Summer Travels

August 2006

TO ALL

I have been putting off writing this travelogue because I’m not sure that I want to confess that I have been traveling again. I’m starting to feel like an extravagant, irresponsible woman. But --- I’m told that confession is good for the soul, so here goes.

On June 1^st, Mike and I, and my dad all converged on Tacoma for Deanna’s graduation. I had planned to get there a week earlier but Space A totally failed me. (That’s a whole other story, that I’m not going to bore you with.) Amy and Alan joined us in Tacoma for the weekend so we were all together for Deanna’s graduation from Covenant High School on Friday evening and a party on Saturday evening. Planning a party from half way around the world isn’t easy, but thanks to some major help from friends in Tacoma it came off reasonably well.

Deanna The Graduate

Deanna The Wet Graduate

The Rendezvous For Graduation

Mike flew back to Germany the following Tuesday. I stayed in Tacoma a couple more days and then took off with Amy on Saturday (June 10^th) for a week of camping in British Columbia. Amy had a break between the end of her Spring Quarter and the beginning of the summer session and it seemed like a good time for the two of us to do something together. It turned out to be a really relaxing trip. I think that Amy got a little bored – though she didn’t take me up on my offer to go home a couple of days early, so I guess it wasn’t too bad.

We went north along the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia (the mainland, not Vancouver Island) to the end of the road which is Powell River. Then back down the coast to where a road goes inland to a major ski resort called Whistler. We went through Whistler (as quickly as possible!) and on to Lillooet which is on the Fraser River. Then down the Fraser River to Hope, BC. Then east to Osoyoos and back home via Lake Chelan and the North Cascades in Washington. We pitched our tent in a different spot every night, cooked meals on Amy’s stove, built campfires at night, read books – both to ourselves and to each other – rode bikes, took short hikes, swam in several lakes, slept late in the morning, and just generally goofed off. It was fun.

Three highlights for me:

(1) The first night out we pitched our tent in a Provincial Park called Halfmoon Bay. When the Park Ranger came by to register us and collect our money, he commented, “You are the second family in this campground tonight with the last name ‘Strohm’ . . . . but the other Strohm’s are from Germany.” Having never EVER met another Strohm (except those I knew beforehand I was related to), I was a little bewildered by that statement. After a lot of stammering and stuttering, I somehow I managed to clarify that the “other Strohms” did in fact spell their name exactly like ours and that they were in campsite #24. I went to campsite #24 and introduced myself. It was a couple from Hamburg, Germany. Her maiden name was Strohm and she had never taken her husband’s name (supposedly this is common in Germany). We had a very interesting conversation and she enlightened me about several things related to “Strohms.” The name is not common, even in Germany. The family originated in a town called Villingen, south of Stuttgart and even today most Strohms live in that area. She was as blown away as I was about meeting another Strohm out of the blue and a long ways from home.

Fraser River

Campsite
Half Moon Bay

Half Moon Bay

Half Moon Bay

(2) We saw a black bear up really close, but in a safe situation. We were enroute from Whistler to Lilloet. We stopped at a place called Jofres Lakes Provincial Park, intending to go to the bathroom and take a short hike recommended in one of our tour books. When we returned from the bathroom there was a bear standing at the trail head about 30ft from the car. We stood on either side of the car with the doors open, between us and the bear, for quite a while, watching and taking pictures. He was munching on grass and dandelions, all the while coming closer to the car – on my side. About the time I started wondering how much closer I was going to let him get before I got in the car and closed the door, a large semi whooshed by on the highway and scared him off.

Nancy sighting a bear

The bear sighting Nancy

Lake enroute between
Whistler and Lilloet

(3) Lake Chelan was a real delight. We lived in Washington for 4 years but somehow never made it there. I would like to go back and explore some more – take the ferry to Stihikin, etc. We arrived in the early afternoon, pitched our tent at a campground and found a place to swim on the south shore. The air and water were perfect temperatures for swimming. The water was clear, the beach was nice. It was sunny. I took my thermarest pad out in the water and floated on it for quite a while. Thermarest pads are very useful devices. In addition to being very comfortable to sleep on and suitable as floatation devices, I also figured out on this trip that one can rig a makeshift lawnchair out of a thermarest pad and a bike rack. They should pay me to advertise, huh?

