Visiting County Meath

While my Chambers and Kilroy ancestors are from County Mayo, my Sherlock and Caffrey ancestors are from County Meath.  Since I visited Islandeady (in County Meath) in both 2012 and on the current trip, I wanted to make sure that I also visited County Meath.  Perhaps, I could see the townlands of Lady Rath and Demailestown, the hometowns of my great Grandfather Edward Sherlock.

In 1961, Grandpa Charlie visited the site of his father's (Edward Sherlock) childhood home in Demailestown.  Above is a photo of him at that house.

Demailestown and Lady Rath are very close to one another.  While they are listed as townlands, they are more like housing developments.  So, think of a housing development in a rural setting with a few houses.  Demailestown and Lady Rath are west of Drogheda, east of Kells, and north of Navan and Kilmessan.  I looked at both Demailestown and Lady Rath on Google Earth and couldn't find a house like the one in the photo above.  Of course, this photo was from 55 years ago and the house very likely could have been torn down and a new one built.

According to Grandma Theresa's diary, they visited Pat Sherlock's home and his cattle. They also visited the Carey's and Agnes Sherlock -- I am not sure which town-lands they lived in 1961.  Then they visited Mary Glacken in Navan.

Trying to find these town-lands in Ireland in person is a lot harder than trying to locate places on Google Earth.  Oh, if it could just be that easy!   Of course, it didn't help that we didn't have GPS so it was rather like looking for a needle in a haystack!  The roads were tiny rural roads and did not have a lot of signs.  We drove past Lobinstown, Wilkinstown, Slane Castle and Navan.  Lady Rath & Demailestown is to the east of Wilkinstown.  So, alas, I did not actually get to see Lady Rath or Demailestown despite our efforts.  Perhaps the only way this will ever happen is with a native guide who is familiar with these tiny town-lands.

VISITING AMSTERDAM

Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Theresa visited Amsterdam in 1961 and stayed at the Hotel Suisse.  They took a walk in Amsterdam with another couple.  Theresa doesn't say anything more about her visit to Amsterdam in her travel diary.

After we finished our Rhine River Cruise in August, we also visited Amsterdam.  Our first day in Amsterdam, we took a walk with another couple (my brother and his wife) and visited the flower market.  In the evening, we enjoyed a dinner canal cruise, touring the canals of Amsterdam.

When my grandparents visited Amsterdam in 1961, they bought a ceramic windmill that played music for each of their sons' family.  As a child, I remember ours sat on our TV in the living room.  So, one of my objectives when I visited Amsterdam was to find and purchase a ceramic windmill to display in our home.  I found the perfect one at Delft Blue.  Now, every time, I look at it in our entertainment center, I think about my Grandparents and about our recent trip to Amsterdam  Such great memories!

MY VISIT TO COLOGNE

We arrived at the Cathedral in Cologne (High Cathedral of St. Peter & Mary) at 10am on a Sunday in August.  Since Mass was being celebrated in the Cathedral, we were only allowed to visit in the back of the cathedral.

Since we couldn't visit more of the Cathedral that morning, we took a walking tour of the city.  Cologne was once a Roman settlement called "Colonia Agrippina".  Old Roman ruins remain in this city and we saw some of them.

After lunch, we had the opportunity to explore more of the Cathedral in Cologne.  We saw the beautiful stained glass windows and ornate gold shrine on an elaborate altar.  I thought the Cathedral was very impressive.

Of course, we took some photos re-enacting some of the ones my Grandma was in 1961.  I always liked this photo of her (in the red coat) in front of the Cathedral.  The problem was there were way too many people walking back and forth to take a photo where you would actually see us.  So instead we stood closer to where the photographer took the original photo.

From the two photos you will notice that things have changed.  There is no longer that small patch of grass in front of the cathedral.  Also, there is no longer a street in front of the cathedral but rather a "plaza" where people walk through or gather.

I loved my short visit to Cologne and to its magnificent cathedral!  I already have two things to do on my next visit to Cologne:
1. Take a ride on the Rheinseilbahn (the bucket ride over the city and river) to get an aerial view of the city.
2. Drink a glass of Cologne famous Kolsch beer.

GRANDMA THERESA'S VISIT TO COLOGNE

The first time I viewed the slides of Grandpa Charlie's and Grandma Theresa's month long trip to Europe in 1961, I was in awe of the photo of my Grandma standing in front of the grand Cathedral in Cologne.  As time passed, the Cathedral and the city of Cologne was not only placed on my "bucket list" but was placed near the top.

According to Grandma Theresa's diary -- while visiting Cologne, she made a visit to the "most beautiful cathedral".  Theresa and Charlie also visited with her cousin Richard Nebgen and his brothers Gunter, Sieglinde and Alfous Nebgen while in Cologne.  The photo above was taken during this visit with Grandpa Charlie being at the far right.


