HomeARC ML 2727
NOW IT CAN BE TOLD!--Chapter 6: Paris to Rome! DO 2727 3/91
--Story Time with Grandpa!
1. (David: Thank You Jesus! Amen, thank You Lord! We pray for Grandpa that You'll bless him as he tells us our Story tonight, Jesus. We pray, Lord, that we'll be able to be good listeners & that we'll be able to learn something, & thank You for how it's been so much fun & so interesting, in Jesus' name, amen! Thank You Lord!) Amen! Thank You Lord! Techi, would you like to pray too?
2. (Techi: Amen! Thank You Jesus! Thank You Lord! Thank You Jesus for this time, & for sweet Grandpa taking his time to tell us these really interesting things about our Family & all the things that took place, Jesus. We really pray that You'll anoint him, Jesus, & help his memory, help him to remember all the different things, in Jesus' name. Amen!) Amen, Lord help my memory! Remember, this story is 20 years old, so that's a long time ago for me to be remembering so many things! Praise the Lord! Thank You Jesus!
3. Well, we've been to Iceland & to Luxembourg, to London & to the Hague & to Amsterdam, & then we went to Denmark, Copenhagen! The most famous quote I can think of about Denmark is, "There's something rotten in Denmark!"--And there sure is! It's the pornography! Anyway, after Denmark, we took a train down the Rhine River to Munich, Germany, then on that night to Vienna, then Zurich, changed trains in Geneva & finally to Paris!
Mail Pick-Up in Paris!
4. I told you last time about our arrival in Paris, & here we got our second hotel since London with a "lit de matrimonial" as they call it, a wedding bed!--In other words, a double bed as we Americans call it! In Paris they call it a wedding bed. The French are quite sexy! And that's where Mama discovered her first bidet & we went out to eat at the little restaurant where they had the 9-Franc spaghetti, remember? (David: Yes.) OK! We were tired by this time, we'd had a long train trip, so after dinner we went home to the "matrimonial bed" & went to sleep. We slept in and the next day we went out to see Paris!
5. We didn't have much time to see Paris, just what we could see on our way to the places we had to go, & the main place we had to go was to pick up our mail at the American Express office. They have a mail delivery service, like a General Delivery, where you just go in & pick up your mail & pay a little fee for it.
6. To get there you had to go down in the bowels of the Earth & take a subway, which in Paris is called the Metro. Thank the Lord He led us to quite a few people in Paris who spoke English, so we were able to ask directions. We'd go to the ticket window & say we wanted a ticket to, I think it was called "Place d'Opera" (Opera Place), because the huge beautiful Opera House was right across the square from the American Express office. (Techi: Did you go to the opera?) No, Honey, we didn't have time. Ha!--And we were afraid to spend money on hardly anything we didn't have to have on that trip. All we usually spent anything on was food & lodging. We'd already bought our Eurailpasses, so thank God we didn't have to buy train tickets!
7. We were always hoping there was some money in the mail. (Techi: Was there?) Yes! We were expecting some money, and there it was, thank the Lord! Dear Josh had sent us $1,000, and we carried that cheque with us all the way to Israel before we deposited it. We had been expecting to stay quite a long time in Israel, but we actually only stayed three months until we got fed up.
8. So we were very glad to get some mail & news from the Family, & especially some money, because we were running a little short. And in addition to this, God bless Big Josh, who sent us a thousand Dollars & it was a real help. Thank the Lord our train fare was already paid for, First Class on the Eurailpass!
9. The reason we got First Class was so we could really be comfy and stretch out and sleep at night, because we mostly rode the trains at night and then got up and saw the next city in the daytime, which was pretty smart, right? (Kids: Yes.) We were really short on money, I'll tell you. And we were doing Europe in one month, ha! So we saved a lot of money by sleeping on the trains most of the time. We were almost like a couple of bums, but at least we were well-dressed & nobody thought we were bums until maybe our feet were taking up their seat!--Ha!
10. Well, after getting our mail, we wanted to check our route to where we were going to go next. There was still some mail that hadn't come in yet, so we waited a couple of days there before we decided to take the train out of Paris.
