Europe - 2025 - Memories + New Experiences

(Menachem) Imanuel Marx - 06/29/1918-11/13/6 - Residence from Birth - 1927

Youngest Son of Moses Marx (1885-1973) - my Grandfather

Moses Marx - Merchant - 11 Helmstederstrasse, Wilmersdorf, Berlin

In talking with several people passing by, I learned that most of the buildings on my father's block and nearby had been built around 1900. There was damage from World War II bombing, and most of them had been repaired. I couldn't tell with 100% certainty that the house my father lived in was (not) rebuilt (some from their doors clearly were over 100 years old), but it seems likely it is the original building, probably with the apartments made into smaller units that I imagine my grandfather's residence would have been (he was wealthy prior to the end of World War I).

Plaque - re: Albert Einstein

Talking with several people walking in my father's birthplace neighborhood, I learned that about 2 1/2 blocks from where my father lived from his birth in 1918, (I'm guessing) until emigrating to Cincinnati in 1927, was the residence of Albert Einstein from 1917 (recruited from Zurich) until the end of 1932 - when on a trip to the U.S. - he saw the upcoming rise of Hitler, and never came back. The apartment building was destroyed by allied bombing, but the plaque is at the location of the newer building in German and English.

glistening glass- residence - our home 1962-3 - Zurich

3rd Residential Level - 4th Floor (was elevator) - attic above

The View - and this is from street level - we were the 4th floor of the building

The Cog Railway - down from our Home

I remember clearly, our first day heading to the private British School across the street from Lake Zurich. My brother Dan, a fifth grader, and I a sixth grader. I spoke in my "best" German, and the conductor responded in excellent English. 2025 - in - the rebuilt, modernized train - driverless - ticketing in Zurich is all presuming one will purchase a ticket at the stop one gets on, assuming one doesn't have a pass.

We took the 10 tram to Bellevue, switched to the 3 or 4 (as I remember them, now appear to be 2 or 4) several stops, and then walked to our school. We had transit passes, which allowed unlimited travel. We could go anywhere we wanted to in Zurich through transit and walking, as long as we were home before it got dark.

This trip - had two meaningful things related to my past! Zurich was the only happy year of my childhood! It was a year when our father was with us two children weekends and holiday times - when we traveled. We played card games on the train rides. Unlike - at home in Indiana, Dad wasn't focused mostly on his work as a math professor.

We had a lot of vacations. Six weeks - starting in March - three weeks in Italy, a Zim boat from Naples to Haifa. For Dad, his first time seeing most of his relatives he'd "left" in 1927 when he left Berlin for the U.S.

It was the year his cancer was in remission, the most wonderful year of his life (probably) along with a fun year for Dan and I.

Berlin - my first visit - to my father's birthplace and where he lived until he was nine.

I am a deeply emotional person! My feelings - the tears - tell me - that I have a lot of work to go through now as I approach age 74.

More on Zurich and Berlin later.

PORTUGAL

Great View of the Old City and the river in the distance

Old Lisbon - Very Beautiful!

The Wall - the Jewish Quarter just outside - "The Old City"

Jewish Street

Jewish Tiles - in a city of tiles - often blue

Vertical book/record store - creative use of space

April 5th - my Only Protest - volunteered for security - ex-pats mostly

Sintra - Gorgeous Town with - the King's Summer Castle Above it

Sintra

Castle Edge - Sintra

Royal Chest

Royal Decoration - Fun

Portuguese - Coast - away from Lisbon

Porto

Porto - Historic Train Station

Portugal is a fascinating country! Though we only saw a small part of the country, I got some clear impressions. As a child, we didn't go there because our father wouldn't allow it. Salazar, its dictator, ruled a Fascist state. Spain, Portugal and Greece were off - limits in is world. Germany was only passed through, because of its (then fairly recent) Nazi past.

Tour guides talked of how the army refused to support Salazar eventually, and peacefully it moved into being a "democracy" I think in the mid-1970's. Spain and Portugal (evidently) are the "poor" countries in the European Union. It has a lot of Brazilian immigrants, who can get residency easily, but isn't seemingly popular with people from countries like Germany, France and The Netherlands.

I talked with several of the front door staff at our hotel. Apparently a high percentage of Portuguese residents work full-time at its minimum wage - which is 880 Euros per month, roughly $1300. Medical treatment is free, but the cost of living isn't low (enough), particularly in Lisbon.

There was a man sleeping in the doorway across the alleyway/street from our hotel. Apparently some such individuals (more than a few) work full-time, may have a place to take a shower, but can't afford a place to live. One of the hotel workers indicated that she could only afford to not live at home with her parents (she was over 25 years old) because her boyfriend owned his apartment.

Portugal seems inefficient in some ways and "funky"! I think that there are three public transit systems in Lisbon - the streetcars, subways and buses, but no common - day/week/monthly pass or transfers between the systems. It was only three years ago that smoking was banned inside buildings open to the public. People smoke casually - holding a cigarette near the entryway to shops/restaurants, and the smoke certainly comes in.

