Tour Groups We Observed #2of2

The road runs right through the ruin of the old city at Philippi, Greece, many stone columns still standing, flowers were everywhere. We saw the remains of a prison where the Apostle Paul had been imprisoned for awhile. On this Sunday morning a tour bus pulled up, a group of German tourists got out, assembled on some benches, sang some hymns, then listened to a sermon delivered by the touring minister.

Despite reports that Lake Maggiore, Italy, has a warm, mild climate, the one time we were there (so far), the weather was so bad we decided the three Borromean Islands would have to wait for our next visit to town of Stresa. From the parking lot we could faintly see building skylines on the islands in the distance, but it was too foggy to tell if we saw one island or two or three. Tour buses arrived in the parking lot, and since they had already paid for their boat ride, umbrella-sheltered tourists clutching wind-blown coats, crowded aboard the several tour boats that disappeared into the dark and gloomy distance.

As luck would have it, as a replay of 1985, in 1991 we were again joined in the Warsaw, Poland, campground by a bus load of students who had just returned from a visit in the Soviet Union.

Our 1985 Journal says, “… …just returning from 10 days in the Soviet Union, and are they ever glad to get out of that country. … the people in the small Soviet towns really have a low standard of living. … the bus had a problem that took a day to repair. They asked … for an extension on their visas … but were told to get out now, so this bus had to drive all night to get out of the Soviet Union, before their visas expired.”

Our 1991 Journal says, “The 1991 tour group really enjoyed their visit, and said the Soviet people, while suffering problems and shortages, are hopeful, helpful, and hospitable, they could not have been treated better. At the Soviet/Polish border there is a two-week-long line of people waiting to clear border formalities. They are out in no-where, with no food (except what they brought with them), no sanitation, nothing to do except creep ahead, a few yards each day, and hope to get into Poland, which they consider heaven compared to what they are leaving!

We have seen groups of Soviet automobiles, household goods piled high on the roof, traveling through Poland, and they remind us of pictures of Okies going to California in the 1930’s! We were told these people are good workers, and in a couple of weeks in Poland, even at these unbelievable low wages, they earn as much as they would earn in several months at home.”

The 1991 tour was traveling in a large tour bus with a trailer containing a kitchen, the luggage, tents and supplies. Most of the people were college-aged, from western Europe, but one rather wealthy young lady was from near San Francisco, another from near Boston. One man indicated these ladies didn’t take too well to this style of living (bus, tents, self-cooked food, little or no privacy for the toilet and shower facilities), so they took the opportunity to stay in some cabins that are available for rent in Warsaw’s campground.

Near Copenhagen, Denmark, we had a shock like we have had before, but it always gets to us. A huge tour bus was coming down the road toward us, but when we looked through the huge widespread windshield, we saw no driver. Then we see the bus is from England, with the driver on the “passenger” side.