Archive by Author

Random Memories of Germany

1 Nov

Paris-Part 1

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Sitting at home, watching the very-late-in-the-year French Tennis Open Tournament on TV, 

Credit Google Search and india.com

and on the screen was the Eiffel Tower – all lit up with its sparkly lights.  According to Google search, the lights sparkle on the tower for five (5) minutes every hour, on the hour, while the beacon shines over Paris.

Credit Google Search and toureiffel.paris

Quoting the website:   “On 31 December 1999 at the approach of midnight, the entire world will discover the beacon and the Tower’s sparkling lights.

The beacon, sending out two light beams with a reach of 80 kilometres, is composed of 4 “marine” motorised projectors. They are operated by automatically piloted computer programs. Since their rotation sweep is 90°, they are synchronized to form a double beam in a cross that pivots around 360°.

The xenon 6000 watt lamps were chosen for their longevity, around 1,200 hours. The lamps are cooled to prevent overheating and a heating system is activated when the temperatures drop below zero Centigrade whilst the lights are off.

This beacon resonates the image of Gustave Eiffel’s Tower itself as a universal and symbolic landmark.

The sparkling lights are superimposed over the golden lighting, they bring the monument to life for 5 minutes every hour on the hour once the Tower has been lit up until 1 am.

To finalize the show, the gold lights were shut down and only the sparkling lights performed, ten minutes of magic never seen before, breathtaking.” [www.toureiffelparis.com]

As Fred and I watched the few minutes of the sparkling lights on the tower, we were reminded that, back in 1981 when we visited Paris with our girls, there was a “blue” laser light projected from the tower.  We took pictures (35 mm slide photos) of the tower and laser, but were informed that the laser light would NOT show up in photos.  Below are the photos we took, contradicting that information.  We were amazed and pleased at the outcome of the pictures we took.

