Europe by London Taxi

Tabitha Taxi arrives in Australia - Newspaper - 23rd June 1970

2012-03-09T05:45:00.001+11:00

Perth, Tuesday June 23 - The 28,000-ton P & O passenger liner Orcades, with nearly 2000 people aboard, has broken down in huge seas off the south-west coast of Western Australia.

The Orcades master, Captain P.C. Reed, today sent out a distress signal as 60 mph winds and 30 ft waves buffeted the liner.

Captain Reed radioed he was trying to effect repairs to the steering gear and that he was using the engines to hold the vessel in position.

He reported the Orcades 'pooped' a huge sea over the stern, flooding the steering gear compartment. Two Fremantle - based ocean-going tugs and a tug in Bunbury are standing by to race to the Orcades if needed. With 1340 passengers and 637 crew aboard, the Orcades is reported to be hove to 23 miles north west of Cape Naturaliste.

The Regional Comptroller of the Department of Shipping R. Elliot, has alerted the R.A.A.F., Navy, DCA and the Police Department to stand by in case their services are required.

First word of the liner's distress was received at the company office in Perth early today. In his first message the ship's master mentioned the assistance of six tugs, but this request was later withdrawn.

A spokesman for P & O said a late message from the ship said the liner's engineers would be able to rectify the trouble in the vessel's steering and the liner's engines were not affected.

A big Fremantle tug had been alerted as a precautionary measure. The Orcades left Fremantle at 5pm on Monday for Adelaide. She is on her way from Britain via South Africa, Fremantle, Adelaide, and Melbourne, and is due in Sydney on Sunday at 6pm.

(Mum has written - 'Finally arrived on 30th - two days late.')

Postcards sent by us - On board 'President Cleveland' to the U.S.A. - 3.7.1970

2012-03-08T05:30:00.002+11:00

President Cleveland.

To -
Lt Col and Mrs R. C. Rodd, Crescent Road, Newport. N.S.W. 2106 Australia.

Just crossed the International Date Line, we are now in our second 3rd July 1970.

Dear All,

Just received your telegram, thanks a lot, so relieved to hear that Tabitha is safe and sound. What fun receiving a telegram at sea. Trip has been really great, entertainment terrific. David won a Key Ring in Name Bingo and I won a Ship Trophy in the Fancy Dress, I dressed as a Kangaroo. Tonight David will be Mother Bear in a Talent Show, his skit is Goldilocks and the three bears. I have over come my sea sickness, the food is great at last. I'm getting a suntan and the pool is a lot of fun. Every night we dance. Arrive Honolulu on the 5th for one day.

Love David and Pennie XX

Postcards sent by us - On board 'President Cleveland' to the U.S.A. - 8.7.1970

2012-03-07T06:42:00.001+11:00

President Cleveland - At Sea (2 days before Hawaii) - 8.7.1970

To: Mrs D. C. Evans, Fiddens Wharf Road, Killara. N.S.W. 2071.

Dear Dudu,

The trip has been very smooth till today, it's a bit choppy and the pool is really like a big surf. We are going to hire a car in Honolulu for the day and drive to a quiet beach for a surf, we are making up a foursome with two Japanese we've met on the ship. The food and entertainment are really great.

Love Dave and Pennie.

Postcards sent by us - Japan - 26.6.1970

2012-03-06T06:19:00.001+11:00

Kebenhavn. Rosenborg Castle.

To: The Rodds, Crescent Road, Newport. NSW 2106 Australia

Just heard the 'Orcades' was battered a bit off Western Australia, I hope Tabitha is okay.* We are a bit worried, if you've heard please write to us in the U.S.A. by 10th July when we arrive, c/o K.B.Evans, P.O. Carmel, California 93921. You can write there till further notice.

Also heard Francis James is still missing in China, is he Avril and Jimmy's brother** or something. Glad to see Heath in Britain, they need a change. As you can tell we've bought an English paper, first since Denmark, they are not available in the U.S.S.R.

Love to All, Pennie and David XX

* We did receive a telegram while crossing the International Date Line to say that Tabitha had arrived safely and was now locked up at Newport Beach.

** Jimmy was Mum's Nursing friend, she was my sister Meredith's Godmother, we'd known her all our lives, she married late to her cousin Avril who's brother, Francis went to China and caused some controversy.

From an Obituary in "The Independent' 1992

FRANCIS JAMES was among other things publisher, businessman,  journalist, airman, churchman and prisoner. A trail of legends followed  him from one adventure or misadventure to the next, He was man of  panache and mystery. A wide-brimmed black felt hat and dark glasses  conveyed both, while actually protecting eyes so badly damaged when his  Spitfire was shot down in 1942 that he was declared totally and  permanently incapacitated. (More than 40 years later he piloted a light  plane for delivery from Dijon to Sydney.)

James had sailed from Australia for England in September 1939, at the  age of 21, to join the RAF, and became a sergeant pilot in Fighter  Command. Did he really tell the Germans who took him prisoner, and could  not know his rank because his uniform was burnt off, that he was Gp  Capt Turtle Dove? Back in Australia after the war, working as  educational and religious correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald  after being sent down from Balliol College, Oxford,, and having a spell  in charge of a fishing business in Western Australia, did he really stop  one day at a school, persuade the headmaster to assemble the pupils,  and proclaim a half-holiday? Can he really have made his Sydney office  in the back of an old Rolls-Royce alongside the Herald building, on the  grounds that the space allocated to him inside admitted sunlight painful  to his eyes? Was he truly the intimate of all those greats in church  and state, at both ends of the empire, whose names he dropped in his RAF  drawl? Well, the sergeant pilot was given officer's privileges, a  Herald driver was a witness to the half-holiday, old colleagues recall  him at work in the Rolls, and many a sceptic found that the archbishop  or air marshal was indeed a friend.

The largest mystery is why the Chinese imprisoned him at the height  of the Cultural Revolution in 1969. Was he, as they said, engaged in  espionage? If so, for whom; and if not, what was he doing in China? When  he was released more than three years later, after the intervention of  his good friend Gough Whitlam, then the prime minister of Australia, he  promised to reveal all in a book; but in the event he published only  articles which recreated vividly the horrors and comedies of his  imprisonment but stopped short of revelation. Much later the Chinese  gave him a formal apology.

Postcards sent by us - Japan - 26.6.1970

2012-03-05T06:10:00.000+11:00

Mono-rail and the Trading Centre Building, Tokyo. ('Trading Center Building' is one of the new symbols of modern Japan. This is a 40 storied ultra high building. Another new symbols will appear one after another. The mono-rail was also one of the symbols of modern Japan centre. )

Gotemba Youth Hostel, (Near Mt Fuji) (written by David)

To -
The Griffiths Family, Dominion Circuit, Deakin 2600 A.C.T. 26thJune 1970

Dear All,

Having a lovely 4 days here - no wonder the Jamiesons* stayed 9 years. The people are delightful, also food, restaurants, souvenirs, trains, hostels - and the baths! I could write a book about the latter. We stayed on an old liner in Yokohama Harbour first night, former Olympic Village in Tokyo last night ( the bath was 15 feet by 10 feet and 110c.) and a Japanese rush matted room tonight. The Warden looks like an ex-Sumo wrestler, and the next-door neighbour is singing in the bath. Have a letter in Carmel for us by July 12.

Love P & D

* Friends of Mary's who we met up with in Milan.

Japan - Yokohama, Tokyo - 25.06.1970 - 29.6.1970.

2012-03-04T06:08:00.000+11:00

From my Notes:
Tuesday 25th June 1970.

Catch train to Tokyo, left luggage at Yokohama Station.  Make our way with Mike and Jean (British couple from Trans Siberia Train from Khabarousk)  to the Youth Hostel at the Olympic Stadium*, have lunch in one of the quaint little alleys near Youth Hostel. 

 Catch trains all over Tokyo.  People are charming and so polite.  Go to Ginza Area, see toy shops etc.  Everything is lovely. 

 Have our first Japanese bath, which is a big room with small taps hot and cold all about one foot off the ground, all around the walls, boys first then girls sit on little plastic stools and wash yourself all over, rinse off then hop into 15 feet by 10 feet and 4 feet deep pool at 110f (43c) and soak.  You can then either have a cold shower or not.  I did and felt great, and slept great.   The room is completely tiled all over.

* The Stadium was built for Summer Olympics 1964, part of it was now a Youth Hostel.

From my Notes:
Friday 26th June 1970.

Leave Tokyo 7:30am, head on train for Odogawa, look around then catch train to Gotemba Youth Hostel, which is a Japanese style, we sleep on the floor which is raised about 1 foot, shoes left near door, floor is soft, matting good.  Bath in their fantastic baths together as we are the only people here.  We sleep in the same room which is nice.  Very peaceful and quiet except for a bit of trumpet practice and some girl singing in Japanese in the bath.

Mt Fuji is close but because of mist we cannot see her.

From my Notes:
Saturday 27th June 1970.

Gotemba-Tokyo.

See Mt Fuji, little snow on top but not much.  Mist has cleared a bit.  All the small children are carried on the mothers back and strapped on, no wonder they all seem to be bowed legged.  I haven't seen one pram, except for a couple for sale in a shop. 

From my Notes:
Sunday 28th June 1970.

Be at Ship at 1:30pm.  Leave Yokohama at 4pm on S.S. President Cleveland.

From my Notes:
Monday 29th June 1970

At Sea.

Here my notes finish until Friday 10th July 1970 Arrive San Francisco 2am.

Postcards sent by us - U.S.S.R. to Japan - 26.6.1970

2012-03-03T06:08:00.002+11:00

M.S. 'Baikal' from Kabarosk to Japan.

To: The Rodd Family, Crescent Road, Newport. NSW 2106 Australia.

Japan 26th June 1970

Dear All.

We loved Russia but what a relief to be in a good Capitalist Country again, you don't really appreciate it till you see how the others live.

This is our boat from Nahodka to Yokahama, it was the best part of the trip and I have successfully got over all my seasickness*. Entertainment was poor, the Russians just haven't got a clue how to enjoy themselves. There were only 35 people on board and it holds 250 passengers, 13 nationalities among the 35 of us.

Japan is a marvelous place coming from the U.S.S.R, it's heaven there is even toilet paper in the Loos here. The people are charming, they bow to you all the time service is terrific and no tipping. Our Youth Hostel tonight has matting on the floor as a mattress and triangle rice pillows but we are the only ones here so we can sleep together.**

Love to all, P & D.
* Just wishful thinking that comment was :-)
** This was very rare in Youth Hostels, there were boys in one room girls in another which is no longer the case now days.

U.S.S.R - Nakhodka - 23.6.1970 - 24.6.1970

2012-03-02T06:05:00.005+11:00

From my Notes:

Tuesday 23rd June 1970.

5 Aussies

2 Danes

3 Swedes

2 British

2 Norwegians

3 Americans

1 Hungarian

2 Swiss

1 German

1 Yugoslav

4 Russian

8 Japanese

1 Bulgarian = 35 people and 13 Nationalities on board the M.S. Baikal heading for Tokyo.

As we stood on deck about to depart the U.S.S.R. very loud and stirring music was playing from loud speakers,it was deafening, we think it must have been the U.S.S.R. National Anthem, the Russians were very proudly singing at the top of their voices.

'Fun' at the Supper Dance, bit dull really though. The Purser* tries to organize everyone but they don't like it, the Band was terrible but made a noise at least.

From my Notes:

Wednesday 24th June 1970 - At Sea.

Breakfast of Crab Salad this time and Pancakes. Lunch very good up on deck watching as we sailed into Yokohama Bay.**

Arrive Yokohama 4pm.

Catch Taxi the 200 yards to the Youth Hostel which is on board an old ship. Have to be in by 9pm so we have an early dinner in Jimmy's Buffet. As we sat down we are given iced water and hot towels to have a bit of a wash. The Service is great and all for free, no tips or charge. Food*** great compared to Russia. Met lots of girls going to Russia on our ship tomorrow.

* The Purser told us that we could have anything we liked to eat, just ask the Chef to cook it for us, we chose from the already good Menu but I remember the Hungarian fellow asked for mushrooms stuffed with Caviar! And he got it!
I think this was the officials last chance to impress us with their wonderful entertainment, wonderful food and wonderful Music. Pity because although we were looking forward to being back in a free country we did really love our whole three weeks in the U.S.S.R. Especially the beauty and the people.
It was all a bit sad really, the ship held 250 passengers but there were only 35 of us. We did try to book 3rd Class on this ship as well but were told it was all full... once again. No one was in 3rd Class we were all, 35 of us in First!

** Yokohama was the dirtiest Harbour we'd ever seen and even though we have since this trip been to many many Harbours it still ranks as the dirtiest ever... even dirtier than China, I hope this has now changed. (I just had a look on Google Maps and it looks lovely and clean now.

*** I remember our first Breakfast in Japan, it was on board the Youth Hostel Hikawa Maru, we were served a totally Japanese Breakfast which was foreign to all of us, I shudder to think of it and can't quite remember what we were offered but I do know a raw egg was involved and I also remember the two chefs in the kitchen peering around the door of the kitchen watching us with great amusement! This must have been a regular ritual for them :-) Now that I have matured and absolutely love Japanese food I still don't I could eat that breakfast!

Hikawa Maru Youth Hostel. Click for more information.

This Ship had been a Hospital Ship during WW2.

From Wiki.

Soon a new role was found for this fine ship, for in 1961 Hikawa Maru was refitted to become a floating youth hostel and a maritime museum. Sadly parts of her engine spaces and lower sections of accommodation decks were gutted to facilitate dormitories. At first she was an attraction and was quite popular, however, as years passed visitors to the hostel rapidly declined and it was closed in 1973.

U.S.S.R - Pennie's Memories - Trans Siberia Railway - Moscow to Nakhodka - 13.6.1070 - 24.6.1970

2012-03-01T06:53:00.001+11:00

From my Notes:

Leave Moscow on Trans Siberia Railway.                 10:05am

I now have a gap in my notes of about one week... and no photos or course so I will have to leave the next 7 days note free, but here are some of my memories.