Lake + Mountain + Swimmer

1 ThermaRest + 1 Bike Rack = 1 Improvised Chair

One minor incident in an otherwise calm and peaceful camping trip --- one night toward the end of the week some kind of an animal found its way into the trunk of Amy’s car, chewed through the zipper of my suitcase and ate big holes in one of my favorite sweaters. DARN

Moving on --- Space A did manage to get me back to Germany in an expeditious way. I was home for about 10 days and then Josh and Laura Carlson arrived. We spent the next 10 days traveling with them and had a great time together. Josh and Laura are friends from Tacoma that are now stationed at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. We took them to several of our favorite places --- the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland, Neuschwanstein Castle, Rothenberg, etc. Mike had a 4 day weekend since it was the 4^th of July so he went with us to Switzerland. When the weekend was over, we put Mike on a train in Zurich so he could get back to work and the three of us continued on our own to Neuschwanstein and Salzburg.

We got home before the next weekend and did some stuff with Mike in Heidelberg. Then off to Rothenburg on Monday and a couple of quick stops in Worms and Mainz on Tuesday on the way to the airport.

Worms Cathedral

Here are some notes on things we saw / did this time that we haven’t done before:

(1) We took the gondola to the top of the Schilthorn (I had done this before, but Mike had not). On the way down we took the gondola only as far as Berg and then walked from Berg down to Murren. I don’t know how far this was in miles, but Rick Steves calls it something for “hardcore” hikers – probably a bit of an overstatement since I am definitely not hardcore. The only real “problem” was keeping from slipping and falling on loose gravel – the path was really steep. The highlight of the first half of the descent was the incredible views. The highlight of the second half was the wild flowers. This was our third time to visit the Lauterbrunnen Valley, but the other two times were in September and I don’t have any particular memories of wildflowers. They were unbelievable this time. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many wildflowers in all my life. Unfortunately pictures don’t seem to capture fields of wild flowers very well.

Views from the Schilthorn gondola

Views from the Schilthorn gondola

Views from the Schilthorn gondola

Views on the downhill trail

Views on the downhill trail

Mike on the downhill trail

Nancy and Laura on the downhill trail

(2) The next morning we visited Trummelbach Falls which is on the valley floor. We had seen signs about this on previous trips and read about it in the tour books, but it cost money to see and somehow Mike and I both have a gene that revolts at the idea of paying money to see a waterfall. This time it just seemed like the thing to do and it turned out to be pretty neat. The waterfall is sort of inside the mountain and you view it by taking an elevator and then walking around on various paths, stairs and viewing platforms. In spots it was almost like being in a cave – other places had more daylight. I guess what was interesting was the massive amount of water descending through such a small space and the incredible number of twists and turns it takes to get to the valley floor. Again, no way to get any really good pictures – this time because of the low level of light – but that didn’t stop either Josh or I from trying!!! It was a neat little excursion.

(3) That evening we drove to Grindelwald – the next valley over from Gimmelwald and a LOT more touristy. We tramped around town for a while and then found a neat place to eat dinner and watch an incredible sunset. There is a gondola ride from Grindelwald that I would like to come back and do sometime – kind of pricey and too late in the day to do on this trip.

(4) Neuschwanstein was a different world than the last time we were there. Before (almost two years ago now) it was foggy and rainy. We didn’t walk up to the Marien Brucke (Bridge) above the castle and we hardly got any pictures of the outside of the castle. In fact, I remember my dad commenting that he didn’t see how you could get any pictures of Neuschwanstein. It is up on a rock outcropping and it didn’t seem like you could get far enough away from it to get a picture. Well ---- it turns out that there are all kinds of places from which to view Neuschwanstein and take pictures. The problem before was the fog! There are views from several of the roads in the area, also from the Ticket Office itself and from various hiking trails. After touring the castle, we hiked up to the Marien Brucke and took pictures from there and then hiked quite a ways above the Marien Brucke, where there are even better views. I had thought that I would not tour the inside of the castle this time, since I had done it before and it’s a little pricey, but I decided at the last minute to do it anyway and I was glad. The tour guide was better (or maybe I’m just better at deciphering bad English than I was before) and it was all very interesting again a second time. My Aunt Lynette has put forth the idea that “Mad” King Ludwig (the guy who built Neuschwanstein) was in love with Sissy, the Hungarian wife of Franz Josef (a Hapsburg) and that Franz Josef got wind of it and had him killed. I must say that, having now been back to Neuschwanstein and had the opportunity to listen and look with that in mind, it makes a lot of sense. Our guide showed us a wooden chest that was given to King Ludwig by Sissy and she commented that Sissy was the only real friend that King Ludwig ever had. Sissy was a LOT younger than Franz Josef and, although he loved her passionately, she was never really happy being married to him.