11. As I said before, much of the time we slept right on the train. However, on the days when we'd taken a hotel, we usually had to be out of our room before 11 or 12 o'clock, so we would go to the train station & make sure of our reservations & departure times, etc., & then eat lunch in the train station. The train station was usually a fairly reasonable place to eat, much cheaper than eating on the train. The dining cars on a train charge about twice as much, so we usually ate at the train station, which was a place where a lot of people ate, so it was pretty cheap. And thank the Lord, I could still eat in those days, & eat most anything.
12. I usually got spaghetti, & if they didn't have spaghetti, they usually had some other alternative dish that was cheap, like in Germany & Switzerland it was bratwurst or something like that--kind of a big veal or beef sausage, very tender & very good & very cheap!
Checked Our Bag through to Rome!
13. In Paris, by the way, we decided we no longer wanted to carry our big black heavy suitcase loaded with all of our Winter clothes & books & odds & ends that we didn't use all of the time. So since we were going on the train to Rome, we checked that big black bag all the way to Rome. Then all we had to carry was a little carry-on shoulder bag & my little aluminum suitcase. Mama carried the carry-on bag and the camera, and I carried the little suitcase. We decided that's all we needed from then on, because we were just staying in overnight places & they were like overnight bags.
14. We weren't planning on getting to Rome for almost a month, so we just decided to check our suitcase all the way through. (Techi: Who kept it in Rome?) They kept it at the baggage depot. In fact, we were so long in coming for it, that they had already sent it to the "Lost & Found" department by the time we got there. But that's another story, ha!
15. We put a big stout belt strap around it to try to keep it tight together because it was really loaded. And that's the only thing we ever had stolen on our whole journey, & I'll tell you about that when we get to Rome. The bag was there but not the strap, ha! I said once in one of our Letters that Italy was a nation of thieves, & dear Emanuele nearly blew up, ha! Well, soon thereafter he had his brand new Mercedes Deluxe stolen right from out in front of the house they were staying in. So I guess he agreed with me by that time. He thought, "Oh, this is a nice neighbourhood. It's safe to park the car in front of the house." (Techi: And he didn't lock it or anything?) Well, he locked it, yes, but thieves have ways of getting in & hot-wiring* it & whatnot. *(hot-wiring = starting a car without the key by connecting ignition wires) I'll tell you that story later.
Paris to Madrid!
16. So on the day we left Paris we ate our lunch at the train station & then caught the Express train that went all the way down through France to San Sebastian, Spain. It was a very fast rail train on a high track. It was a beautiful ride! The countryside of France is beautiful with all of the grape vineyards for wine, etc., because France is, of course, very famous for wine. As I recall, the train we took down this route went through Tours & Bordeaux & then through to San Sebastian, just across the border in Spain.
17. There was one little obstacle for train travellers at the border of France & Spain. The British built most of the railroads in France, & even the rest of Europe, but the U.S. had had quite a bit of influence in Spain, so Spain had the U.S. build their railroads. In France & Britain, etc., the tracks are what they call standard-gauge. They're about 15 to 25 centimeters (6 to 10 inches) narrower than the American gauge. On the standard-gauge they're about a meter-&-a-half wide; whereas on the American gauge they were wider, built to carry heavier cars with heavier loads, etc., & that's what the Spanish wanted apparently.
18. So here at the border with all of our luggage we had to get off the British-type train & get onto the American-type of train. They were bigger cars and all of that, but I didn't think they were all that much better. In fact, they weren't even as luxurious or as comfortable as the trains in France and Britain. So from San Sebastian we caught the train on to Madrid.
19. The only thing I can remember about Madrid at that time was that we arrived there in the morning, got off the train and were hungry, so we ate lunch at the train station. Mama wanted a different kind of purse that had more room in it to carry more stuff. Spain is a great land of leather, and I think she also was looking for a pair of more comfortable shoes, because we did so much walking. In Madrid, the station we got off at was right downtown in the heart of the city, so we walked all around downtown Madrid shopping in all of the different stores, and Mama did find a nice big bulky purse with a shoulder strap. I don't know that we ever found her the shoes. Then we came back to the train station, ate supper and caught the train in the evening out of Madrid headed for Malaga!
