On the Boat to Dover - from the Archives, 1979

On 20-21 March of 1969, I completed my train trip across Europe, taking the sleeper from Munich to London. The train left at dusk, and I slept through Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Köln, and other German cities, awakening in Belgium. My companion in the compartment was an American anthropologist en route to USA. He had hominid teeth in a briefcase that was hand-cuffed to his wrist. I can't recall if he slept with his teeth, but he took them to Abendessen und Frühstück. In Ostend, we boarded a ferry boat for a comfortable and remarkably warm crossing of the English Channel to Dover.

White Cliffs of Dover (Tri-X film, Nikkormat FTn camera, 105mm ƒ/2.5 Nikkor lens, orange filter)

The winter light was spectacular, and I recall the White Cliffs of Dover glowing in the morning sun. The cliffs are composed of Late Cretaceous chalk streaked with lenses of flint. I used an orange filter to enhance the clouds and glowing cliffs. 

Approaching Dover

The English Channel

Today, most travelers take the Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) with no need to change trains. It may be direct, quick, and efficient, but you lose the romance of the sea crossing. The ferry boat had another advantage: cross-channel travelers could buy liquor and cigs with low or no taxes.

We finished our journey with the train into London St. Pancras station. I checked into a cheap hotel (note the repeated theme of cheap) and spent two days exploring London. I revisited the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum. In James Park, a flying duck deposited a dump on my wool coat. I bought a couple of souvenirs at Selfridges. 

When it was time to leave, I bought a TWA ticket to Boston for $63. That was the period when TWA and Pan Am were matching (trying to destroy) Sir Freddie Laker's no frills Laker Airways with cheap cross-Atlantic flights. In 1982, Laker went into bankruptcy, and Pan Am and TWA promptly raised their ticket prices. 

To buy the cheap TWA ticket, you had to go to the downtown ticket office and check if one of the bargain seats was available. It was mid-week in winter, so I ended up with three seats to myself. It was modestly civilized to fly in that era, although people smoked onboard. Thus ended my seven months in Europe. 

Thank you, Dear Readers, for riding along.

Where Evil Reigned: the Bürgerbräukeller and Dachau (Munich) - from the Archives 1979

The Bürgerbräukeller

Bürgerbräukeller (no longer extant)

In 1923, Adolf Hitler and his closest followers and cronies gathered in the Bürgerbräukeller, a huge beer hall in the Haidhausen district of Munich. It had been one of the main gathering places of the Nazi Party in the early 1920s. On 8-9 November of 1923, he and his closest followers marched to the Bürgerbräukeller and declared a putsch, or a coup d'état, to overthrow the Bavarian government. The march to the beer hall was inspired by Mussolini's March to Rome. The police were ready and crushed the putsch, resulting in 19 deaths among the police and putschists. Adolf Hitler was arrested two days later and tried for treason. 

Hitler brilliantly used the trial as a propaganda mouthpiece rather than a defense of his actions. He claimed he was being persecuted, that the judges were corrupt, and that he was a German patriot. The trial thrust this minor figure and his evil Nazi party into the country's consciousness. The rest is gruesome history. Compare with a certain trial that recently ended in Manhattan for another demagog, who claims he is being politically persecuted.

Hitler was convicted to five years in the Landsberg prison, of which he served five months. There, he wrote his infamous political autobiography, Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), which later became obligatory reading for Germans. Compare and contrast with "Agenda 47" and the Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025," both radical blueprints to reshape American government and society. They clearly outline how they plan to impose authoritative government and eliminate many of the checks and balances of our current political system.. 

My friends took me to the  Bürgerbräukeller on Saturday evening, a good way to get a taste of authentic Bavarian beer hall culture. The crowd was mellow, and the obligatory stein of beer was 1-litre. After two of them, I was buzzy. The pretzels and sausages were similarly ponderous. The cig smoke rose to the ceiling, adding to the fog of stale air and aroma of spilled beer. The entertainment early in the evening was very Bavarian. Strong gents tried to pull each other over using rings attached to one finger. They also carried big rocks around the stage using a rope in their teeth. Finally, pretty Bavarian ladies sang ballads and high-stepped.  