We actually made several trips to Paris during our tours of duty.  We went every time Fred’s parents came to visit us while we were stationed in Germany.  We went when my mother came to visit us – once during each tour of duty.  Fred’s parents loved to travel, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing Paris.  My mother had never been to Europe, and was so excited to see anything and anywhere we would take her.  She was amazed at all she saw, especially in Paris.  My father had been in World War 1, as a medic, and had stayed in France for a year following the war to study.  He picked up a few words here and there in French, and continued to use them as I was growing up.

~~~~~~~~~~To be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Random Memories of Germany- Cable Cars

25 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Recently, Fred and I visited Disney Hollywood Studios (we like to just call it the “Studios”).  While Disney is open a bit now, there are still a lot of shows and rides that aren’t open.  Therefore, we don’t spend a lot of time at the Studios.

Credit Google Search and Walt Disney World Resort

However, there is a new “mode of transportation” at the Studios, that goes from there to EPCOT, with stops at some of the resorts along the way.  They fashion it a “gondola-lift” type of transportation, and call it the Disney Skyliner.  We rode it for the first time – and thoroughly enjoyed the ride!

Many years ago, some were asking why the Monorail only ran from The Magic Kingdom to EPCOT – why not to the other Disney parks.  The answer seemed to be that the cost was just too prohibitive.  

Be that as it may, after riding in the Skyliner, we were curious about the cost – whether it was that much less than the Monorail would have been.  That really isn’t too much of our concern – except as how it affects the price of our Annual Pass!  But as Fred says, the cable car only requires a “cable” to run the gondola along, where the Monorail requires an entire track!  So perhaps the Skyliner is, indeed, much less expensive.

All that to say that Fred and I began reminiscing about cable car transportation we have experienced in our lifetime.

The first that we remembered was when we were stationed in Wiesbaden, West Germany (1967-1970).  We were “vacationing” in Garmisch, in Bavaria, and decided to take the cable car up the Zugspitze. 

The Zugspitze – Credit Google Search and en.wikipedia.org

That mountain is the highest one in Germany.  It was a fun ride in that cable car – but the funniest thing was that we saw quite a few young people with their skies in tow – and the skiers were wearing shorts and t-shirts!  Granted it was the middle of summer, but come-on – this was nearly 10,000′ above sea level!  And it’s COLD at that altitude!!  We were highly amused!

This symbol is at the highest point on the mountain

We then remembered the time we rode the Tram from the foothills of Albuquerque up to the top of Sandia Crest (altitude 10,679′ above sea level).  The Tramway had not been built until after Fred and I married and moved away from Albuquerque (1961).  

We remember riding cable cars in Lucerne, Switzerland up the mountainside to Mount Pilatus.

Mount Pilatus, taken from Lucerne

On top of Mt. Pilatus, looking down at the cable car

Fred remembers that in 1948 when he was sent to a four-week summer camp in Switzerland, and that on one of their outings they rode in a cable (car).  Instead of an actual car, there were long poles attached to the cable.  About 10 feet below the cable, was a bicycle-type handle-bar, and just below the handle-bar was a bicycle-type seat.  During the snow season, skiers would ride, sitting on the bicycle seat with the skies dangling below in the open air.  During the ski season, there would be at least 10-12 feet of snow below the seats, making it a ski lift.  In June there was no snow, so all of us campers road with our feet dangling.  At times we were at least 40 feet above the ground above most of the trees.   Quite an thrilling experience, especially with no seat belts.

Fred – 1948

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Random Memories of Germany-The Windows

18 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

While we were in Heidelberg (1980-1983), the military decided that the windows in all U.S. government housing apartments needed to be replaced with newer, better ones.

1980 – our apartment building.  Ours is the top left, on the end.

Now, that usually isn’t a big deal, and the new ones were a great improvement over the old ones.  And those buildings (with kitchen/bathroom fixtures) were built in the 1940’s, so an upgrade should have been welcomed.

The windows in the housing in Patrick Henry Village (PHV) were a pop-out/pop-in situation.  The buildings in PHV were built much later than the ones we lived in – in Mark Twain Village (MTV).  So PHV windows were done first, then they turned to us.

Unfortunately, the window spaces built in those MTV buildings were not any kind of “standard” sizes.  The frames were just not the same size as the windows they wanted to replace.  Therefore, they had to remove all the windows in our buildings and drill out the window spaces in order for the new windows to fit!!