Night in Malaga!
20. Now this was a different kind of train, an inter-urban train or what the Spanish call the Talgo. It only has two or three very light cars, but very fast when it could go fast, although it went slow through the mountains. We wanted to see Malaga, which is right here on the South Coast of Spain (pointing to map), what they call the Sun Coast, Costa del Sol, Coast of the Sun. It's the resort area of Spain.
21. It was a pretty long journey and the train had to go through a lot of mountains, so it was fairly slow. We came in to Malaga in the evening around 9 o'clock, because I remember we ate supper there. We remarked about how cheap the food was, the equivalent of 75 cents for a steak dinner with potatoes, vegetable, bread and butter and tea or coffee. Food was very cheap in Spain at the time. It's largely an agricultural country, and they paid very cheap wages to the poor peasants who were almost like slaves.
22. In this little Spanish resort town we found that the people lived at night! Most of the restaurants didn't even open up for dinner until 9 o'clock at night, then they were open until midnight. So this restaurant was still open & I remember it was very pleasant, a beautiful place right by the sea. We ate out on the sidewalk under a big awning. It was the first warm weather we'd hit on the whole trip, because it was October and Northern Europe is pretty cool.
23. So that was our night in Malaga! We just ate there, & then I remember I bought a bottle of Malaga wine, because it was such a nice shape with this pretty sort of wicker basket around the bottom which prevents it from breaking when they ship it. I said to Mama, "Wouldn't that make a nice lamp when we get home? We can fill it with coloured sand & put a little electrical attachment on top of it & a lampshade & you've got a nice lamp!" (Techi: That is a good idea!)
24. Anyhow, we decided to catch the late midnight train out of Malaga back to Madrid, the same type of little two or three-car train that runs on electricity or something like that. (Techi: Why did you want to go to Malaga & then go back to Madrid?) We wanted to see Malaga! We were there to see Europe, to scout out possibilities for new Colonies, or Homes as we call them nowadays. We wanted to see what Malaga was like because we'd heard it had beautiful scenery & a lovely oceanfront climate, etc.--And it does! When we got to Malaga we sat outdoors, it was so warm! It was sort of like Miami. It was comfortable to sit outside.
25. On all this trip what I wore was a suit, a regular shirt & tie, a heavy sweater, & then I had a top coat & hat, & carried an umbrella all the time. And as I recall, I was able to sit out there under that awning on the sidewalk in Malaga without my top coat or hat, it was that warm! I just had a suit & a sweater on!
26. So we caught a late train out of Malaga, back to Madrid that night. And I remember this older couple about my age was in the same compartment with us. We didn't always get a compartment all to ourselves. See, in each compartment there are three big seats on each side facing each other, actually a total of six seats. But we'd always try to get a compartment that had at least two or four seats vacant, the four seats opposite each other, because then we could spread out. The seats come down & the lower cushion extends to meet the lower cushion on the other side. So the seats meet each other & you can lie down practically flat on these two luxury First Class seats!
27. So we'd chosen this compartment that just had this older couple in it on the first pair of seats right by the door, & we always tried to take window seats so we could see the scenery. We still had the rest of the night to sleep because we weren't to get to Madrid until the morning.
The Rome Express!
28. So we got back to Madrid the next morning, and in Madrid we were to catch the Madrid-to-Rome Express, which we would be on for the rest of the trip. It went from Madrid, up through Barcelona, Marseille, Toulon, Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo. Some years later, Mama and I again visited Toulon while we were living in France. That reminds me of the joke about the guy's pants! After he got his pants made by the tailor, he tried them on and he said, "These pants remind me of two cities in France!--Toulouse and Toulon!"--His pants were too loose and too long! Ha!
