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anyway.
We went by train to Salzburg and spent a couple of days seeing
the sights there. Salzburg has what are termed string rains which lit-
erally means that when the rain starts falling, it is continuous. We then
took a train to Munich, where we were met by Jeans brother Bob and
our sister-in-law, Gladys. Bob was a Major in the U.S. Army at the time.
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the castles around Munich and we thought the forested hills and lakes in
Bavaria were very much like the beautiful Willamette Valley in Oregon.
We also visited Hitlers Eagles Nest. Fantastic view!
Bob was renting a two-story home in Darmstadt with an acre of
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Army. The most interesting feature of the home was to be found in the
basement. Bob showed us the thick concrete walls to the familys bomb
shelter there. It was interesting to note the date beside the door of the
bomb shelter indicated when it had been built. The year was 1937. Talk
about anticipating World War II!
It must be remembered that it takes many, many years for a coun-
try and its facilities to recover from a major war. At that time in down-
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Darmstadt, where Bob lived, had been devastated during the war by al-
lied bombing. On the outskirts of town was a hill. We found that the hill
had been created on a level piece of ground using the rubble of homes
and buildings which had been bombed in Darmstadt. According to some
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walk into burning buildings.
At the time of our visit, gasoline was very expensive, due to the
high German taxes. However, due to Bobs being a part of the U.S. Army,
he was able to purchase gasoline at the Post Exchange for about 15 cents
a gallon. We had other advantages. The Army had requisitioned hotels
in some cities where we were able to stay with Bob at very cheap rates.
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