European travel builds bonds across cultures

RUSSELLVILLE — A group of Franklin County travelers spent nine days this summer walking through catacombs, exploring castles and standing in places where history dazzles and haunts.

“It’s an incredibly enriching experience,” said Susan DeArman, who along with Beth Gilmer coordinated the trip for local students and adults.

Paired with another group from Indiana, their tour covered major European cities, quaint villages, alpine lakes and sobering historical sites.

Beth Gilmer and Susan DeArman visit Nymphenburg Palace, the summer palace of the Wittlesbach dynasty rulers just outside of Munich, Germany.

The trip began in Vienna with museums around Maria Theresa Square featuring matching Fine Art and Natural History buildings on either side.

“I thought that was such a neat touch,” Gilmer said. “It was art on one side and science on the other, and you could pick your passion.”

They visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral and its catacombs stacked with bones from plague victims. Gilmer called the catacombs “creepy but poignant,” saying they offered a window into the devastation of the Black Plague.

Another highlight included exploring Vienna’s musical heritage. The group attended a classical concert with opera singers, ballerinas and chamber musicians in a historic building that once served as Austria’s stock exchange.

Emily Martinez, Claudia Carrillo, Jessica Martinez and Joshua Lara Trejo visit Nymphenburg Palace Gardens.

“I thought it might put me to sleep because we were all jet-lagged, but it was absolutely wonderful,” Gilmer said. “It was beautiful and really special.”

In Salzburg, they took a “Sound of Music” tour visiting filming locations, including the Abbey exterior, the fountains, the arbor where the children sang, and the trees they climbed. Gilmer said some of the travelers “actually spun in the field” in true Julie Andrews style.

In Germany, the group spent time in Munich touring museums, historical sites and the Residenz, the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach dynasty. They visited BMW World to see racecars and historic models before crossing the street to the 1972 Olympic Stadium.

Gilmer said the first Olympics she remembered as a child featured Mark Spitz’s record-setting seven gold medals and the tragedy of the kidnapped and killed Israeli Olympians.

A solemn stop for the group happened when they visited Dachau concentration camp. Gilmer called it “heart wrenching” to stand in the barracks and see the crematorium knowing the horrors that happened there. She spoke of memorial chapels built after the war and said it was emotionally draining but important to visit places that bear witness to history.

The group also visited Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration for Disney’s fairytale castle design. They did not tour inside but visited nearby Linderhof Palace built by King Ludwig II.

Gilmer called Linderhof one of her favorite parts of thetrip,describingLudwig’s eccentric touches like a dining table raised and lowered for private table setting, and mirrored halls lit with candelabras so he could work at night.

She noted his death was ruled an apparent drowning despite no water in his lungs and called his story “very interesting.”

Madeline Cooper and Sarah Kate Kiel visit Lindhof Palace.

In Switzerland, the group went to Lucerne for a scenic cruise on a lake surrounded by the Alps.

They rode a cogwheel train like Chattanooga, Tennessee’s incline railway, to the top of Mount Rigi. Gilmer said if she could freeze one moment forever, it would be stepping off that train to see the breathtaking 360-degree view of the mountains.

Their Swiss evening included fondue, yodeling, alphorn music and cultural demonstrations. Gilmer called it a “fun beautiful evening” that perfectly capped off the Alpine experience.

The tour also included stops in Heidelberg and Freiburg. In Freiburg, Gilmer described little canals beside the streets where children floated toy boats on strings, calling it “quaint” and “very special.”

A side trip to Liechtenstein became unexpectedly memorable for Gilmer and DeArman, who tackled the steep hike up to Vaduz Castle while many younger travelers opted out.

Gilmer joked that it “almost killed us” but called it one of her proudest moments of any of their summer tours.

Food was part of the adventure, too. The group tried bratwurst, wiener schnitzel and sauerkraut, which Gilmer said was sweeter than in the U.S.

Other foods included spätzle, strudel and plenty of gelato at every stop.

They did some shopping along the way, including Swarovski ornaments, Swiss knives and traditional German Christmas ornaments shaped like marionettes in lederhosen.

Gilmer said many bought Swiss knives as Father’s Day gifts since the trip returned just before the holiday.

Sarah Kate Kiel, one of the youngest travelers on the trip, called it “the perfect combination of educational and adventurous.” She said it was her first time visiting Europe and described the experience as “completely new.”

“It was very special to explore different parts of history and have new experiences guided by local people,” she said.

Kiel said the trip offered manymemorablemoments.

“Some highlights for me were the Sound of Music tour by a local guide and being able to take in just some of the vast beauty of the Swiss Alps,” she said.

She described it as “truly a trip of a lifetime to see such beautiful parts of the world.”

She also talked about how trying local foods added to the adventure. Sampling new dishes was an important part of the experience.

“We tried wiener schnitzel and bratwurst, but my favorite was a Brunswickstyle soup that was made with chicken and schnitzel,” she said.

Karren Sewell said of the trip: “Every trip is a new adventure that grows my confidence and helps me conquer fears. I love trying new foods that are authentic to the culture. I love hearing and learning the history, and I love meeting new people. My favorite city on this trip was Lucerne, Switzerland because it was just so beautiful with its bridge, lake and proximity to the Swiss Alps. I have to add that I love my authentic — crafted in Germany — cuckoo clock.”

DeArman called the Alps in Switzerland “the most surreal experience of them all.” She said it was “simply stunning” and something she would never forget.

She described visiting the Dachau concentration camp memorial site as “a very moving experience.” She said knowing the atrocities that happened there was humbling and made her realize even more how much people take for granted.

One morning during breakfast, DeArman and Gilmer ended up talking with a mom, dad and young son from Germany.

DeArman said she was surprised by how much of her high school and college German she could still remember to communicate a little with the boy.

DeArman said trips like this are worth taking because they offer a more in-depth cultural experience through real interaction with people from different backgrounds.

She shared that on every trip a student inevitably tells her, “Mrs. DeArman, this just doesn’t look like it does on TV.”

“Comments like that one make my trip,” she said. “I love traveling, but I started traveling so I could provide students with the opportunity. It has definitely been worth it.”

Gilmer said one of the best parts of these trips is seeing how travel changes people, especially those going abroad for the first time.

She added trips like this make the world both bigger and smaller at the same time.

“You see there’s a world outside Russellville and all these possibilities you’ve never experienced, but you also see that people everywhere have so much in common,” she said. “That’s how you build bonds across cultures.”