Cabin: We had tried to book our passage on the Third Class carriage but we were told it was full, it wasn't but it was three bunks high with no divisions, I'm glad we didn't get beds there and I guess the powers that be realized that 3rd class was a bit uncomfortable for us Capitalists.
Our cabin was quite comfortable, just 2 sets of bunks, a small table and a window which opened. David and I slept on the left side, a Sydney Taxi Driver slept on the top of the right side of the cabin and Torsten Peterson a retiree from Sweden who was a small person, (I don't know what the politically correct name is for him now, midget and dwarf seem to be wrong) ... anyway Torsten was much much smaller than I was and on his way to visit his 6'2" twin brother in the USA. We kept in touch with Torsten and in 1972 he came to Australia to stay with us. Torsten loved to garden as you can see in this photo at the bottom of this post.

Dinning Car: The Waitress really liked me... I mean really liked me... she would be chatting away to a couple of men and as soon as she saw me enter the Dining Car she would roughly drag some man from the best table put a nice clean white table cloth on the table and serve David and I immediately while the Russian blokes looked on and waited politely! Although what they were saying in Russian may not have been polite. She gave me the creeps a bit so I never went in there without David.

Food: Was okay, I remember Bifstec, (a steak) was good but as the trip went on the food started to run out until the last few days and all that was left was Soups of goodness knows what.

Washing: There was only a toilet with a tiny hand basin at the end of the carriage. The weather was quite warm and I needed a shower so what I ended up doing is stuffing a wash cloth into the plug hole, (we never saw a plug in any of the hotels or trains in the U.S.S.R.) undressed, filled the hand basin and with the use of a plastic cup I had with me I would fill it and pour the water over me, soap up, and pour more water. The drain hole did the job and I felt refreshed!

Russian People: On all accounts were delightful, happy, and helpful, even the guards, KGB and officials were pleasant behind their serious face. From when we first set foot outside our hotel in Leningrad, (and in every other City we visited) on our way to a bank to change our US$ into some Roubles, we wouldn't be in the street long before a young man would sidle along beside us as if overtaking, and say... Change Dollars? which we would for 2.5 Roubles to the US$, then he would disappear. We were warned by our guides, not to take any Roubles out of the country but I did manage to sneak one and a few Kopek. It was interesting to hear the English spoken by both men and women we met, you could tell who had taught them... an English man or an American... those accents came through, we never heard an Aussie accent though.

I did have a few embarrassing moments with women taking a fancy to me, a real fancy and I was told by someone that there was a large population of Lesbians because so many men had died during all the wars and revolutions... who knows but this is the only country I've ever been in that I did feel uncomfortable by their insistent approaches.

Hotels: Were absolutely luxurious, some with enormous marble staircases, Persian carpets, chandeliers, enormous rooms... wonderful wonderful stuff especially for these two Aussies who had spent most of their married life sleeping in the back of a London Taxi or in separate rooms in Youth Hostels. But... on every floor, in every hotel sat a woman at a desk who would look you up and down, follow you with her eyes and then furiously write something in a big book. I wonder if this woman ever slept, maybe they did change but they all looked the same to us. We would always smile and say hello but we got the impression that we were disrupting this person's very important job!

Foreigners: We met a few Aussies, Brits and Americans, it was always nice to chat about what we'd seen, where we'd been and so on but only a few of these stand out. There was one American, a doctor I think who was on our train, he was very loud in his complaints, whinged about everything, argued with every official and we dreaded having to see him, he was also going to Japan on the same ship as we were. When we got to Khabarovsk he was making a real ruckus at the Hotel but we went our own way... the funny thing was... we never saw him again... he didn't catch that boat! The mind boggles as what happened to him... was he an undercover KGB trying to make us say or do something or was he just what he appeared and was sent to the mines in Siberia? We will never know.

A couple of Brits stood out. The last part of the train trip spends many hours beside the Chinese border but the Russians wouldn't allow Westerners to see the border so we all had to spend a night or two in Khabarovsk and catch a night train to Vladivostok. This young couple of Brits spent the whole night and several rolls of film taking photos out the window in the pitch dark! I took one, just in case something did turn up :-) funny now!

Clothes: Everywhere we went people wanted to buy our jeans, they'd say... Want to sell Levis? we could have made a fortune if we'd known but then again what would we have done with those Russian Roubles, there was nothing much to buy and they were worthless outside of the U.S.S.R.

There was one amusing incident in Khabarousk, we were sitting on the bus with a whole lot of other non Russians and waiting to be taken to the train for the last leg of our journey when the Intourist Guide announced that some clothing had been found in one of the rooms of the Hotel and she held up this one daggy singlet!
I'd managed to persuade David, as a Wedding Anniversary present to me, that he throw out his string singlets! I couldn't bear the things they were so ugly! Anyway he threw about 5 singlets into the rubbish bin in our room. This was one of those singlets our Guide was holding up, the other four having found homes already I suspect. David and I sunk deeper and deeper into our seats, trying not to be seen. The Intourist Guide persisted announcing the room number, then one of the Americans looked at us and said in a loud voice... Hey! that was your room wasn't it! The Guide looked at me and I just shook my head and told her to throw it out. Phew! Thwarted we were :-)))

Engines: We had several Engines pulling our carriages, one steam which made opening the window a bit dirty and gritty. Beside the tracks were workers and just as many woman wielding big hammers or picks keeping the track in good order. Each station we stopped at there was an Ice Cream seller which was a treat especially in the hot weather.

Scenery: This was spectacular, beautiful forests, wide expanses beautiful indeed and the towns we visited were interesting if a little bleak and everyone watched us go by. It was summer time so we didn't see any snow and not much rain for that matter.

The trip is 9,258 km or 6,152 miles long it takes about 10 days and about 12 to get to Japan.

Torsten Peterson, in our garden in Turramurra beside the old house, that's next door's washing on the line. Both ours and next doors old houses were pulled down long long ago and replaced with bigger brick homes.

U.S.S.R. - David's Notes on the Trans Siberia Railway - 13.6.1970

2012-02-29T07:00:00.000+11:00

These are from notes I typed up for David when we got to California, they are very informative and interesting and fill in lots of gaps from both our memories.

TRAIN TRAVEL IN THE U.S.S.R.

From Warsaw, after strenuous enquiries, we discovered no reservation was required for the trip to Leningrad. However after a rushed change of trains at the U.S.S.R. border, a cool calm Intourist rep. boarded the train, a young man who apparently spoke fluent English and German. But discovered that I spoke a little German, he conducted the whole conversation in that, to place me at a little disadvantage, I felt. We found we needed reservations for the Kuznitza - Leningrad section and were quoted US$7 each for a sleeper, so we said we'd prefer to sit up. He then offered us the use of the sleeper with linen and blankets, this time at US$5 for two. We again said we'd do without and after disappearing he came back to say he thought that would be okay except we would have no linen or blankets and left the train. Our conductress then intervened, said that medical regulations required the use of the issued sheet and pillowslip, and quoted one Rouble each for these. (1 Rouble = 1 US$) So we had a sleeper, sheets and blankets for the overnight trip, but having no Roubles we were assisted in our dilemma by a lovely little Polish girl, who paid the two Roubles, and later invited us to join her group for a simple evening meal - we had no food ourselves, and no Roubles to obtain any.

The train consists of carriages built in 1969 in East Germany, they are very well fitted out with washing and toilet cabinets at each end of the corridor. The four berth compartments have padded, if not cushioned, seats, with mattresses of similar padding laid over the bunks for sleeping. After the disorganization of the entry into U.S.S.R. we were greatly surprised in Leningrad to be sought out in the crowd outside the station by an Intourist courier, apologizing for being late, who packed us into a Volga taxi for a rapid drive to our hotel. This Hotel, the oldest in Leningrad was carpeted throughout with Persian rugs, and was very comfortable.

The day train to Moscow was seats only accommodation and well provided with restaurant car and service for drinks etc. from waitresses carrying baskets up and down the carriages.

The Trans-Siberian, nominally Moscow to Vladivostok, train left Moscow punctually at 10:05am The accommodation was three classes - First-class, Tourist Hard and Third or extra Hard, in which there were bunks three high throughout the carriage and in the corridors with no compartment divisions. Tourist Hard was the same East German built carriage but First-class rode in very old apparently Russian-built carriages. I would say that to purchase First-class travel was money down the drain... we met several disgruntled First-class tourists, whose hotels were only as good as or even inferior to our Tourist class twin rooms, and facilities for First-class rail travel were, by observation, actually inferior to Tourist as far as cleanliness and modernity of carriages went.

In each carriage there is a conductress who travels the whole way, she would vacuum the floors each day, clean windows, etc., and also serve tea at two kopeks (100 kopeks = 1 Rouble) a glass if requested at almost any time. At each one of the 72 stops Moscow to Khabarovsk, a team descended on the train, to refill the drinking and washing water tanks from track side hoses, to check carriage wheels, brakes and bearings. Track maintenance was of quite high standard, for the whole length of 9,487 km.

Photography is a subject requiring some caution, broadly, 'railway junctions, stations, factories, rivers, roads, bridges, harbours and port installations', and or course defense and military equipment are forbidden subjects, but I found that if unobserved, e.g. in our compartment, I could take anything I liked. While observed I would make it obvious that I intended to take a shot and desist only if shouted at by a guard or official in uniform of any kind. Each train carries a railway security officer who dispenses literature in many languages, feeds selected matter into the radio wired into every compartment and corridor and watches for breaches of regulations particularly photographic as I discovered when about to take a shot from the rear of the last carriage in the train.

The restaurant car provides quite a well cooked range of dishes, not in great variety, standards were ham and eggs, beef schnitzel, kebabs, fried liver, friend sturgeon, solyanka (sausage and cabbage) and borscht soups, plus caviar and champagne, very palatable, many soft drinks all good, beer awful, coffee awful and chai or tea with lemon at 8 kopeks or 2 kopeck plain, and very good. Meal vouchers are included in the fare to a value of 4 Roubles a day which is more than adequate and being encashable were able to retain at least a Rouble or two per day to spend on extra drinks cigarettes at 30-40 kopeks for 20, or had we known at the 'duty free international' stall at the port in Nakhodka on foreign cigarettes, drinks souvenirs etc.

Washing facilities were clean and water both hot and cold was unlimited, it would even have been possible, had we thought to take a bowl or dipper, to shower by soaping up and then rinsing off after removing the plug in the floor of the toilet compartment this was not possible in first class carriages however.

All Intourist bookings i.e. Non-Russians were in one compartment with no segregation, however our two cabin mates, both males got out at Irkutsk so for one third of the way we had a compartment to ourselves until Khabarovsk where all foreigners leave the train, to stay overnight in a Hotel before continuing on another special train, which passes the controversial security points of the Chinese border and the Naval establishment at Vladivostok during hours of darkness. This second train was of slightly higher standard, being the same type of carriages but newer, cleaner and with a better restaurant car, serving fixed menu meals of more appetizing quality. The peak however was reached on the ship from Kakhodka to Yokohama, Japan where meals and service were positively sumptuous by Russian standards and a determined effort was made to provide entertainment in the form of films and dancing evenings.

The line from Moscow is electrified all the way to Sverdlovsk and from Omsk to Petrovsky Zavod. The Sverdlovsk to Omsk and the Khabarovsk Nakhodka sections are diesel-hauled. From Petrovsky Zavod to Khabarovsk 2,714 km, we had one or at times two massive steam locos depending on the gradients. Plugs for wash basins even in hotels appear to be a nationwide deficiency and we would have been well advised to take a universal one of our own. However a pleasant surprise was that all the carriages had 220v A.C. power outlets for shavers also shock-absorbers on the bogies. Both these aids to comfort were lacking on first glass carriages! Almost all our Russian fellow travellers were eager to be friendly, we had many enjoyable games of chess, draughts, cards and discussions as far as was possible in German which was usually the only common language. On the Nakhodka train however we met a very voluble lady who spoke excellent English and gave us a fascinating insight into the attitudes of a disciplined Russian mind. We found people almost all satisfied with their style of life, intensely proud of their countries industrial achievements utterly convinced of the evil intentions of the West, U.S.A. mainly and certainly in no mood to overthrow Communism. This was not the case in the Satellites... there a feeling of patriotism and dislike for the Russians and their Communism was the apparent attitude an impression gained after rather limited contact, admittedly. All in all, the Trans Siberian must rate as one of the most rewarding journeys in the World, particuarly when one considers that for $220 per person from Moscow to Yokohama, full board included one travels half way around the world.
June 1970

U.S.S.R - Khabarousk 19.6.1970 - 22.6.1970

2012-02-28T06:49:00.000+11:00

From my Notes:

Friday 19th June 1970.

Arrive Khabarousk 11:51pm.  Picked up by Intourist Guide, whisked to Hotel Aurmor, bath and wash clothes.  Bed at 2am.

From my Notes:
Saturday 20th June 1970.

Up early to take our tour at 10am in a Taxi with a young girl, she just drives around a bit, shows us the river and that's all.

It's terribly hot, we buy an abacus* and a pair of decent shoes for 26 Roubles.

Lunch, we wait for 1 1/2 hours and I get nothing.

Dinner we are taken in by Doc (one of the American's travelling in First Class on our train from Moscow) we have two bottles of Champagne and a big eat up in Hotel Restaurant, with a pretty good Russian band,** we three are the only English speaking.

From my Notes:
Sunday 21st June 1970.

Not too well*** so David goes to Museum etc.  Have to catch bus to Station at 5pm we loose the US Biggott fellow thank goodness.

Leave Khabarousk 6:25pm.

Train a little better than last if possible, cleaner and not many people on board.  We go very close to Chinese border but of course it's dark as all the trains going this way go at night but I do snap a photo before too late of what I thought was the border.

From my Notes:
Monday 22nd June 1970.