That might not have been much of a problem, except they wanted to do all that drilling work while we were still living in the space!!  Here are a couple of pictures of what we had to do – everything had to be moved away from the windows and stacked against the walls.  So we covered everything with sheets and plastic sheeting, to keep the dust off the furniture.  And that included every window in the apartment!

The alcove in the living room

Window at the end of the building-during the renovation.

Here are pictures of the windows in Karen’s room – one at the end of the building, and one on the side.

Here is a picture of Janet’s room – and you can see that there was a large double window there! 

Here is a picture of Janet’s room – and you can see that there was a large double window there! 

That was also the same as the windows in our master bedroom. (Sorry, no picture there)

There was one window in the bathroom,

and another triple in the kitchen. 

There were three or four windows in each of the alcoves in the living room and dining room, and another large set at the end of the building.

The window at the end of the building, before the renovation.

So that’s a lot of windows.  It took them two weeks to drill out the window space and replace the old windows with the new ones.  We lived in a hotel during that entire time.  There was just no way we could live – in October! – in that apartment with no windows.

And then, when they were done, we found that the window replacements were taller than the original ones – and, therefore, all the window “treatment” that we had, was MUCH shorter than it had been before!  Not too happy about that.  But I didn’t want to purchase anything else for the window treatments, as we would be leaving Germany in June of the next year – just eight months later.  So we just “made do” with what we had.

Yeah, it was an inconvenience, but life is like that.  It was still an experience, and one we won’t forget any time soon! 

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Look Who Came for a Visit-Part 2

11 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Nearly two years ago, I wrote about critters we see here in Florida, birds, water birds, and especially the “visit” we had from a doe in our backyard.  (Please see my post of December 30, 2018 – Look who came for a visit) Fred and I have been thrilled with the wildlife we see here in this wonderful state. 

But the visit from the deer is especially thrilling.  She did not seem to be afraid, but watched me closely as I took her picture.

Well, I was startled to see her – I like to think it’s the same doe – recently in our backyard again.  But this time, she was laying down, seeming to be just resting!  I have enhanced the pictures, since I took them through the glass door and the screened-in patio. 

I continued to watch her for about half- an-hour, alternating between watching the French Open Tennis Tournament on TV, and her.  She would watch me some, then look down the alley between our house and the next-door-neighbor’s fence.  She was in a spot where she could see that, and also into our and our other neighbor’s yards.  She was very attentive.

So imagine my surprise when I looked back at her after some time, to see her standing up – and her spotted fawn was nursing! 

My heart was full!   As I watched, amazed, the fawn’s tail was going 90-miles-an-hour!  What a delight.  I did have a bit of trouble getting a good picture of the fawn nursing – either the bushes were in the way, or the screen door and door post were in the way.  But after the fawn stopped eating, I think I was able to get some good pictures.

Back to the TV for a few seconds – and when I looked back – they were gone!  I missed seeing them leave, like I had wanted to do.  Shucks!! 

When I was describing this  event to a friend, she asked what time of day it occurred.  When I told her it was “2:00 in the afternoon,” she was amazed.  As she said, usually these animals come out in the early morning.  So the afternoon was an unusual time for the doe and her fawn to be out.  It was wonderful!

But it was such a thrill to see that – right in my backyard!  I have wondered whether or not this was the same doe we saw nearly two years ago.  Perhaps we are a spot where she feels safe – for herself as well as for her baby.  I would like to think so, anyway.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us this precious moment to observe your creation.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Random Memories of Germany-Our Favorite Castles

4 Oct

Herrenchiemsee-Part 5

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

1969 – our trip to Bavaria – Herrenchiemsee Palace

The Porcelain Room

THE PORCELAIN ROOM was “first intended to be decorated with painted porcelain panels.  Inspirations for the mythological motifs stem from a room at Fountaineblue.”  French influence, one more, and more of Louis XIV, as well.

The Robing Chamber

THE ROBING CHAMBER is connected by a staircase to the bedroom.

I know this is a lot of technical information about this castle, but it would be difficult for me to describe it in detail – and it’s been many years since we visited there.  

Because this castle is built on an “island,” there really isn’t too much “town” around.  Lots of tourists go there to visit the castle, but also to snow ski in the winter time.  Because no one in our family snow skis, we really didn’t have much reason to visit there during the winter.

