After travelling in Europe for a week by myself, I decided to go home. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the money for a one-way ticket, so I was stuck in Europe for another three weeks. My return ticket, subsidized by the Canadian German Exchange Society, only cost $135, so I couldn’t think of paying 1800 DM ($680) for a one-way ticket. I never thought to call my parents and ask for money. In 1973, people weren’t connected all the time; there were no cell phones, no internet, few credit cards and no online banking.
With the decision made, I needed to stay in better places and at the top of my list were Youth Hostels. I took a train from Frankfurt to Mannheim and there, looked for the Youth Hostel (Jungen Heberge).“Bought a membership to the Youth Hostel for 30 DM today in Mannheim. After three days I will be saving money.” I also hoped to meet other travellers and not spend all my evenings alone in a hotel room.
I then travelled south to Karlsruhe and subsequently to Freiburg. There I met Brenda, a girl from the exchange group, whom I had sat beside on the plane to Europe. She had been working in a hospital and didn’t want to travel alone. A German woman she worked with had a week’s holiday, so they were travelling together. Too bad we didn’t know we were both alone earlier, but she planned to continue working until our group meet-up in Frankfurt.
I looked forward to visiting Switzerland, the birthplace of my paternal grandfather. It never occurred to me to look up any relatives, as this was before genealogy became interesting. I didn’t even go to Fleurier, my grandfather’s hometown.
In Lausanne, I met a girl Joyda, from Halifax. She was hitchhiking around Europe and wanted me to join her. I tried sending my suitcase back to Frankfurt but without a train ticket it would go as merchandise and take two weeks. So we were on the road, Joyda with her backpack and me with my suitcase and other bags! It took us five rides to get to Thun. The last in a milk truck. We took a boat up the lake to Oberhofen and spent two nights in a hostel there. “Found some swings in a park, the first I have seen in Europe, and swung!” The next day we hitchhiked to Bern. We got a ride with a middle aged man who invited us to his house for lunch. Joyda was anxious to get to Bern for a train to Basel so he drove us to the Bern train station even though he wasn’t going there, just putting mile on his new car. There, Joyda and I parted ways. I had enjoyed having a companion.
After Bern, I took a train to Zurich. They had a brand new youth hostel with quilts instead of dirty blankets, solid bunks and hot water showers with a dressing cubicle. This earned a two-night stay. I counted down the days to Frankfurt.
“I was going to spend the day shopping in Zurich, but I only bought a charm. Met a Canadian from Thompson, Manitoba on a bridge (he must have seen the flag on my jeans). Bought me tea, a hotdog for lunch, beer in the afternoon, chicken and beer for supper and more beer! Plus, we went rowing on the lake. The only problem was, he was an illiterate bum and very difficult to understand. Wants to marry me after he goes to Alaska and makes twenty thousand a year and I have finished school!”
After escaping marriage in Zurich, I travelled back into Germany, to Munich. There I met a girl in the youth hostel whom I had met two weeks earlier. It was like finding my best friend, so I had fun in Munich. I only had two more days until meeting up with the group. My last train trip was five hours to Frankfurt with only old people in the compartment.
I spent my last night alone in Frankfurt at a hotel where the porter actually took my suitcase up to my room. The next morning, I walked to the train station and met all the kids from the group. It was a relief to be told what to do. We took buses to the airport, got rid of most of our luggage and drove east toward Berlin. We stopped for lunch at Kirschheim and then waited an hour and a half at the East German border. We were told we couldn’t stop anywhere in East Germany before Berlin, but thankfully made a bathroom stop.
“We arrived in Berlin at 10:30. Took 45 minutes to find the hotel. The bus driver was U-turning all over Berlin, asking instructions from drunks. We finally arrived at the hotel and no supper! Went hungry to bed.”
In the morning we had a bus tour of Berlin which included a stop at the Wall separating east and west. We climbed the lookout and looked over the border at the East German guards, fencing and barbwire. The Wall would remain there until November 9, 1989.
“Today went into East Berlin. Had to wait almost an hour at the border. Filled out forms, had to say how much money we had and changed 5DM to East German marks.”
We were told we had to spend the 5 German Marks. We had trouble finding things to buy and I just spent some on ice cream and a bitter lemon drink. I came back with coins in my pocket.
East Germany was really depressing. Many of the bombed-out buildings still stood, while none were seen in the west. Ugly, huge apartment complexes lined the streets. Karl Marx Allee had some stores but mostly empty of merchandise. What department store in the West would have only one washer, one stove and one fridge? We visited the Pergamon Museum with its ancient artefacts and the Dom Cathedral before heading back to the west for shopping on Kurfürstendamm.
I enjoyed travelling with the group. After spending time with Brenda, I was sorry we hadn’t travelled together but I was glad I was brave enough to tour by myself, rather than spend the whole summer working on the chicken farm. We boarded the buses and travelled back to West Germany. After a night in Kassel, we arrived at Frankfurt Airport for our flight to Canada. I couldn’t wait to get home but carried loads of memories.
Notes:
I kept a notebook journal throughout the summer. I also kept track of my spendings. I certainly didn’t buy much food!
I had a camera with me, my first. A small viewfinder one. I wasn’t used to taking pictures and was shy about photographing people. There were only three pictures of people. I only took slide film and mailed it to Kodak in Canada to be developed.
I arrived back in Montreal with 170.35 DM, which was $64.00 in 1973.
Stories about the first part of the Summer of 1973:
Genealogy Ensemble 