The Bürgerbräukeller no longer exists. It was demolished in 1979 as part of a redevelopment program in Munich. I am glad I had the opportunity to see the infamous beer hall.

Dachau

The National Socialist (Nazi) government established the Dachau concentration camp in March 1933 at an old munitions plant in the town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich. The camp remained in operation during the entire time of the Nazi government. American troops finally liberated the camp on April 29, 1945. 

 "Arbeit macht frei" ("work sets you free") gate

This infamous gate was stolen in 2014 and recovered near Bergen, Norway, in 2016. The mysterious thieves were never found. This slogan is one of the more cynical and cruel examples of Nazi propaganda. Most prisoners found freedom in death.

Dachau was ominous and horrifying, especially on a gloomy March day. I had never been to a site like this before. How could this happen? A few months before, I read William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, possibly the definitive record of the 20th century's darkest years. But this monumental record of the dark years does not give answers.

Long-term readers may remember I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. Please click the link to see these pictures. 

This ended my short visit to Munich. Next: the train ride to London. 

Winter Stopover in Munich, Germany - from the Archives 1979

En route to the UK and my eventual flight back to USA, my next stop after Salzburg was Munich, Germany. I had visited Munich many times when I was a child, but do not remember much from these earlier trips. A childhood friend lived in Munich, but his apartment was too cramped to accommodate me, so I booked a modest (= cheap) room in a pension. Winter travel in Europe was very convenient in this way in the old days. 

The Munich Haupbanhof is a bustling transportation center with trains coming and going all day and through much of the night. You can catch a train to almost any city in even the furthest corner of Europe, although connections into the Balkans can be a bit sketchy. The bahnhof is a mixture of add-ons and reconstructions, without a coordinated architectural look. I do not know if the main platforms still look like my 1979 photograph.

If World War II had resulted in a different outcome, we might have seen a totally different station and rail network. Adolf Hitler envisioned an incredibly ambitious Breitspurbahn (broad-gauge railway) network using 3,000 mm (9 ft 10⅛ in) track. The system would connect the far reaches of the Reich, with lines leading to India (!), Baku (= oil), and even to Fairbanks. The railroad stations for these new super trains would be enormous ornate domed buildings, with gigantism being the overall motif, similar to the plans to rebuild Berlin. The double decker rail cars would be equipped with lounges, a cinema, and luxury restaurants (similar to ocean liners). Railroad engineers and economists knew the plan was utterly hopeless, but nevertheless, some 200 engineers and officials worked on plans during the war. They were the lucky ones, because this job kept them out of the Eastern Front. 

View from the Rathaus of the Frauenkirche (Nikkor 28mm ƒ/3.5 lens with orange filter)

Marienplatz

Whenever I visit an unfamiliar city, I try to find a high tower or hill from which to see the setting. Marienplatz is the historic center of Munich, a gathering place since Henry the Lion founded the city in 1158. I love visiting cities where history engulfs you. Most tourists come to Marienplatz when they first arrive.

Marienplatz

Chilling out at the Rathaus

A nice day in the sun. As I recall, old ladies in Germany always wore thick heavy coats, even on comfortable days with sun.

Unhappy Greeks wondering what happened to their bodies

Leo von Klenze (1784–1864), architect to the court of Ludwig I, built the Munich Glyptothek. Unhappy Greek, Roman and Etruscan heads and bodies hang around. Will these guys will ever return to their original homes? Are their bodies still back home?

Chinesischer Turm at the Englischer Garten. 1-litre beer steins?

Angel of Peace (Friedensengel)

One could spend weeks in Munich taking in the art, architecture, and culture. Well, that applies to most of Europe. Definitely go there - watch, absorb, eat, enjoy, live life.

