During my youth, I was fortunate to be able to make a number of trips abroad. At eight years old I took a cruise to Bermuda. Four years later I went to Europe for the first time, visiting Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. We all fell in love with Austria, so we made annual returns for several years. These trips often included side-trips to France, Monaco, and Italy.
Through my high school, I was able to take very inexpensive trips to Italy (Rome and vicinity), Greece (Rhodes and Athens), Spain (Madrid and vicinity) and England (London and vicinity). Although only 9-10 days long, they were wonderful introductions to these cultures.
Since high school, my rate of travel has slowed down somewhat. While in college I spent 3 weeks as a student in Jerusalem, Israel studying "Historical Geography," with a few days in Athens on the way home. In 1981 I was able to return to Austria with my wife, Denise, to visit my mother. After that there was a hiatus in my foreign travels until 1994 when I went with my mother to Russia and Holland. A year later, in the summer of 1995, I was in Russia again (see next section). Traveling to other cultures is something I love to do. I don't know when or where the next trip will be, but I know that I am not done with my journeys!
When my mother invited me to join her (at her expense) on a Russian river cruise in the summer of 1994, I was skeptical--even though I love to travel. I have a long list of places I'd like to visit, but Russia had not been one of them. A free trip is a free trip, however, so I agreed to go. When I told my friends about my trip, many of them reflected my initial reaction by asking, "Why are you going to Russia?
24 hours after arriving in Moscow, I knew why I had come. Visiting with my mother's friend and her family at their dacha (country house) and hearing them talk about their lives under Communism is a day I will never forget. As a child of the "Cold War," I had brought many stereotypes with me, but within the first day they were being swept away as I began to gain Russian friends. As my trip continued, I made more friends and became even more enchanted with the people and the country. We traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg via the Volga and other rivers, visiting a number of cities and islands along the way. The cruise was fantastic, and I highly recommend it. As I left Russia for home, I knew that some day I would have to return--although it was more of a dream than anything certain.
Six months later, my dream began to come true! A voice on the phone from the Conference office was inviting me to return to Russia in the summer of 1995 for my second (free!) trip within 12 months! The East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church was sending 8 junior high students to attend a Peace Camp sponsored by the Russian Peace Foundation in the city of Kursk. As a minister in the conference, I was asked to be one of the four counselors accompanying the students.
Both trips to Russia were extremely moving experiences for me. I have found the people to be very warm, friendly, generous, and deep in their souls. I am always behind in my need to answer letters from my Russian friends! As a result of my travels to Russia, I am very interested in learning the Russian language, as well as its history and culture. There are many places on the web that offer information on Russia. These are the links that I find valuable.
- Friends and
Partners. Provides many interesting links! A gold mine of
information!
- Library
of Congress Soviet Archives Exhibit.
- Moscow
Information. A part of the SunSITE page. WARNING: This page may load
slowly!
- Russia Today. Digest of
the news in Russia from overseas sources.
- Russian
Information Services. This organization specializes in "English
language publications on Russia, the Former USSR and Central Europe."
They publish the attractive and informative magazine Russian Life.
- SOC.CULTURE.RUSSIAN
Home Page. The official home page of Usenet newsgroup
soc.culture.russian.
- SunSITE RUSSIA at Moscow State
University. Software, Information, and Technology Exchange. A wide
variety of links.
- Relcom-Moscow Network
Centre.
I made my first trip to Austria in 1966 when I was 12. Movie buffs will recognize that this was the year after The Sound of Music. And, yes, it did inspire my mother to take us to see this magical country. We were not disappointed! The real Austria was even better in person than in the movie!
During a five-week driving tour, our family covered almost every corner of the country. It was an amazing experience for a 12 year old. We saw beautiful mountains, gorgeous palaces, old castles, and met very nice people. My mother was so impressed that we returned the next summer (1967) for three weeks; we had to skip 1968, but we made up for it in 1969 when we spent seven weeks over there.
We had planned on staying near Innsbruck for a whole month, then going on to Vienna. This turned out to be a good thing. The first day in Innsbruck I came down with acute appendicitis and was rushed to a hospital for an appendectomy! I spent seven days in a hospital where my doctor was the only one who spoke English. There was a nice man in my room who kept trying to speak with me and be friendly, but I couldn't speak German. I knew he was trying hard, so I appreciated his effort. After I was released from the hospital, I spent the remaining three weeks near Innsbruck recuperating.
In February 1970, my high school sponsored a skiing trip to Innsbruck. It was a good opportunity to see Austria in the winter, and I was an avid skier at that point, so I went back for the fourth time. Oh yeah, the skiing was great!!
As I mentioned above, I was able to travel to other countries after 1970 (Apr 1970: Spain; 1971: England; 1977: Israel and Greece), but the string of Austria trips was broken. In 1978, my mother and step-father began living half of each year in Igls, Austria. Igls is quite simply a picture-postcard perfect mountain village that looks down on Innsbruck. I had stayed in Igls on each of my previous trips to Austria.
In 1981, my mother invited Denise and I to come to Austria for a three week visit with them. By then, my parents had become very knowledgeable of the local and out-of-the-way places, so it was a most wonderful trip. We spent a few days in Vienna, and even saw the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra! As it stands, this was my last time to see Austria. But like Russia, I have a very special attraction to Austria, and I know that I will be back again some day. You just can't find more beautiful scenery than Tirol!
There are lots of links out there, but for simplicity sake, here is a good starting place:
- Yahoo: Austria. You will probably find what you need by going here!