Domain of the Golden Dragon Crossing the Prime Meridian- Part 6

Traveling Back to the United States 

Going the LONG Way

27 Sep 1965 - 23 Oct 1965

Part 6

In my previous blog post, I left my family on the train heading north to the Belgium border along the middle Rhine River to Cologne, Germany. Martha continues in her travel journal.

 Monday, 18 Oct 1965 -

"Our 5th stop is Bingerbrush (Bingen). Old castle on a hill across the river. Much traffic of barges on the Rhine. Clothes hanging out to dry on the barges. Families live on them. Fort on an island on the river. Trees & foliage along banks with beautiful autumn colors. Villages already looking more Dutch than German. Vineyards on the hillside on the other side of the river. We hit Koblenz at 1100. I started talking to our compartment mates. One was a man from Athens. He got off at Bonn. We had lunch & arrived in Cologne at 1215. We change trains to track 2A. It's very crowded. We saw the famous

Cologne Cathedral just across the tracks from the railroad station. We departed Cologne at 1245. We almost didn’t get seats. We ended up on the NO SMOKING car again. (My parents were smokers at this time in their lives.) 

Dusseldorf was our 1st stop. An old lady was peeking around from her compartment. I guess to see who was making funny noises. She had on a long black skirt, a long-sleeved blouse, a half apron & a black headscarf, a peasant-style dress. 2nd stop - Bruggen. 

We cross the border at Emmerich into the Netherlands. The train stops & police get on to check our passports & to make any money exchanges. Some German police were going home from work. We passed a neat little dairy farm. We stop at Erlhakm, a large size town. I saw neat rows of suburban type homes & apartment houses. Two elderly ladies get on. I saw a farm lady in wooden shoes checking her drying clothes. I saw Ayrshire cows, chickens, geese, pigs, & horses. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen farms like these. (Martha grew up on  a similar farm.)  We stopped at Utrecht at 1545 as we were running 30 min. late.

We arrive at Amsterdam at 1615, where we descend into a tunnel below the tracks. Gib discovers he forgot his Alpine hat & dashes back to the train but can’t find it. We go back upstairs to the main area & check Lost & Found. NO. They tell us to check when we leave. He thinks he left it in the compartment next to us when we were forced out of it as he was trying to save seats. Someone possibly walked off with it. We check in our excess baggage. Stan calls 2 hotels; no room in one, & the other doesn’t answer. The Hoksbergen on Singel Canal has rooms available. Gib checks costs of the trip to Brussels. We wait outside for a taxi. We sight cars & bicycles fighting each other in the homebound traffic. We show concern in which the taxi driver laughs & says, “Everyday like this.” At the hotel, there were brick-paved & tree-lined streets along the canals. It was a small hotel. We went up only one flight of narrow steep steps. A nice elderly couple runs it. The Check-In Desk was in the hallway. There was a small dining room to the left with throw rugs on top of their 4 tables. A small bar was in the corner with a TV & a few upholstered chairs. There was a kitchen & private sitting room to the rear. Our front room was overlooking the canal. Lovely. Tall windows with lace curtains & heavy brocade drapes. Two twins beds, a cot for Gib & a wall bed for Mary. Everyone was tired & irritable. Stan & I argue over the cost of the room which was 12 guilders per person, including large breakfasts, service charge 15% was added. We had a sink in our room. The shower was across the hall & the toilet was at end of hall. Very narrow buildings. We freshen up & go out for dinner. 

We walk to V.A.M.I. restaurant. Hungry for some Dutch "broodjes" which I thought were gooey-open faced sandwiches. These turned out to be thin sliced plain meat on top of an open- soft roll. I had to eat mine with a knife & fork. There was a peculiar odor like de-natured alcohol in the restaurant, but it had a nice atmosphere. Stan & I had an "advorkat" which is a yellow alcoholic pudding with whip cream. Very delicious & strong. We also had delicious vegetable soup served in large pewter cups. The children had "broodjes" & cream puffs. We walked back to our hotel about 1930. Mary & I watch American cartoons on TV with Dutch subtitles. We were all in bed about 2030.

