Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
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 …
MARCH 21, 2022 – I didn’t let my parting, negative experience in Budapest shade my otherwise positive impression of that beautiful city and the people I’d encountered there . . . . . . For the whole of my sojourn, I’d stayed at a bed-and-breakfast accommodation in an apartment block. The place was clean and …
MARCH 20, 2022 – Since the fall of the wall, Budapest has become a popular stop—or start—for Americans on leisurely, luxury, riverboat tours of Europe. “Buda” and “Pest,” facing each other across the Blue Danube, are rife with history rich in blood and treasure, destruction and resilience. Even by 1981, this crown jewel of the …
MARCH 19, 2022 – In plotting my “Grand Odyssey,” I considered three objectives: 1. Natural wonders (e.g. New Zealand; the Himalayas); 2. Exposure to an intensely alien culture (e.g. India; Egypt); and 3. Life inside the Soviet Bloc. My interest in the Soviet world dated to my improbable encounter with Pavel Šebesta at a hostel …
MARCH 18, 2022 – The day arrived when Chantal, Jean-Pierre, and Michel had to return to France. Ana, as spontaneous as she was charming, suggested that she and I accompany them to Genoa, where we’d split for Turin to visit another set of her friends. The French trio and I had become steadfast comrades. Their …
MARCH 17, 2022 – From Yugoslavia I traveled a circle—north to Hungary, then to Czechoslovakia, on to Austria, and back down to Yugoslavia . . . transiting through Ljubljana (Slovenia) to Koper (Croatia), continuing onward to the ancient Roman town of Pula (Istrian Peninsula of Croatia), and landing in Medulin, site of the summer villa …
MARCH 16, 2022 – Upon entering the apartment in an old-style residential building, I knew that the Jovanović family was among the cultural elite—of Serbia, Yugoslavia . . . Europe. On display: Eastern rugs, antique furnishings, exotic collectibles, an array of artwork, thousands of books, and . . . a Bluthner grand piano. As I …
MARCH 15, 2022 – In Belgrade I stayed at a youth hostel some distance from the center of town. If the hostel itself was a gray, weary building, the birds around it sang their hearts out. I’d never heard such a beautiful, sustained, high-volume aviary chorus. Among the other hostelers were (1) a recent (American) …
MARCH 14, 2022 – Yugoslavia was my first encounter with a communist state; a nation led by “Big Brother,” Josip Broz Tito—though the man had been deceased for more than a year before I entered the country. Portraits of the strongman were still ubiquitous—a sign that while a power struggle was underway, no doubt, Tito …
MARCH 13, 2022 – Decades before Wokeness, use of the N-word signaled unflattering ignorance, intolerance, and overt racism. In 1981, the G-word, however, considered as derogatory as the N-word, was the only term by which I knew the “Roma” or “Romani” of Europe. This was so even though in 1971, this fascinating but universally despised …
MARCH 12, 2022 – The east end of Samos is a sling shot—or 45-minute ferry ride—from Turkey’s Aegean coast. My original plan was to hop to Asian Minor, travel up the coastline to Istanbul, then proceed north into the Soviet world—Bulgaria, Romania, and beyond. All changed, however, as the ferry pulled away from the dock. …
MARCH 11, 2022 – Though Samos accommodated plenty of German tourists 41 years ago, the island remained largely unspoiled and undeveloped. On our mopeds, Uli and I explored lots of territory, mostly along the 100-mile shoreline of the island. Among the jagged, rocky, drop-offs along the edge of the road overlooking the waters below, we …
MARCH 10, 2022 – While most tourists flocked to the Cyclades, Germans, I discovered, had staked out Samos. Nearly everyone I encountered on the boat from Piraeus was from the FRG (West Germany). During the high season, regular flights brought West Berliners directly to Samos. Though I interacted with Greek servers and shopkeepers, everyone else …
MARCH 9, 2022 – Just as the Jewish person of faith in Jerusalem venerates the Foundation Stone; as a Muslim pilgrim in Mecca rounds the Kaaba; as a devout Catholic at the Vatican genuflects inside the Basilica . . . so does a classics/history major visiting Athens climb the Acropolis. I’d done so two years …
MARCH 8, 2022 – Two years before, I’d approached Athens from Italy via Corfu. That sojourn had been part of a two-week mini-odyssey to Europe—my first trip abroad. My sister Jenny and I had flown Icelandair to Luxembourg, and using Eurail Passes—immensely popular among young American travelers—we’d journeyed to Sweden to visit relatives. By North …
MARCH 7, 2022 – To escape the heat of North Africa, I’d planned to fly to Athens, then head by ferry to Samos and Turkey, thence by train through Bulgaria and Romania. Eventually, I’d wend north to Poland. Since the shooting of President Reagan two months before, I’d been largely isolated from news headlines. I …
MARCH 6, 2022 – I spent several days in and around Luxor. The broad daylight hours were beastly hot, but comfortable hours prevailed before sunrise, after sunset, and in the cooler nighttime air. Much of Luxor was low-key and easily manageable on foot, and in the evenings, my Kiwi friends and I covered much ground, …