From Heidelberg to Cologne up the Rhone Valley

July 11, 1963

We had ambitious plans for today and have done quite well in fulfilling them. We took the back roads instead of the Autobahn in the morning so we could see the Black Forest. The road curved around and around for all the world like the road past Fairy Glen but not so steep and we love the beautiful thick forest of black trunked trees marching like old regiments up and down the rolling hills. The sunlight could hardly get through. Under the trees the pine needles and rotting leaves made a spongy carpet. When we stopped, one of my shoes fell out. After 5 or 6 miles we discovered it and went back for it! We drove through Baden-Baden, the famous spa, and stopped in a nice grocery store for things and then ate at a rest stop on the superhighway.

 We got to Heidelberg around 4:00 and needed a pickup so went into a café for tea and strawberry torts. Then we climbed the hill to the famous Castle and explored around it. It was fun walking around the outer Fort and imagining nobles and nights writing out. We went on a tour which was all in German but finally the guide realized we were not able to understand and gave some in English to the little group of Americans in the lot. We were shown statues, decorated rooms and ceilings, huge stoves. We went to the seller and saw a huge wine fat that held 22,000 gallons and a larger keg that held 56,000 gallons. We collected our car and drove away on the cobbled streets, narrow and picturesque.

We stopped outside Manheim for the night along the Rhine. There weren’t many others there. There was quite a nice place to cook and wash up but the showers were pretty breezy, about 18 feet before the wall started. The menfolk all had baths. The Po was a Sabbath day’s journey off down the riverbank. Not much of a store to buy supplies. And anyway it was clear and warmish and we enjoyed watching the riverboats going up and down the Rhine.

July 12, 1963

We plan to go to Frankfurt in the morning and then on to see Lela’s brother but found he was far away and another place so we chickened out of going. We took the superhighway into town and got to an information booth where they advised us where to go.

We found a wonderful department store, the Kaufhoff. We got Bob a ski outfit, jacket and pants, underpants and PJs for Pat, a green pleated skirt from mother, my bulky green sweater. We had a good lunch upstairs in their restaurant, strawberry tort again. Fish and steak for the main course. The kids had Dairy Queen type cones. We split up and the kids went with daddy for the car while I got my shoes and mother a yellow bulky sweater and a brown leather purse.  It was fun.

Then we went to the Zoo which was really lots of fun. The gardens are lovely there too. Johnny didn’t remember to see his Komodo Dragon. Bobby really enjoyed this a lot. We got ourselves lovely and tired, had delicious Dairy Queen cones and then went back for our car. We drove out of town and camped at Mainz. The camp was in the field of longish grass, the canteen building was of rough pine boards. We were interested in some big trailers which look pretty permanent with awnings, patios and grilled iron railings, pretty luxurious looking to a split sore wanderers. We didn’t more than just spend the night.

July 13, 1963

Today mother planned a long scenic drive up the Rhine for us and it was most interesting. To begin with we went across the beautiful bridge across the Rhine that we had seen from the camp the night before. On impulse we stopped downtown in Mainz and ran into the cathedral. It was the most beautiful of all we saw in Europe. It had huge pictures and gold mosaic all around the sides stop. We were glad we had stopped. It was not too big and cavernous to appreciate. The stone carving was like lace it was so beautiful.

We drove down into the Rhône Valley with great orchards on either side. We followed the Rhine River up to Cologne. It is a narrow valley but a center of transportation. There is a highway on both sides in the railway on the west side. There were boats coming and going all day at terrific speeds, huge barges of freight. The wives of the barge men were busy hanging out close and we saw several big playpens with children playing inside. There were a lot of castles overlooking the river and we got pictures of several, terraced fields and great orchards, bald medieval cities with churches, and wooden reinforced houses. We bought our yummy lunch and sat in a park by the river eating cold cuts, hard buns and cherries. We got a bottle of wine but no one could stand the taste of it.

We got into Cologne quite early and camped at the oldest organized camp, or so the book said. It was huge, had very nice showers and cooking places, a big trailer church, nice canteen. We went and saw the famous Cologne Cathedral.

We could see the scars from the bombing and quite a few of the windows were new just colored glass as the old stained-glass was either destroyed or taken out to preserve it elsewhere. It seemed big and empty to us after the little jewel we had seen in Mainz. But the outside was fantastic with its wealth of stone carving, flying buttresses, spires and doorways outlined with figures of Saints and biblical characters.

Across from the cathedral we went into a dreadful little tourist place with appalling junk in it but we found our dear cuckoo clock we have all wanted so long and bought the fanciest one with the cuckoo and attune on the half hour, $20. It had gotten black and threatening and rained miserably all night so we had to dodge back and forth the through the rain to the Po and kitchen.