1938 TRIP TO FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND February 5, 2004 I hadn't realized it when I had mentioned Daddy's letter to Mother on November 26, 1938, that he had written two postcards on the same date-one to Norma and one to me. The one to Norma showed a view of the Tuileries Gardens. He wrote: Norma, This card is from Paris. The next one will be Switzerland. The building is one of the showplaces. With Love, Daddy The card to me showed a view of the Notre-Dame Church by night. He wrote: Vee, This is one of the largest and oldest churches in the world. Daddy It was obvious to me from what my father had written to my mother that ever since he and the other metallurgists arrived in Paris they spent most of each day at the "office" together. And that the Vanadium Corporation's plans for them were very structured. If the company said that they would leave the next afternoon, November 27th, for Geneva, they had no vote in the matter. Daddy didn't describe their trip from Paris to Geneva in any letter and he didn't have postcard scenes en route. Therefore I can only imagine they went by train. As close as I can figure out, it's about a 700-mile trip at least. And considering that it was in the 1930s I would estimate that it took them a day and a half to reach Geneva, Switzerland, to the southeast and right over the French border. However, they must have been traveling on a high-speed train as it appears that they left Paris and arrived in Geneva on the same day. Upon arrival in Geneva, no time was wasted before they really got down to business at hand. In Daddy's scrapbook is a small notebook and after a few preliminary unimportant notations in it, the next entries are very precise they were formulas/ratios concerning what needed to be included in the new French furnace method of turning the metals into ferroalloys. Such as, [date] 11/28, C [carbon] 1.20; Si [silicon] 31.75; Al [aluminum] 47.50; Fe [iron] 14.55, Ti [titanium] 3.00. On November 29th were similar notations such as a notation of 35 Al, 65 Si, No Fe = large crystals, and AlC [aluminum carbide??] = yellow crystals. While in Geneva Daddy stayed at the Hotel and Buffet Cornavin. His short letter to Mother on the hotel's stationery dated November 27 said: Verna: Enclosing a wine label. Just emptied the bottle for dinner. This letter is more for the [stamp] cancellation and hotel paper than anything else. Have been having a pleasant trip so far but can better tell you about it when I get back. Charly [Note: on the hotel's stationery there's a sketch of the hotel as it was in 1938 at the time. In addition, there's a postcard in his scrapbook showing a photograph of it. On the Internet I found that the same hotel and building still exists and the outside looks almost identical. Additional note: the Hotel Scribe still exists in Paris in spite of it having been used as a headquarters for the allies during WWII.] Wow, just now I removed the postcard showing Hotel Cornavin so that I could study the picture. When I turned it over I found that it had been sent to Norma dated November 27, 1938. He said: Norma, We stayed in this hotel one night. It is on Lake Geneva. Daddy I put the postcard back into his scrapbook and below it on the same page was another card, this one with a view of Lake Geneva with Mont-Blanc in the distance. I removed it, turned it over and I was pleased that it was one that he sent to me on the same date. He wrote: Vee, This is Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Daddy On the next page of the scrapbook was a mounted postcard with a view of The Palace of Nations in Geneva. It was one that he had send Mother the same day. He wrote: Verna, We arrived her at 9 P.M. and leave for France again at 9 A.M. tomorrow. Have been traveling since 1 P.M. and am pretty tired. We are absolutely on our own and our French or German is of little value. So far we have gotten along famously. The food has been excellent at all stops and the wines very fine. Have not had a glass of water since we landed and am keeping sober. When in France do as the French do. Drink wine. Love, Charly