Titanic centennial, the Empress of France and my grandparents' voyage to a new world.

April 14 marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. So many  passengers were looking forward to a new life in a country most of them had never even visited.

My 88 year old mother and I spent today reading about her own family's journey across the ocean from Southampton 11 years after the Titanic.

My grandparents and their children ( my grandma 5 months pregnant with my mom) were fleeing Southern Russia  after revolution and famine.

They were on their way to Canada.
After 2 weeks travel  through Europe on  wagons and trains they finally set sail on the Empress of France. Everyone was seasick except for my Uncle who was 9 years old.  He wrote about the trip and what a wondrous experience it was for such a young person. He even described seeing the icebergs as the ship neared the gulf of St Lawrence. That gave me a chill as I thought about the Titanic's fate.

 My grandfather recited this poem as he, my grandmother and my uncle watched the mountains of ice floating  in the distance

Dem Schnee, dem Regan
Dem Wind entgegen


(Towards the snow and the rain
Into the wind)
Then he paused and my grandmother continued Goethe's poem
Gluck ohne Ruh
Liebe bist du!
( Bliss [happiness] without rest
is love)
Then she smiled and said ' you have to know the whole poem to understand that the poet is talking about the restlessness of love and not about icebergs"  
  
So glad they made the trip. So thankful they made it safely.