Berchtesgaden, The Salt Mines and Travels

And you must remember going to Berchestgaden with Grandmom and Grandpop. I'm not sure if this was before we went to Grandmom's ancestral place, during or later. It seems to me that it was the same trip. Wells were in Berchestgaden the same time and one night we went out for dinner with them. There was an Oompah Band and the group members came out into the audience and got different people to come up and dance. I think Verne Wells was picked. It was hilarious with all the band in lederhosen and the women in their country dresses slapping their thighs and dancing around. I'm thinking that Grandpop was picked too. I recall he was perspiring and laughing. From Berchtesgaden, we went over to Munich and up to Hitler's Retreat at the top of the mountain. Remember the buses that drove up. One would go up and another down. There was just one place that they could pass each other. And we'll never forget the Salt Mines, the train, the sliding board that Grandmom on laughing so hard, wet her pants and wouldn't slide no more. Augsburg, Austria was next and we visited the catacombs under a church. I think we were there just the one day. And finally, we did King Ludwig's Castle, drove through Oberamagau and on to Chiemsee. After we drove back to Rhein Main and a couple days later, we took off again to Belgium and Holland. In Holland, we visited the Minature Village at the Hague, to Ann Frank's house and to Vollendam where all the residents dressed in their native costumes. And how about all those windmills? Do you remember the hotel in Amsterdam where the boys, Dad & Granpop slept in one room and we slept in another and the breakfast was huge with cold cuts, hard boiled eggs and coffee. We stopped in eat again in Brussels. I reminded you that I had limited French so should be able to translate to get some food. We no sooner sat down in the restaurant and the waiter comes over and says "What will it be, folks?" Haha! It seems he had worked on a cruise ship that spent time in New York City. At that same place, we met that English couple, Elsie & Syd Smith and kept up a correspondce with them for a while. In fact, I exchanged Silver Dollars for Churchill coins at one time. Later on, Syd died and Elsie emigrated to Australia with their daughter and I lost touch with her.