France, 2018

Cologne

Thursday, May 17, 2018 — Bastogne/Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery/Cologne

We had breakfast at the Hotel Belle-Vue buffet again. It’s pretty much the standard breakfast we’ve had thoughout this trip: cold cuts, cheese, bread, fruit, croissants and pastries, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, cereal, coffee and juice. This one also had scrambled eggs (tasteless and dry as in U.S. hotels) and bacon. They also had little packets of liverwurst (we think Barbara’s dad loved it).  Although French is supposedly the official language of Luxembourg, everything we heard sounded mostly German. We had to wait about 15 minutes to check out as their credit card reader was not working. After we paid they gave us a souvenir mug with a bag of gingersnaps in it. The drive to Bastogne was very scenic, with lots of hills and forests. The sun is shining and it’s a lovely day. We found the War Museum in Bastogne and spent some time with all the exhibits. We used audio devices to hear about the museum in English but not all the exhibits had English descriptions. A distraught lady kept coming up to the other visitors and was so upset that no one could understanding her. She must have asked us a question 5 times or more and we kept saying we didn’t understand her. We thought maybe she was upset because she had lost someone in the war. When we were having a snack at the cafe, we saw her in the gift shop with lots of people. Apparently she had become separated from her tour group and finally found them. Glad it was so simple. Overall the museum was well done. There was a huge monument outside with the names of all the states and the names of the units that fought here. The Battle of the Bulge in Belgium took place between December 16, 1944 and January 25, 1945 and many civilians were killed in addition to soldiers. Here’s an excerpt of a letter from Earl dated “Christmas” 1944:

Now I am roasting turkeys, so every once in a while I have to leave my letter and baste them. They look nice. I made a deal with the rest of the boys, I’d roast the birds, then tomorrow (I beg your pardon) it will be today, when we are finishing up, I’ll take off before the last minute rush. We have plenty of help here so actually one never has to work real hard. Early this evening the Colonel had a party. I baked some Parker House and pineapple rolls, and also some devil’s food cake for them. Then after the meal, I put on a one hour magic show. Everything went extremely well and there were quite a few favorable comments after the show.

Look honey, I know you are reading a lot in the newspapers about the present situation here and have probably figured out that I am right in the thick of it [the Battle of the Bulge] . Don’t worry about me. I mean that darling. I’m O.K., and quite safe. Of course this business isn’t exactly a picnic, but I’m taking good care of myself. I have never believed in taking unnecessary chances. I think it was your Uncle Joe that told me to tell them I was a cook, and not to volunteer for anything. I’m finding that was very good advice. I’m looking out for myself so that I can come home to you. You’re all that matters to me. When our time comes to be together, we’ll put this separation way back in our memory. It won’t be forgotten, we’ll probably think of it often, and how terrible it was. But when we do think of it My Sweet, it will be but a memory, then I’ll hold you just a little closer and you’ll know how happy I am. I love you so much. I think of you all-ways, and always.

After leaving the museum we drove to the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, near the town of Henri-Chapelle in Belgium. This cemetery is only a few miles from Germany. It is about the same size as the Omaha Beach Cemetery in France, as there are almost 10,000 graves here. There are farms around the cemetery and it is such a peaceful setting that it’s hard to imagine the horrific fighting and destruction that happened here in WWII. Earl may have known some of the soldiers buried here. There were some beautiful lavender flowers at the entrance that we thought were lilacs but they were quite different. We left the cemetery and drove to Cologne, mostly on the A4, which is a wide and busy divided highway. We were driving into the city right about 5:00 and although there were lots of stoplights and cars, it was much easier to find our way than some of the other big cities we’ve visited. We’re staying in a Courtyard by Marriott about a half a mile from the cathedral and it feels more familiar to us. It is actually one of the cheapest places we’ve stayed on this trip. We went to a nearby bar for dinner—it was not touristy but did have an English menu. We ordered beer, steak and schnitzel with bearnaise sauce (sounds like an identity crisis). The serving of schnitzel and fries was enough to serve 2 or more. The beer we had was a local one, Gaffel Koelsch, which we liked. The steak was served with a baked potato with creme fraiche instead of sour cream. The steak wasn’t very tender but it was flavorful. When we were ready to pay, the waitress said they only took cash. Luckily we just had enough euros to pay. We never carry much cash at home or while traveling so we took a walk down toward the Cathedral, which is immense. We found an ATM in the train station so should now be good until the end of the trip. We finished the Calvados tonight. CNN is available on tv and the coverage was all about the royal wedding. We watched some of Rachel’s programs from earlier in the week on the MSNBC website.

Friday, May 18, 2018 — Cologne

We worked on our blog this morning and didn’t get going until about 11:00. We got a map from reception and headed down to the river to take a one-hour river cruise. The boat was large and maybe half full. It was a relaxing time on a beautiful day for sightseeing, but we didn’t learn much from the commentary on the cruise. Cologne is built on both sides of the Rhine and many bridges connect it. About a million people live here. After the cruise we decided to find a Chinese restaurant called The Great Wall. We think it was pretty authentic, because two items were listed on menu that we’ve never seen before: pig’s bowels with beef entrails and fried beef entrails with pig’s blood. Yum! We made some boring choices. Our Chinese waitress had tattoos around her neck and down one arm and her English was excellent. After lunch we walked a couple blocks to visit the Cologne Cathedral. It took about 600 years to build, from 1248 to 1880. Much of Cologne was destroyed in WWII and the cathedral was heavily damaged by 14 aerial bombs. Repairs were finished in 1956 and it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. An average of 20,000 people a day visit the cathedral. We walked back to the hotel, turned the tv on and CNN was covering a school shooting in Texas. What’s it going to take to tighten the gun laws in this country? Thoughts and prayers from our leaders aren’t keeping our kids safe. We’re winding down on this trip. It doesn’t seem possible that 5 weeks ago tomorrow we left Minneapolis in a blizzard. Tomorrow we’ll drive to Haarlem in the Netherlands and stay for two nights before flying home on Monday. This hotel in Cologne has the best wifi and tv we’ve had since we left home. Drivers are more aggressive here—maybe because the roads are wider and straighter. We had salads and a glass of wine at the Bistro at the hotel tonight because we were too lazy to look for a restaurant. We took a long walk after dinner to the river and over to the Cathedral area and back to our hotel. There’s a Viking River Cruise ship in port.

This is the end of the Cologne portion of the blog. The next section will be about our visit to Haarlem. Click on the “Haarlem” tab at the top of the page or click here .

© Jay 2020