in Schwerin, Germany.

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Berlin May 10

Famous Brandenburg Gate with the Goddess of Liberty

Before we left home, we heard that there was a German Rail Strike and we wondered if we would be able to use our EuroRail passes to get from Amsterdam to Berlin  It took a few advance trips to the train station ticket office to learn that there would be just a few trains running.  We were then booked to Cologne (a longer slower train) and all seemed to be going well.  Suddenly, a few stops before Cologne there was an announcement that we would have to disembark quickly and grab a local train to Dusseldorf where we could then connect to Berlin!  We quickly gathered our bags and scurried down 2 flights of stairs barely making the train.  In Dusseldorf we found our train and took the last 2 seats remaining (they were supposed to be reserved).  At any rate, we finally arrived in Berlin a few hours late and no worse for the wear.



Old American Checkpoint Charlie Sign

The next day dawned and we chose a "Hop on - Hop off" bus tour so that we could become familiar with this lovely city.  There is lots of construction going on. Of course, it was rebuilt after WWII - not to mention after The Wall came down in 1989, the East was reunified into the city. The Brandenburg Gate was designed as an Arch of Peace and is the former border of East and West.  While there, we happened upon an Israeli concert.  I spoke to one of the young men in the crowd. He told me that he and his friends became aware that their ancestors worked for the Gestapo.  To make amends, they were supporting and helping with this concert. 

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Reichstag, German Parliament Building



An interesting bike!

 


Old and new buildings along Spree Riverfront

Little Green Man Traffic Sign



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