Whatchawearing
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Europeanvaction1979/17
My father was in the USAF. We spent nearly nine years in Europe. We lived in Greece, Italy and England. Every few years my Grandparents would come to visit. When they did, we were off for a five week journey across Europe. My grandmother kept a journal of our travels. Recently while cleaning out a closet, my Mother came across the journals. The memories came flying back! I decided to share these journels with you. Each day I will post a chapter as she has written them. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did.
The first Journal was in 1979. We lived in Hellenikon Greece.
Alpspitze
Garmish Germany
Garmish Building's
Innsbruck
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Day 17-Monday, June 11 1979
Sunlight streaming through the blue and yellow nylon tent awoke me early. Anyone who visits the Alps must keep memories of scenes that brought absolute exultation. Most vivid of all, to me, is a single white summit above the campsite, the Alpspitze, greeting me when I opened the tent door that lovely June morning.
Sometime around ten-thirty we finished the usual morning chores of dressing, eating and the ever constant rearranging of boxes in the van. Invariably the box wanted was always on he bottom of the heap hiding where it had been shoved by some member of the family. The job complete- for that morning anyway- we drove into town.
Garmish and Partenkirchen were separate towns up to 1935, when they were incorporated together, but the more familiarly known single name of Garmish is used most frequently. Bicyclists, youngsters or elderly white haired folks pedaled down the street absolutely unconcerned with modern traffic. They seemed to have the right of way and it was up to the motorist to come to a slower tempo.
This spotlessly clean city was bustling with visitors. The local shops along the main streets displayed a wide selection of articles most desired by tourists. Impatient to see all the shops, we hurried from one to another mingling with the carnival-like crowd. Our eyes were full of wonder and awe as we admired the homes' and shops' outside wall paintings done artistically in vivid colors depicting fairytale scenes, animals, flowers and even religious figures. We were to learn later that these murals were not done in oil, but rather in a special water paint put on while the plaster was being applied making the artist and builder work closely together. This method made the paintings last for years.
At a small coffee shop we satisfied Jan with her morning coffee while the boys ate ice cream and, since we had arrived on gas fumes the night before, Al went searching for a gas station.
Thirty miles of driving brought us to Innsbruck, Austria. The route alter-
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anted between windswept passes and warm green valleys. Often we saw flocks of sheep or herds of cows which had come to the Alpine slopes for summer. Wooden Heustadel, hay storage sheds, were in abundance in open fields along with hay-driving stacks, which we nicknamed "Cousin Its" because they looked for all the world like the character, Cousin It, on the old TV series, The Adams Family.
Parts of Innsbruck look much as they must have hundreds of years ago, with shoppers strolling in the shelter of Gothic arcades or along the broad boulevard lined with 18th century buildings in bright tones of yellow, rose, apricot and orange. And always the spectacular panorama of craggy peaks in the background.
Most of the shops were closed for the rest period, but we found a bakery open on a side street offering us a profusion of pastries, pretzels, bread and cheese.
Near Mittenwald, on the way back to Garmish, we left the main road and found a quiet mountain river which beckoned us to spend time near her shore. Consuming large chunks of crisp Austrian bread and cheese, we sat close to the rushing stream having a picnic. We found time to relax here away from the rest of the world in this serene Alpine setting contemplating the wonders of nature.
A heavy downpour later that evening left low clouds hanging over the mountain peaks. We had returned to camp during the rain, so when it cleared for awhile we walked to the nearby Camp Bar and Grill where we drank German beer and ate pizza until it was bed time.
