Our European Trip
by Donna Schumacher
My husband and I love to travel. When we were teaching, we took a lot of weekend “get-aways” and always planned a longer trip for Easter, Christmas and summer vacations. Our trips have always been more fun when we got to see “cousins”! Sometimes we would meet “new” cousins and some-
times see “old” cousins. When we took off for Europe in March of this year, I had hopes of meeting new ones in Poland, England, and Germany. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t accommodate us in Poland. One day we tried to go to the small villages of my ancestors but got caught up on dirt roads with huge mud holes instead. So, I had to be happy with visiting the local Archives. TIP #1: Make sure that you know ahead of time what their days and hours are. Many are only open a few days a week. TIP # 2: Make sure that someone who speaks the language calls to be sure before you go. I did this the first day and all was well, but the second day (when they were supposed to be open!), |
they were closed. Although my Polish is practically nil, I luckily knew enough German to explain that I had come “all the way from America” and they were able to find the priest to open up the Archives. I did find new information, but with the shortened time not as much as I had hoped.
When we left Poland, we were able to see my German cousins. They live in Dresden (which has been rebuilt and is a beautiful city!), but we met them in Prague (another beautiful old city) at the home of friends that they introduced us to 30 years ago. My cousin Harald and I have known each other since 1970. . . when I crossed Check Point Charlie and met him (and his parents, brother and uncle). At that time we never thought that we would ever get together in the USA (this was EAST Germany!), but that has happened as well. Then later on during the trip, we were able to see Harald’s daughter Brit and her family in Cologne. (She is now an English teacher and she spent 3 months in the USA visiting all of her American cousins as part of her school training!)
From Germany we stopped in London on our way home. Because it was the two days before the Margaret Thatcher funeral, London was crazy! We were able to meet another cousin and her husband for lunch outside of town though. Rolande was born and raised in Montreal, and we have been emailing for several years. Both of our husbands laughed at us and said that we are just alike, although we are 3rd cousins! We managed to hit the coldest spring in Europe in 100 years. All of those beautiful tulips that we thought we would see on our River Cruise hadn’t even poked their heads out of the ground yet! But all in all, it was a wonderful 5-week trip. We saw new places, old friends, and lots of “cousins”!
Published in the August 2013 KCGS Newsletter.
When we left Poland, we were able to see my German cousins. They live in Dresden (which has been rebuilt and is a beautiful city!), but we met them in Prague (another beautiful old city) at the home of friends that they introduced us to 30 years ago. My cousin Harald and I have known each other since 1970. . . when I crossed Check Point Charlie and met him (and his parents, brother and uncle). At that time we never thought that we would ever get together in the USA (this was EAST Germany!), but that has happened as well. Then later on during the trip, we were able to see Harald’s daughter Brit and her family in Cologne. (She is now an English teacher and she spent 3 months in the USA visiting all of her American cousins as part of her school training!)
From Germany we stopped in London on our way home. Because it was the two days before the Margaret Thatcher funeral, London was crazy! We were able to meet another cousin and her husband for lunch outside of town though. Rolande was born and raised in Montreal, and we have been emailing for several years. Both of our husbands laughed at us and said that we are just alike, although we are 3rd cousins! We managed to hit the coldest spring in Europe in 100 years. All of those beautiful tulips that we thought we would see on our River Cruise hadn’t even poked their heads out of the ground yet! But all in all, it was a wonderful 5-week trip. We saw new places, old friends, and lots of “cousins”!
Published in the August 2013 KCGS Newsletter.