Neuschwanstein from Marienbrucke

Neuschwanstein from above the Marienbrucke

(5) We made a daytrip to Salzburg from our hostel near Neuschwanstein. Initially we thought we would do the Sound of Music Tour, but in the end we decided to just look for some of the sights on our own. We located the gazebo in which Leisl and Rolf sang “I am sixteen going on seventeen” and the Abby where Marie lived, but then we got distracted by the Salzburg Cathedral and the huge fortress on the hill overlooking Salzburg and ended up spending the rest of our time touring them. We ended the day walking through St. Peter’s Cemetery which was the inspiration for the cemetery that the von Trapp family hid out in in the movie. When we got home the next night we borrowed a video of “The Sound of Music” and had fun picking out the landmarks which we had just seen firsthand.

View of Salzburg
from the Festung Hohensalzburg

Laura and Josh
Sound of Music Gazebo
Hellbrunn Palace

(6) We’ve seen three fireworks displays in the last few months (one with Josh and Laura) and I’m really impressed with German pyrotechnic skills. Maybe I just haven’t seen any good fireworks displays in the States recently, but somehow these were all extra enjoyable. Two of them were what Germans call “Castle Illuminations.” They have these several times a year in Heidelberg, but we’ve always been out of town. First they light some red flares inside the Heidelberg Castle which makes it look like it is on fire (it really was on fire at some point in the past – it is actually a castle ruin). After the flares die out, they do a fireworks display either right in front of the castle or from the Altstadt Bridge which is pretty close to the castle. Either way, if you are observing from across the Neckar River, you can see the castle as it is illuminated by the fireworks which is pretty cool. There is also something different about the fireworks themselves. The visual effects are more varied, as well as their location in the sky – some go off closer to the ground and others appear to be almost overhead. And there is sort of a rhythm to the explosions as opposed to occasional bursts with silence in between.

Castle Illumination
Heidelberg

Castle Illumination
Heidelberg

We saw a fireworks display a couple of weeks ago at the Schwetzingen Castle (near Mike’s office) – an event called Lichterfest. The Schwetzingen Castle has a huge garden / park around it – big enough to accommodate 25,000 people. The event started about 5:00PM with various kinds of bands and dance groups performing at various times and in various places around the garden and, of course, the usual food vendors interspersed between them. When it got dark they started the fireworks. One of the most popular musical groups was an Army Reserve Band from North Dakota doing their 2 weeks annual training – what a way to serve your country and have fun at the same time!!!! About 90% of the music heard in Germany is American music. When you turn on the radio the announcements are in German but the music is all English – the same stuff you would hear in the US. The music at the Lichterfest was all familiar – Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood,” the “Theme from Rocky,” “YMCA” . . . . etc. It’s interesting to be sitting on a lawn chair in a castle garden in Germany, “wall to wall” people, and everyone around you is waving their arms in the air and singing “Y . . . M . . C. . . A.”

188th Army Band from Fargo, North Dakota
Lichterfest, Schwetzingen, Germany

Lichterfest Bandstand
Schloss Schwetzingen

A note about the World Soccer Cup before I go on to family news. I am not particularly into sports of any kind – definitely not soccer – but it was interesting being in Germany during the last couple weeks of the games. At the risk of stating the obvious – the World Soccer Cup was a BIG deal in Germany. Most towns had a common area set up somewhere where people could congregate and watch the games on a big screen. When there was a game going on, the autobahns were empty. You didn’t have to watch to know when a game was over or who won – you could tell by the cheering and horn honking. After the next-to-the-last-game when Germany won 3^rd place, the horn honking went on for several hours.