Tuesday, 19 Oct. 1965 -

Up at 0830. We dress & down to our big breakfast of ham, cheese, fried egg, toast, white & whole wheat, jam & butter, coffee & tea. We pass the cleaning woman on way up to clean rooms carrying a big plastic bucket full of keys. We are outside about 1000. We walk along the canal. The children go back into our hotel to get bread to feed the ducks. Seagulls join them. Stan crosses the bridge to the other side to take pictures. 

Mary, Gib & Martha feed the birds with bread at the canal.

We cross the square. We take a glass-covered boat to tour the canals which lasted about 85 minutes. We pass rows of very narrow houses. Rembrandt and Anne Frank’s houses were pointed out along with the St. Nicola Russian Church near the railroad station. Seven bridge extensions on roofs of houses with hooks to hoist furniture into houses as stairs too narrow. Then into the harbor, where there were many floating dry docks. We return to the Rondvaart dock. We find the Victoria Hotel to find out where there is an American Express station where Stan & Gib go for money, while Mary & I browse in souvenir shops. We stand on the street corner watching a traffic cop turning the signals. 

I see my first woman in Dutch costume. The boys are back & we go across the bridge to the railroad station to get tickets for Brussels, 48.60 in guilders. We then browse up Damrak Canal to the Debok Restaurant. Tables were covered with yellow plastic table cloths. I had cream mushroom (champignon) soup which was terrible & followed by meat "croquetto," also terrible, with french fries. The others had meat patties with french fries. Stan & I had a beer. Out again & back to the railroad square where we went to the dock built with white & grey low Victorian-style buildings. We purchased tickets to take the boats across the harbor costing us Dutch 25 cents each. We then catch the bus for 45 minutes across to Volendam, a nearby fishing village. Across from us, sat a woman in Dutch costume with narrow crochet scant in blue & white design with tassels. A man wore wooden shoes. I see no windmills, but many dykes. We arrived at Volendam, a small quaint quiet village, about 1430. It looks like only married women wear Dutch clothing. The children dress like ours. There were many tiny 2 story houses with a peaked 2nd story. 

We walked off the bus at the bus station & walked around. Women dressed in black shoes & stockings, long black dirndl skirts, long blue, white & brown stripes half apron (note everyone leaves 2nd ties hanging loose), a black blouse with white embroidery, black peak cap with no wings. Dark plaid fringed shawls. Houses either red brick or shiny varnished wood. Some window frames painted in blue. Then we come across the waterfront & we see some men in black baggy trousers. We find many souvenir shops. I got dolls for Mary & 2 painted tiles for both grandmas. Everything so expensive. I also bought my postcards. Properties are very pleasant. Walking further along, we find a very tiny street & tinier houses. They hang clothes by twisting 2 lines rather than use clothespins. We find our way back to the bus station to catch the 1525 bus back. We stop at the Marken where a large group of blond rosy-cheeked, runny-nosed school children get on the bus. I note the style of the canal draw bridge. We take the boat back to Amsterdam. We walk back to the long Damrak Canal & stop in a candy shop & I buy 6 slides at 20 cents apiece.

