
What a lucky child I was to have parents that were so involved with their children's studies. While gone mother provided me with a journal and together we wrote in it every day we were on the trip. Dad took 8mm home movies and when we returned spliced the reels together as well as made a presentation board of all the monies of the different countries. Together my parents went to school with me and we told the story of our family trip. It might be appropriate to add, even if it dates me, that it was a luxury for a family in those days to get to go to Europe.
Here is my journal and then a bit about the places we journied to back then.
We left for New York in the afternoon. We were going to Switzerland but the flight was canceled so we went to Paris. On the airplane to Paris we got a big delicious meal.


October 22 - That morning we had our first breakfast in Paris. It consisted of bread, jam and tea. We also shopped in Paris that day. We then headed for Switzerland. That night we stayed in the Hotel de la Fontain. We ate a big dinner of chicken. The town is named Auxerre.
(REALTRAVELADVENTURES.COM - On our third day our tour was through beautiful agriculture hillsides to the little town of Vézelay with the Roman Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene on top of the hill. Here Medieval crusaders from three places converged before setting out for campaigns on Jerusalem. Since ancient times the crypt of the cathedral has been a shrine for the ashes and
finger bone reliquary of Mary Magdalene.
Pope Eugene II started the crusades in 1090. St. Bernard 1146 preached the Second Crusade here and Richard Lionhearted and King Philippe Auguste of France started the Third Crusade from here.
Today Vézelay is still a religious mecca, now claimed by Magdalene cultists and new age seekers. Many artists have made studios in the old brothels, which served weary pilgrims before they embarked on the Crusades and now display galleries of silk screens, oils, ceramics, and fiber arts. A wonderful place to select prized remembrances of our trip! Many of these buildings contain Roman vaulted cellars, some of which are converted to lovely restaurants and bars. )

Pope Eugene II started the crusades in 1090. St. Bernard 1146 preached the Second Crusade here and Richard Lionhearted and King Philippe Auguste of France started the Third Crusade from here.
Today Vézelay is still a religious mecca, now claimed by Magdalene cultists and new age seekers. Many artists have made studios in the old brothels, which served weary pilgrims before they embarked on the Crusades and now display galleries of silk screens, oils, ceramics, and fiber arts. A wonderful place to select prized remembrances of our trip! Many of these buildings contain Roman vaulted cellars, some of which are converted to lovely restaurants and bars. )
As we were coming down the mountains we could see the sun shining on the snow capped Alps. In Geneva we stayed at a good hotel de L'Ancre. We also saw Lake Geneva.
October 24 - We window shopped in Lusanne then we went on towards

October 25 - The next morning we drove 12 km or 7 miles to Bern and ate breakfast. We had planned to shop but found out the stores didn't open until 2:00. So we drove towards Zurich. That night we stayed at the Hotel Tellsplatte near Zug. We stayed there and walked down a path to the Lake. It was a pretty stroll. We had very good service there. We also saw the snow capped mountains.




At the end of the 13th century the sheriffs of Habsburg tyrannized and subdued the people who lived in the area that we today call Switzerland. The most cruel of them all was Gessler who used extremely humiliating methods. At a time he had placed his hat - decorated with peacock feathers - on a pole at the market-place of Altdorf and announced that every man who passed the market-place should fall down on his knees as a sign of appreciation and reverence.
On the rock near our hotel, where Tell miraculously managed to free himself, a chapel was built in later years. This chapel is still open today.
On the rock near our hotel, where Tell miraculously managed to free himself, a chapel was built in later years. This chapel is still open today.
One day William Tell - a hunter and farmer from the nearby valley of Schächen - passed the market-place with his son without paying attention to the hat. Gessler had him arrested immediately and told him that his only chance to stay alive was if he could hit the apple that Gessler had placed on the head of his son - with a cross-bow. Tell's arrow hit the apple and, when Gessler saw that Tell had prepared a second arrow, he asked why. Tell replied that it was intended for Gessler if he had hit his son instead of the apple.


October 27 - We drove up to Basil, Switzerland our last stop in
Switzerland. We road through Germany on the autoban. That night we stayed in a little town 20 km away from Metz, France.

(from Wikipedia: Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in Europe, and ranked 175th in size of all the 194 independent countries of the world; the country is about 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi) in size, and measures 82 km (51 miles) long and 57 km (35 miles) wide. To the east, Luxembourg borders the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, and, to the south, it borders the French région of Lorraine. The Grand Duchy borders the Belgian Walloon Region, in particular the latter's provinces of Luxembourg and Liège, more in particular the German-speaking Community of Belgium, to the west and to the north respectively.)



(Mom and Dad had brought us on a previous trip dolls from England - a guard from Buckingham Palace and an English Bobby (Policeman). Years later we always got a kick (as a family) out of the song, "England Swings" by Roger Miller (see at the end))
Flight 771 we left 12:30 from London to Chicago - flying time 8 hours and 57 minutes at a altitude of 35,000 feet (at this altitude outside temp is about 50 below zero). We will pass over Belfast, Ireland and in about 45 minutes after take off later we will pass over Greenland. We had a big meal. We also saw a movie.
We got to Chicago in 8 or 9 hours. We took a plane to Kansas City. In the Kansas City airport we saw some barbecue chips. They looked so good after eating foreign food.
In addition I had to keep a page on each country - their dress, food, homes, cars, scenery. highways and streets, places we saw and the people.
Some interesting observations of a fifth grader -
France - Vezalay - an old Medieval city with the largest church in France and said that Mary Magdelene was buried there. Dunkerque - an old city rebuilt because of the bombing there (during WWII)
France - Vezalay - an old Medieval city with the largest church in France and said that Mary Magdelene was buried there. Dunkerque - an old city rebuilt because of the bombing there (during WWII)
Switzerland - their homes are attached to the barns, the girls wear aprons over their dresses, scenery has very pretty mountains, lakes and countryside
Germany - four lane highways called autobans
Luxembourg (in my mother's handwriting - one of the smallest European countries)
Belgium - Brussels, a busy place more cars and people running around than in Paris
Great Britain - drive on opposite side of the street than we do
In the back of my book it was evident my sister and I must have been playing school. Mother also had a list of small trinkets to take back to our best friends, our relatives and teachers as well as items we purchased to bring back.
In the back of my book it was evident my sister and I must have been playing school. Mother also had a list of small trinkets to take back to our best friends, our relatives and teachers as well as items we purchased to bring back.
ENGLAND SWINGS
words and music by Roger Miller
England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben
The rosy red cheeks of the little children
Now, if you huff and puff and you fin'lly save enough
Money up to take your family on a trip across the sea
Take a tip before you take your trip
Let me tell you where to go
Go to England, oh
England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben
The rosy red cheeks of the little children
Mama's old pajamas and your papa's mustache,
Falling out the window sill, frolic in the grass,
Tryin' to mock the way they talk, fun but all in vain,
Gaping at the dapper men with derby hats and canes.
England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben
The rosy red cheeks of the little children
England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben
The rosy red cheeks of the little children