Arrive Nakhodka 9:15am.
Mike and Jean Coulter a British couple going to Hong Kong, spent the night taking photos out the window, in the dark.  Customs Hellish... go through absolutely everything but didn't find our Russian money and we are hiding a US$20 bill as well.

Leave Nakhodka 12 Noon, on M.S. Galikal.  Food very very good and plenty of it, lost Doc at Nakhodka.

*  We still have that abacus but not the shoes :-)

**  We had to leave after enjoying a bit of a dance because one woman really really took a liking to me, she was dancing with some fellow but preferred to wobble her boobs and bottom at me.  David and I left after trying to get rid of her for about 30 mins.  Her partner was getting angrier and angrier.

*** Not surprising if I drank Champagne, alcohol isn't my thing :-)

Postcards sent by us - Khabarousk, U.S.R. - 21.6.1970

2012-02-27T06:53:00.000+11:00

State Lenin Library, Moscow.

To: Mr Peter Jones, 168 Mica Street, Broken Hill. N.S.W. 2880. Australia.

Dear Pete,

Trip going along very smoothly so far. Denmark and Sweden lovely and expensive. East Berlin a hole, never to be revisited. Poland beaut, wish we had more time there. U.S.S.R. very interesting the people are very friendly generous and patient with us over the language.

Unbelievable hot weather and long hours of sunshine. We've had caviar and champagne (2 bottles) danced and sun baked.

The Trans-Siberia was very comfortable, food good, the other passengers were all Russians except 4 of us, terrific people we collected a lot of small gifts when we left. Photography is a bit dicey you never know if you should or shouldn't take this or that. Japan on 24th.

Love David and Pennie XX

(Here is another postcard that we'd sent to our friend Peter Jones, we lost touch with him about 30 years ago, we think he joined the Hare Krishna... I wish we could find him now and thank him for giving us back the postcards we sent him. )

U.S.S.R. - Moscow - 12.6.1970

2012-02-26T06:42:00.005+11:00


From my notes: Catch the great Underground, go to G.U.M. which is all beautifully decorated inside with water fountains and Chandeliers, very impressive but goods not up to much, have lunch in a Russian Restaurant* Yuck! so fatty. Go to Pushkin Museum which is full of beautiful Impressionists, have beaut meal in Hotel Restaurant with Fountain. * This restaurant was new and modern and sort of like a Cafeteria... the only trouble was you had to pay first then take your tray along the line for the people serving to give you what you had already paid for. Trouble is... we didn't know what we wanted, how much it cost and what it actually was! The staff were delighted to help us so we had special treatment with one person behind the counter trying to explain what was what. We decided to take his advice, paid and were handed our/his choice. We then sat with the others in the restaurant watching us eagle eyed to see how much we were enjoying our Russian Meal. We did the right thing by eating it all and smiling broadly leaving to many waves and smiles. Wonderful stuff, pity about the fatty food :-) Moscow has the longest Escalators I've ever been on and they seemed to go the fastest, we had become used to the long ones in London and we had them in Sydney as well of course but not like these, these were really scary and it took me a little time to pluck up the courage to get on! The Russians jumped on with not a backward glance of course. When down in the Stations what a sight to see! Absolutely jaw dropping beautiful! The below from 'Moscow Metro' explains.... Begun in the 1930's, the Stalin-era underground was the USSR's largest civilian construction project, with stations built as "people's palaces." Employing outstanding architects and artists, it still looks amazing after all those years. The early stations form an eclectic blend of Baroque, Classicism, Soviet Realism, quasi-religious iconography with idealizations of historical characters and their victories, sports, industry, agriculture, very much warfare past and present, the brighter future just ahead, and the heroically laboring working class with inclusion of the various Soviet ethnicities. Oh, and... the Revolution!

More Moscow Metro photos that I found on Google below.


G.U.M. Store. From Wiki: In 1928, GUM was closed by Stalin, who decided to use the building as the headquarters for officials working on the first Five Year Plan. GUM was reopened in 1953, and became one of the most popular sites for the legendary Soviet queues, which could at times extend all the way across Red Square. After privatization in the early 90s, it rapidly became the address of choice for top-end Western retailers. Journalists and travel writers often comment on the sharp contrast between prices in GUM and poverty in Russia - as if the majority of New Yorkers get their clothes from Saks, or the average Londoner could afford to do their grocery shopping in Harrods. Even if you don't intend to buy anything, a tour of Red Square should always include a quick stroll down the aisles of GUM. My first set of Babushkas, well loved and a little faded bought in the G.U.M. Store 12.6.1970.

U.S.S.R. - Moscow - 11.6.1970

2012-02-25T06:40:00.051+11:00

From my Notes:

Go on Sight Seeing tour of Kremlin, walk along outside of wall, see mile or more long queue to see Lenin's Tomb. 

See the Coaches and Crowns etc. of the Kings and Queens of Russia.  

Also see inside the Churches inside the Kremlin, Breshnev doesn't work here.

See Great Bell... Broken.    Also new building for Conferences.

In afternoon go on our Compulsory Intourist Tour of City, taken to Red Square, St Basil's, Lenin's Tomb, G.U.M.* then drive across River to look at the Kremlin from a terrific place.

Drive past all the interesting buildings, go to see the University which was built by Volunteers.

Our Guide is very good, he knows a lot about everything, he says he lives in two rooms with his parents and one brother and they share a kitchen and bathroom with only one other family.  He earns 120 Roubles a month and pays 12 for rent each month, he is well off.**

* The G.U.M. store was fantastically interesting and very beautiful, this is where I bought my very first Babushka Matroushka set of wooden dolls. I now have more than 300 sets, plus all sorts of things with Babushkas on them :-) I had seen these as a child and always wanted one of my own, they fascinate me!

** We wondered at the value of these compulsory tours, the guides were absolutely delightful and were, justifiably very proud of their cities and we really appreciated their tour and knowledge but... proudly telling us... 'Capitalist from the West'... that they shared a kitchen and bathroom and four of them lived in two rooms?? ... surely those who organized these tours knew we lived in better conditions. I quietly added up the number of rooms my parents lived in, in their modest suburban home... 10 actually... and we didn't share our kitchen or bathroom with any other families.

Red Square from Google Earth above.

U.S.S.R. - Leningrad to Moscow - 10.6.1970

2012-02-24T06:06:00.024+11:00

From my Notes:

Pack our things, wash up and go to see Aurora* an old ship that had something to do with the Revolution  Catch taxi to station.

Leave Leningrad 1pm.

Train trip rather dull, packed mostly with women. 

Arrive Moscow 8:28pm.

Met by young Intourist fellow and whisked off to Hotel.

Aurora from Wiki:
The historical ship Aurora has been turned into a museum and is docked just a few hundred yards upstream from the Cabin of Peter the Great, opposite the "St Petersburg" Hotel. The cruiser, built in St. Petersburg between 1897 and 1900, took an active part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 and participated in the Tsusima battle, in which most of Russia's Pacific fleet was destroyed. After the war the ship was used for personnel training and during the October revolution of 1917 gave the signal (by firing a blank shot) to storm of the Winter Palace, which was being used as a residence by the democratic, but largely ineffective Provisional Government.
During World War II and the 900-day Siege of Leningrad the guns of the ship were taken down and used on the front line of the city's defenses. After the war the ship was carefully restored and used as a free museum and training ship for cadets from the nearby Nakhimov Navy School.

We wanted to take a photo of the Aurora but didn't want to get into trouble... again... for taking photos so we stopped two very young men in army uniform and asked if it would be okay for us to take a photo. They said yes and the two of them stood in front of the ship and smiled for the camera. Well we had to take a photo of them didn't we... but... sadly, as I've said before, all our photos were stolen in the USA. :-( I would love to have that photo today.

U.S.S.R. - Leningrad - 9.6.1970

2012-02-23T07:08:00.002+11:00

From my Notes:

Walk up Nevsky Prospect the main street, buy gift for Mama (my Grandmother)

Visit the Hermitage, a beautiful old Palace with priceless paintings in it.

Meet Ken Glazier Jr., he is staying at our Hotel and has given his address in California.

Lunch at Hermitage, walk to St Isaccs Cathedral, climb to top but not allowed to take photos.*

Very hot, sun has shone non stop for a week, everyone is out sunning themselves** Got to see the movie 'A Man and Woman' but not on so sell our tickets to a young chap Sasha and his girlfriend, walk and talk with them for a while.

Go to Ice cream parlour have Jam, Caramel and Cashew Nut flavours.

* This wasn't the first time we'd been stopped from taking photos and it wasn't the last... I wonder if this is why our photos went missing???
** We saw rather large women stripped to their underwear and standing up against brick walls along the river, they were just trying to get a suntan.

The Hermitage from Google and inside the Hermitage below.

... and St Isaccs Cathedral below.

Postcards sent by us - Leningrad - 9.6.1970

2012-02-22T06:39:00.001+11:00

S.M.Kirov Stadium, Leningrad. U.S.S.R. (now called St Petersburg as it was before the revolution)

Hotel Europe, Lenningrad. U.S.S.R. 9.6.1970.

To: The Rodds, Crescent Road, Newport. NSW 2106. Australia.

Dear All,

Russia has been pretty good so far. Hotel is good and comfortable and food edible.

It's Lenin year and everywhere there are photos of him and you can buy badges to pin on yourself with Lenin on them.

Spent our second Wedding Anniversary at the fantastic Circus from Moscow, really first class best I've ever seen better than Australia could produce I'm sure.

We've met lots of Americans and lots of Australians. Ice Cream here is terrific, called Morazlenoye* and it comes in no less than 36 flavours, Jam and the rest.

Love P & D.

* What I was trying to write was мороженое.

U.S.S.R. - Leningrad - 8.6.1970

2012-02-21T06:23:00.001+11:00

From my Notes:

Our Second Wedding Anniversary!

Went to old Fort, walked around, had lunch then rowed around it.  Caught long tram ride to other side of town then bought some dinner and took it back to Hotel to eat.

Went to Moscow Circus, fantastic acts, lions, dogs, horses etc. 

Ice cream very popular and delicious 36 flavours.  Clothes very expensive $20 for a Nylon Shirt, not a choice in shops if they have anything to sell, that's the only style they have.  People mostly in cotton, it's slightly cheaper than Nylon.  Persian rugs on our Hotel floor.  Good steak dinner for 1 Voucher - 1 Rouble.

We caught the Underground Train in Leningrad and what a shock it was, never seen anything this beautiful used as a train station before, puts Sydney and London to shame :-)

U.S.S.R. - Leningrad - 7.6.1970

2012-02-20T07:05:00.002+11:00

From my notes:

Arrive Leningrad 6:30pm, half an hour late.  Met by Intourist Guide* and driven to the Hotel Europe,** shown to room, sleep a little then have breakfast, walk a little noticing the poorly dressed people and the old cars, old trams and old buses.  Dave walks on and I go back to Hotel to do some washing.  Have lunch in room then go on Tour of Gulf of Finland and the Summer Palace at Petrod Vorets.

It doesn't get dark at all.***

* One of the proviso's of being allowed to travel into the U.S.S.R. unaccompanied, (i.e. not with a Tour Bus with Russian Guides), was a compulsory guided tour with an Intourist Guide. These Guides had to meet us when we arrived in each of the cities we visited, she... it was usually a she... drove us to our hotel and checked us in, she would then make a time to meet so she could take us on this compulsory tour which usually lasted one or two hours. At the end of our visit it was she who picked us up at our Hotel and drove us to the station for the next leg of our journey.

** Hotel Europe... WOW! What an incredible place, it was like some enormous Palace with huge circular stairs.

*** It was light 24 hours a day which was incredible, we were used to Twilight in England where in summer it didn't get dark till after 10pm but this was a seriously weird experience and difficult to get used to. We would go to bed around Midnight but we could hear people in the streets walking and chatting till almost 6am!

Hotel Europa today, look at those crowds, I'm guessing someone exciting is going to pass by?

Gulf of Finland, I keep forgetting how close Finland is to Russia, actually they share a border.
That's Leningrad-St Petersburg written in Russian... "Санкт-Петербург"

Not only is this Summer Palace a beautiful building the gardens are the best in the World I reckon, so different and interesting... We loved it here.

I remember all that gold on those statues... the U.S.S.R. was proving to be a truly amazing place.

Poland - Warsaw - 6.6.1970

2012-02-19T06:51:00.002+11:00

From my Notes:

Leave Warsaw 6:45am.  Dirty Train, nice child with older woman in our carriage.  Change trains at 11:30am in Kuznitza onto beautiful Russian Train Sleeper, go a few miles into U.S.S.R. and get checked by guards etc.  We had to pay US$7 each for our sleeper, it went down to US$5 for two, then US$1 each but someone else paid for us so we had it free, these people also gave us dinner because we had no Russian Money.*

* We had tried to buy some Russian Roubles in every country since we'd left the UK to no avail, we even tried before we caught this train and on the train but no luck... hence these lovely Russian people who not only paid 1Rouble for each of us (the Official Exchange Rate was 1Rouble to the 1US$) for our sleepers (I guess the guards tried to charge us US$7 each because we were tourists LOL) they gave us some dinner as well... lovely people. We went to their carriage and they were well prepared, they even had a Samovar for the tea. This is the first and last time I ever drank, or tried to drink tea! I had to be polite didn't I but I just don't like the stuff.

From Warsaw to Kuznitza to Leningrad.

Postcards sent by us - Warsaw - 5.6.1970

2012-02-18T06:13:00.000+11:00

Warszwa - Lazienki - Plac Na Wyspie, Swiatynia
Sybilli, pomnik Fryderyka Chopina, Belweder

To - Dr & Mrs M. E. Griffiths, Dominion Circuit, Deakin. ACT 2600. Australia.

Grand Hotel (Yes!!) Kruxza 28, Friday 5th June, 1970

Hi Folks - Going fine - two overnight train trips, from Denmark to East Berlin then Berlin - Warsaw have tired us a bit - but the hotel is a good one, super beds, bath and toilet included, phone, everything for a sum of $US5 each!