Aerial view of the palace and grounds

But this castle is, like Linderhof, extremely ornate – gold and gilt everywhere.  I’ve not read anything that says that Ludwig stayed here very much at all.  As I said, I suspect he was a very lonely man.  I did find where he was engaged in January 1867 to his cousin, Princess Sophie Charlotte of Bavaria, a sister of Empress Elizabeth of Austria.  Everything was in place – coins minted, etc, but in October of 1867, Ludwig dissolved the engagement, and never again thought of marriage.  And so he lived out his life alone.  

His death is shrouded in mystery.  He and a doctor were found drowned, and no one has ever discovered how that came to be.  However, I think the Bavarian people gave a sigh of relief, since he had practically bankrupted the country with the building of his castles.

However, we are now the recipients of these wonders – and we marvel at them.

1969 – taken on our trip to Bavaria

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Random Memories of Germany-Our Favorite Castles Part 4

27 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Herrenchiemsee

1969 – our trip to Bavaria – Herrenchiemsee Palace

The Writing Room

In THE WRITING ROOM, the paintings above the doors depict scenes of campaigns fought under Louis XIV.  The large portrait is of Louis XV.  “The large roll-top desk is a copy made in Paris in 1884, where the famous desk of Louis XV at the Louvre served as a model.”

The Blue Salon

THE BLUE SALON is an example of decorating with mirrors.  “The mirrors were to give an illusion of an indefinite flight of rooms….On the mantle-piece in Meissen porcelain is a marble statuette of Jupiter and flower-decorated candelabras of Meissen porcelain.”  Again, the wood-inlay floor is just amazing!

The Dining Room

THE DINING ROOM is in the shape of an oval.  Once again, lots of French influence in the decorations of the room – including stucco cupids.  “The magic table…an allusion made to a fairy tale by Grimm – allowed the King, as at Linderhof, to take his meals all by himself.”  Again, the table “disappeared” down into the kitchen below, then filled with food, and then hoisted back to the dining room for the king to take his meal…alone.  Poor man…he must have been very lonely.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Random Memories of Germany- Our Favorite Castles

20 Sep

HERRENCHIEMSEE – PART 3

1969 – our trip to Bavaria – Herrenchiemsee Palace

The Great Hall of Mirrors

THE GREAT HALL OF MIRRORS was always a place of great beauty to us.  While it was definitely designed after the Versailles Hall of Mirrors, it was “newer” than Versailles, of course, and so felt different to us. 

1969 – our trip to Bavaria.  Fred’s mother is on the left in the green hat,

looking at the ceiling

“For the Hall of Mirrors of Herrenchiemsee, the King demanded a true-to-scale copy [of Versailles], which was planned and built in 1879-1881.  It had a length of 98 meters and is longer than the Versailles model….the frame decoration, which in Versailles is only painted, is carried out here in gilded stucco ornaments…the pictures occasionally are extended three-dimensionally in stucco.”

The Hall of War

In THE HALL OF WAR, “the walls are covered with multicolored marble stucco.  Above the mantelpiece, an oval bas-relief in stucco: ‘Louis XIV on horseback’.”

The Bedchamber

THE BEDCHAMBER, I am assuming, was not the State Bedchamber, but the bedroom for the king in his apartment in the palace.  Please notice the blue glass globe in front of the bed – it was used as night illumination for the king.  I guess he needed a night light, just as our children do in this day and age.  Please notice the wood-inlay floors.  Wow!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Random Memories of Germany- Our Favorite Castles

13 Sep

Herrenchiemsee-Part 2

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I mentioned earlier that Herrenchiemsee was “unfinished” at Ludwig’s death.  But the brochure states: “It would be wrong to call Herrenchiemsee Palace ‘unfinished’ in the usual sense of the word; even in the construction schedule of 1878, no other rooms are planned for the interior than those which we see complete today.  For conjuring up the spirit of absolute monarchy, the central rooms of Versailles are indeed sufficient.”

Herrenchiemsee was built in the grand style of Versailles, with many of the rooms built similarly to Versailles.  However, during the French Revolution, many of the artifacts, furniture and furnishings of Versailles were lost or destroyed.  Therefore, when Ludwig began building Herrenchiemsee, he had no “Versailles” models to work from.  Therefore, much of the furnishings in Herrenchiemsee are original designs.  And while they were original creations, they were often corrected and amended by the king in his own handwriting.

The State Staircase

THE STATE STAIRCASE was modeled on the Versailles Ambassadors’ Staircase.  Multicolored marble and stucco marble-clad walls follows exactly the Versailles model, shown in existing plans and engravings.

The First Antechamber

In THE FIRST ANTECHAMBER, the inlaid paintings show scenes from court life and the military campaigns of Louis XIV of France.  

