July 1988

Summer in Europe & Winter in Australia

Friday 1st July
TRIER - Day 2

POSTCARD: TRIER – 'Porta Nigra'

[Written 1st July] We suddenly realised today why this was T’s favourite place in Europe – It is the birth place of Karl Marx!!! B has been in bed for 2 days with flu and a very high temperature (38.5), so she hasn’t been able to accompany me to the sites, which are extremely interesting. There are three intact ancient Roman palaces in Trier, which was the Imperial capital of Gaul and was where emperors Diocletian and Constantine spent their holidays. Quite a lot of red hair and fair skin in Trier. A strange mixture of medieval and baroque with modern industrial development seems to characterize the towns we have visited, although in all none had had close views of pleasing forests and vineyards. Still good weather – watched Wimbledon – sorry to see Cash badly defeated.

Saturday 2nd July
Trier to COLOGNE

Sunday 3rd July
Cologne to AMSTERDAM - Day 1

THE NETHERLANDS

Monday 4th July
AMSTERDAM - Day 2

Holland as we fortunately did NOT see it!

Tuesday 5th July
AMSTERDAM - Day 3

Wednesday 6th July
AMSTERDAM - Day 4

Thursday7th July
AMSTERDAM - Day 5

POSTCARD: AMSTERDAM

[Written 8th July] B is now completely better after a day in bed. Our hotel here was absolutely lovely – cosy and quiet next to a canal overhung by beautiful trees. The weather is rather changeable like Melbourne in summer with occasional thunderstorms and a lot of cloud and drizzle. The town itself is very beautiful, extremely obliging and friendly as well (probably more than any other city we have visited). B’s friend took us for a drive in the countryside through some lovely forests and across beautiful grasslands, also along a dyke to the south of the “Rhene” (= Rhein), and to a Poldar, new land excavated from the sea. We have also spent a good deal of time in art galleries here – absolutely fantastic – Stedalijk Modern Art Museum in Amsterdam and Krollermiller Sculpture of Painting Gallery in the middle of a National Park.

Friday 8th July
Amsterdam to COPENHAGEN - Day 1

DENMARK 

Saturday 9th July
COPENHAGEN - Day 2

Sunday 10th July
COPENHAGEN - Day 3

POSTCARD 1: COPENHAGEN – 'Tivoli at night'

[Written 10th July] Thank you very much for your letter. Our accommodation here, halfway between Kobenhavn and Helsingor is absolutely magnificent in a lovely sunny room overlooking the beach and sea. Next to us is a beautiful forest of oaks, beeches, elms, ash and hazel. The weather is very idyllic, and the sun seems hardly to move at all – as if time has stopped still. It rises very early (ca. 4am) and sets very late (still light enough to see at 11pm). It was about 24 degrees C here yesterday and probably about the same today. The Tivoli Gardens are the City’s main attraction, an extraordinary melange of beauty, and vulgar sideshows, in a delightful garden which was especially lovely last night lit up by fireworks. B persuaded me against my better judgement to go on a big dipper! Lots of Vikings here – I am a total foreigner amongst all these blondes. A thunderstorm yesterday made me think it might be extremely cold during the Scandinavian winter here, especially with strong wind rushing across the flat Danish countryside from the North Sea. Lots of bougainvillea – how did they manage that???!!!

POSTCARD 2: COPENHAGEN – 'Tivoli'

[Written 10th July] They must surely replant it from greenhouses – it won’t grow in Melbourne at all because it is too cold there. We adored Italy – they speak NO ENGLISH AT ALL!!! (especially not in railway stations). B doesn’t speak Italian, but I speak it now. Fluently enough, I might add, to have had some very lengthy and complicated conversations thanks to: 1) its similarities to French; 2) Miss Openheim (she made me learn about 200-300 musical terms in Italian which I have never forgotten); 3) my ear for it, which is probably better than my ear for French – the Italians speak quite slowly of course. Every inch of Italy is a sheer delight, a great adventure. We wished we could have spent longer there. I won’t boast about my German, it was absolutely terrible. We don’t get on at all. Enjoying Scandinavia however.

