Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
APRIL 15, 2022 – I’d reached the convention center by unconventional means. On my way to a bus stop where I’d been told I could find a public ride, I saw a bus parked along the street. The vehicle was bedecked with signs—including Solidarity posters. Its passengers stood on the sidewalk beside it, and I …
APRIL 14, 2022 – South of Gdansk, the train passed within sight of Malbork Castle—the largest in the world. Completed in 1405, according to my guidebook, the structure was built by the Teutonic Order of Knights (think “German Crusaders”). The Poles had laid siege to the castle in 1410 after one of history’s turning points, …
APRIL 13, 2022 – During my days in the capital, which included mass, pro-Solidarity demonstrations that I joined to get a closer look, I learned three things about Poland that would’ve escaped me without on-the-ground exposure. First was the psychological proximity of WW II. For many Americans, that conflict was epitomized by Pearl Harbor, D-Day, …
APRIL 12, 2022 – Most of my time in Warsaw was spent in Stare Miasto (“Old Town”). This appellation, however, was misleading. In WW II, German bombing had obliterated it. In an inspirational demonstration of resilience after the war, Poland had assigned top priority to the painstaking reconstruction of Stare Miasto—so masterfully executed that until …
APRIL 11, 2022 – My next stop was Warsaw. If it wasn’t the birthplace of the Solidarity Movement, it was a cauldron of history and the vortex of current political protest. I covered much of the city on foot, including stops at various shops, bookstores, and a music store where, for next to nothing, I …
APRIL 10, 2022 – In Poznan I found a cheap hotel near the university. I seemed to be the only customer. The threadbare lobby, creaky elevator, and stick furniture in my room looked untouched since 1950. A hard rain discouraged exploration of the town, and since I hadn’t slept aboard the overnight ferry from Sweden, …
APRIL 9, 2022 – From my first hour in Poland to the last, I met more people, had more substantive conversations than in any other country of my travels. The country was on fire politically. Everyone I met was engaged in the upheaval of the country and wanted to tell me about it. In no …
APRIL 8, 2022 – Blogger’s note: In keeping with the duration of my long train trips in Poland, the length of this post violates my self-imposed limit of 500 words. (“A-a-a-l-l aboard!”) As a long-haul traveler, I’d learned to roll with the bumps—especially aboard trains. In Poland, however, I encountered the worst train conditions of …
APRIL 7, 2022 – I can best characterize my impression of Poland in September 1981 via a giant Venn diagram depicting Polish: 1. Social unity; 2. Catholicism; 3. Sophistication in the arts and understanding of history and politics; and 4. Hatred of the Russians. Within the substantial overlap of these “circles” I found the essence …
APRIL 6, 2022 – Well after suppertime, I boarded a train in Malmö for the hour-long trip to Ystad at the very southern tip of Sweden. There I boarded a Polish ferry bound for Świnoujście across the Baltic—formerly the German city of “Stettin” before the westward re-arrangement of Polish borders after WW II. Nearly all …
APRIL 5, 2022 – From Bøda, I traveled by train down past the Arctic Circle to Trondheim, where I spent a full Sunday kicking around this ancient, northern city before taking another long train ride south to Bergen. Norwegians are generally well-behaved, but it was in Trondheim where I experienced a mean prank. “Mean” was …
APRIL 4, 2020 – My first exposure to the aurora borealis was on a Saturday night during college when my drinking buddies and I stumbled out of the Stowe House near campus. Our exit coincided with a spectacular light show filling the sky. To achieve a better view, we crossed campus to the soccer fields—only …
APRIL 3, 2022 – If you run your finger on the map along the fjords of Norway from Bergen northward, way past Trondheim and beyond the Arctic Circle, you’ll come to Bøda. Facing it to the north and arcing into the Norwegian Sea are the spectacular Lofoten Islands. From the largest and most rugged— Austvågøya—the …
APRIL 2, 2022 – After slipping away from L’Abri, I took local trains to Zurich, then an overnight train north to Hamburg, and on to Copenhagen. From there I took the hydrofoil to Malmö, Sweden (the Øresund Bridge, connecting Denmark and Sweden, was 19 years in the future). My landing in Sweden was a homecoming. …
APRIL 1, 2022 – Twice in Switzerland—during my 1979 Eurail trip—I’d practiced a “religion” of mine: downhill skiing. One “worship ceremony” occurred on the Aletsch Glacier next to the Jungfrau in the Bernese Oberland. Surrounded by Alpine peaks and bathed in sunshine, I made two mistakes: I wore shorts and forgot to apply sunscreen to …
MARCH 31, 2022 – My main objective in Spain and Portugal was therapeutic sunshine. I was otherwise ignorant of the rich culture and history of the region—beyond the little that I’d learned in my study of colonization of the New World. Only on the cusp of much later travels to Iberia did I learn more …
MARCH 30, 2022 – (Cont.) We departed Montpellier around 10:00 in the evening with the idea we’d drive through the night and arrive at our destination in time for Michel to get to work the next morning. He didn’t speak any English, and though my French had improved quite substantially over the previous couple of …
MARCH 29, 2022 – Blogger’s note: To re-orient my readers—my “virtual” fellow travelers . . . the trip to Hungary, and Czechoslovakia (see 3/19/22 – 3/27/22 posts), then to Vienna, Austria, followed my stay in Belgrade (see 3/14 – 3/16) but preceded my sojourn in Medulin, Yugoslavia (see 3/17) and travels to Venice, Genoa, and …
MARCH 28, 2022 – Having spent considerable time inside the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, I next aimed for Vienna, capital of that old regime. Two years earlier I’d visited Salzburg, where I hiked in nearby mountains. If Salzburg was Mozart’s hometown and the movie set for The Sound of Music, Vienna was the larger magnet for …
MARCH 27, 2022 – (Cont.) In the letter home, my mention of politics in the conversation with East German hikers led to an observation about a “sojourner’s diplomacy.” “The traveler must be diplomacy-minded at all times, and that’s especially important in countries that are “officially” anti-American. Today I saw the opportunity to counteract the heaps …
MARCH 26, 2022 – After my wonderfully intense days in Prague, I took a train to Brno in eastern Bohemia, then to Bratislava on the western edge of Slovakia, another train east-northeast to Poprad, and a bus to Novy Smokovec—a spa village nestled among the formidable High Tatras of the Carpathian Mountains. I’d been guided …
MARCH 25, 2022 – I must provide this sequel to my initial sojourn in Prague . . . As noted in my 3/22/22 post, I visited Pavel and Magda twice more—alone in 1982 and again in 1985 with my wife and her parents. By the time of the 1985 sojourn, our Czech friends had added …
MARCH 24, 2022 – The loss of my pants in Budapest led to an instructive, firsthand “Communist consumer” experience in Prague—and something more “to write home about.” Yet, even without the experience of trying to buy a pair of pants in a storied European capital, I could readily see how flawed Communism was in delivering …
MARCH 23, 2022 – My Czech friends were dissenters. Their opposition to the regime was reflexive and constant—often expressed with caustic humor. Not only were the Soviets and their enablers oppressive, I was told; they were also inept and stupid. In the Old Town quarter of Prague, Magda explained the scaffolding—blackened by time—that encased the …
MARCH 22, 2022 – Hanging on the wall of the reading room of our house is a prized possession: a large, framed watercolor portrait by Pavel’s father. The subject is a stylized, sober clown with large, penetrating eyes. Inscribed across the bottom (in English) are the words, “The Sad Clown for the Merry Eric!!” Both …