Tuk-Tuks - were a source of transit and a great tour source - allowing my partner to navigate the hilly terrain above the center of Lisbon and Porto. They have plastic covers than can be zipped over the outsides when it rains. The driver - along with up to 4-6 or so passengers - drives - these narrow vehicles - traveling perhaps up to 15-20 mph. They navigate the narrow old streets - crazily - not hitting others.

We were fascinated with the reasonably high percentage of people who clearly weren't white. After we were there a few days, I noted that in one small area near where we stayed there seemed a concentration of Black People, significant majority men, who clearly weren't middle class or close to it.

The People of Portugal seemed friendly in general! It was warm while we were there (beginning of April), and clearly is a warmer than much of Western Europe. We loved a huge - building that had been re-built into a significant number of places one could eat. Clearly tourists, and well-off Portuguese People could afford this and other new(er) places, that probably weren't affordable at least most of the time for a majority of Portuguese People, especially residents of the larger cities.

U.S. ex-pats - have helped make Lisbon and other popular Portuguese cities and towns unaffordable for many local residents. Unlike U.S. gentrification, this is mainly something that can be blamed on U.S. and probably some other EU States.

I'd be happy to return - and see more of the country!

ZURICH (+ Switzerland)

Zurich - (in front of the restaurant) where I mistranslated and then

ordered - Pigs Feet (which we didn't eat) over 40 years ago

From Central Z - by the two major Universities

There are at least three cog-railways that go up the steep inclines in Zurich - part of its public transit system - which is the way nearly all people move around within Zurich and other urban areas quite frequently.

Niederdorfstrasse - by our hotel

Historic Zurich has fairly narrow alley-ways and streets. It is comfortable, safe and as with all of the Switzerland that we saw, super-clean (no trash visible nearly all the time). In the core of the night-club area, the young "rebels" seemed apparent (unlike nearly everywhere else) - smoking much more than elsewhere - and dressing more - counter-culturally appearing and similar.

Zurich - wealth and beauty - the Dolder Grand Hotel and Area

Switzerland is very different from the other Western European Countries! It seems far wealthier in general. It is whiter, though one sees some others who clearly aren't white. It is super-clean, super-efficient - and underneath it all is both extremely beautiful, and a little "cold" - stiff. My partner was unnerved and it took time until she saw any possibly unhoused individuals, rarely any visible "problems".

It's not a "socialist" country at all - unless having a sensible health care system (I believe anyone residing there 90 days or longer must enroll in one of perhaps a half-dozen private, well-regulated health care plans (which aren't inexpensive unless one's income is low) and great public transit make it "socialist".

It feels stodgy - in a lot of ways- and super- in a hurry, especially in Zurich. People are coming in large numbers into Central Zurich on trains starting around seven on weekday mornings. Its residents are polite and helpful in giving directions and similar.

The natural beauty of the country is self-evident and Swiss technology - builds more and more tunnels through the mountains that otherwise slow transit. It has lots of lakes - gorgeous views.

Basel - old area of town

Basel's Great - Art Museum

Inside the Ice Cave Area - Jungfraujoch -11,000 altitude

We took a day-long trip - from Zurich to the highest place one can go via trains in Europe. It was a day of a lot of incredible beauty as we traveled up and down the Jungfrau - with incredible, incredible views. We were lucky that it was mostly clear for much of our time on it.

It was also most interesting as our bus took us on small highways/ major roads from the major mountain to Lucerne (where some joined us and were dropped off) and back to Zurich.

Switzerland had the freshest salads and very good food- a different - drastically different way of handling - eating - than we have in the U.S. 90% of the food grown in Switzerland - can not be exported.

As with much of Europe, people buy their food for a few days, only. Additives and pesticides aren't allowed. Corporate mass - farming - as with California's Central Valley - is not the way things are done. We had a wonderful supper of Thai food one of our early evenings.

Switzerland is also Expensive - quite Expensive! This is understandable - though a pain. Switzerland is "the world's banker" and the place of mediation. Switzerland - is "neutral" - though wealth seems to exert some power. Not being a part of World War's I or II - certainly helped it a lot!

Zurich I love very much! It is a lot of fond memories of 1962-3- as well as a few return visits.

AMSTERDAM

Amsterdam Shop

Rijksmuseum

Nazified - Militarized Chess Board

Nazi History - Readily Shown

Beautiful Vaginal Lips

Readily - Noted - Miltarized Artwork

Black Beauty

Amsterdam- Party Down - Weekend Morning After - not cleaned up yet

BERLIN

Sachsenhausen (German pronunciation: [zaksn̩ˈhaʊzn̩]) or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year.^[2]^[3] It mainly held political prisoners throughout World War II. Prominent prisoners included Joseph Stalin's oldest son, Yakov Dzhugashvili; assassin Herschel Grynszpan; Paul Reynaud, the penultimate prime minister of the French Third Republic; Francisco Largo Caballero, prime minister of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War; the wife and children of the crown prince of Bavaria; Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera; and several enemy soldiers and political dissidents.

Sachsenhausen was a labour camp, outfitted with several subcamps, a gas chamber, and a medical experimentation area. Prisoners were treated inhumanely, fed inadequately, and killed openly. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used by the NKVD as NKVD special camp Nr. 7. Today, Sachsenhausen is open to the public as a memorial.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsenhausen_concentration_camp