Intro Part I (Elderhostel Tour) Part II (Liguria & Lake Como) Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Sunday, 10 October. About 10 a.m., after a big breakfast with the Biewers, we left to visit some of the villages of Darrell's Biwer ancestors. Randy stayed with Markus and Ute. It was a heavily overcast day with light rain, but Markus told us not to expect anything else there at this time of year. In all, we visited a dozen villages with some connection to the Biwer ancestors. Darrell was somewhat disappointed, not only because of the terrible weather, but also because we were too rushed to really explore the villages in any depth. [NOTE: No description of the visits to the ancestral villages is included in this journal. They are only briefly mentioned to show the chronology of our travels. Eventually they will be summarized in more detail in my genealogy pages.] On the way back, we found our way back through Saarbruecken and Sarreguemines with no trouble at all. We got back to the Biewer's house about 5:15. We had dinner there and spent the evening talking and looking at their pictures. Markus is certainly an excellent photographer. LUXEMBOURG Monday, 11 October. After a nice breakfast with the Biewers, we left for Luxembourg about 10 a.m. to see Randy's sister-in-law, Patti Kim Scott, who was only recently assigned to the U.S. Embassy there. We met Patti and her husband, Kevin, at the hotel where they were staying until major renovations were completed on the house they would be renting. After talking for a while, we walked to the Place d'Armee to have lunch. Along the way, we met the U.S. ambassador on the street. We ate at L'Accademie, a fancy restaurant with high prices and poor service.
We left Luxembourg City at 3:30 and headed toward Trier. We stopped briefly at the pretty little village of Biwer, still in Luxembourg. There in no known connection between this village and Darrell's Biwer ancestors except for the exact same spelling of the name.
We continued on the autobahn toward Trier until we crossed over the Biewerbachtal (Biewer Creek Valley) bridge. We got off at the next exit to see what had once been the village of Biewer, across the Mosel River from Trier. We knew beforehand that this area had been swallowed up by Trier, but Darrell wanted to take a look since we were passing right by it. SAARBRUECKEN We continued on the autobahn to Saarbruecken where we were to meet the Biwers at 6:30 for dinner. We found the laundromat they told us about and got the clothes started, then drove to the Boulevard Restaurant so as not to keep Markus and Ute waiting. We chased back and forth a couple more times to put the clothes in the dryer and then pick them up. In spite of the interruptions, we had a very nice meal. Afterwards the Biewers took us on a tour of Saarbruecken by night. We walked by the old Schloss. The center section, destroyed in World War II, had been replaced with a glass structure. We continued into the center of the old city, now a very attractive pedestrian mall. The street was lined with life-sized lions of every description, part of a competition to raise money for restoration.
Markus and Ute had each come on a motorscooter, and they told us to follow them home on a shortcut they used regularly. It was one wild ride! It was pitch dark, the twisting road was barely as wide as the car, and they drove flat out. We passed several signs indicating no through traffic was allowed, and we often had the feeling we were driving through people's yards. But we finally did get to Woustviller. |
