Travel Nuggets, Other Countries

A bystander who spoke English and Polish whispered that we better leave quickly because the Polish Customs Officers were talking about causing us a real problem at the Poland/East German border.
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A young woman in Ghent, was broadcasting her sales pitch in a lilting rhythmic manner. It was a singsong sales pitch about the low price, and good quality of her herring.
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Admission would cost 10,000 Zloties ($1), for the elevator ride to the top of Warsaw's Palace of Culture. We could tell the father was explaining to his daughters that tickets were just too expensive. So guess who bought the tickets.
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After a tough driving day in Poland and a good night's sleep Sweetie said, “I feel like a new woman,” and I said, “Goodness knows I need one.”
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Around the next curve on a mountain in Yugoslavia, there might be a little old lady in the middle of the road, herding two goats. Drive as if you expect that, and neither of you will be surprised.
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At an Architectural “dig” in Prague, students were finding both small items of interest, and items of small interest.
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At one complex intersection in the Netherlands, we counted 27 different traffic light standards - for cars, people, and bikes.
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At the Communist Party Meeting in Stockholm, I said, “I did even better than that, I gave my whole job to a needy person, not just part of my earnings.”
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Attending the flea market in the Warsaw Stadium is like being at a professional football game - not as a spectator, but as a player down on the field.
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City of Korcula, Yugoslavia, is a “who can imagine this exists” kind of city, complete with a Cathedral, and a small market place.
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Firth of Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland, is one of the strongest, strangest, one of the ugliest, ever built, but everyone agrees it is safe.
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For a small traffic ticket, it should come as no surprise to hear the driver received more grief from the passenger than he did from the Polish police.
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For pure outdoor beauty, the Norwegian fjord coast must be number one.
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Had there been a nude beauty contest in Ada, Yugoslavia, that night, there is no more room in Emmy's trophy case, so why enter.
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He said, “Here I am sitting at a sidewalk cafe talking with my friends, and what could be better. My Greek restaurant may be filled tomorrow.”
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Hundreds of people were standing in several lines, and others sitting in line, waiting to stand in line, in a bank in Prague.
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I don't remember seeing a sign. Maybe I thought I was on a Scottish ferry and L-a-d-i-e-s spelled “Laddies.”
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I lost my Blue Visor in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Get that, a blue visor added to the other blue items of the Blue Mosque
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I watched the crowd parted as if Moses was there with his staff, as a beautiful lady walked the street in Dubrovnik.
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If they build a bad road in Poland, they must stand in line to buy a loaf of bread. If they build a good road they must stand in line to buy a loaf of bread.
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In Greece, most every rock, every tree, and every turn in the road had a folk tale, a old wives' yarn, a fable, a legend.
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In Istanbul I priced a beautiful rosewood cane, inlaid with brass. The price of $75 elicited this comment, “Bob's not that good of a friend.”
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In Lugano, Switzerland, the tour leader angrily waved his colored umbrella, hollering for people in the tour group from New York City, to get in the tour bus, NOW!
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In Rome and Athens, each time a traffic light turned green, we heard horns blow.
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In Tangier, a donkey peed and pottied, some splashed on the food, but no one but the two of us seemed to notice.
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Later, since the ambulances weren't running a regular schedule, tired 'ol Sweetie stayed in the RV, while I visited downtown Prague.
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Most people are proud of their churches, and Cathedrals everywhere have large and carefully designed steeples. But no other country has church steeples taken care of so carefully as in Austria.
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My love of band music (and girls) easily persuaded me to walk all over Helsingor, Denmark listening to the band, and watching … .
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Our waiter said he was bussed to the Acropolis as a school child, the one and only time he's been there!
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Poland's Wieliczka, Salt Mine includes Da Vinci's Last Supper carved in salt. The major shafts, and 3,000 chambers stretch for the total of 186 miles, reaching the depth of over 1,000 feet.”
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She said, “We don't like your military position.” I said, “Did you like our Military position in 1944 when we liberated Belgium?”
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Small children are tied to a post with a long rope when they play in the yard, so they won't fall too far down the Norwegian mountain.
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Spanish Custom's man saw our passport cover, didn't open them, just said, “Americans,” and waved us on.
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Sweetie's cousins slept in a Brugge Motel room, we slept in the RV in the Brugge Motel's parking lot.
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The “Julius Caesar” model lawn mower had just been retrieved from deep in the Luxembourg archaeological ruin. It was in excellent condition.
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The barber in Interlaken, Switzerland, was a blond with soft, warm hands. That's better than either a 110 or 220 volt shaver.
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The Benediktinerstift Melk, stands high on a hill overlooking the Donau (Danube) River in Austria. Josef Munggenast, Sweetie's ancestor, several generations removed, was the architect.
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The best view of Warsaw, Poland, is from the top of the Palace of Culture - because you can't see it from there.