What would be for me a perfect way to visit Cologne?  Well, of course, on a river cruise down the Rhine.  That way I could cruise down the Rhine viewing castle after castle for hours,  I could visit my ancestral home towns, located near Koblenz.  And I could see the magnificent cathedral in Cologne!

How great would it be if I could re-create this same photo while I was in Cologne?  Well, I am planning on bringing some of her photos and see what happens.

CASTLES ON THE RHINE

"The scenery castles are beautiful.  Got off the boat in St. Goar."  (Excerpt from Grandma Theresa's journal)

There are many people who love the scariness of fairy tales and is probably a reason that the TV show "Once Upon a Time" is so popular, as well as Grimm's Fairy Tales.  I, on the other hand, enjoy more the romantic aspects of fairy tales and was eagerly awaiting seeing castle after castle while cruising the Middle Rhine.

Our ship left Rudesheim and the first castle we saw was Rheinstein Castle, located near the town of

Trechtingshausen and built originally in 1316. The next castle we saw was Reichenstein Castle (also known as Falkenburg) and it was built in 1100.

Then we saw Sooneck Castle, which is located near the village of Neiderheimbach.  These first 3

castles were all located on the left side of the ship.  And seeing castle after castle, continued for our 3 hour ride down the Middle Rhein.  We also saw the famous Lorelei, a huge rock formation which has various tales linked to it, including the one about a beautiful female sitting on the cliff, distracting ship men with her beauty causing them to crash.

I just wished that Grandma Theresa had written more in her journal about these castles.  It would have been nice to have gotten more thoughts from her. She did see them in the opposite order that I saw them too, as she was going upstream while I went downstream.  Perhaps she just enjoyed them so much "beautiful scenery castles" was all that needed to be said.

RUDESHEIM AM RHEIN

In 1961, Grandma Theresa visited Sankt Goar and Bonn in Germany.  She then stayed overnight in Heidelberg.  Theresa didn't get the opportunity to visit the fun town of Rudesheim in Germany.

Rudesheim is located on the Rhein River and is a wine making town.  My husband and I spent only a few hours in this town in August, but it was well worth our time,  We arrived on the shores of Rudesheim in the early evening and did a dinner tour of the town.  After boarding a little train, we arrived in the main portion of the Old Town.  We, along with our group, walked to Drosselgasse, which is a pedestrian street and the main attraction in Rudesheim.  There are a lot of wine taverns and open-air restaurants on this very busy thoroughfare.

We ate dinner with our group at the Rudesheimer Schloss.  Our appetizer included sausage, cheese and bread.  Then we were served potato soup.  Our main course was sauerbrauten, red cabbage sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and applesauce.  Our dessert was an apple pastry. Of course, there was a lot of music being played and then a game that involved shots of schnapps!

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY

In May of 1961, Grandma Theresa Sherlock visited the city of Heidelberg in Germany.  She stayed at the Hotel Park Haarless Heidelberg.  Theresa and Charlie visited the ruins of the Castle Heidelberg, attended Mass (probably at St. Peter's Church) and visited the University of Heidelberg.

In August of 2015 (less than 2 months ago), I retraced her steps by also visiting the delightful town of Heidelberg and the ruins of the Heidelberg Castle, with its sweeping views of the River Necktar and Alstadt (Old Town).  In the castle, I saw the world's largest wine barrel, which was shaped from 130 oak trees and once held 50,000 gallons of wine.

After touring the castle, we visited the Old Town portion of Heidelberg.  One of my favorite hobbies (after genealogy, of course) is buying Christmas ornaments on my travels.  Well, I wasn't disappointed in Heidelberg.  Kathe Wohlfahrt is a delightful Christmas store where I bought several darling ornaments.

Then it was time for a cappucino mit milsch (with milk) for me.  If you prefer cream, you ask for cappucion mit sahne.  Of course, why just drink cappucino when you can have a delicious pastry with it -- I ordered a slice of a delicious sponge cake that was filled with a peach preserve.  What a delightful day in Heidelberg!

THE BLACK FOREST

Grandma Theresa visited Triberg, Germany, which is located in the Black Forest in 1961.  Triberg is home to the Triberg waterfalls, which are located on the Gutach River and are among the highest in Germany.  Triberg is also known for having the largest cuckoo clock.

Fifty four years later, I was very excited about the opportunity to visit the Black Forest.  After all, it is the home of cuckoo clocks, cherry schnapps, Black Forest gateau and of course, Black Forest ham.  It was also the locale for many fairy tales -- Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel, just to name a few.

Our visit to the Black Forest, took us to the town of Hollsteig, which is about 45 minutes southwest of Triberg.  It turns out from my research, I discovered that Triberg is in the heart of the Black Forest.  We watched several demonstrations during our short stay in Hollsteing -- glass blowing, creation of Black Forest gateau (above photo is the finished product) and yes, cuckoo clock creation.  What did I learn from my visit -- that the most important ingredient in the Black Forest Gateau is cream, cream and yes, more cream!

