JerrysJourneys

This is the final post for this blog.  When you read this we should be somewhere over the Atlantic.  Two years of planning for a 3 week trip.  We have seen a lot, did a lot, great food, great adventure and best of all shared with good friends. Linda, Jerry, Jerry, Mary Ann

Our last day as tourists...  Tomorrow we head home.  We got a good view of Berlin yesterday, both East and West, from a bus.  Today we decided to do it on foot.  We took the bus down to the Potsdamer Platz and hopped off.  We spent several hours at the Documentation Center (the Topographie de Terrors) and read about the history of the Nazi movement from beginning to end.  It followed the events up to and including present day.  The problems the Berliners faced in the 20's, the developments in the 30's, the events leading up to and including the end results of WWII.  It talked about what happened to Berlin after it was divided up and when the wall went up and then was taken down in 1989 and what has happened in the intervening years.  We had planned to end the day by 5:00 pm and return to our hotel and make plans for our departure tomorrow.  After leaving the Documentation Center we walked over to Checkpoint Charlie, ate lunch, and hopped on the bus for the hotel. I was looking ...

Sitting at home in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's......you get the idea.  The Berlin Wall, the Cold War, while a reality and a concern in our lives, it takes on a new meaning when you can see the effects in person.  Being newcomers to Berlin, we wanted to orient ourselves to the city proper.  So we did as many thousands of tourist before us,  we got on the "Hop on, Hop off" and learned about the East and the West.  The yellow route was primarily in West Berlin and the purple route was in East Berlin.  While there have been many strides forward since the wall came down and the unification took place, there is the difference like  night and day between the two sectors.  The West, while under the supervision of the Allies (the U.S., Great Britain, and France), moved forward and the East was stagnant under the Russian supervision. 1945 was a dreadful period of time for the  Berliners, refugees from the East, released prisoners, returning soldiers.  Everything was dest...

Our trip across Europe continues.  After breakfast we went to the train station  in Brussels to catch our ride to Berlin.  We met a very nice Belgian lady, who happened to going on the same train as we were and made sure we were on the correct train. Everything was going just great.  We had to change trains in Kohln.  Our original schedule gave us 33 minutes for a change.  However, due to a slowdown on our train, when we arrived in Kohln we had 7 minutes to de-train, go from track 4 to track 6, and board our next train.  We got off, made our way to the proper track as our train pulled in.  We were on board and moving in about two minutes.  When they say these trains are departing, you had better be on it or you will be waving it good bye. While on the train, Mr. Hankins made a new acquaintance.  A chap from Australia.  Jerry was telling him about our trip to Normandy.  He asked Jerry, " Which theater were you in?,  the Pacific or Europe?" Our speed Our ride Nice Belgian lady ...

Before we started the day, we decided to have a cup of coffee.  Hankins went into a coffee shop to buy two cups.  "Do you want small or grand?", he was asked.  Grand..he said.  and that is how we ended up with two bowls of coffee. As bad as the tour yesterday was, today was so much better. We took a group tour to Ypres, Belgium with about 25 of our closest friends.  We visited the "Ypres Salient", a WWI battlefield that saw horrific losses on both sides from 1914 to the end of the war in 1918.  Our guide, Dietrick, was excellent.  He was an elderly gentleman, around 65 years old, and was very good in painting a picture of events that took place 100 years ago.  We visited the trenches, the battlefields, the museum,  the cemeteries, we walked the ground.  What went on here is almost beyond comprehension.  The war to end all wars.  Did not happen. Every day at 8:00 p.m. there is a remembrance ceremony at the Menin Gate to honor the fallen from the Great War.  This has ...

This has been a great adventure.  Everything has gone very well, from our departure to England, various tours, France was exceptional, and we headed for Belgium.  A trip highlight was planned.  A private tour of the "Battle of the Bulge".  So we thought.  Jean(John, Jacque) picked us up at our hotel to begin the tour.  An English spoken tour, mind you.  So we headed off for the Ardennes, sight of one of the most famous battles in the U.S. history of modern war fare.  This was as good as it got. Our tour guide was not fluent in English.  We all had a difficult time understanding him.  I don't want to bore you, but it was bad. We went to the Big Red One (First Infantry Division) monument.  Jean said this is a monument to the Big Red One.  They fought the Germans at this location.  We drove through a valley that was called "three bridges".  Here the U.S. Forces blew up three bridges that stopped the German Armor advance.  Jean was not sure which bridges were blown ...