29. Well, we got to Madrid in the morning & there was an afternoon train, the Madrid to Rome Express. So we ate lunch in Madrid, that's about all we did there, & caught that train out of Madrid. We were so happy to get there in time to catch it, because it only runs once a day. It was pretty early when the train pulled out, just after lunch, so we had the whole afternoon to see the sights along the way to where we were going. We really enjoyed the scenery travelling by train.
30. The dining car was cute & old-fashioned with a beautiful polished wooden interior with those old-fashioned lamp type of lights--only they were electrical by this time--& big windows! So we went & ate in the dining car for supper as the train sped along in the evening, & the view was just beautiful!--Especially when we got here to the coast. (Looking at map.) We were actually going along the coast coming into Barcelona, & you could see the coast pretty much above Barcelona too.
31. So we ate supper in that dining car & really enjoyed it, & it wasn't too expensive either. And the train sped on, & by the time we got into France it was night time. By the time we got to Marseilles I remember it was 9 o'clock at night. I can remember that, isn't that funny, because I was following the schedule. Can you see the route I'm talking about on the map? From Madrid, it went Northeast, & in the evening before dark, we got to the coast, & then rode along in the dining car watching the scenery while we went into & through Barcelona. Then we went back to our nice train compartment.
32. I can't remember if we had to change trains at the border of Spain & France, but surely we must have had to. I can remember a few times just getting off the train for a few minutes while we sat in the station to connect with another train. I think maybe we did have to change trains at the border about 7 or 8 o'clock at night, & then we went on in the more luxurious French trains. The trains in Spain are kind of old & big & clumsy like the U.S. trains, but then we got back to the English type of trains again, the European type.
33. We went through Perpignan, & we had gone around these mountains here, the famous Pyrenees mountains on the border of Spain, & then we stopped in Marseilles. Since it was an Express train, it only stopped at the big cities. So it only stopped at Barcelona, then it went all the way to Marseilles & stopped there for a little while, while it took on & let off passengers. Then it went on through the night. We went through Nice that night. Nice is where later a very great event was to happen! Do you recall? (Techi: Yes!) We never dreamt that we were going to come back to Nice someday & live & have a child there!--You! We weren't even thinking about having David yet, let alone a second child!
34. So anyhow, the train went on through the night & I remember in the middle of that night some time also pulling through Genova (Genoa), the big port city of Northern Italy. We had no problems crossing borders, you don't even have to get off the train. If you crossed at night & you were sleeping, you had to wake up & show your passport & your ticket to the inspectors who walk through the trains. With First Class passengers they just say, "Have you anything to declare?" All the baggage was stored up over our heads, & we'd say, "No, nothing." They're real nice & very very hospitable to tourists, especially tourists coming on Eurailpasses.--Because that's what the Eurailpasses are for, to encourage you to travel in Europe!
35. So I remember it began to dawn along this Coast of Italy here. Let's find a better map of Italy. Here we are! All these black lines are the train tracks. Let's see if I can find Zoagli. That's where we used to live in Emanuele's villa! Here's Rappallo, & Zoagli is a small place right nearby. So we must have gone through Zoagli then, never realising we were going to go back there to live later! It began to dawn, & oh, the Liguria Coast, the Italian Riviera, is so beautiful! It's cut right into the mountains & it's a beautiful trip!
36. Our Eurailpass was up at noon that day, & the train was going to be half-an-hour late, so I was wondering if we were going to have to pay additional to get into Rome. But they never paid a bit of attention to it, we just sailed right on into Rome & got there around noon. And as usual, I think we ate lunch then at the station. We'd had breakfast on the train, & it's beautiful sitting in the dining car having breakfast while you're going along the coast there.
37. Oh goodness! I've run way overtime! Why didn't you guys stop me? Well, anyhow, here we are, we pulled into Rome, & I'll tell you about Rome next time! Goodness gracious! Why didn't you guys stop me? I didn't realise it was so late! Praise the Lord! Thank You Lord! Well, I'm sorry I ran over, but that's OK! How about somebody praying for the close of the story?