There were – and still are – German flags all over the place. Soccer fans typically have a stick with a small flag on it attached to one or both of the back windows of their car. When the World Cup was going on it was common to see cars with flags from other countries such as Italy and France, as well as ones with German flags. It was also common to see Germans “wearing” flags in various ways and lots of people went around with a German flag “tattooed” on each check. A friend of ours who has lived in Germany most of her life has commented that German flags were not all that common prior to the Soccer Cup – somehow the German flag was associated with unpleasant things from the past. It seems like the Soccer Cup may have changed all that.

Deanna
Sporting those colors from the German National Flag

This past weekend we made a quick trip to Zurich to see Alan. There is a Google office in Zurich and Alan is there for a month, checking out the situation to see if he might like to transfer there on a more permanent basis. He actually already knows some people from the Zurich office because about a third of the people working on his project are from Zurich – they communicate with each other via phone and instant message. In fact, his team (about 18 people?) just got back from 5 days in Bermuda courtesy of Google – a reward for their project having “gone well” so far. What a company to work for!

Google has a furnished apartment in Zurich for temporary people like Alan. He has his own bedroom and bathroom plus a common kitchen and living room – two other employees in the same unit. His room is basically a really nice, really huge attic. It has slanted ceilings and dormer windows on either side of the room -- which is convenient since there is no air-conditioning in it. (There is very little air-conditioning anywhere in Switzerland – you have to have a permit to put it in and permits are really hard to get. Even Google’s office building doesn’t have it). Alan’s room is on the 7^th floor of the building (no elevator). In his room is a stairway leading to a “hatch” which allows access to the roof – really neat views.

"Up On The Roof"
Mike, Deanna, and Alan
Alan's Zurich Apartment

Zurich is about 3 ½ hours from Heidelberg. We left Saturday morning and stopped in Villingen on the way – the town which the Strohms are supposedly from. We spent a couple of hours exploring the Altstadt (the old town) looking for evidence of relatives, but didn’t find any – no Strohm nameplates on any of the doors, no streets named “Strohmstrasse.” It was a neat little town though. We arrived in Zurich about 4:00PM and spend the evening exploring the Altstadt there with Alan. Zurich is a really pretty town – the Altstadt is situated along the Limmat River as it empties into a large lake called the Zurichsee. We camped out on the floor of Alan’s room on Saturday night, went to church with him the next morning and then headed home about 4:00PM on Sunday. The church we visited with him seemed like one that Alan might be happy at if he ends up living in Zurich for a year or two. It was called International Protestant Church – services in English, some Americans but lots of people from other countries too. The preaching was decent and theologically sound, the music was traditional hymns (which Alan likes), the organist was incredible and the sanctuary was full. They have a college / professional group that is fairly active plus a bunch of other community groups that meet in homes during the week.

Deanna has been in Germany for the last three weeks. She went to Bootcamp at Precept Ministries again this year – this is her 4^th time – and had a great experience as always. From there she flew to Germany. Unfortunately when she got here we were in the midst of a heat wave that has just finally subsided. It has been REALLY miserable. There is very little AC anywhere in Germany and even at night it hasn’t exactly been pleasant. Today is the first really nice day we’ve had in about 6 weeks. I think it’s supposed to last for a few days at least. Of course, as luck would have it, Deanna and I are headed for Maryland and then to a church camp in NJ where we will NOT have AC in our sleeping area.

Tomorrow morning, Deanna and I will make our first attempt to “hop” back to the States. Deanna has to be at Cedarville for freshman orientation on Aug 18^th, but before that she and I are going with friends from Baltimore, the Tallents, to a church camp in NJ called Harvey Cedars. Mary and Ron Tallent are “old-timers” at this camp and have been talking to us for years about going there with them. Deanna and I are going to check it out this year. It’s a family camp and apparently the schedule is pretty leisurely – lots of time to spend on the beach etc – but hopefully there will be some good preaching and teaching also.

When I get back from taking Deanna to Cedarville, I will have family arriving – my dad, brother, Alan, and Amy. We are headed for Italy for a week and then to Norway. Mike is going to able to join us for most of the Italy trip and all of the Norway trip. Yeah!!!! Meanwhile, he is enduring his job and Amy is enduring a summer of chemistry. This too shall pass.

And you, my friends, have endured my rambling long enough. Time to quit.

Nancy