The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: World

Events outside the U.S.

  • James Flight To Amsterdam

    This is actually Jame’s first event or class as a senior at Wayne State University. James signed up for a European Business class where they will be gone for 15 days and studying business abroad.

    James was all packed and ready ahead of time for his flight. He had to get their a couple hours early as is common these days.

    Once he got through security, and through customs, it was a matter of waiting. However once on board James showed some of the new technology that is available to people on long flight. Meanwhile Mom and Dad were tracking his flight on their own from the Delta website.

    James arrived safely there (and back of course)

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  • 2024 Day Ten of Paris Trip

    All good things must come to an end and so it was with James’ Paris trip. The intention of the class was to get the students actual time in a French setting where they could really refine their speaking of the French language and interact with the culture and history of the French people.

    James took some pictures of his hotel room before he left to give us an idea of where he stayed for nine nights, then headed out with his class to the airport where he took a direct flight home to Detroit on Air France. The flight was scheduled to take 9 hours but was only a little over 8 hours as James’ family picked him up at about 8:30 pm Detroit time.

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  • 2024 Day Nine of Paris Trip

    The last full day of the Paris trip was a free day for the students and most decided to go to Euro Disney for the day, but James had other plans. James left for London England!

    James had to get up early to make the train, in fact so early that the subway was not even open and he had to walk to the train station. Once there he enjoyed a trip along the French landscape till the “Chunnel”. The Channel Tunnel, also referred to as the ‘Chunnel’, is the longest underwater rail tunnel in the world and connects southern England (Folkestone Terminal) to northern France (Calais Terminal) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. From there he went through customs and to the British Museum where he had bought tickets weeks before.

    It did rain while he was in London and James had to buy a new souvenir bag.

    After seeing the museum, Big Ben, and Parliament – James returned back to France (going through French Customs again) and made it back to the hotel mere minutes before the hotel curfew.
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  • 2024 Day Eight of Paris Trip

    Today was a big shopping day for the class as they went to Galeries Lafayette. Galeries Lafayetteis an upmarket French department store chain, the biggest in Europe. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. During Nazi occupation of France in 1940, Les Galeries Lafayette underwent a process of “Aryanization”, that is the removal of Jewish owners and their replacement by non-Jewish owners. Théophile Bader, Raoul Meyer, Max Heilbronn, the store’s administrators and 129 Jewish employees were forced to resign. The property of Bader, Meyer and Heilbronn families was taken.

    James was surprised to see the Statue of Liberty in Paris, but then found out that France has no less than 6 reproductions of the Statue of Liberty in Paris (exhibited in the open air or in the museum).

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  • 2024 Day Seven of Paris Trip

    Another wow day as James got to visit the most famous art museum in the world! The Louvre is home to some of the most canonical works of Western art, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II. Remnants of the Medieval Louvre fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to urban expansion, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function, and in 1546 Francis I converted it into the primary residence of the French Kings.

    The Louvre, as so many of the other places James visited, is the setting for another famous movie, “The Davinci Code”.

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  • 2004 Day Five of Paris Trip

    The fifth day in France was a historic visit through the streets of Paris. Too many landmarks to mention in this post but lets look at two of the more “unique” places that were visited.

    THE PASSE-MURAILLE, OR “PASSER THROUGH Walls” is a homage to a famous work of French literature by the same name which immortalizes the novel’s tragic finale wherein a man with the ability to phase/walk through walls finds himself caught in mid-pass after a streak of roguish shenanigans.

    Moulin Rouge is best known as the birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance. Originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesans who operated from the site, the can-can dance revue evolved into a form of entertainment of its own and led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today, the Moulin Rouge is a tourist attraction, offering predominantly musical dance entertainment for visitors from around the world. The club’s decor still contains much of the romance of fin de siècle France.

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  • 2024 Day Three of Paris Trip

    The first full day in Paris was today and James’ French class was now in session. One of the places that they visited was the Notre Dame cathedral of Paris. It is in the center of the city and was the setting for the famous film = “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” which starred Charles Laughton in 1939. A fire broke out at Notre Dame on 15 April 2019. The fire made the roof and main spire fall. The building’s vaulted stone ceiling contained the burning roof as it collapsed, preventing worse damage to the interior.

    Around 23:00 local time, the spokesperson of the Paris firefighters said that the structure would probably be saved. James took pictures of the construction currently going on at this world famous cathedral.

    Over 400 people helped fight the fire that day in 2019 and as you can see by these pictures, they saved the cathedral.

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  • 2024 Day Two of Paris Trip

    Once the plane left New York, James was fascinated by the plane tracker which showed exactly where the plane was via a gps system.

    After the long trans-atlantic flight the first day in Paris was a real adventure. Despite being tired James class did what most people would do on such a trip, they went to visit the Eifel tower and grab a bite of food to eat at a local cafe. The Eiffel Tower was built by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Even though Gustave Eiffel is credited for the Eiffel Tower it was actually two lesser known people who came up with the original drawing of it. These people were Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier. These two men were the chief engineers of Eiffel’s engineering firm. The main architect was Stephen Sauvestre. James held up his VIP Camp sign for his friends at camp and will do this repeatedly during this trip.

    Despite being tired, James had a wonderful time and called home to let his family know he was alright.

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  • 2024 Day One of Paris Trip

    As part of his French class James’ class went to France for nine days. The first day was a trip to Metro Airport where James flew to New York. After a layover in New York James went on a trip over the Atlantic ocean and on to France. Mom and Dad took pictures of James’ plane as it left Metro airport and James took some pics out of the planes window as it left the motor city. James said he could see the new Gordie Howe bridge (which is still under construction) as the pane flew to New York. While waiting in NY, James took a great pic of the sunset from JFK airport. This was James’ first time on an airplane.
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  • Niagara Falls 2004

    We visited Niagara Falls for a week in late September and got a great room with a super view. As a child we used to go to Niagara Falls all the time, it was about the same distance away as Mackinaw and there were train tours that left from Windsor so we only had to drive across the border. However since 911 the borders have gotten alot stricter which means long lines and waiting periods. Probably will never go back to the way it was but it certainly affects where you want to vacation.

    Anyhow highlights of this trip are the falls, we visited both the American side and the Canadian side, although we stayed on the Canadian side. In addition, Mary rode a trolley car over a whirlpool while James and I watched. Had to be a thrill for Mary though.

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