Category: Trip to Europe

Second Thoughts

~ Janet McKee ~ Leave a comment

I’m having 2nd thoughts on “WrIting my biography in 300 words”.  That’s the assignment for the residents here at Ida Culver House Broadview (ICHB).  I think this is like writing one’s obituary – which would be helpful for the family left behind.  My sister Nan passed away at the end of January this year and I have a copy of the obituary here before me as I write.  And a nice picture.  Nancy Richardson of Middlebury, Connecticut, April 18, 1927 – February 1, 2020.  “Loving mother, sister, grandmother and great grandmother.  The obituary was beautifully written……  I don’t know when and by whom.  I’ve counted the words and actually in about 300 the essence of her life is there for all to read.  So here’s my example of how to write my 300 words.  Thank you Nan or her sons – probably her sons.  Somehow I don’t think Nan would have written this.  More likely her 4 sons clubbed together to produce the finished piece.

my sisters on the Ile de France Nan and her sister Ruth on the Ile de France, about to sail to Europe for a 2 month adventure, April 1950

My Mother’s Diary – Gifts Purchased

~ Janet McKee ~ Leave a comment

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I don’t know all the people listed.  Alice is the 3rd sister, one year younger than my mother.  Aunt Alice to me.  The parents – father is Alfred W. Friend, my grandfather, Grandpa to me.  Mother is May Belle Willis Friend, Grandma Friend to me.  Auntie is Eunice Augusta Friend, my grandfather’s sister, my great aunt, Auntie to me.

For her father she bought socks in London

For her mother she bought lace in London and gloves in Paris

For her mother and father she bought playing cards in Edinburgh

For Auntie she bought beads in Ripon England, a toothbrush in Bournemouth, gloves in Paris

For Alice she bought a rabbit in London, a set of something I can’t decipher in London, coffee spoons in Edinburgh,, dogs in Montmartre, gloves in Paris.

IMG_0002  the three sisters – Dorothy (Dot, Dottie), Alice, Lib (Libby)   1920’s

IMG  Auntie and Grandma Friend, 1939

2018_09_04_11_09_00.pdf000 Grandpa Friend and Auntie  1950 approx.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 50 – Arrival in New York, Friday July 27, 1934

~ Janet McKee ~ Leave a comment

The sisters got up at 7:30 after she and Lib had laughed and laughed about their trip and getting home. They were in New York Harbor with six or eight tugs playing around.  Saw the Monarch of Bermuda go out, later the Majestic.

They got their passports checked and their landing cards before breakfast.

Saw the Statue of Liberty.

Said goodby to people and waited on the boat for a time while the crowd got off, then disembarked and waited and waited for our baggage.  American Express man was there. A nice steward helped them.

Virginia met them and rode in the taxi with them to Grand Central where they had lunch.

They got the 3 o’clock train.  Hot.  They were in an unairconditioned car.  Train was full.

Met by the family at 8:15 in Back Bay.  Rode home and talked until twelve.  She felt rotten – still traveling on the ocean.

01-FrontCover-250 Cunard Line Passwnger List    sample passenger list (I can’t find the list for their particular trip)

1934_lowermanhattan004.jpg Lower Manhattan, New York Harbor 1934

 

Day 47 – At Sea RMS Berengaria

~ Janet McKee ~ Leave a comment

The weather was not too clear.  She got up early and walked.  She finally played her deck tennis tournament match wit Mr. Calvert against Mrs. Calvert and Mr. Ryder.

Diving was much easier this morning.  She stayed an hour a d a half.

She watched the ping-pong tournament, then a boxing match.

She collected money all over first class.

Talked with the English boy..

Watched ping-pong.  Played with Libby, Marjorie, orchestra man.

Talked with engineer after dinner in the fog, also orchestra.

Watched a good movie.

Beautiful moonlight on great waves.

Day 46 – On Board

~ Janet McKee ~ Leave a comment

It was foggy and cloudy.  She walked around the deck for an hour and a half.  She had a good swim, learned a good deal about diving.

She played ping-pong after lunch.

She got acquainted with the English boy and a member of the orchestra.

Played cards with Marjorie Rutherford.

Played ping-pong and had a cigarette wit the English boy just before dinner.

Favors and hats at dinner.  Danced.  Had a glass of ale.

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Day 43 – Saturday July 20 – Homeward Bound – Paris to Le Havre – At Sea

~ Janet McKee ~ Leave a comment

 

The sisters got up early at 6:30.  They tried to get breakfast but the (American Express) man arrived before the breakfast came.  Much confusion and hurry but they got on to the train all right. In a compartment with 3 others.  Had an expensive lunch.  Got to Le Havre about 1:30, beautiful.  Easy to get on to the tender, also on to the “Berengaria”.  A very large boat {her word}.

Sailed about 3.  They walked around a lot.  They had a lot of time to waste before dinner at quarter of eight.

Beautiful full moon with just enough clouds to be lovely.

 

On the S.S. Beringaria

 

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Day 42 – Last Day in Paris

~ Janet McKee ~ Leave a comment

The trip is winding down now.  They seem tired!

They got up after ten this morning.  They went up to the American Express office and got their tickets for the trip home.  She bought gloves.  Had ice cream at the Cafe de la Paix.  Walked through a different section of shops.  Had toasted brioche and coffee and an ice cream soda at Rumpelmayers.  Saw nice people there.

Walked up through the Tuileries.

Went back and packed.

Had a hard time finding Prunier’s on Rue Duphot – then it was closed.  Took a bus on Avenue Victor Hugo.  Sat up at the bar and drank D’Anjou wine.  Lib had frogs’ legs and she had oyster stew.  Oysters looked like clams but tasted very good.  Had a long walk back down the Champs Elysees – rested just once.

Day 39 – Paris – Morning, Afternoon, and Evening Tours

~ Janet McKee ~ Leave a comment

Mr. Jansen was their guide for both the morning and afternoon tours today.  In the morning they saw  the Louvre, the Church of Saint Germain, Palais de Justice.  They went into the Pantheon and Notre Dame.

(Since Notre Dame was in the news recently, I’ll go into more detail about what my mother had to write about that Cathedral.).  She wrote that the Notre Dame had marvelous stone carvings and statues – gargoyles and saints.  Gorgeous deeply colored rose windows at the back and at either end of the transept.  The columns are fancy, but the roof quite simple.  The far end of the Cathedral is beautifully shaped.

The tour continued.  They saw the copy of Trojan’s Column depicting Napoleon’s battles – made of cannons picked up at Austerlitz.  The Bastille, the Tuileries, Arc de Carrousel.

Had  a good lunch at Webers.  Strong red French wine.

The afternoon tour –  the Church of the Madeleine- impressive but she didn’t like it very much.  Place de la Concorde, Napoleon’s Tomb.  Passed the Eiffel Tower and the schools of the Sorbonne.  Stopped at the Trocadero.   Walked back to their hotel via some markets.

Had a good dinner at the Medova Tea Room.

The night tour – drinking champagne, Les Oubliettes, La Boule Noie, Le Moulin Rouge, Bal Tabarin, more champagne, dancers in costumes and less.

A few images  (credit Google Images)

 

Queue for the Louvre

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Arc de Triomphe

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Champs Elysees

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