Warsaw fairly grim but very interesting, lots of people about, some decent shops, luxuries dear as poison. Lots of Police etc and our border crossings are full of form-filling, passport checks, but no hitches so far.

The currency market is a racket - most of the Iron Curtain official rates are absurd so a black market flourishes - they accost us in the streets in Warsaw offering fantastic rates of Zlotys (Polish money) to the $US. One day in Berlin East, very delapidated but fascinating. Today Warsaw. Sunday arrive Leningrad.

Love Dave and Pennie XXX

Lazienki Palace

Chopin Statue.

Belweder.

All three above from Googlemaps.

Postcards sent by us - Warsaw - 5.6.1970

2012-02-17T06:19:00.004+11:00

Warszawa - Plac Konstyucji.

To: Lt Col & Mrs R.C. Rodd, Crescent Road, Newport. NSW 2106. Australia.

Dear All,

It's good to be in a cheaper country at last but of course the quality isn't there.

Sorry we didn't send you a card from East Berlin, it just slipped my mind, the whole place gave me the creeps. We took a photo of the Wall near Check Point Charlie and a few minutes later after us came two German Soldiers. Passports checked etc, they very kindly didn't take the film but gave us fare warning.

Everyone seemed unhappy and they weren't very helpful.

The Hotel Grand here in Warsaw is very. Our own bathroom and toilet. Tomorrow off to Russia at 6:45am it's not far we arrive about 10am then to Leningrad, another 20 hours away.

Love to everyone, (Including Tabitha when and if she makes it.) Pennie and Dave.
P.S. Our hotel roughly in centre of picture, out of sight behind the other buildings.

Same three lamp posts from Googlemaps

Poland - Warsaw - 5.6.1970

2012-02-16T06:48:00.012+11:00

From my notes:

Arrive Warsaw 6:19am.  Go to Hotel Grand but can't check in till 12 midday, walk around.  Several people in the streets ask us to change US$ for Zloty's.  The Official in Poland is 23 Zloty to the US$1.  One man gave us 100 Zloty for one US Dollar!

Have nice Hotel Shower and go out after 2p.m. buy little bag for Meredith, (my sister) Eat well because the Hotel gives us vouchers for 200 Zloty.

Sleep well in our own room with our own bath!

Fascinating to see the Hotel has the 'Times' a couple of days late but it's good to catch up.

There is a swimming pool in the basement.

People all very nice and helpful. 

I would need three Zloty to buy one American Dollar today!

I believe this could be our Hotel, it's called the Mecure Grand Hotel now but it's near the railway station which our Grand Hotel was.

East Germany - Berlin - 4.6.1970

2012-02-15T06:32:00.107+11:00

From my notes:

Arrive Berlin Ost (East) 7:19am.  Leave luggage at Station catch train to the Wall!  Walk about a bit, get chased by Soldiers because we took a photo.*  We eat well because we have so many Marks.  Leave Berlin Ost 9:23pm.  Passport checks again on train but had more sleep this time.

I found this in my coin bowl... it's all we have left of East German money.

I see from my notes that we only spent 14 hours in East Berlin, but that was enough, it wasn't much fun, we were rich for the first time ever with our 'under the counter' Marks but there was nothing to buy or spend it on, I can't remember what we had for lunch but by the look of my notes it was plenty compared to our self enforced penny pinching in Copenhagen, (we didn't have much cash and what we had had to last months!)   If we walked into a shop or a cafe everyone stopped, the place went silent and they just stared at us... we must have stood out as weird tourists... but it was so uncomfortable we left without buying or ordering anything.

* We walked as close as we could get to the wall which was very close to the centre of town, we saw one guard box up on the wall, way way in the distance and they obviously saw us, through binoculars, when we took some photos of the Wall.  It was easy for them to see us because all the buildings near the wall had been demolished and the land was nothing but rubble.   As we were walking back to town this great big motorbike caught up to us, on it were two very young soldiers one of whom pointed an old rifle at us and demanded our passports.  We showed them the passports then they wanted our camera and the film in it.* The soldiers looked so young I don't think they had started shaving yet and the one with the gun was shaking so much it was almost laughable.  David said no he wasn't going to give them our film and told them we were leaving Berlin in a few hours for Poland and they went back to their guard post where we could now see the glint of binoculars.  I found two old booklets given to us by the East Berlin Tourist Bureau.  They make for fascinating reading some of which I will share with you.

*This film did go missing in the USA later on!  Mmmmm... very suss!

I can't remember finding any 'Centres of culture and sport', or 'Sights worth seeing', shopping was very boring and of such poor quality. But we did go on an Excursion on the river though!

We never went to West Berlin but friends who did in those days said it was a wonderfully vibrant place and compared it to San Francisco... the comparison being that both cities lived under threat, West Berlin because it was totally surrounded by East Germany and San Francisco because it lived with the fear of earthquakes!

The second booklet has some interesting photos and facts in it.

The right photo is below.

I find the caption with this photo quite amusing...

Always surrounded is the model of the future city centre at Berlin Information or the district building office. Guests from all over the world are greatly interested in the shaping of the capital of the German Democratic Republic.

Well..... one man is looking at his watch, the man on his right is frowning, the two in front look like they are enjoying a little snooze, those in the back look like they're saying... 'When will this be over, we want to get out of here?' and the woman is saying ... 'Get on with it will you and a little less fist thumping would be good!' :-)

Here is the plan for Alexanderplatz and below from Google Earth today. #21 is the railway station which you can see below, some of the buildings look the same.

Good old Walter Ulbricht above and below Herbert Fechner, Mayor of Berlin.

This is Karl Marx Allee with modern residential buildings, restaurants and shops which came into existence in 1963/4. In the background the House of Teachers.

Here is a Google Map of the river we cruised on, we were fascinated to see some wonderful big old homes right on the river, all in disrepair though.

That's Schildow in what used to be West Germany at the top of this picture and below Schonefeld also in what was West Germany... the blue line I've drawn is sort of where the wall used to be.

Denmark - Copenhagen - 3.6.1970

2012-02-14T06:51:00.002+11:00

From my Notes:-

Leave luggage at Railway Station, catch bus to Tuborg, very good tour, three bottles of beer, nice guide Mr Neilson. Walk half way back to town, fall asleep in park all afternoon, walk back to Railway Station, eat, go to Tivoli see all the lights and a Concert.

Go to bank at Railway Station to buy East German Marks, Polish Zloty, Russian Rouble. Bank girl says they don't exchange but she had some East German Marks and some Polish Zloty under the counter.
We get 40 marks to the US$1, the Official Exchange rate in East Berlin at the time was 4 Marks for $US1
We got 100 Zloty to the US$1, the Offfic1al Exchange rate was about the same as East Berlin. (we can't remember exactly)
She had no Russian Rouble, no banks had Russian Roubles.

Catch train at 10:45p.m. for East Berlin.

Not much sleep, woken and taken to another carriage to check passports, tickets, and Visa for East Germany, had to get off train and onto boat then off boat and onto train in East Germany.

Tuborg factory, which is also the Carlesburg Factory, maybe they bought each other out.

Railway Station Copenhagen, right next to the Tivoli Gardens below.

A couple of pages from one booklet we kept called 'Travelling by Rail' in the DGR.

From Copenhagen in Denmark to East Berlin in the German Democratic Republic.

Denmark - Copenhagen - 2.6.1970

2012-02-13T05:26:00.047+11:00

From my Notes:

Visit Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Factory, 45 Smallegade 10am, very interesting and a good guide. I have to catch buses back to Youth Hostel to book in because I couldn't do it in the morning cause all the rooms were booked, but we did get in.* Back to Smallegade to Dave, walk through park near Zoo, go to Irma for lunch. At 2:30pm to Carlsburg are shown around and given a couple of bottles of beer each to drink there, very nice, walk back to Youth Hostel and flake out for a while, shower have dinner and sit and read.

* You weren't allowed to stay for more than two nights in a row at Youth Hostels, I think, so we had to check out then book in again after midday.

Of course we didn't have any money to buy any of the beautiful Danish Porcelain but after we got home and had our first child Nerys, born in 1971, my parents lovely neighbour, Jean Adam bought the 1971 Christmas Plate she bought one when Tomos was born in 1973 but Miss Adam had moved to Adelaide when Briony 1976, and Gwilym 1980 were born so I bought one for each of them.

Walk in Frederiksberg Garden, Copenhagen.

Statue of King Frederik V1 (1768-1839)

Postcards sent by us to our Family in Australia - Copenhagen - 1.6.1970

2012-02-12T05:45:00.013+11:00

Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen.

To: Mrs M E Griffiths, Dominion Circuit, Deakin. ACT. Australia - 1.6.1970

Dear Mum and Dad,

Going very well, beaut boat from U.K., spent a day in Esbjerg took midnight train to Copenhagen. Using a lot of shoe leather getting about to see everything but it's a lovely place, nice weather, very friendly people. Saturday and Sunday we hitched, took a ferry and walked on Swedish soil, spent a night in Halsingborg Hostel and hitched 'home' I mean back to Copenhagen with a young Dane and his English mate, they asked us in for a drink and a meal. Very hospitable. Love David.

Above From Google Maps.

Postcards sent by us to our Family in Australia - Copenhagen - 1.6.1970

2012-02-11T05:30:00.027+11:00

To David's Grandmother - Mrs D C Evans, Fiddens Wharf Road, Killara. NSW 2071 Australia 1.6.1970

Dear Dudu,

Going very nicely so far - boat to Esbjerg was super, spent a day there, over-night train Copenhagen, one day here, then hitch-hiked to Sweden, via the ferry boat, stayed in a magnificent Youth Hostel one night, came back here next day. Hitched a ride with an English chap who is living in Copenhagen, took us home for a drink and a MEAL. Wonderful place, beaut people.

All our love David

From Google Maps.

Denmark - Copenhagen - 1.6.1970

2012-02-10T05:20:00.022+11:00

From my Notes:

Have breakfast of rolls and 1 litre of milk in shop. Walk around Palace then National Gallery. At 11am we go to the Tourist Office to arrange a visit to some Danes,* we are to meet Mr and Mrs Kurt Larsen at 7:30 pm.

Shop at Supermarket K9 for lunch and breakfast. Walk to Royal Danish Arsnel, very impressive, have Polser** for dinner then wait in Railway Station from 4pm till it's time to meet the Larsens.

Catch bus to Larsens and spend very pleasant three hours in their home, they feed us buns and cake and piles of coffee, schnapps and beer. Catch bus back to Youth Hostel and just make curfew at 11pm.

* The Youth Hostel had a message board which told us local Danish people welcomed travellers to their homes for a chat, how delightful is that!

** Hot Dogs, see below from Google. I just converted, they are still very cheap at about $4 Australian although I have no idea how much a Hot Dog from a street stand would cost in Sydney.

Amalienborg Palace from Google Maps and below from Wiki with the Opera House across he water.

Danish National Gallery.


Royal Danish Arsenal Museum. Gosh I've enjoyed my Googling around Denmark today, such a pretty country with some beautiful buildings and so clean. This is another country we must go back to one day.

Sweden - Helsingborg - 31.5.1970

2012-02-09T06:38:00.025+11:00

Notes:

Slept till ten to ten then walked down to town, bought a cake and an ice cream with what we had left of our Swedish money and that cost 50c.  You can see Denmark very well it's not very far away.  Catch Ferry back to Helsingor at 11:30am, hitch for 2 hours before we get a small lift then pick up one straight away from an English fellow called Phillip and Danish Joachim, they take us to Joachim's flat for drinks which they pour in two's,* then we stay for dinner, very hospitable.  Back to Copenhagen Youth Hostel at 8:30pm.

I remember Philip asked if I could make a pudding, I said I could but he wanted a real English Pudding and I was not good at those... I know I struggled and made something which they liked but it wasn't much fun.
* I'm not sure what the drinks were because I wouldn't have had any but I remember David enjoying himself :-)

Part of the road we hitched back to Copenhagen.

The Youth Hostel in central Copenhagen.

Sweden - Helsingborg - 30.5.1970

2012-02-08T06:06:00.017+11:00

Notes:

Up at 9am caught buses to outside Copenhagen then hitch hiked to Helsingor, caught ferry to Helsingborg, Sweden.  Looked around a bit walked to Youth Hostel at Thalassa about 4 kilometers.  Super Youth Hostel, clean and new all in wood.  Had to walk right back to town to get dinner which cost 60c each and was only a small hamburger, Sweden is so expensive.  Walked back to Youth Hostel had hot shower and talked to two Canadian girls and a Finnish girl.  Slept very well.  Estimate we've walked at least 10 miles today, no wonder my feet ache.

Helsingor in Denmark.

Helsingborg in Sweden.

Thalassa Hostel.

Postcards sent by us to our Family in Australia - Little Mermaid, Copenhagen - May 1970.

2012-02-07T06:51:00.019+11:00

Halsingborg, Sweden 31.5.1970

To: The Rodds, Crescent Road, Newport 2106. NSW Australia.

Dear All,
We can't afford to buy a card or stamp here so I'll have to post it in Denmark. (Note, Sweden postage must have cost more than Danish!) We love Scandinavia but it's expensive. Sweden is worse than Denmark, we had a very small hamburger for dinner in the cheapest place tonight and it cost 60c (Aust) everything is at least 3 times as much than at home. Everyone speaks English and are all helpful. Today we hitched from Copenhagen to Sweden, not counting the 10 min ferry ride which cost 60c return, but we reckon we've walked 10 miles today to avoid paying 20c bus fares etc. The Youth Hostels are the best we've seen and everything so clean. Will write and fill you in on everything later when we can afford the postage. Love Pennie and David.

