Rising was 8:00 am - gotta get up early while travelling or the time is gone before you know it -just like in real life! Doris made us a farmer's breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast with jam and fresh perked coffee. We went to Else's home and cleaned out the fridge as she has been in hospital for some time already. Susan the photographer was busily taking pictures to finish a project she had been doing interviewing Else prior to her cancer and stroke.
Doris showed us some of the hot spots in Mannheim which included the church she was married in and the grates above the old bomb shelters where they scurried to when the alarms shrieked and where Grandma Hilde's family hid the Jewish people they knew, and the place where their house used to stand but is now a park where children play. She took us to a favourite pub/ restaurant where we sipped sparkling rose wine in the garden and lingered until it was time to go to the station where we anxiously awaited the train to Paris hoping the conductor was feeling magnanimous on this lovely Easter Monday.
We settled in and soon the lovely German gardens were sweeping past. The ticket lady arrived for the great moment - would she put us off at the next stop to buy another ticket, or would she insist we buy our present seats again? Susan anticipating that she would want proof of ID, which was the sole purpose of the previously used Visa Card, had two ID's and the internet ticket in hand. I realized how anxious I was when my eyes filled with tears as the lady said "OK" and walked away! Sometimes things are as simple or as complicated as people choose to make them.
Paris was only a few hours away. Were we really going to Paris?
Susan and I had a few hours to sleep, read, clarify our communications and we arrived at 6pm.
The train station was a hubbub of people all jostling for space. I don;t know how she did it but Susan figured out the underground we needed to take - the Paris subway system is a tangled maze of intersecting trains - and bought the right tickets from a machine!! and got us off at the right stop for our hotel. We further clarified communication as we made our way down Blvd St. Michels and into the St Germain area to Rue De L'Ecole De Medecine and into Hotel St Pierre.
It was a moderately priced hotel (for Paris) with good service and breakfast if you wanted in your room or in the front foyer. Susan was up for sushi and we found the perfect place not far from the hotel, which I had scouted out in a walk while Susan emailed and computered.
I emailed Fred and dropped into bed asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Doris showed us some of the hot spots in Mannheim which included the church she was married in and the grates above the old bomb shelters where they scurried to when the alarms shrieked and where Grandma Hilde's family hid the Jewish people they knew, and the place where their house used to stand but is now a park where children play. She took us to a favourite pub/ restaurant where we sipped sparkling rose wine in the garden and lingered until it was time to go to the station where we anxiously awaited the train to Paris hoping the conductor was feeling magnanimous on this lovely Easter Monday.
We settled in and soon the lovely German gardens were sweeping past. The ticket lady arrived for the great moment - would she put us off at the next stop to buy another ticket, or would she insist we buy our present seats again? Susan anticipating that she would want proof of ID, which was the sole purpose of the previously used Visa Card, had two ID's and the internet ticket in hand. I realized how anxious I was when my eyes filled with tears as the lady said "OK" and walked away! Sometimes things are as simple or as complicated as people choose to make them.
Paris was only a few hours away. Were we really going to Paris?
Susan and I had a few hours to sleep, read, clarify our communications and we arrived at 6pm.
The train station was a hubbub of people all jostling for space. I don;t know how she did it but Susan figured out the underground we needed to take - the Paris subway system is a tangled maze of intersecting trains - and bought the right tickets from a machine!! and got us off at the right stop for our hotel. We further clarified communication as we made our way down Blvd St. Michels and into the St Germain area to Rue De L'Ecole De Medecine and into Hotel St Pierre.
It was a moderately priced hotel (for Paris) with good service and breakfast if you wanted in your room or in the front foyer. Susan was up for sushi and we found the perfect place not far from the hotel, which I had scouted out in a walk while Susan emailed and computered.
I emailed Fred and dropped into bed asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Damn bureaucrats.
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