When I was about 10 years old, my father was transfered first to Hahn Air Base in Germany and later to Toul Rosieres Air Base in France. Whenever he had time off, we traveled the free Europe countries. At that time there still was an iron curtain. I was old enough to remember some of the trips, and usually from a childs eyes. Several years ago, my aunt gave me a photo album for a keepsake. It contained many of the things my father did while in the service. Along with that, it contained a number of postcards that he sent home to my grandmother in Ohio. When she passed away, the album made it to my aunt and then down to me. As I sorted through the postcards, those memories came to the surface. This hub will be mostly picture postcards with some stories to fill in the blanks. I don't know where some of the cards are from. I can usually tell by the stamp if the location isn't on the back. Anyway, enjoy.

 My father announced our upcoming move by calling everyone to the living room in our Sacramento, California home. "The first person to learn to count to ten in German wins 50 cents." (I won). "You might need it because we are all going to Germany!"

He explained that we would be going to live in Massachusetts with my mother's folks while he found us a place and got settled in. Then we would fly over. Memories tell me that we were in Massachusetts for about 3 months. Interestingly enough, I don't remember my flight, though it was my first, nor do I remember how we got to the four apartment house in the woods of Germany near the village of Hahn. I remember neighbors down the road where we first learned to pull hot taffy. We were in the middle of a forest with no real yard but many beautiful flowers and mushrooms out back. Worst memory (although it's funny now) was that the building had one bathroom that all apartments shared. We weren't afraid to eat the brats and other foods from the street vendors, and more than once there was a very anxious line of us at the bathroom. I don't remember having to go into the woods, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 I remember our trip to Castle Neuschwanstein, the castle that served as the model for the Disneyland Cinderella Castle. We parked down below and hiked up to the castle.I was fascinated by all the castles dotting the hills in various states of repair. This one was in huge and ornate, and I was going into it. Wow! But on the way up, I saw two things that caught this little kids attention even more. By one bench where we sat down to rest, was a banana slug. He was bright orange and about 6 inches long. COOL! Then later on the same path, we came upon a Hercules beetle. These are the ones with the big pincers on the head. COOL! Finally we got to the castle. It was fun too.

 Every good kid gets the standard souvenirs while travelling in Europe. You go to Germany, you get Liederhosen (?) and one of those green hats to pin your travel pins on. In Holland, you get wooden shoes. I wish I still had mine in both cases.

My memories of Holland are both highlighted with my dad's postcards. Keukenhoff is the site of the tulip gardens that the country is so well known for. We also went to Madurodam to visit the miniature city. I remember both well.

 On a couple of our trips to Italy, we stopped at a resort on Lake Garda. This seemed to be one of my dad's favorites. One one particular trip, while we were dining in the restaurant, a whole entourage of people came in and took up a good part of the restaurant. They were pretty boisterous and we knew they were Americans. Somehow, the leader of the group learned that we were Americans also and invited the family over to join him. His name was Aldo Ray, an American actor at Lake Garda to film his new pirate movie, "The Sea Musketeers." He invited my dad and brother to come out the next day to watch the filming. The offer was accepted. I was too young and not really interested. I was determined to catch a bunch of those minnows off the pier and bring them to the restaurant to eat. I'm guessing I saw someone eating anchovies or sardines or something.

Bright and early the next day, my dad and brother were out for the filming. There was lots of pirate play (you know, swash, swash, buckle, buckle) during the shooting as they filmed a portion where the stars were tossed from the ship. They did the take several times while my dad watched fascinated. Each time they reviewed it and did a retake, they had to get the actors out of the lake and dry them off along with their clothes. Then they would shoot again. Finally they figured out what the problem was. It seemed that every time they filmed a take, there was a ticking sound on the playback. The cause? My dad's movie camera. The producers weren't amused but Aldo Ray thought it was hilarious. I did catch some minnows by the way.

 Such are the memories. We went to Switzerland and Austria, spent a fair amount of time in Bavaria, and toured France, usually with a 10 cent baguette in hand to keep us quiet. One particular memory of Bavaria was in a hotel with a beautiful view of the Zugspitz, another feature copied by Disney. My mom and dad were invited to a party so my brothers and I were left with a handful of nickels to play the pinball machines. I quickly bored of this and spotted the slot machines in the next room. I calmly got into line and waited my turn. Once I got to the nickel machine, I put my nickel in and pulled the handle. Up popped three oranges and a mess of nickels started pouring out of the machine. Immediately, the staff of the casino were there. Who's child was this? No response. Eventually they found my parents. Can you say trouble--whooo boy. But they did let me keep the nickels.