Copenhagen - Denmark - 29.5.1970

2012-02-06T06:56:00.042+11:00

From my hand written notes:

We arrived at Copenhagen Rail Station at 7am, caught bus #2 to the Youth Hostel Association. Left luggage there and had breakfast for 5 Krona each (not very good). Went to North of Town to see the Mermaid. Back to Centre, had lunch in a Store then to Copenhagen by Museum - not very interesting, then to the Tivoli, back to Youth Hostel, met some Australians, had revolting dinner for 6.50 Krona each. Hot showers and slept well.

I don't sound very impressed with Copenhagen do I, what a shame, maybe we were just tired and crabby.

Look at that fantastic Kastellet, it's now an Army Barracks but open to the public, I don't remember it at all even though we were just there... see top middle, slightly right... where the Little Mermaid sits.

The Tivoli Gardens are absolutely wonderful, they are free to enter and wander around but if you want to spend some money on rides or restaurants you can do that as well. They are open way into the evening and the lights were a real spectacular sight. We returned often to these Tivoli Gardens.

I can't remember any other Park or Gardens in any other country that are as beautiful or as fun as the Tivoli Gardens.

I guess we were woken at 2am (see above) as the train crossed water, on a ferry of some sort I suppose.

Denmark - the start of seven months of travelling through Northern Europe, the USSR, Japan and on to the United States of America - 28th May 1970

2012-02-05T06:01:00.038+11:00

We left Guildford at 10am for London and straight to Australian Travel for our tickets, then to the Bank of N.S.W. for some American $'s, we left Liverpool Station for Harwich at 4:15pm and departed Harwich on board the Danish ship called the 'England' at 6pm on Wednesday 27th of May 1970... so my notes say... the ship had beautiful decor of real wood and very comfortable chairs and feather covers on our beds (our first introduction and the start of our love affair with Duvets!) We had clean showers, good if expensive food of open sandwiches which I've noted were a 'work of art!' We slept well, had hot showers in the morning and I didn't get seasick... a great start to our next adventure.
After we'd had our luggage stolen in Milan earlier in the year we decided to take out Insurance at the cost of £1.11.6.

The next six weeks of travel are going to be tricky for me to document because although I have a few notes we have no photographs. We took many many photos but when we got to America we sent them away to be developed and they never came back, David's Uncle Keith tried for more than a year to find out what had happened to them but to no avail. We wonder if they were kept by the CIA, or the FBI or even the KGB because they were photos of East Germany, Poland and the USSR taken during the Cold War between the US and the USSR but maybe that's just fanciful thinking.

I did debate about continuing along with this Blog after we'd sent Tabitha Taxi back to Australia but if I don't try and document this part of the trip my children and my readers will have a big gap in our story so I'm going to do my best to remember our journey with the help from my notes and my best friends Wiki & Googlemaps.

Harwich today and below Esbjerg today from Googlemaps... not pretty photos are they :-)

Torvet in Esjberg below.

Still very low on cash and a long way to go on what we had... we had this brilliant plan of travelling by night and arriving in daylight so we could spend our daylight hours in the cities we visited and catch up on our sleep while travelling... hence a saving of accommodation fees! Without Tabitha to sleep in we needed to come up with some idea... all went well on our first night.

So we arrived in Esbjerg, Denmark at 12 midday on Thursday 28th of May and I will quote from my notes...
Lovely day to arrive, catch train to main Railway then lock luggage away and walk about town. Buy 2 beers @ $1.59 each, 2 tomatoes @ 80c, small loaf of bread @ $1.59, Sardines $1.10 for our lunch at Droob Supermarket, and eat it in park. Total cost $5.08 (This was expensive compared to some of the cheaper countries we'd been in.)

In the evening we walk down main street and buy Hot Dogs with crunchy onion from a street stand and two pastries from a machine for our dinner, everything closed so we sat at the Railway Station till 12:25am and caught train for Copenhagen, had to change trains at about 2am so we didn't get much sleep. Arrived 7am on the 29th May. (So only our second night of sleeping on this trip and we're already found our brilliant idea was causing us a bit of trouble)

Farewell to our dear England... We will return one day.

2012-02-04T07:50:00.005+11:00

During this period of time - 1968 to 1970, we were very comfortable calling England our second home, our home away from home, it sure felt like our home. As children growing up in Australia in the 40's, 50's and as teens in the early 60's almost everything we read, saw or heard about was British. Our favourite books were written by British Authors they were set in Britain and about England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland, our favourite TV shows and Movies were British, our White History was British, our Ancestors were English, even our food was of British origin... a hot Christmas Lunch on a hot Summers Day... that sort of thing. So when we arrived in England we felt very comfortable and at home. We knew a lot about Britain's history, we knew Australians who called England 'Home' when they'd been born and bred in Australia and never even been to the UK.

Living in England allowed my pride in being an Aussie to come forward, I'd never felt this pride with such intensity before so it was a new exciting experience. It would be easy to dismiss that feeling as being 'homesickness' but it wasn't that it was a pride in our beautiful country that had only 180 years of white settlement but had a wonderful standard of living, a wonderful work ethic, a wonderful scientific and sporting history, the Aussie soldier stood shoulder to shoulder with the British soldier in both World Wars and of course our beaches, our weather and our abundance of fresh food were truly wonderful.

Several English would dismiss us as being 'Colonials' and couldn't understand that we were proud of that fact, they were surprised when I told them how proud I was that one of my ancestors, from Keighley in Yorkshire, was a convict who arrived on the second fleet in 1789 and through his first son my family can claim First Fleet ancestry, some people thought I would hide this fact in shame, but I knew my ancestor and his free de-facto wife had done extremely well and became very successful after their arrival, amassing large plots of land and a large successful family. I was also able to tell them that my Dad's family arrived in Australia in 1820, as 'Landed Gentry', Rodd Island in Sydney Harbour is named after them, the family can be traced back to 1066 and to the Battle of Hastings and we'd been meeting distant relatives while we were in England. I told my Dad's family story after my Mum's, I so enjoyed the surprised looks when I told them my ancestor was a Convict. I had those 'Colonial' callers totally puzzled which amused me enormously because most of them could not trace their families so far back. I think this was an Australian thing till quite recently.

Aussies loved to travel, my Great Aunt traveled extensively during the 1950's sending myself and my siblings 100's of postcards from exotic places, I have most of those postcards here at home (I think they might make another Blog one day) several of our Aussie friends were doing what we'd done so we were amazed to meet some British who had never left their Village I was surprised by one lad we knew quite well in Surrey, he was the same age as us but he had never been as far away from his home town as London! He married an Aussie girl and his first trip away was to Perth, Australia where he's lived for more than 40 years now with trips home almost every year.

It was only 7 years before we returned to live in England for the second time, and that was for two years, 1977 to 1978, attitudes towards Aussies had changed we were rarely called 'Colonials', but we knew the English liked to place us and those who knew us as poor young travellers in the late 1960's could not work out how we'd come back with three little children aged 5, 3 and 6 months, bought a house and were doing it up while David started up a Washing Machine Repair business. One old acquaintance was so puzzled she said to me at a dinner party, 'What does David actually DO?' I was in top form that night and replied ... 'Nothing, he's an heir to an Australian Fortune.' That wasn't true of course but in Australia you could start up a business, work darn hard, you could save enough to buy a home and buy a couple of investment homes with the rents paying the mortgages, raise a family and return to our second home for a while. We returned with our three children with the intention of staying for about 6 months, renting a home and spending the time traveling to places we already knew or had missed the last time around, but as it turned out no one would rent us a home, the children were the problem apparently, the laws were such that if we didn't pay the rent the owner couldn't kick us out because we had three small children. So we cashed in our return tickets, we borrowed a little from a Solicitor friend, a little from our friend Elsie Waugh and went to the bank. The Bank Manager wasn't too sure about lending money to this Aussie family but five minutes after he rang our bank in Australia and found out about our home and investment homes he rang and said, 'How much do you want!' Very funny but how lucky were we. We bought a lovely home in Guildford Surrey, we did it up and lucky for us things were booming in the UK so by the time we were ready to sell and go home to Australia, we almost doubled our money, enough for us to return to Australia in comfort on the 'S.S. Oriana' as well as bring home a few brand new items such as a Lathe for David and a new Sewing Machine for me, we'd never felt so rich!

Bringing up and educating 4 children meant a 27 year gap before we returned to England for the third time, we stayed for 6 months in 2005/6, our oldest son had married a wonderful Yorkshire Lass and they were living in North London with their first child, we rented a home 5 minutes away and loved every minute of our time there. We found the reverse from our first visit in the late 1960's, we were never called 'Colonials' in fact several people asked us why we were living in England when we were Aussies and could live at home :-) The Post Mistress in Wood Green, North London and of Indian origin, was very surprised that an Aussie would actually choose to live in North London and kept asking me 'Why!' 'Do you like it here?' 'Do you really LIKE it here?' and so on. Britain was booming at the time but Sydney had held the Olympic Games just 5 years before and Australia seemed to be the place of fun, sunshine, bread and honey.

We will return to live in England again one day, we'd ideally like it to be when our oldest daughter (who married a lovely lad from Winchester) and her family decide to go and live in England for a spell, hopefully at the same time our oldest son's family return from Macao to live in London. That would be perfect, we may even persuade the other two children and their partners to join us for some of that time!

Guildford - The Surrey Advertiser - 26.5.1970

2012-02-03T07:51:00.001+11:00

London to Harwich - 27.5.1970

2012-02-02T08:03:00.001+11:00

Farewell at the Waugh's - Paul, Rupert, Elsie and Aunty Nellie (Nellie was Rupert's sister, she didn't have a home, she moved from relative to relative for one month at a time, we saw her often, it was Auntie Nellie who was the first Waugh to greet David after he arrived in England in late 1967, she actually lent him, a stranger to her, £20 so he could get to London to get some money out of the Bank of N.S.W., she was a lovely lady who was constantly darning socks, turning collars, mending clothes or knitting for each of the families she stayed with.) (David thought I should darn his socks and turn his collars... HUH! I soon put him right LOL)

Our last day in London.

Green Park, same spot and building in background today from Googlemaps, I think the Underground is getting a makeover.

Boarding the train to Harwich to catch the boat to Denmark.

Postcard - The Grand Union Canal - 5.1970

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000+11:00

This is something we really wanted to do, hire one of these old boats and navigate ourselves along some of the many beautiful canals in England, we couldn't afford it in the 1960's, but in 1977 with three little children we did! It was wonderful until Tomos aged 3 fell in the Thames near Windsor in a strong current, luckily we'd had him taught to swim in Australia but with winter clothes on it was a close call, 'I've lost my Wellies!' was all he sobbed when David fished him out. We continued on and he was much more careful. We did it again when my Uncle Tony and his family came to visit, along the Oxford Canal that time.

I believe you haven't really seen England at it's best until you've spent at least a week on one of these boats... working the locks... mooring somewhere peaceful at night... stopping off at old Pubs that are on the water's edge... Aaahhh, just like Jerome K Jerome's 'Three Men in a Boat', (without the rowing though) Wonderful stuff, how I'd love to do it again :-)

Letter - to David's Mother Mary - From Pennie - London - 23.5.1970

2012-01-31T07:47:00.001+11:00

                                                                                                                               c/o Bank of N.S.W.
                                                                                                                               9-15 Sackville Street.
                                                                                                                               London. U.K.
                                                                                                                               May 1970
Dear Mum-in-law,

     Well I've plucked up the courage and had it done, the photo is a very bad one, too dark but it gives you some idea of what the new Pennie looks like, that's my new red plastic mac we bought in Belgium for £4. Dave prefers me with short hair and it will be a lot easier to travel with in the next six months.

      Tabitha Taxi was taken down to Southampton yesterday ready for her big sea voyage, she doesn't seem to be worried about it at all, she should like Australia if it's not too hot when she arrives about the end of June, if my memory serves me right. That's winter back home of course, we'll be in Japan by then and it will be Summer.

     We leave next Wednesday for Denmark so we're pretty busy saying goodbye to all our friends every night is booked up till we go so I've got the job of writing all the letters, we haven't heard from Keith* for ages but he knows when we arrive, and it all depends on how long we can afford to stay in the States. We've got invites to stay in San Francisco with Louis and Shelia Daugherty and baby Eugene, we met them in Belgrade, they were doing the same thing as us only in a V.W. Combi Van, we went through Hungary and met them again in Austria, we hope they will get to the U.K. before we leave but if not we'll see them in the U.S.A. Also an invitation to stay with Ted and Penny Charlesworth in Vancouver, we met Ted and Penny in Dubrovnik while we were waiting for Trevor and Mary-Liz. Ted and Penny and two children (9 & 10) took one year off and have been right round the world, they should be in Australia by now, they were only going to Queensland so we couldn't give them our addresses.

     We didn't meet up with Trevor and Mary-Liz but had a letter not long ago from them from Dubrovnik, they'd arrived three days too late, by that time we were in Sarajevo so now we won't see them till they get back home in a few years or however long they intend to stay over.

     Mrs Waugh is looking after us very well but it is very difficult to be so tied down to someone as far as meals go when we have been our own bosses for so long, she shows us off to everyone, takes us here and there to meet someone who has a cousin who's sister-in-law knows someone who used to live in such and such a place in Australia and so it goes on. She is very kind and she says she will miss us when we go, and she will poor dear, what with Christine very happy in Perth and Peter about to go back to Australia any minute and no Grandchildren, (her main wish) to fuss over, she will be very quiet. **    Mr Waugh*** hasn't been very well and he looks awful but he's devoted every spare minute of his life to his shop which doesn't even belong to him and never will, you can't expect more.

     Glad you thought Mr Gallagher was a sweetie, so do I, he has the most marvelous soft Irish accent it would put anyone in a trance, parsnips or no parsnips.****

     This was just a short one before we get moving we will send the postcards and letters when we can afford them.

     Love to Dad, Andrew and Julia.   Pennie
P.S. Dave sends love and says my hair looks beaut.