Monday 11th July
Copenhagen to STOCKHOLM - Day 1

SWEDEN

Tuesday 12th July
STOCKHOLM - Day 2

Wednesday 13th July
STOCKHOLM - Day 3

Thursday 14th July
STOCKHOLM - Day 4

Friday 15th July
STOCKHOLM - Day 5

Saturday 16th July
Stockholm to OSLO - Day 1

NORWAY

Sunday 17th July
OSLO - Day 2

Monday 18th July
Oslo to BERGEN - Day 1

Tuesday 19th July
BERGEN - Day 2

Wednesday 20th July
Bergen to BALESTRAND

Thursday 21st July
Balestrand to OSLO - Day 1

POSTCARD 1: BERGEN – 'Evening mood at the harbour area Vagen'

[Assume this was written 20th July] I am writing from bed – I caught B's flu virus and had a temperature of 38.4 last night. B had to go off the pill because she was developing varicose veins and is now expecting (about 6 weeks)! In view of this and terrorism in Greece (we nearly booked the “City of Poros” and were going to stay at the “Aura”) perhaps we should consider an earlier return, although it is a bit too soon to be definite. Stockholm was absolutely wonderful – we spent our time with B’s friends at their country house – it never got dark!!!! Light enough to distinguish all colours at midnight. Marvellous forests in Sweden. Oslo mostly a bore.

POSTCARD 2: BALESTRAND – 'Sognefjord Norway'

[Written 20th July] This is the Fjord which we saw today and which I am looking at now whilst writing. My flu is a lot better today although I feel a bit washed out! You can see by the light in this what I like here – this is the 11pm and 1.30am light I spoke of in my postcard from Sweden, although there it was much warmer (21 degrees at midnight) and the forest more mysterious. This is very beautiful, but for my taste I could have preferred to have kept the best – Sweden – till last. The Swedes have a beautiful language and look to me slightly Slavonic, a little Russian. Their countryside is unimaginably wonderful, and enormous and wild like our bush. B is feeling and looking pregnant. We prefer the more continental climate of Sweden and France to the coastal and cold climates of Great Britain and Norway!!!

Friday 22nd July
OSLO - Day 2

Saturday 23rd July
Oslo to VIENNA - Day 1

AUSTRIA

Sunday 24th July
VIENNA - Day 2

Monday 25th July
VIENNA - Day 3

POSTCARD: NORWAY – 'View of lake "Oldevatn"'

[Written 25th July] Oslo airport. We decided to go to Vienna today after all – the cost of staying & altering our timetable was in the vicinity of $3,000 with the huge distances involved and high cost of flying!!! This is a bit like some parts of the Myrdal Fjoord, but our weather was bleak and cold, very uninviting after pastoral and forest country of Sweden where it was 20 degrees all night!!!

Tuesday 26th July
Vienna to SALZBURG - Day 1

Wednesday 27th July
SALZBURG - Day 2

Thursday 28th July
SALZBURG - Day 3

Friday 29th July
SALZBURG - Day 4

Saturday 30th July
SALZBURG - Day 5

POSTCARD: SALZBURG – 'View to the cathedral, the fortress and the Untersberg (6115 ft)'

[Written 30th July] We reverted to our timetable after a speedy recovery and snap decision – it would have cost $3,000 to go to Stockholm missing our flight!!! Vienna well worth it, utterly sumptuous and magnificent. Lovely music emanating from everywhere there. Salzburg also lovely, but not so much for music as for gorgeous scenery and delightful buildings and old town. A fairy tale city. Also went to nearby Berditesgarden in Bavaria, Eagles Nest (Hitler's place 5,500 feet) down the salt mines and went to 2 convents here. Very enjoyable.

Sunday 31st July
Salzburg to ZURICH - Day 1

SWITZERLAND

Next: August 1988