To be continued next week.

Winter Stopover in Salzburg - from the Archives 1979

Introduction

In March of 1979, I took the train across Europe en route back to USA. I had spent seven months in Greece and the Middle East, but reluctantly had to return home to find a job (one of those irritating life events). My first stop was Vienna, which I described in a 2020 post (please click the link). Salzburg was my next stop. My grandparents took me there in the 1950s or 1960s, but I cannot remember any details.

The Urban Decay reader may wonder why I bothered to revive 45-year-old negatives. They are casual tourist snapshots. Online, one can find a million (billion?) snapshots of Salzburg. Am I attempting a nostalgia flashback to another era, when I was young and energetic? I was exploring the world around me (as I still am despite my dotage). Was I was beginning to form a photographic technique or vision? Regardless, please let me share these pictures from a long-ago trip with you Urban Decay readers. But be forewarned, there is no urban decay in this series.  

An American in Paris Salzburg. Note the giant tie.

Salzburg

Winter in Salzburg is quiet and peaceful (or at least it was in 1979). There were few tourists, and the tourist office found me a room in a modest pension (with delicious Frühstück, of course!). Being winter, some stores were closed, and fountains were protected with wood covers. I had no specific itinerary, so I walked to the castle and wandered the streets.

Road to the Hohensalzburg Fortress (11th century)

Hohensalzburg Fortress (Tri-X film, 28mm ƒ/3.5 Nikkor lens)

Mozart's Geburtshaus, No. 9 Getreidegasse

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthplace is a major tourist attraction. If you are a Mozart fan, some of the best recordings are on the Complete Mozart Edition, a 180 compact disk (CD) collection released by Philips Classics Records in 1990–1991. These amazing CDs are cheap on eBay.

Philips Classic Records Complete Mozart albums (compact disk)

The era of big glasses

Berchtesgaden

Alter Friedhof (old cemetery), Berchtesgaden, Bavaria

I took a one-day outing to Bavaria. I had met an American teacher with a class, and she generously invited me to join the group to see the salt mines and the town of Berchtesgaden. We descended deep into the mines by riding wood sleds down a rail. I developed a splitting headache from the air pressure. The miners used to flood caverns and then pump the brine to the surface. After we came up to the surface, we wandered around the picturesque town of Berchtesgaden. The class was very generous to invite me. 

This ended my too-short stopover in the Salzburg area. The next morning, I boarded the train and headed to Munich.

These photographs are from Kodak Tri-X 400 film from my Nikkormat FTn camera. This was a heavy beast for travel, but that is what I had, and I was stronger then. Tri-X was always a reliable travel film with plenty of exposure latitude. In that era, train stations did not have X-ray machines for your carry-on bags. I scanned the film with my new/old Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 film scanner, operated by Nikon Scan 4.03 software. The film has numerous scratches and defects, many of which I cleaned with the heal tool in Photoshop CS6. 

From the Archives: Belmont Center in 1969

One upon a time, several lives ago, I lived in Belmont, Massachusetts, USA. Belmont is a quiet bedroom community in Middlesex County west of Cambridge, also bordered by Arlington, Waltham, and Watertown. Belmont's commercial nexus was the Center, where Leonard Street emerged from under the railroad tracks and ran past a fire station and a cluster of stores. 

I bought my first "serious" camera in late 1968, a Nikkormat FTn. Here are some frames from my early attempts to use Tri-X film. I did not know what I was doing, but the built-in light meter was reasonably reliable in the hands of a total novice, and the Nikkor lenses were very good optically. I do not remember who developed the film, possibly a small camera shop in Arlington, where my dad knew the proprietor. 

Leonard Street

Leonard Street from railroad bridge 

Leonard Street passed through the Center and often had heavy traffic, even back in the 1960s. Note how the Volkswagen Beetle on the right is dwarfed by the Chevrolet behind it. 