* Keith is Mary's oldest brother, he married an American girl and they lived in Carmel, California. We intended to go home when we got to Tokyo but he wrote and told us he'd make it worth our while to come to the States to visit him, we were assuming that meant he would find us some work.

** Christine went back to England after a couple of years, before she became an Australian Citizen, she need an operation on her knees because of an accident she'd had during her teens. Her engagement broke up before they arrived in Australia. Peter only made one brief visit to Australia. Elsie wanted her children to live in Surrey and they weren't game to deny her. Elsie was well into her 80's before Peter gave her grandchildren.

*** Rupert Waugh died about a year after we left, he worked at 'Bernards', a bacon, sausage and cheese shop up the top of North Street, Guildford.

**** We stayed with the Gallagher's a couple of times in Warwickshire, she was an old school friend of Mary's and they were very welcoming. Mr was a Dr and was trying hypnotherapy. I was worried about putting on weight with all this stodgy English food, so he offered to hypnotize me. He needed to know what food I really didn't like and all I could think of was Grandma Rodd's horrible Parsnips that we had to eat. Needless to say his hypnotherapy didn't work, maybe because I deliberately hadn't eaten a parsnip for so many years I'd forgotten what they tasted like :-)

Windsor - Town - 26.5.1970

2012-01-30T06:47:00.003+11:00

I couldn't find this same spot on Googlemaps today.
P.S. But Crystal did! Crystal lives in England and found this London Taxi Blog of mine because she was searching the w.w.w. for anything relating to 'Wollogorang' the sheep station where David and I met (see on right hand side) Crystal also lived and worked at 'Wollogorang' in the early 60's, it's an amazing thing this Internetty thing isn't it! Thanks Crystal :-)

The reason I couldn't find it was probably because the old building on the left has been demolished and replaced by a modern one and the trees have grown of course. This old building is Burford House.

A couple of lads from Eton College and same spot from Googlemaps below.

On the Thames at Windsor.

Same bridge on Googlemaps as the photo above, I couldn't get to the same spot though.

I couldn't find this spot either....

P.S. Another spot Crystal found for me, she said she'd been to Windsor just recently and recognized the streets... The sign on this building now says Sir Christopher Wren's House... Thanks Crystal :-)

But I did find this old Butchers Shop above. As you can see it's no longer a Butchers but a nice looking Cafe instead.

In Eton College below.

Windsor - Castle - 26.5.1970

2012-01-29T06:25:00.000+11:00

Wonderful Windsor Castle.

A postcard of the main gates in 1970 and below, same gates from Googlemaps today.

Just look at those crowds piling in. When we visited this castle, for the second time in 1978 there were queues to enter, especially to see that wonderful Queen Mary Dolls House, then when we visited in winter 2005 the crowds weren't as heavy as this but the noticeable difference was the guards standing in certain positions around the Castle... holding automatic shotguns of some sort across their chests. Oh dear that is so sad as you can see there was hardly anyone there in 1970 below.

Looking over to Eton College.

Windsor - England - 26.5.1970

2012-01-28T06:10:00.000+11:00

A day trip to Windsor. This is Staines.

A protest march in Staines, I have no what they were protesting about and I can't find anything on Wiki either. That big word on the banner might say 'Student' so maybe it's students striking over something. I did find the below on Wiki so maybe they are striking over the Lino Factory closing.

Staines was the major producer of linoleum,  a type of floor covering, after the formation of the Linoleum  Manufacturing Company in 1864 by its inventor, Frederick Walton.  Linoleum became the main industry of the town and was a major employer  in the area up until the 1960s. In 1876 about 220 and in 1911 about 350  people worked in the plant. By 1957 it employed some 300 people and in  1956 the factory produced about 2675 m2 of linoleum each  week. The term 'Staines Lino' became a worldwide name but the factory  was closed around 1970 and is now the site of the Two Rivers shopping  centre completed circa 2000. A bronze statue of two lino workers in  Staines High Street commemorates the Staines Lino Factory. The  Spelthorne Museum in Staines has a display dedicated to the Linoleum  Manufacturing Company.

Cows in an English field this time :-) we've had photos of Cows in several countries so far.

Windsor Railway station.

Windsor Railway station has been totally modernized since 1970, above and below are Grabs I took form Google Maps.

Horsham - The Savages - 24.5.1970

2012-01-27T07:56:00.002+11:00

Farewell to my first work friend in England, still a friend living in the Phillipines... John Savage. Here he is here with his sister Anne and her first baby who would be turning 42 this year and of course his wonderful Mum.

Sadly John's lovely father dropped dead while gardening earlier this year, John's Mum lived to a ripe old age and I spoke to her at length when we visited in 2006.

Letter - to David's Mother Mary - London - 20.5.1970

2012-01-26T07:44:00.002+11:00

117 Farnham Road,

Guildford, Surrey.

20th May 1970

Dear Mum,

   Thanks a lot for your letter - very meaty and newsy, why to 5 Hall Dene Close though? We've left there long ago. From now on, all the time until July 12 when we arrive in the USA our address will be c/o Keith at P.O. Box 1556 Carmel (I suppose they have a house too?), please write to Bank of N.S.W. - they will forward all. We've been surprisingly, so busy back here in the U.K. - after getting Tabitha all back in shape after her European ordeals we've been to see some of our friends, to London to get our tickets for U.K. East Berlin and Japan - U.S.A. - Sydney: The Polish and USSR ones are not quite ready, and we can't have the Visas until our bookings are confirmed.* Went to Ford's factory at Dagenham on Tuesday, very exciting hive of planned bedlam. Took that ancient British institution, the coach excursion, with a group organized by Mrs. Waugh to Hever Castle in Kent yesterday. Ann Boleyn was born there and she met Henry VIII there, then William Waldorf Astor bought it filled it with Italian sculpture and some very fine portaits, Titian, Cranach, Gheeraerts etc. And quite a pleasant trip there, through countryside all green with Spring growth and the blossom.

     Glad you've met the Gallaghers** - they've been wonderful to us, are absolutely fascinating people to be with - they both do so much and talk about such interesting things - Pen is also very fond of Mr. - he has such a soothing accent, hasn't he.

     Sounds like you've been having a real ball lately - openings with the Queen, etc. - good going! Who or what is the lessee of Cooma Cottage*** - is somebody going to rent it, live there, keep it up, once restored, etc?

     I hope you get more postcards that you seem to have so far - we sent one from each country at least, two from some.

     We really had a super trip, I think the cards probably convey impressions we gained, but we certainly had a super time for 7 weeks on £100, all included, food, fuel etc., and we have ourselves a rather good copy of a Masterpiece in the Munich Art Gallery (from our dear old lady friend in in Budapest) it's called "Ruhendes Madchess" (Relaxing or serene, maiden) by Francois Boucher.

     Had a drink with Peter de Wit, ex Controls Company Works Manager (they've closed down in U.K. - I just left at the right time!) he's Dutch, and filled us in with background detail on lots of things we saw in Holland.

     We leave U.K. Wednesday week, May 27th, for the last time. So sad, but we're looking forward hugely to our trip.

     Guess what - I have a job for one week, to plug the drain on our finances all these weeks of holiday have created. I'm a coach driver, for a small family firm in Cranleigh a nearby village. So I'm leaving as I arrived, although on a slightly higher plane. Much love David

P.S. Yes please send Roo Belt to Carmel.

* We had to make a couple of trips to London to visit the USSR Embassy, we were trying to get our Visa's, they wouldn't give us a Visa until we had our Accommodation booked. So off we'd go to the Russian Intourist to book our Accommodation but they wouldn't book any until we had our Visa from the Embassy. This went on a couple of times then eventually one of they gave in (I can't remember which) our Accommodation was booked and we had our Visa's.

** Mrs G was one of Mary's school friends, they had been very good to us on our visits to Warwickshire and had now moved to Australia.

*** Cooma Cottage was the home of Hamilton Hume, the first Australian born Explorer. Mary bought his home in a derelict state and needed someone to live there to look after it while she negotiated with the National Trust about giving it to them to do up. They wouldn't take it on, so she replaced the roof for $200,000 then they accepted the Donation and finished doing it up. It was officially opened to the public in our bicentenary year, 1988.

Guildford - Tabitha Taxi sails to Australia - May 1970

2012-01-25T07:21:00.001+11:00

Farewell to our beloved Tabitha Taxi IV, she is sailing to Australia, on her own, David and I are continuing our travels and we won't see Tabitha for another seven months. You can see the trunk on her luggage rack it's packed solid with bits and pieces as is a second trunk inside.

Also... please note... I've cut my hair! Yikes! I've had long hair more than 10 years but the last 7 weeks without regular showers drove me crazy so off it came, all in one go! This is our Pommy Mum, (A title she wore proudly) Elsie Waugh saying good bye to Tabitha with me.

David drove Tabitha down to Southampton Docks for her last glimpse of England before boarding the 'S.S. Orcades' on her big trip Down Under.

Southampton Station waiting for the train back to Guildford.

Antwerpen to Dover - Belgium to England - 2.5.1970

2012-01-24T07:09:00.002+11:00

We have no photos of ours to show but I did Grab a few from Google. Above is our route from Antwerp. We have no recollection of Brussels, I know we were over Museums, Cathedrals, pretty countrysides, cows and everything else, we had come to the end of our money, we'd only had 8 showers in 7 weeks, we were tired, hungry and ready to be welcomed into the home of our Pommy Family back in Guildford. We were exhausted so it wasn't a good time to visit Brussels, we have no photos, no memories and no brochures so show. I do remember that after we left Antwerp we drove back into The Netherlands because Diesel was cheaper than in Belgium and we made it back to the UK on that last fill in Holland.

One of Today's photos from Google about to leave for Ramsgate, I notice that Ferry's no longer travel from Ostend to Dover as we did back in 1970, they only go to Ramsgate which is north of Dover.

I know we aren't British but even to Aussies those wonderful White Cliffs of Dover stir something in our hearts :-)

As we were waiting in line to get through Customs we noticed a West German car ahead of us with the Registration number plate FU * CK 123, see example below. The FU stood for the town of Furth, in Bavaria, the CK 123 were the registration numbers. We chuckled and wondered how long it was before someone in Britain pointed out what their car was telling people... we would have loved to follow along behind :-)

A ferry coming into Dover from the Cliffs above.

From Dover to Guildford and the home of our wonderful Pommy Family... the Waughs!

Antwerpen - Belgium - 30.4.1970

2012-01-23T06:46:00.000+11:00

A couple of brochures we kept with the Museums we visited marked inside.

Museum Mayer van den Bergh is one mans collection, I especially loved Pieter Bruegel the Elder's paintings, fascinating pictures with so much going on you can stand there for ages seeing new things in each one.

Ruben's House. I remember feeling very comfortable around the many many paintings of Peter Paul Ruben's well developed women :-)

Museum of Plantin-Moretus and Print Room. Some wonderful old classics in this Museum.

Museum Brouwershuis (Brewers House) I don't remember this one, beer was David's thing. This Museum is closed at the moment.

I notice in David's writing that the Museum's we visited were free, I guess they had to be free for us to afford to visit them but now I see you can pay 3 Euros for entry.

Antwerpen - Belgium - 30.4.1970

2012-01-22T06:26:00.000+11:00

A Google Grab of the Koninklijk Museum in Antwerpen.

We'd stopped taking photos by now, we probably ran out of both film and money so we have no photos of our three days in Belgium but we did keep a couple of brochures from the 5 Museums we visited.

The Koninklijk Museum had a some wonderful Flemish paintings as well as other European artists.

Google Map from Leiben in The Netherlands to Antwerpen in Belgium.

Postcards - Leiden, The Netherlands - 28.4.1970

2012-01-21T07:21:00.023+11:00

Leiden, Rapenburg . Universiteitsbiblio theek

Dr M. E. Griffiths, Deakin. A.C.T. 2600          28.4.1970

Hello Dad,

   I thought you'd be reminded of your visit years ago - no doubt the old town is much the same but all around the multi-storey flats are going up. We took a lovely drive today, from just out of Amsterdam to Zuyderzee down to Leiden via Alkmaar, Harlem and the tulip fields, just beginning to look themselves after a late winter. Tonight near Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels tomorrow.

     Love P. & D.

Same bridge, buildings and white handle on left, today from Googlemaps.

Keukenhof - The Netherlands 29.4.1070

2012-01-20T07:18:00.007+11:00

Tulip Time publicity and below Daffodil Garlands for sale beside the road near Keukenhof.

From Den Oeven to Leiden and heading for Belgium.

Zuiyderzee - The Netherlands - 29.4.1070

2012-01-19T07:51:00.066+11:00

From Wiki. Afsluitdijk (Enclosure Dam), running from Den Oever on Wieringen to the village of Zurich in Friesland. It was to be 32 km long and 90 meters wide, rising to 7.25 meters above sea-level, with an incline of 25% on each side.

This dam runs across the mouth of the Zuiyderzee and in this photo of our Taxi below us, we were standing at the top of the Monument dedicated to the builder Dr Cornelis Lely. Built in the 1920's.

Below from Google Maps today.

Our photo above was taken from the bridge across the dam wall, and a grab taken of that same bridge below from Google today.

A Grab from Google of the Dam from Den Oever to Zurich.

Google Map from Amsterdam to the dam over the Zuiyderzee.

Amsterdam - The Netherlands - 28.4.1970

2012-01-18T06:20:00.001+11:00

Alleyway, somewhere in Amsterdam.

Statue of Rembrant near his home and today from Google... nothing much has changed.

This windmill was on our list of places to visit but for some reason we don't have a photo.

Postcards - Holland in Bloementooi - 27.4.1970

2012-01-17T07:33:00.024+11:00

Hoorn, Holland - Monday 27th April 1970
Mrs M. E. Griffiths, Deakin. ACT

Happy day Mum,
     I'm sorry this is such a minimal greeting and not even on time - the date only hit me today, mostly we hardly know what day it is on the road. Holland is lovely, we spent yesterday and today in Amsterdan, drove out here this evening to a spot on the sea dyke north of Amsterdam. It is so true to type, canals and chain lift bridges (c.f. Van Gough's painting: we saw a huge collection of his in gallery today) Friesian cows, green green grass. Tomorrow we go way north to see a huge 30km long bridge/embankment thing across the mouth of a bay, then down to Leyden, where I remember Dad went, so we'll send him a card there.
     Thence Brussels, Bruges, Ostende and Dover on Saturday.