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The cemetery in Hallstatt, Austria, has a hundred or more graves, each is a separate, trimmed, beautiful flower garden. The “gravestones” are metal crosses with a little roof, and many with a photograph of the person buried there.
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The European college students enjoyed their visit to Russia, said the Soviet people are suffering, but they are hopeful, helpful, and hospitable
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The explosion was spectacular, proving Monaco really does, or does not know how to put on a fireworks show.
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The front of his house, the Texas side, faces the street with a bank of dirt. In back, all levels look far over the City of Poznan, Poland, and that is the California side of the house. He had lived and worked in both states.
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The Irish policeman's accent, and his syntax were perfect. Wonder where he learned to talk like that. He must go to a lot of movies.
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The Irish Professor, a tour guide in Venice said, “It is impossible to lead people from New York City, they are selfish, care only about themselves, pay no attention to the needs of the tour group.”
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The people from England had the smallest RV we had ever seen. It was so small they had to step outside just to change their mind.
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The people who filled our cooking gas tank, were all much more friendly than required, or expected - just typical Greeks
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The ship's tour director said those passengers in the Caribbean were Americans, so much friendlier, and so much easier to get along with, than the Europeans.
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The Spanish Customs man smiled, saluted, shook our hands, thanked us, and personally escorted us past the long, complicated customs inspection stations, through the gate. We had pointed him to a broken pipe in a Gov't office building, a couple of days earlier, and he remembered us.
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The street name that really stuck in our mind was “Grand Parade” in Cork, Ireland
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The Toll collector in Austria said, “No change.” I said, “I didn't want to buy your tunnel, I just wanted to rent it for a few minutes.” He laughed.
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The wife of the owner at Hotel Union, Geiranger, Norway, told how hard it is to get good hotel workers, and it's even harder to get a good day's work from them. She suggested the caliber of the guests has also deteriorated. Not us, of course.
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There are schools in Amsterdam that teach how to get out of the car when it goes into a canal. Why not teach them how to park, instead?
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There was a good reason the nearly strangulated, cliffhanging Norwegian mountain road had no safety rails at the downhill side of the road. There was no room for rails. For us, this was an hour of terror, interrupted by moments of sheer panic.
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There was bad news at the Brussels Hilton Hotel. The brunch would cost $22 per person (+34% tax and tip). The good news, the buffet was closed that day.
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We arrived in Horsens, Denmark, just as they were closing the campground for the season. They changed their minds and stayed another night, just for us. Amazing what nice people we find in every country.
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We came to the large ancient city of Prague, with a tangled jumble of streets, from a different direction than in any of the previous years we had visited here, but the driver, with no map, went directly to the Campsite.
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We found it amazing that a man in Seville, who spoke no English, could make a few notations on a piece of paper that I could understand, and the directions would be so accurate.
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We had a Beautiful English speaking guide. We got on a train and rode 2 Km into the Yugoslavian cave. Sweetie said “Oh what Beauty,” and I said, “Yes, and the cave is nice too.”
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We paid, but only for that year, not the previous one in Fredrikshaven, Denmark. We kidded them about that, and they laughed and said, “No cost for years gone by.”
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We recognized the song “Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny” (written in 1917, for WW I), and all the rest sounded just like that, in the nightclub in the Gulpen, Netherlands, campground.
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We stopped for breakfast overlooking The Varlaám Monastery, a little below the Megálo Metéoro, the largest of the group of monasteries. A nice dining spot in Greece. Nice? Try magnificent!
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We think the reproduction of the “Last Supper,” in the historic Salt Mine in Wieliczka. Poland, is almost more of an artistic achievement than the original in Milan.
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We visited a green-house filled with flowers and other exotic plants, in the middle of an Icelandic ice storm. It's heated with hot water from underground, no concern that heat might be wasted.
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We visited the death camp in Auschwitz), Poland, with the famous sign “Albeit Macht Frei” (Work will make you free). It offers both a fascination and revulsion.
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We visited the Portuguese home of Dino, our waiter on the SS Fairsea. It was very small, but furnished nicely, with modern furniture, a large TV, and a loud stereo.
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What it boils down to, but is not said straight out, “If there is money to hide, hide it in a Swiss Bank.”
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When we arrived in Poznan, Poland, the only problem we had was that we had no problem, but called the Dean of the School of Law anyway. We had a wonderful visit with him and his four beautiful ladies, Ola, Ula, Olga, Dany,
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With the cloud cover the day we visited Switzerland’s Schilthorn Mountain, from the revolving restaurant we could almost see the patio.
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You could travel anywhere in Europe with only your wallet (filled, of course) and purchase everything needed to live well.
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You must demand some reasonable association between effort and excitement.
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Your adaptability can make the difference. Plans may be changed by factors outside your control.
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Your spirit of adventure will be modified by your gumption for walking.
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