/Summary: 1985 Trip to Europe

(May 30 to October 31)

About 20 months later, Pan Am World Airways was not only non-stop to Frankfurt, it was on time. We followed the Rhine and the Mosel Rivers for a while, then to Monschau, Germany. Crossed the border to Nijmegan, Hattem, and Amsterdam. After a few days in Antwerp, Ghent, and Brugge, Belgium, we traveled along the Channel coast, through Dunkerque and Fecamp, to Cousin Monika’s at Montivilliers.

Couldn’t resist another visit to dazzling Honfleur, and a night in Ste. Mere Egilse. Fougéres was as beautiful as remembered, as were Mont St. Michel, Dinan, and St. Malo, with the sign, “The Museum of France.” More of Brittany, the Chateaus of the Loire Valley, the Cathedral at Chartres, rode bicycles to see the grounds of the Palace at Versailles. A couple of days in Paris and Rheims, then to Strasbourg and the Alsace.

Several days in Switzerland, on to Italy and through Milan and Venice to San Marino. We visited Florence, Siena, and Rome, then Villa d’Este fountains and the Villa Adriana at Tivoli. In Pescara I stood in line, jam-packed together, to buy a ticket for the ferry to Split, Yugoslavia.

From Split to Dubrovnik, on to Orebic, then a small boat to the island City of Korcula. The high-arched, marble pedestrian bridge in Mostar is beautiful. After a day in Sarajevo, another in Zagreb, we were awakened at 6:00 AM by the police and taken to the campsite office to explain our passport. It was OK.

It took several days to see the city of Vienna and obtain visas to Czechoslovakia and Poland. Our visit to Tabor, Ceské Badejovice and beautiful Prague was very worthwhile, then into Poland, to Wroclaw, Auschwitz and Kraków, on to Warsaw, then visited “friends” in Poznan.

East German border crossing took three hours, then continued into West Germany, caught a ferry to Denmark, another to Sweden, and soon back to Denmark, and to Cousin Toni’s in Mettlach. Linda and Dan arrived in Europe on their delayed honeymoon, in time for the wedding of a cousin.

We drove to Luxembourg, Belgium and to Rotterdam. We boarded a Polish ship, SS Stefan Batory, spent a day in London, nine nights on the Atlantic to Montreal, then to California. No jet-lag, and a good way to end our sensational 156 day trip.