VILLAGES IN FRANCE

In 1961, Grandma Theresa visited Nice, France but she was sick so she went to bed and skipped dinner.  After eating breakfast in bed the next day, Grandpa Charlie and her visited Monte Carlo.  While Grandma's travel diary ends there, according to photos from their trip, they also visited Paris.  So, I will never know if they also stopped at other French towns along the way.

On my Grand European Adventure, I did not visit Paris (it is still on my bucket list) but I did visit two French towns - both located in the Alsace region -- Colmar and Strasbourg.  While both of these towns are currently in France, their histories do include being ruled by Germany at specific times.  So it is not surprising to see that they display both French and German influences.

While in Colmar, I saw a nest with 2 storks in it.  I had never seen anything like that.  They consider it a very good thing, which is very understandable.

In Strasbourg, we visited the area known as "Little France", a covered bridge (which isn't covered any more) and the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Strasbourg (I will confess that I love old churches and Europe has a ton of great old churches and cathedrals).  The Cathedral of Notre Dame was the highest medieval building in Europe.  It is has a famous astronomical clock which is fascinating to watch.  The clock depicts the beginning of life until the man's death.

TOP OF THE WORLD

 "Switzerland is so beautiful -- so far I don't know which country I like best".  That was an excerpt from my Grandma Theresa's travel diary in 1961 after visiting Switzerland and Austria.  I will have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with her.  Even though I am a Southern California gal, there is something about the Alps (whether they are in Italy, Austria or Germany) that I find so completely irresistible. They are just so majestic!

On our 2nd day in Switzerland, we went on a tour that took us to Jungfrauoch -- the highest railway station in Europe and an amazing place to visit.  It was August but there was snow everywhere!  I walked through the Ice Palace (ice on all the top, bottom and sides of us), basked in the sun on the huge glacier and enjoyed the awesome views from the Observation desk.  It was all very magical!

THEIR GRAND EUROPEAN ADVENTURE

Fifty four years ago, my grandparents (Charles Sherlock & Theresa Nebgen Sherlock) embarked on what I like to call "A Grand European Adventure".  They left Burbank, California on 22 May 1961 and arrived back home a month later.  I have my Grandmother's travel diary from that trip and color slides that my Grandfather shot.

Their European Adventure fascinates me for two reasons.  The first reason is the places that they visited.  I have traveled to Europe three times now and I just can't seem to get enough!  My travel "bucket list" now includes many of the places that they visited and wrote about in the travel diary. I am planning my own European Adventure later this year.  I have this burning desire to re-trace as many of their European Adventure steps as possible.  I know that I won't get it all done in one trip but that just means I will have take several trips which is just fine with me.

The second major reason their trip fascinates me is that they met many distant relatives on their trip -- both in Ireland and in Germany.  Some of them were mentioned by name in the travel diary and others were just described.  I also have photos of some of their relatives and traveling companions but since no identification is given, it will require some detective work on my part to discover the true identities of the people in the photos.

Let me end this post with a travel quote that sums up my opinion of travel from an unknown source --

"Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer".

RECORDING ONE'S LIFE JOURNEY

How did my Great Grandma Bridget Chambers meet my Great Grandfather Edward Sherlock?  Why did my Great Grandfather Joseph Peter Nebgen immigrate to the United States while most of his siblings stayed in Germany?  I have tons of questions about my ancestors.  Perhaps if they had recorded their life journey in even a small way, I would have some of those answers.

Keeping a daily journal, writing about lessons learned or stories about their travels, or videotaping a person telling stories about their past are all ways to record life's journey.  I have written in a journal, now am word processing in an online journal for many years.  My kids call it "my memoirs".  It helps me to remember the details of events.  Some times I use that information when I am creating a scrapbook, conducting family history research or even having a friendly argument with a family member about a certain event.

I kept a diary when I was in the 5th through 9th grades of school.  I re-read it a few years ago and found the dates of the deaths of a few of my great aunts.  Yeah, it did seem like we went to a lot of funerals around that time!  I then verified the information with the actual records.

My Grandma Theresa wrote in a travel diary when she went on her "Grand European Travel Adventure" in 1961.  I have not only read her diary, but took notes so that I when I travel to those same places, I can "re-trace" her footsteps and perhaps "see it through her eyes".  I had one of those moments this past October in a church in Innsbruck.  It was rather awesome!  I hope to visit many more of those places in the coming years -- Switzerland, Assisi and Siena in Italy, County Meath in Ireland -- just to name a few!

Who knows some day, maybe one of my grandkids or great grandkids will read the memoirs of "my life journey" and will try to re-trace my footsteps!