38. (David: Thank You Jesus for all that Grandpa shared with us tonight about his & Mommy's first trips through Europe. Thank You for how You really protected them, Lord, & blessed them & helped them in all the decisions that they had to make, & for guiding them & leading them. Thank You that Grandpa can tell it to us now, Lord, & thank You how it's been so interesting!--In Jesus' name. Amen!) Amen! Thank You Lord!
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Picture captions & fact boxes:
Munich
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MUNICH, (pronounced MYOO nihk), population about 1,500,000, lies 310 miles (499 kilometers) southwest of Berlin on the Bavarian plain. It is the capital of Bavaria.
The German name for Munich is Munchen, which means "Place of the Monks." Tradition says that this name goes back to the 700's.
Munich lies less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Brenner Pass in the Alps on the border between Austria & Italy. The location of Munich has made the city a meeting place of northern & southern Europe.
Serving beer in an old-fashioned "Bier Garten."
The Alps
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THE ALPS are the largest mountain system in Europe. The towering snow-capped peaks & peaceful valleys of the Alps make them one of the most spectacular sights on the European continent. The word "Alps" comes from "Alpine," meaning "of or concerning any high mountain."
The Alps extend northward from near the Mediterranean Sea in France & form the border between France & Italy. They continue eastward through northern Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, southern Germany, Austria, & northern Yugoslavia. The entire mountain system is about 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) long.
The Alps form a great barrier between various parts of Europe. Before the time of Christ, few people made the difficult trip through the mountains. As a result, the ancient Romans developed a great civilisation south of the Alps, but the culture of people north of the mountains remained largely undeveloped. Communication across the Alps increased after the Romans built roads through several Alpine passes about the time of Christ. Today, fine highways & railroads enable people to go through the Alps in less than a day.
The view from Jungfraujoch is magnificent. This is the highest point in Europe that is reached by rail--over 11,000 feet (3,400 meters). Innumerable summits are seen all around.
Express Train compartment
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Express train compartment:
1. Upholstered reclining seat. 2. Armrest. 3. Ashtray in the armrest. 4. Adjustable headrest. 5. Antimacassar.* 6. Mirror. 7. Coat hook. 8.Luggage rack. 9. Compartment window. 10. Fold-away table (pull down table). 11. Heating regulator. 12. Litter receptacle. 13. Curtain. 14. Footrest (not common nowadays). 15. Corner seat.
(*antimacassar: a covering to protect the backs & arms of furniture.)
"God woke me up of a sound sleep & said, 'Get up! There's somebody you've got to talk to!'"
(See full story in ML #4:119-142.)
Paris, Postcard from Dad
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(Postcard from Dad in Paris, October 1970:)
Dear Eve & All Our Wonderful Family: Praise the Lord for the way He has kept us & the unity He gives even though we are miles apart! We are so thrilled to hear about how He is working & are constantly talking of the miracles He has wrought there to those we meet here.
Being in Paris almost makes us glad we are Americans! There is a terrible spirit here. The youth are hard, worldly & confident, also the French are prejudiced against Americans! (But the kids in London & Amsterdam are a wonderful opportunity.) We haven't been sightseeing much, but on the train we have seen many castles which in their time were cooperative communes which helped to preserve the people & culture.
"Turn your eyes toward Memphis!"--Love, David & Maria.
Paris, Postcard from Dad
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(Dad's Postcard to Aaron, mailed from Paris, October 1970:)
Dear Son & All--Greetings in Jesus!--So glad you're helping teach the Word you know so well.--We're seeing it fulfilled over here. "Knowledge increased" & "iniquity abound"--but "grace doth much more abound!" Denmark, like Austria, is dying for lack of young people, but abounds in uncensored pornography!--Also very pro-Arab, anti-Israel!--Full of Arabs from Egypt--labourers--& we almost got caught in a Hitler-youth-type of teenage gang persecution fight with a local Jew!--He fled to us for help in train station & we prayed for him & persuaded gang to leave him alone.--On the other hand, Holland blesses Hippies & Jews & strangers & prospers happily!--And almost all Dutch speak English! Get teams ready for Spring!--Love, Dad.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