1908 Belmont Station

Rail side of the Belmont Station

The Fitchburg Railroad (later the Boston and Maine Railroad) built the Craftsman-stye railroad station in 1908 after they raised the rail line to eliminate a grade crossing for the busy Concord Avenue. According to Wikipedia, a farmer quarried the stone used in the station from nearby Belmont Hill. 

Train service to Belmont ended in 1958, but the Boston and Maine ran commuter trains from Concord to North Station on these tracks using Budd Rail Diesel Cars (Buddliners). I recall when we occupied the new Belmont High School at its new Clay Pit Pond site in 1970, we occasionally mooned the commuter train as long as the teacher was not present. The MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) resumed service to Belmont in 1974 during the first energy crisis. 

When I moved to Belmont in 1966, the Lions Club owned the station, and the platforms were fenced off. If you look at Google Maps, the porch in the picture above has been filled in with ugly cinder block. 

Fire station hose tower

This is the Belmont Center fire station tower, where the firemen dried canvas hoses. The fire station is now a restaurant. The new fire station is a beautiful brick complex at the corner of Alexander Avenue and Leonard Street. This was formerly a parking lot for Filenes clothing store (sto-wah). The boring moderne building that was once Filenes is gone, replaced with a CVS and craft beer cellar. During one of my life interludes, I sold men's clothing at Filenes in 1979-1980 while job hunting. It was rather dull but paid a bit ($2.90 and then $3.10/ hour??). I had to wear a suit or jacket every day. But the suits came from a tailor in Athens, not Filenes.

Construction of Belmont Savings Bank

Demolition of Tudor-style commercial building (Kodak Instamatic 500 photograph)

Demolition detail

Belmont Savings Bank demolished an elegant 1920s Tudor style building to build a pseudo-colonial style bank and parking lot. Back in that era, banks invited new depositors to open savings accounts, no matter how little they could deposit. The idea was to encourage a habit of saving and demonstrate the benefits of interest. The bank employee typed your deposit and the accumulated interest in a passbook using a machine that resembled a big typewriter. I assume that it was connected to a mainframe computer somewhere, but I do not know what technology they used. Today, banks rarely accept customers with minimal funds, thereby driving the poor to pay day loan shops and other unsavory or illegal financial services. 

Clay Pit Pond from Concord Avenue

Clay Pit Pond was the site of a blue clay that was mined for brick production between 1888 and 1926. When I lived in Belmont in the 1960s, the pond was polluted and may only be marginally better now. The city needed a site for a new high school and chose the land between the pond and the Boston and Maine railroad tracks. The photograph above shows some initial dirt work in the distance. 

The town selected this site to replace an older high school on Orchard Street. In 1968, a disgruntled student torched the building. After the fire, we still used part of the old building. A temporary wall closed off the burned section. 

The 1971 school was quite luxurious in a mid-century manner, with earth tones as the color scheme. I even lifeguarded at the pool. Today, a spectacular new school occupies the site, a gorgeous brick complex that resembles a corporate headquarters (demonstrating an advantage of living in a rich town with a strong education ethic).

The author measuring cedar shingles. The house and shingles are still extant. The black underlayment is tar paper.

The famous February 1969 snow storm

This ends our short time warp trip to Belmont. Thank you for riding along.

Most of these photographs are Kodak Tri-X film. I scanned the negatives on a Nikon Coolscan 5000 scanner operated with NikonScan 4.03 software. I cleaned splotches and scratches with Photoshop CS6 software.

From the Archives: Pike Place Market (Seattle) in 1973

Once upon a time, when I was young and energetic, I lived in Seattle, Washington, while attending the University of Washington (the 'Dub). I liked to go downtown with my friends to explore or eat at interesting restaurants. I found some March 1973 negatives from that previous life. 