The Second Antechamber

In THE SECOND ANTECHAMBER (so-called “bull’s eye hall”) are paintings of Louis XIV, as well as, in the center of the hall, a bronze equestrian statuette of Louis XIV.

The State Bedchamber

THE STATE BEDCHAMBER was never used by Ludwig, but represents a highlight of majestic appointments, and was the first room completed in the palace, and turned over to the King on September 18, 1881.  “In the ceiling fresco Phoebus Apollo has the facial features of Louis XIV.”

The Council Chamber

THE COUNCIL CHAMBER has a portrait of Louis XIV and four painting above the door, showing diplomatic successes of the Sun King.  Lots of gold overlay in this room.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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RANDOM MEMORIES OF GERMANY -OUR FAVORITE CASTLES

6 Sep

HERRENCHIEMSEE – PART 1

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

As with last time’s post, I want to preface this with a statement that a lot of what information and pictures I am presenting is from pamphlets we purchased when we toured Herrenchiemsee all those years ago.  Some are our own observations and pictures, but some of the more “technical” information is gleaned from those pamphlets. So…..

1969 – our trip to Bavaria – Herrenchiemsee Palace

Herrenchiemsee was the last of the three main castles that Ludwig II King of Bavaria had built.  Neuschwanstein was the first built, (1869-1886) taking 17 years to complete, and was not completely finished at his death in 1886.  Linderhof only took four years to build (1876-1878).  And the final castle, Herrenchiemsee, was eight years in the building, 1878-1886.  It was not completed at the time of Ludwig’s death in 1886, under mysterious circumstances.

Aerial view of the palace and grounds

I think that Ludwig was a dreamer at heart.  While he was a great friend and admirer of composer Richard Wagner, I think he had a bit of hero worship in King Louis XIV of France, who fashioned himself as the Sun King. 

Credit Google Search – Louis XIV – Portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701

Ludwig II King of Bavaria – 1887 portrait by Gabriel Schachinger

In the brochure we purchased at the castle, it stated that “For King Ludwig II, the Sun King was the absolute embodiment of monarchy.”  Ludwig studied everything he could about Louis and Versailles, eventually visiting France and the palace.  That inspired him to try to build a “New Versailles.”  He erected Herrenchiemsee “as a monument to the monarchy.”  It goes on to say it was a monument, not a building to be lived in.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Random Memories of Germany-Our Favorite Castles

30 Aug

Neuschwanstein- Part 3

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Due to its secluded location, the palace survived the destruction of two World Wars. Until 1944, it served as a depot for Nazi plunder that was taken from France by the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Institute for the Occupied Territories, a suborganization of the Nazi Party.  The castle was used to catalogue the works of arts. (After World War II 39 photo albums were found in the palace documenting the scale of the art seizures. The albums are now stored in the United States National Archives.)

In April 1945, the SS considered blowing up the palace to prevent the building itself and the artwork it contained from falling to the enemy. The plan was not realized by the SS-Gruppenführer who had been assigned the task, however, and at the end of the war the palace was surrendered undamaged to representatives of the Allied forces. Thereafter the Bavarian archives used some of the rooms as a provisional store for salvaged archivalia, as the premises in Munich had been bombed.

Personally, I am so thankful that this wonderful castle was not destroyed.

While Neuschwanstein’s look is that of a medieval castle, it was equipped inside with state of the art technology at that time.  For example on every floor of the castle there were toilets with an automatic flushing system, as well as others – heating, etc.

The king used an electric bell system to summon his servants and adjutants. On the third and fourth floors there were even telephones. Meals did not have to be laboriously carried upstairs:  for this purpose there was a lift.

The Dining Room – Ludwig ate alone

All in all, and unfortunately, the King lived only a short time in this castle – much less than one year.

The Throne Room

My husband, Fred, tells me that in 1949, when he was just a boy, he and his family were living in Italy.  They made a trip to Germany and visited Neuschwanstein castle.  At that time, they were able to drive up the hill, right up to the “front door” of the castle.  (That isn’t allowed now – one must either walk up the hill, or be taken by a horse-drawn carriage)   Fred said that they were able to roam through the castle and investigate everywhere they wanted to go, with a guide to only point out the highlights.  That would have been a wonderful experience!  We were just thrilled, all those years later, just to have the opportunity to look through the castle with a guide and in a group.  Times have changed.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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