     Happy Birthday, Love Pen & Dave xx

Amsterdam - The Netherlands - 28.4.1970

2012-01-16T08:03:00.000+11:00

The Heineken Brewery... Much to our delight we discovered that Heineken had free tours and tastings with snacks, so we were off to the factory like a shot :-) it was the food for me and the beer for David that attracted us. I drove into where we thought we were supposed to go to park the Taxi but we ended up in some sort of packing shed. Angry packers approached us with wild gesticulations shouting in a loud Dutch!

I had no idea what they were saying but was trying to comply with their gestures when all of sudden one of them spotted the Kangaroo on the side and the AUS on the back then broke into perfect English and asked if we were Australian! Yes I replied and they all of a sudden turned into the nicest most helpful of men. One of them asked me if I knew his brother who had immigrated to Australia :-) (we got this sort of question often...) but when he said his brother lived in Mona Vale I was able to tell him that I came from the next suburb Newport, he'd heard of Newport Beach so we became the best of friends LOL They couldn't have been nicer after that and ushered us to the best parking spot and directed us to the entrance with smiles and laughs and plenty of English.

This wasn't the first time we'd received negative messages while in our London Taxi but it was the funniest, they were few and far between on the whole though.

Vondel Park in 1970 and today from Google today.

I can't believe I'm picking daffodils in this Park... I wouldn't dare to anywhere else I'm sure, so I must have seen others doing it , I wouldn't have been that brazen... would I?? Nah! it must have been okay, I knew there were fines in Australia for picking the wild flowers in the bush so I wouldn't have risked a fine I don't think.

David trying out the Gents al fresco... Gents were so lucky, I remember spending a lot of time finding a Loo for me in some of these big parks.

Postcards - Tulips Amsterdam.

2012-01-15T07:36:00.000+11:00

To The Rodd's - Crescent Road, Newport. NSW 2106.   Camp Site, Amsterdam, Holland.   26-4-70

Dear All,

     Germany was a lovely country but everyone we came across was so rude. We stayed two nights with Doug and Frankie Campbell (Americans we met in Venice who are School Teachers for the U.S. Army kids in Beyreuth, we were really very well treated, Frankie is a beaut cook and the highlight of our stay was the making of ice-cream in an ice cream machine, the flavour was Peppermint, Marshmallow, and Chocolate all in one - the other ingredients 6 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of thick cream, milk, flour, 1 cup of Creme De Menthe, mashmallows and chocolate, Can you imagine the taste - it was loverley. D & F. were a very nice couple and we hope we'll meet up again someday.

     Holland is lovely, all the daffodils are out and some tulips. Today we walked in the main part for a while, right in the centre of town there were the usual odd people one sees in all big cities but right in the middle surrounded by water were about 30 sheep....?

     Only one week left of our trip and quiet frankly we'll be glad to get back to civilization, our taste of good living with D&F has made us hunger for more. We plan to stay in Holland for a few days, it's so beautiful... Did you know it is a whole series of canals just like Venice but cars go along the streets here whereas in Venice you can only walk or catch a boat.

     We've had 8 showers in 7 weeks, lucky really!

   Love P & D.

Amsterdam - The Netherlands - 27.4.1970

2012-01-14T07:27:00.001+11:00

We found a beaut camping ground near the Olympic Stadium and spent three days exploring Amsterdam and the Museums Rujksmuseum, Stedelijk and the House of Rembrandt. The buildings and canals were so beautiful we really enjoyed our stay.

Similar Bridge below, I looked and looked on Google to find the same bridge but there are just too many.

Trams in Amsterdam and look at those Daffodils!

Pennie on a Tram below.

I searched and searched for this building on Google and eventually discovered it was the Amsterdam Railway Station... there were lots of works going on around it the day Google Street maps went there.

A couple of modern and much longer trams.

Cologne - West Germany to Nijmegen - The Netherlands - 26.4.1970

2012-01-13T06:53:00.002+11:00

West German Border at near Nijmegen in The Netherlands.

There's a little mystery here. Street Google stops right on this border, it's available in The Netherlands but not in West Germany. From the Google Map photo from the air, you can see the below but on the Street Google you see the photo above... I'm guessing the buildings in our photo taken in 1970... have been demolished and replaced by these???

Beautiful and very flat Holland. I know the photo below isn't the same spot as the one above, but it's close enough.

From Cologne to Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

Koblenz to Cologne - West Germany - 25.4.1070

2012-01-12T07:17:00.060+11:00

The Rhine at Koblenz.

A Castle in the distance and a train closer up, (surprise, surprise, must have been David taking the photo this time) en route north along the Rhine from Koblenz to Cologne.
David has written our fuel record on the back of this page, it says...
'... up until 2nd Speedo cable break (time to get back!)
Itinerary miles: 3,649
Miles to cable break: 3,760 Total 111.2 Gallons = 33.3 miles per Gallon'
(In metric measurements: 6,016.3 Kilometres = 505.96 litres = 11.89 Kms per Litres.)

We were heading out of West Germany as fast as we could, we didn't take many photographs unfortunately, only 11 in one week which is sad, we weren't comfortable at all and we do get tired touring all that time and in a postcard I see that we'd only managed to get 8 showers in 7 weeks, not much fun but it was Winter so I guess it wasn't as bad as it would have been in the heat of summer in Australia :-)

We've never been back to this part of, the now combined Germany, maybe we should it looks such a beautiful country.

Beyreuth to Koblenz to Cologne and heading to Amsterdam in the Netherlands

Bayreuth - West Germany - 24.4.1970

2012-01-11T07:38:00.016+11:00

We met up with Doug and Frankie in Bayreuth, (we'd met them in Venice) who were American Teachers working at the US Military Base in Bayreuth. Doug made us some ice cream using a hand turned ice cream maker and lots of ice and lots of salt. We'd never seen anything like this and their recipe of cream, creme de menthe, chocolate chips and marshmallows was something I've never forgotten and I've sort of copied over the years using an ordinary tub of vanilla ice cream, peppermint essence, chocolate chips and mini marshmallows :-) Delicious!

Kennedy - Allee Frankfurt A.M. (Wolfgang Zimmerman't Place)

Nuremberg to Beyreuth. Unfortunately Google Maps haven't done Street Scenes in all of Germany, none here in Beyreuth.

Nuremberg - West Germany - 20.4.1970

2012-01-10T11:02:00.000+11:00


Remnants of the 13-14th Century Town Walls in Nuremberg, with a Grab photo below from Google Maps, taken today. How wonderful to be able to get some street scenes from Google again - at last - since we left Italy a few weeks ago Google haven't Street Mapped Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, Hungary and only a little of Austria.

Berchtesgaden to Munich to Nuremberg.

Berchtesgaden, West Gemany - 20.4.1970

2012-01-09T07:19:00.023+11:00

Just over the border from Austria en route to Berchtesgaden. Almost the first minute we drove into Germany we were rudely abused on the Autobahn. Trucks tried to run us off the road, cars beeped rudely... it was a shock that's for sure.

Were they like this because we were driving a London Taxi and they thought us British? We had the AUS sticker on the back and the white Kangaroo on the side, maybe they didn't like Aussies.

Was it because we were too slow? Maybe the latter we thought but we were keeping up with the limit, not racing way over like they were.

We never met a friendly German the whole time we were here, not like in every other European country we'd been in where locals waved, willingly helped us, offered us advice and willingly gave us a smile. Anyway we tried to stay off the main roads but that was difficult.

I wonder what it's like now are the Germans kinder to their tourists I wonder?

Berchtesgaden, Hitlers Adlerei Eagles Nest in the nearby mountains.

Tyrolean Sunday best!

Above Berchtesgaden looking towards Reichenahll and Munich.

Camping spot, off the road from Berchtesgaden to Munich.

Salzburg, Austria to Berchtesgaden, West Germany.

Postcards - Salzburg, Austria - 18.4.1970

2012-01-08T07:57:00.002+11:00

Salzburg - Austria - 18.4.1970

2012-01-07T07:34:00.002+11:00

On the Autoban from Wien to Linz to Salzburg.

Near Linz.

Mozart's Birthplace.

Baroque Cathedral, 1613. Dom Platz. We here we both went to the Loo but David took forever and ever, I was getting quite nervous because he can take a long time in the Loo this was a bit too long. He came out grinning from ear to ear, the Attendant of the Gents Loo was playing the Zither, no such luck in the Ladies Loo though.

Taken from the top of the Fortress Festung Hohen-Salzburg, Salzburg Cathedral and the River Salzach.

Snow topped mountains to the left of the last photo.

The 'Berg' and tunnel.

Vienna to Salzburg.

Vienna - Austria - 15.4.1970

2012-01-06T06:39:00.010+11:00

We met up with Sheila and Louis by accident, they just drove into the Vienna City campsite an hour or two after us. David took this photo of us being highly amused by the chap off to the showers in his stripped robe.

A Double Decker bus in the middle of Vienna just for David.

It was fascinating watching a practice session at the Spanish Riding School, having lived on a Sheep Station in Australia where riding horses was a means of getting from point A to point B rounding up sheep as you went... to see these beautiful animals doing their routines ... was indeed different.

This photo got caught by the light but I had to put it in because of that lovely little Morris Minor Woody in the middle of the photo, I had one of these when we lived in England in the late 1970's and I loved her.

Budapest to Vienna - 14.4.1970

2012-01-05T07:49:00.032+11:00

So we hurried out of Hungary, so as not to get into trouble by overstaying our 48 hours, and into Austria but were held up and given the third degree at the Hungary - Austrian border.

David inspecting one of Siegfried Marcus (1831-1898) autos in the Techisches Museum, on Meiriahilfer Strasse. This is the Marcus Waggen built in 1888/9.

Below a better photo of this amazing vehicle.

Aaaahhh... more trams, this time On the Rings Poernring/Kartner ring.

Tabitha Taxi in Vienna, on left of this photo and below, the Underground Railway is under construction

David has written - O.K. Restaurant, 61 Kartnerstrasse. I wonder if it is still there? Google Maps won't let me go in and see for myself unfortunately, since we went into Yugoslavia we haven't been able to find the same places as our photos, there are other peoples photos on Google Maps but not the streets.

From Budapest to Vienna.

Postcards - Budapest, Hungary - 12.4.1970

2012-01-04T07:36:00.001+11:00

Budapest - Hungary - 12-14.4.1970

2012-01-03T07:34:00.000+11:00

Budapest was a surprise, after almost 2 weeks in Yugoslavia, which we loved, especially it's natural beauty but there was often the presence of Military and there were photos of Tito in every home, shop, or public building.

Budapest was so sophisticated in comparison, it was under Communist Rule but it was so much freer than we thought it would be, we had a fair bit paperwork to fill out at the border and were only given 48 hours but the whole atmosphere was one of happy people in a free country.

From Wiki-
From the 1960s to the late 1980s Hungary was often satirically referred to as 'the happiest barrack' within the Eastern Bloc, and much of the wartime damage to the city was finally repaired. Work on Erzebet Bridge, the last to be rebuilt, was finished in 1965. In the early 1970s, Budapest Metro's East West M2 Line was opened, followed by the M3 Line in 1982.

We met Margit in a cafe in Lenin Korut, her English was good, she was eager for a chat and we ended up spending most of the day with her as she took us to all sorts of interesting places in Budapest, she was absolutely delightful even taking us back to her home for a coffee. Below is her photo of us!

Nemzeti National Museum, The 'Exhibition' city where centuries of architectural styles sit together.

We bought this painting from Margit, the painting itself is only 10cm X 13cm and it's been sitting on our bedroom wall for 40 years or so and I don't think I've ever cleaned it. I took it down this morning to have a look inside and give it a good clean. Margit said she'd painted this, (a copy of a Francois Boucher Portrait of Marie-Louis O'Murphy (Nude on a Sofa), 1752 which is found in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.) on a piece of 'ivory'! Well we never believed that so we either didn't understand her or she got the words 'ivory' and 'plastic' mixed up or she actually said she'd painted it on 'ivory plastic'... anyway I took it apart today for the first time and it's painted on a piece of thick plastic!

I love Francoise Boucher's paintings and he certainly loved his voluptuous nudes! He painted lots and lots of them as well as some Portraits of Madame de Pompadour who was his illustrious patron.

The original is below, Margit didn't do a bad job did she, although the head and face are different. I cannot remember how much we paid for Margit's little painting but it wouldn't have been much and I've never regretted buying it for a minute.

Budapest - Hungary - 12-14.4.1970

2012-01-02T07:46:00.003+11:00

Looking towards Buda to The Castle across the River Danube.

From Wiki: (I have just donated $100 to Wiki seeing I use them for almost every post.)
The Széchenyi Chain Bridge designed by the Englishman William Tierney Clark in 1839 after Count Istvan Szechenyi's initiative in the same year, with construction supervisor Scottish engineer Adam Clark (no relation). It is a larger scale version of William Tierney Clark's earlier Marlow Bridge across the River Thames in Marlow, England. It was funded to a considerable extent by the Greek merchant Georgios Sinas who had considerable financial and land interests in the city and whose name is inscribed on the base of the south western foundation of the bridge on the Buda side.

On the River Danube looking towards Pest with The Castle behind us.

The Castle in Budapest, the river Danube is behind us. Hey! and guess what... there's another Tram!

Inside the Budapest Art Gallery.

To the River Danube from the Art Gallery.

Bullet holes in one of the back streets, left over from the 1956 Revolution.