My dad had been visiting from out of state. We took the ferry boat to Bremerton and later explored Pike Place Market. He liked Pike Place, but that was expected. He was an old hand at exploring markets, such as the famous Flea Market in Athens or the Scott's Market in Rangoon.

My dad checking out the scene

The fish fellow looked crabby

Candles were such a thing in the 1970s

Mellow time, 1973-style

Chopping the cows.

Stacking the crabs neatly. It reminds me of the Central Market in Athens. 

I took these photographs on Kodak Tri-X 400 film with my Nikkormat FTn camera and 28mm ƒ/3.5 or 50mm ƒ/2 Nikkor lenses. I vaguely recall developing the film in the darkroom in McMahon Hall with Microdox-X developer. I did not know what I was doing, but still, the negatives have survived a half century (just as our digital files will, right?). They were scratched and had dirt and lint issues, so I cleaned the examples you see here with the heal tool in Photoshop CS6. 

We will look at more Seattle pictures in future articles. Please type "Seattle" in the search box to see older entries.

Footloose in Costa Rica 2000-2001

Some 24 years ago, the family and I took a 3-week Christmas season trip to Costa Rica to look at birds and nature. Wilderness Travel of California operated the trip via local guides and drivers. We had a great time. We visited both coasts, stayed in the rain forest, tromped through the jungle, ate black beans and rice, drank coffee at 05:00, and flew on small propellor planes. Our fellow travelers were friendly and the guides knowledgeable. I had not been to Latin America since my oil industry years in the early 1980s, and it was nice to get back to the foods, smells, sounds, and vivid colors of the low latitudes. Here is a small sampling.

San José

We flew into San José and were immediately whisked off to a luxury hotel. Wait, I prefer to be downtown where one can wander around and look at the shops and stalls. San José is a bit rough - possibly the trip organizers were concerned about security issues. Or maybe the typical American tourist does not like to mix with the locals. Before we returned to USA three weeks later, we opted to stay in a hotel downtown, and we spent time walking around.

Supplies and soda

I think they like Coca Cola here

Sunglass Hut San José style

Don't forget your Coca Cola

Well, San José is a bit beat-up. We had to constantly scan the sidewalks where we walked because often paving stones were missing or there were construction holes. I can't recall where we walked or where we ate, but it was fun. The city does not have ominous overtones like San Pedro Sula or Guatemala City. The local citizens were cheerful.

La Fortuna

La Fortuna is a nice little provincial town in the central highlands. It serves as the gateway to rafting on the Arenal River and to visiting Volcan Arenal. 

Kapok tree near La Fortuna

You occasionally come across one of these astonishing kapok (Ceiba pentandra) trees. They can grow over 200ft high. The tree produces pods that contain seeds. These are surrounded by a fluffy, yellowish fibre that was formerly used in pillows and life jackets (therefore the term kapok jacket that you hear in World War II movies).

More chance for a Coca Cola

Waiting for a call

Monteverde Cloud Forest

There is the Resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) - way up there

Taking milk to market

There is the Violet Sabrewing hummingbird - way up there

The Monteverde Cloud Forest is an astonishing biological preserve of hundreds of species of birds, mammals, and insects. It rains often, like every day. Pack your rain gear and camera protection. What do you do there? Arise at 05:30, drink a strong and delicious Costa Rican Coffee, don your boots, and head off with your group to looks for birds. It does not get much better than this.

Costa Rica is a fantastic destination. Book a trip with a company that provides a naturalist, buy top grade binoculars, and have fun. And be sure to drink the coffee and eat the fresh fruits.

I took these photographs on Kodak Gold 100 film via an old Nikkormat FTn that I borrowed from a friend. The Nikkormat was a beater and I was not sure if the back was still light tight. But some electrical tape ensured a safe seal. For color slides, I used my Nikon F3. But after all the dampness and rain on this trip, I opted to send it to Nikon USA for a thorough cleaning and checkup. I scanned these negatives on a Plustek 7600i film scanner operated by SilverFast software.