Hunting Ice in Europe
For those of you who have done much traveling in Europe, you know that Europeans don’t use ice very often. If a European orders a Coke, they get a chilled bottle of Coke and an empty glass and no ice. The coke is already cold why do you need ice? When an American orders ice for their drink, you may get one small ice cube.
One summer, Sandra and I flew to Brussels ,Belgium to begin our summer vacation. We enjoyed Brussels for a few days then rented a car and drove into France. Meandering through northern France we stopped in Rheims to sample some champagne. While there, we bought a bottle of good champagne to take with us on our trip. This started our quest for a sack of ice in order to cool our champagne. I knew we would never find a sack of ice in France so we drove into Germany looking for ice. I had previously taught school in the military dependents schools in Kaiserslautern, Germany. We arrived in Kaiserslautern on July 2 and checked into the military hotel. The next day, I went to the PX and bought a styrofoam cooler. I checked all the ice bins and they were filled to the brim. We were leaving on July 5 for Bern, Switzerland. I decided to wait until the 5 to purchase the bag of ice.
On July 5, I drove down to the PX to purchase our bag of ice- no ice. The ice bins were completely empty. I went inside the PX and asked the clerk what had happened to the ice in the bins. He informed me that yesterday was July 4 and everyone had bought ice for their celebrations. He told me that I might find ice at the base in Heidelberg. Heidelberg was on the way to Switzerland, so we drove to the base there- no ice. My well-made plans were falling apart. I hated the thought of having to drink hot champagne. We spent the night in Bern and then headed for Zermatt, our final destination. On the way to Zermatt, we had to cross a couple of mountain passes. When we got to the top of the first pass low and behold, snow was everywhere. Here we were playing in the snow, throwing snow everywhere and filling our styrofoam cooler. We had ice!
Zermatt, Switzerland is one of the most beautiful villages in Europe. It is the home of the magnificent Matterhorn. It is a pedestrian village, no cars are allowed except for the local doctor. Horse and buggies in the summer, horse and sleigh in the wintertime along with many electric carts. In the morning, we went shopping for bread and a variety of cheese. We were taking the cog railway up to Gonnergraut for a wonderful panoramic view of the Matterhorn. We hauled our iced down champagne, along with our bread and cheese lunch to the top of Gonnergraut. What a feast it was!
Life is fun, life is an adventure, live it to its fullest. and remember--if at first you can’t find your ice, keep looking!