Wednesday, 20 Oct 1965 -

Up at 0700. Dress, pack & out of Room 3 of Hoksbergen Hotel. Down to breakfast at 0800. Cheese, ham (thin slices), toast with butter, jam & soft boiled egg with coffee & tea. Stan pays the bill with a Travel Cheque as the young cook & waiter said “not American Express” as the mistress told us yesterday. We talked awhile to a couple from New York who are on their way to Munich. Our taxi arrives at 845 for the railroad station. Gib checks Lost & Found for his Alpine hat. No luck. We go up to platform 2 & wait for the Brussels car to be hooked on. It is a small 2nd class section with 4 groups of seats. We depart at 920. Our first stop is at Haarlem. The countryside is flat. I see trucks, dairy farms, & some old-style windmills at last. I can’t take pictures as the sun is on one side & the reflection is on the other side. I love my view of the canals, houseboats, immense field of flower (mostly chrysanthemums) hothouses. Our next stop is at Delft & then on to Rotterdam. We pass small wooden square frames with clotheslines sticking out of apartment windows. Farmland again. Next stop Dordrecht. Spend one last guilder & 30 cents on one coffee & Coke which we share. An elderly woman gets on & scolds a young man for smoking. Then makes him close the window & she closes the door. She spoke to me across the aisle this time in English & said it makes her furious to see people smoking in the NO SMOKING car. Later, after she leaves for the restaurant car, everyone lights up opening the windows, relaxes, laughs & talks about the old grouch. Next stop is Roosendaal. A lady gets on with her collie who nuzzles Mary & visits everyone. This makes us realize how much we miss our dog still in Japan waiting for us to arrive in the United States. We cross the border into Belgium. We arrive in Antwerp at 1145. Stan exchanges for the Belgium franc (49 francs to the American $1.00)."

This is the last entrance in Martha Cooper’s travel journal. I am sure she meant to fill it in at a later time.

Mary, Gib & Martha at the Stad Brussel in Brussels.

Mannekin Pis, otherwise the famous statue in Brussels.

We arrived in Brussels by 1230, according to my dad’s itinerary. We stayed at the Hotel Carlton-Brouse. Martha makes a note that it was “not so good.” Martha continues our adventure in her 1965 Christmas letter, "We stayed for an overnight where we saw the old Guild Houses, the flower market, & the old royal palace with its gardens. We had hoped to go to Paris, but time & money were running out."

Thursday, 21 Oct 1965 - Saturday, 23 Oct 1965

Here is my father’s itinerary for our last 3 days in Europe.

Thurs. Oct. 21 - Depart Brussels by train at 0950 for Oostend & arrive at Oostend at 1115 to catch the boat for Dover at 1500.  Arrive Dover at 1830. Depart by train for London at 1910. Arrive in London at 2030.

Fri. Oct. 22 - Day in London

Sat. Oct. 23 - Depart London by bus at 0715. Arrive Mildenhall at 1030. Departed at 1300 by PanAm MATS (Military Air Travel Service).  Arrive McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey at 1945.

Martha continues in her Christmas letter, “So we went to Oostend, Belgium, where we took the channel steamer to Dover, England. Then by train to London. [This is where we cross the Prime Meridian, unknown to me.] We had planned to have spent at least 4 days in England so we could visit British friends in Portsmouth; but the MATS flight schedule was changed so we had just 2 days in London & nearly choked to death from the smog. We peered at Buckingham Palace through the bars of the fence, had a photo taken this time with the British Guard, walked through a beautiful park, on to Westminster Abbey & the Houses of Parliament. We took a boat ride on the Thames to the London Bridge & the Tower. We rode on a double-decker bus to Piccadilly Circus, where we went to a theater & fulfilled Mary’s dream of seeing her Beatle friends in their latest movie “HELP” on home grounds. 

Stan met some friends while arranging for a flight home, & Martha did the laundry. We had a 3-hour early morning bus ride to Mildenhall through thick fog so we didn’t see any English countryside. We left Mildenhall on a MATS chartered PanAm flight at 1300. Mom also wrote about this memory (not in the letter) flying home from Europe. ‘Gib & Dad sat on one side of the aisle. Mary & I sat on the other side of the aisle. Dad reached over & handed Mary a note folded to look like an envelope addressed to her marked AIR MAIL!!’ 

Mary found this napkin at a later date. It was not addressed to Mary. It was for mom. We arrived at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, around 2030.”

I will never forget this privilege to tag along with my family to see the world. As a 9-year old, there were times I was ornery & showed it along with feelings of mania; also feeling in-between as I experienced different cultures. Travel is better than reading about different places. I am thankful I found my mother’s journal & my father’s photos so I could share these memories with my family & friends many decades later.