West Germany 1982

WG-82 - WEST GERMANY Date of travel: Sep 23 - Oct 10, 1982 ITINERARY: On Sep 23, 1982 before noon I take a Greyhound bus from Oceanside, CA to downtown Los Angeles. From there on another bus to the LA airport (LAX) where in midafternoon. At 7PM I leave LAX on a Lufthansa plane. After 10.5-hour flight I land in Frankfurt am Main, WEST GERMANY in the afternoon the following day. I take a train to the Frankfurt Main Station in the center of the city. There I board another train to Nurnberg.The 2.5-hour ride brings me to Nurnberg. My cousin, his wife and her mother are waiting for me. By their car to their apartment. Next day my cousin takes me for a sightseeing of Nurnberg. We park at the RR Station.Then we go on foot through the old city enclosed in the city walls with my cousin’s very good explanation what we see. We enter several churches and visit the Hauptmarkt, which is the principal plaza of Nurnberg. Here is a church built by Charles IV. Then we climb to the castle. In midafternoon we return to his apartment. Still that day my cousin shows me the old and new ship channels connecting some German rivers. In the evening we drive to the RR Station to pick up my mother and my sister coming from Prague. We have not seen each other in 3 years since my 1979 first visit of Czechoslovakia after immigration in 1968. In the meantime, my father has died, but I have not got a visa to visit my mother and my sister. That is the reason we meet in West Germany. On Sep 26 early in the morning my cousin and his wife take us on a trip to southern Bavaria. We visit castles Hohenschwanstein and Neuschwanstein and the village Oberammergau, where once in 10 years the “Passion Play” is performed by local people. Later in the afternoon we visit the Linderhof Castle. After that the Benidictine Monastery in Ettal dating from 1330. The last stop is in Garnisch-Partenkirchen under Zugspitze (2963m) the highest mountain in Germany. Then we return to Nurnberg. The following week I, my mother and my sister visit many stores and have an opportunity to talk with each other. On Saturday, Oct 2, our cousin takes us in his car around the city. He shows us the Stadtpark, the airport and the zoo (Tiergarten). In zoo we visit a Dolphinarium, which is quite good. On Oct 3, our cousin and his wife leave for vacation in Portugal. On Oct 4, my sister departs by train for Prague. From Oct 5 to Oct 9 my mother and I spend most of the time together, except one day when my cousin’s mother-in-law takes us to the TV Tower. It is 277 m high and there is a great view from the top. Some days we sit with my mother at a top restaurant in the Horten Department Store. My mother talks about her life. This is probably the first time in our lives we have an opportunity to talk with each other without other people. I am happy hearing how my mother deals with problems in her life when she is alone now. On Oct 10 early in the morning after saying good-bye to my mother, I leave my cousin’s apartment in Nurnberg for the RR Station. I take a train to Frankfurt.There I get on the train to the airport. I board a Lufthansa plane for an 11-hour flight to LAX. I don’t know how, but I am in the Business Class. Drinks are for free. The plane leaves in the afternoon and it landsin LAX the same day in the afternoon local time. I take a bus to downtown Los Angeles. Here after some waiting another bus to Oceanside. A fellow employee takes me from Oceanside home,where an hour before midnight. Travel office: The airline ticket through the office of Mr. Mach, the rest by myself, Who took part: I, my mother, my sister and my cousin and his family.