London, Great Britain Friday, June 24th 1983 So I am here at a small British hotel, having just arrived in London. The Heathrow airport was very busy, and with lots of construction going on, it had a crazed and cramped feeling. The customs area at the airport was packed with people. We each had to stand in line to show our passports and answer questions from an official behind an enclosed booth. While you answered the questions, another customs guard’s dog sniffed around your l... [More]

London, Great Britain Saturday, June 25th 1983 Today we thought the grand tour of London - Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, Parliament, 10 Downing Street, West Minister Abbey. Most of the tour was conducted from the bus so we saw a lot of London and could get out and walk without worrying about parking. Buckingham Palace has a large square in front but it fills up quickly with tourists during the changing of the guards. The regular red-uniformed royal guards were not attending;... [More]

London, Great Britain Sunday, June 26th 1983 Today we rode out of London on the bus to Windsor Castle and then to Hampton Court. Windsor was a good distance outside London, but the day was sunny and the English countryside was scenic. We couldn't tour the inside at Windsor Castle because the Queen was in residence. A royal flag on the main Tower signals that the Queen is summering there and the main apartments are closed. The castle was bigger than I anticipated. It's built int... [More]

In Route, Dover, England across the English Channel to Calais then on to Paris, France Monday, June 27th 1983 Today we left England. We have a new tour guide named Ian who will be taking us through the ' Continent'. He's very quiet, neat, bespeckled - looks like a young university professor. Our bus was 45 minutes late at the hotel, so we missed our ferry at Dover. We had additional time then waiting for the next ferry, but it was well spent looking at the white cliffs and wal... [More]

Paris, France Tuesday, June 28th 1983 We started the day with a tour of the city. This city has so much history you can feel it in the air. We started walking through the Latin quarter and worked our way down to the River Seine. Here we crossed a beautiful old ornate bridge to Ile de la Cite and toured Notre Dame Cathedral. It was very dark inside which made everyone quiet. It has almost an overpowering sense of reverence. The large circular rose stained glass window on the front is mos... [More]

Chartres, Loire Valley, Paris, France Wednesday, June 29th 1983 The tour of the Loire Valley was today. We got up early and drove to the countryside by bus. The Loire Valley is lush, hilly and green – with a wide drifty River Loire. The morning mist blankets the area of farms, vineyards, and trees like a scene from a movie. Our first stop was Chartres cathedral. The oldest cathedral still standing. It was built during the medieval times and was the tallest known structure in the w... [More]

Versailles, Paris, France Thursday, June 30th 1983 Early today we went to the Palace of Versailles. Versailles is located just outside Paris (half hr). In addition to the Royal residence, there's living quarters for all French nobility and office space for government officials and military officers. The entire country was run from this palatal complex. There was a royal theater where opera was brought in from Paris. Outside the Gardens were royal farms to produce all the dairy and f... [More]

Lucerne, Switzerland Friday, July 1st 1983 We boarded what was to be our bus for the rest of the tour and met our colorful bus driver Hans, a large, loud, German fellow. We left Paris and drove across the French countryside heading east, I did think some about the world wars and how it played out on these fields. We are so removed from that history in the US. Our lunch was in the city of Dijon, and then we traveled up into Switzerland. Switzerland is so beautiful! At first I thought the... [More]

Lucerne, Switzerland Saturday, July 2nd Lucerne is a lovely place. Aside from the Eiffel Tower it is the next breathtaking experience. The city surrounds a lake and the waterfront area is clean and beautiful, especially with the Alps in the background. Today after a REAL breakfast of eggs, toast and fruit, we went shopping and found some real bargains. At least they seemed like bargains after the expensive prices in Paris. The Swiss people are also very friendly. In Lucerne, the roads w... [More]

Florence, Italy Sunday July 3rd 1983 I don't know how far we traveled today since driving through the Alpine mountains is laborious. We drove through very steep mountains and our bus driver was literally breaking into a sweat trying to negotiate the treacherous curves. It made me nervous each time he took his hand off the wheel to wipe his brow. For mountainous country, they don't seem to believe in guard rails. Switzerland had better road conditions than Italy. Most of the ride... [More]

Florence, Italy Monday, July 4th 1983 We woke up early and went on a walking tour of Florence. Our tour guide was a conceited but funny Italian. His tour was very informative, but he tried flirting with every girl in the group while walking between sites. You are expected to tip at the end of the tour. He said he wanted extra if you'd been pinched. We visited the Cathedral of Florence (3rd largest dome), the Palace of the Medecee's with great works of art such as Michelangelo'... [More]

Florence then Rome, Italy Tuesday, July 5th 1983 This morning some of the group went out to Pisa to climb up the Leaning Tower. I went with a group to the Uffizi Museum to see the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and many others. There is no air conditioning in Italy so by noon the Museum rooms were sweltering and we left to walk around the Arno river. We went back into several churches we'd seen the day before because the Cathedrals are so large that there is a cooling effect... [More]

Rome, Italy Wednesday, July 6th 1983 My feet are killing me from all the walking. Today we toured the Roman Forum, the Coliseum, the catacombs, Church of St. Peter's chains, and the Vatican. The ancient Roman ruins were very impressive, and I could have spent the entire day sitting there or looking around. To stand in the middle of the ruins and touch the stone makes you tremble thinking of who has done the same. The Coliseum gave me goose bumps, just thinking of events which happene... [More]

Rome, Italy Thursday, July 7th 1983 In the morning we took the Metro to Trevi fountain. There were crowds of people, not just tourist as the locals like to meet and talk here. I threw 2 coins in the fountain - to be married. What the heck… if you have to make a choice. There was an open air market near by where they sold vegetables, fruits, and flowers. We bought bread and fruit for lunching and walked around spending some time and money shopping. We went to the original Gucci Stor... [More]

Venice, Italy Friday, July 8th 1983 We left Rome early today and traveled the whole day to Venice. We stopped for lunch in Assisi and toured St. Francis Basilica and St. Johns Cathedral. The basilica was built by a group of monks in honor of their brother St. Francis. During the War, the Vatican claimed it as a basilica in order to protect the church from destruction. The church itself is made up of 3 levels. First, a dark cellar chapel holding St. Francis of Assisi's burial remain... [More]

Venice, Italy Saturday, July 9th 1983 Guess what? The flu/virus that other students were beginning to feel ill yesterday evening, got to me this morning. I feel rotten. Today was a free day to do what we wanted and I'm sick in bed with a fever. I took aspirin and napped. That evening I forced myself out to have dinner. But the air here was so stagnant and it was sooooo hot! Kelly had the hotel staff bring up a fan for me after she found me feverish. The murky water had a terrible... [More]

Italy and Innsbruck, Austria Sunday, July 10th 1983 This morning I woke up and felt worst. I hate this city and this air. I started to faint on the boat ride back and nearly got sick on the bus. I laid down in the bus aisle on the floor with a pillow. Another student is also terribly sick. Arrivederci, Venice! We traveled winding back up into the Alps. We stopped at a pretty ski resort town called Cortina. After a bowl of soup and fresh air I felt a little better. Back on the ... [More]

Heidelberg,Germany Monday, July 11th 1983 Today the bus ride was long and difficult. The Austrian Alps were beautiful though. They are much rockier and steeper, though curiously rounded at the top than the Swiss Alps. But after coming down from the mountains we found Germany in an unseasonably warm state. And then the bus air conditioner broke down. It was so hot in the bus since the windows do not open. We drove for about 5 hours like that. We had to deliver one student to the air... [More]

Rhine River to Cologne (Koen),Germany Tuesday, July 12th 1983 We left in the early morning and took a cruise down (up?) the Rhine River on a "bootsfarht" (pronounced how you think) meaning boat journey. ‘Das boot’ was mainly a deck ship with lots of outdoor seating. We sat on the top level even though it was a sunny and nearly hot day. Ian said we were fortunate, since the visibility was so good. He'd never taken this leg in such good weather, and he enjoyed the r... [More]

Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Holland) Wednesday, July 13th 1983 We left the hotel in Germany very early this morning and drove to Brussels in Belgium. Like Switzerland the border was defined by a welcoming sign. In Brussels we walked the Grande Plaza and ate lunch here - complete with waffles and strawberries and cream. It was heavenly. You can see the French influence in the buildings and architecture of Brussels. The cleanliness though is probably more of a German... [More]

Amsterdam, the Netherlands Thursday, July 14th 1983, last full day in Europe We began at the wharf where we took an hour cruise through the canals. We toured a diamond company and saw each step in making them into jewelry. Also toured Anne Frank's house - it was teenie tiny kind of small and made me sad in a way. For lunch a small group of us went and ate Indonesian food. It tasted a little like Chinese food, but the spices were heavy and very hot. After lunch we toured one my favor... [More]

In route to USA from Amsterdam Friday, July 15th 1983 No adventures on the way to the Amsterdam airport. I felt sad to leave Europe so soon, and to say goodbye to friends I'd meet and traveled with. Afscheid europa! Instead of flying through New York, we arrived in the US via Miami and then were all routed out from there. Miami Airport was very busy and confusing with major construction, detours, and loud speaking tourist arrivals. They inspected every piece of luggage, rifling ... [More]

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