Hungary - Palic, Serbia to Szeged, Hungary - 11.4.1970

2012-01-01T07:18:00.000+11:00

Going through the border from Yugoslavia to Hungary. Customs allowed us 48 hours in Hungary, it isn't on our Bank of NSW Itinerary so we must have decided to see Hungary instead of going to Vienna via Zagreb and Ljubljana., which is on our Itinerary. I'm glad we did, we both loved Hungary.

The Village of Szeged.

Cobbled streets and a tram for David.

Hungarian State Railways, Steam on the outskirts of Budapest.

Aquincum and below the leaflet I'm reading above!

Above and below - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Aquincum site, Budapest, location of he city within the Roman Empire.

The ancient city of Aquincum was situated on the North-Eastern borders of the Pannonia province within the Roman Empire. The ruins of the city can be found today in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. It is believed that Marcus Aurelius may have written at least part of his book Meditations at Aquincum.

Originally settled by the Eravisci, a Celtic tribe, Aquincum served as a military base, having been part of the Roman border protection system called 'limes'. . Around AD 41-54, a 500-strong cavalry unit arrived, and a Roman Legion of 6000 men was stationed here by AD 89. The city gradually grew around the fortress, and after Pannonia was reorganized by the Romans in AD 106, Aquincum became the capital city of Pannonia Inferior. The city had around 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants by the end of the 2nd century, and covered a significant part of the area today known as the Ovuda district within Budapest. Ruins from the old Roman settlement can be seen in other parts of Budapest as well, notably Contra-Aquincum and the Amphitheater.
People living in the settlement could enjoy the achievements of the Empire, like central heating in the houses, public baths, a Mirhreaum and palaces, as well as ampitheatres for gladiatorial combats and beast fights.
Many historic artifacts from the city now appear in the Aquincum Museum.

From Belgrade to Hungary.

Serbia - (Yugslovia) - Belgrade - 8-9.4.1970

2011-12-31T06:59:00.064+11:00

Beside the Danube River near Belgrade.

Yugoslav War Museum.

'Herald of Victory' in Kalmegdan at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava Rivers.

From Wiki- The statue was originally supposed to be placed on the Terazije Square, but ended up at Belgrade Fortress after people complained about it's nudity.
The statue is holding a falcon in one hand and is on watch for the new threats on the horizon, in the other hand a sword of war ready to encounter these threats. The statue is looking across the confluence of the Sava and the Danube and over the vast Pannonian Plain towards the very distant Fruska Gora Mountain and the Austro Hungarian Empire. This Statue is probably the most powerful and popular visual symbol of Belgrade.

Markets near the Danube.

A wonderfully entertaining and friendly Policeman doing traffic duty, we got to know him and he us quite well. He always put on a special performance as we passed by in our London Taxi. See the passersby watching him then us! Wonderful memories.

We met Sheila and Louis Daugherty in this park just outside Belgrade, they had baby Eugene and were seeing Europe in their Combi, parked behind us. We visited Sheila and Louis in California later in 1970, we also stayed with Louis' parents in Salt Lake City that same year.

Serbia - (Yugslovia) - Belgrade - April 1970

2011-12-30T07:10:00.001+11:00

Camped beside the Beograd Road, near Vasencia, see the man on the donkey.

Stuck in mud in a cornfield just out of Belgrade.

In Belgrade, Bulevar Revolucije.

A Royal Tiger Bus in Belgrade. I used to catch buses with a tiger badge just like this one, on my way to school in Willoughby, Sydney Australia in the late 1950's.

Sarajevo in Bosnia Herzegovina to Belgrade, Serbia.

Bosnia Herzegovina (Yugoslavia) - Sarajevo - April 1970

2011-12-29T07:25:00.005+11:00

Driving through the hills from Dubrovnik to Sarajevo was very spectacular indeed, dry and arid in some places, very wooded in others. As we drove through very small villages children recognized the kangaroo on the side of the Taxi would sing, Skippy... Skippy... Skippy the bush kangaroo! They couldn't speak English but they could sing the signature tune of the 1967 - 1968 Australian TV show, very sweet.

We passed a few of these restaurants in the middle of nowhere, there weren't a lot of them and we always passed them just after we'd eaten a meal, which frustrated us enormously because the smell of the whole lamb roasting on a spit was very enticing. These restaurants were always situated on the high side of the road and beside a running stream, the Lamb was rotated by the running water and... across the road was the loo, also situated above the running stream, wonderful way to flush it but I wouldn't like the be the people down stream!!

Entering Sarajevo and a treat for David, a PCC Tram!

The Town Hall, which the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria had just left before being shot and killed, along with his wife Sophie, on June 28th 1914. It was this and a chain of other events that started World War 1.

Pennie standing outside the Gavrilo Princip Museum, in his footprints in fact! We couldn't believe this museum was set up for the man who was a killer and who, history declares, started the First World War.

From Wiki: The Gavrilo Princip museum has been turned into a museum dedicated to Archduke Ferdinand and the Habsburg monarchy. Prior to the 1990s the site on the pavement on which Princip stood to fire the fatal shots was marked by embossed footprints. These were removed as a consequence of the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and the perception of Princip as having been a Serb nationalist. Later, a simple wooden memorial was placed near the site of the assassination with the words "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in Bosnian, Serbian and English. There is a plaque in front of the museum at the spot where Gavrilo Princip stood when he fired the shots.

A London RTW Double Decker Bus used in Sarajevo for overhead line maintenance.

From Dubrovnik to Sarajevo. Google Maps won't let me Google along the roads, I guess they just haven't been there done that!

P.S. I received the below in a comment which I thought was interesting and helpful explaining about Gavrilo Princip.

Zlatan Kadragić <http://www.blogger.com/profile/14414712184569814512> has left a new comment on your post "Bosnia Herzegovina (Yugoslavia) - Sarajevo - April... <http://europebylondontaxi.blogspot.com/2011/12/bosnia-herzegovina-yugoslavia-sarajevo.html> ":

Story about Gavrilo Princip is much more complex and needs deep knowledge of history. Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed by Austro-hungary and archduke has been visiting military exercises. Organization called Young Bosnia consisted from Serbs, Croats and Muslims organized assassination. Sophia was not target, just collateral damage. And that didn't started 1. world war, that was just good excuse for Austro-hungary and Germany to start war by accusing Serbia for assassination and forcing Serbia to accept unacceptable ultimatum and bombing Belgrade capitol of Serbia. Gavrilo Princip was underaged so Austro-hungary could not sent him to death penalty but other members of Young Bosnia were executed. Gavrilo was held in harsh conditions so he died after 3 years. Gavrilo's relative was hero in 2nd world war.

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Postcards - Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. - 3.4.1970

2011-11-26T06:36:00.022+11:00

Dubrovnik. 3rd April 1970

To. Mrs M E Griffiths, Deakin. A.C.T. 2600

Dear Mum,

Doing very well so far, been to Paris, Lausanne, Montreux, St Bernard Tunnel to Italy, back into Switzerland to Lugano, around the lakes to Como and Milan. Cecile and Jimmy, took us out for a fabulous Italian meal. Onto Venice, supurb, had masses of Italian food, wine at 300L (3/6) a litre. Been to Trieste, Rijeka, Split, now here in Dubrovik.

Weather so - so, pretty wet in Switzerland, (now we are at the P.O. writing) Hoped to meet Trevor J. and Mary-Liz here on their way from Greece, but Poste Restante is closed so we don't know where they are.

Yugoslavia okay, not many police etc, less than in Spain, fuel 3/- a gallon, cheap wine, fruit, etc. Photos of Tito in EVERY shop. Fair shops, etc. Much love D.

Croatia (Yugoslavia) - Dubrovnik- April 1970

2011-11-25T06:55:00.017+11:00

We loved this town, we spent days just walking around these alleyways, the waterfront, the walls and camped in the bush at night.

One of the alleyways from Google below.

A camera man filming?? We never found out, he just seemed to wander about with the camera under his arm.

Same spot from Google below.

We eventually had to give up on hoping to meet with Trevor and Mary-Liz, leaving Dubrovnik and heading for Sarajevo.

Postcards - Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia - 3.4.1970

2011-11-24T06:01:00.001+11:00

Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. 3rd April 1970

To: The Rodds, Newport. 2106 N.S.W. Australia.

Dear All,

We have been pleasantly surprised by Yugoslavia. The coast is almost as good as our own but the beaches have no sand. When we first arrived the Army was everywhere but haven't seen a soul since.

The peasants are very friendly and harmless so far. Things seem about as cheap as they are in the U.K. Photos of Tito in every shop but less police than in Spain. Raining heavily now but it had been sunny for a bit. You can see by the card what a spectacular place it looks, no cars go inside the walls. Have met lots of Aussies and Americans, not here but in Italy and France.

Will write a long letter soon, love to Phelans, Cobcrofts and Mama. Have spent $Aus5. per day so far so pretty good.

Love P & D.

Letter - David's Mother - Dubrovnik - 4.4.1970

2011-11-23T06:52:00.003+11:00

Dear Mum, Dad, Andrew and Julia,                                                              Written by Pennie.

      I'm sitting in the glorious sunshine on a rough dirt track overlooking the beautiful crystal clear Adriatic Sea, Dave is putting some plastic padding on the muffler and I've just done some washing, people walk by now and then and by their looks they give us, I'm sure they think we're mad.

     Well I'll start at the beginning - We left Dover early on March 16th by Hovercraft, it was terrific the way it set off on the land and just skimmed over the channel to France in just 35 minutes instead of about 2 1/2 hours by Ferry, I still threw up a couple of times though, unfortunately.

     We drove on the wrong (right) side of the road again and headed for Paris arriving in the evening rush hour and had to go right through from North to South, we made it after taking several wrong turns and trying to look at everything, Dave at the Trams me at the Shops. We stayed at the Youth Hostel the whole time and had bed and breakfast for $A1.20 each. Breakfast was a real experience with plenty of French Bread, Butter, Jam and big breakfast bowls full of coffee or chocolate, but it wasn't hard to get used to.

     First day we visited Notre Dame which is a really simple but beautiful Cathedral, walked along the River Seine which is so clean it hardly seems possible in such a dusty place as Paris. Caught an old bus to the Eiffel Tower but didn't go up because it costs $A1.50 each. We really did a lot in Paris for very little but if you wanted to you could spend a bomb on very little. Next the Arc de Triomphe and a slow wander down the Avenue Champs Elysee's past all the super night clubs and dress shops and car shops. We ate crepes from little old ladies making them on the sidewalk and had a couple of drinks in the real sidewalk cafe, coke costs 20c for a small bottle and wine costs 25c a litre, so I've discovered I like wine at last. (I'm surprised I wrote this my preference for wine didn't last long, it's the wine's fault, it doesn't like me!)

      Next day was spent at the Louvre which is really too big to see in one day but we did try. The only things that really took our fancy were the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo and the State Apartments. Next day we went to Montmartre and visited the fantastic Church on top of the hill (you'll see all these things in our photos) caught the funicular railway to the bottom and went back to the Louvre and saw the French Impressionists, the lovely Renior's, Degas' and Surat's, this was our favourite place, we spent ages there just staring at everything.

     Drove to Versailles to the Palace and Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon these were really spectacular, they really knew how to live in those days. That evening we headed south and slept two nights by the road in France then into Switzerland. The brilliant sunshine and several feet of snow were a real treat after miles and miles of dusty France. The first impression one gets is how clean and neat everything is, the people are friendly and love Tabitha Taxi. We stayed at Montreux in a closed camping area for free which was right on Lake Geneva and the view - still lake, rugged mountains going straight up and tops covered in snow. Beautiful.   No sooner than we'd washed Tabitha it started to rain. Everything looks wealthy, we were told the unemployment figure is 20 so there is no poverty. Had a great filling meal with terrific cooking and service for $A2 each. Soup as much as we wanted, 2 bowls even and meat, Dave had pork with a delicious sauce and I had veal and beautiful spinach and piles of thin french fries and a pudding, bread and two wines - not bad.

     We caught a few trains because there was nothing else to do because of the rain and drove into Italy through the Grand St Bernard Tunnel, the change into Italy is obvious with roads bad, dirty and untidy, everyone throws their rubbish into the lovely rivers and waterfalls and spoils them. Next day we drove along the base of the mountains and back into Switzerland at Lugano and stay at the Best Youth Hostel we've seen yet, swimming pool the lot and spotlessly clean. We have a meal there for 60c which consisted of soup one rather large white sausage, piles of salad and rice and big breakfast bowls of tea, it was delicious but haven't a clue what the sausage was. While there we went to Swiss Miniature, all the old and famous buildings in Switzerland in miniature, you just walk all around them and watch the cars, trains and boats go around, it was cute but poured with rain the whole time. Back to Italy along the lovely lake Como and into Milan, showered at the Youth Hostel and went to see your friends the Jamison's, Cecile looks very well much better than she did last year and full of beans, they seemed pleased to see us and we all chatted non stop. Elizabeth arrived from England the day before and the next day they were all off to Sardinia for Easter - we really had a slap up meal at a lovely restaurant, you didn't order anything, trolleys laden with food were bought to the table and you helped yourself, 6 courses we had of real Italian food and gallons of wine and bread. Stayed a the hostel that night and had our suitcase stolen, it was our own fault it was strapped onto the luggage rack not locked in the car as it should have been. All our clothes went, 320 cigarettes (David was a smoker in those days) and all our important documents for the Taxi and about shipping the Taxi home. We had one change of clothes in the Hostel luckily but they are good ones and too warm for down here now. The really annoying part is we've thrown everything out that didn't fit in the trunks and that now leaves us no clothes at all except a couple of good things we had no intention of taking to Russia or the U.S.A. I'm going to be busy sewing when I get back to the UK for three weeks. The Police and the Australian Consul is looking into it for us but we haven't much hope of recovery - we are double sure now after the loss. The drive from Milan to Venice was a bit dull, we camped the night near a cemetery and awoke late the next morning in the middle of a funeral and boy oh boy, what a funeral, everybody was in it.

What a beautiful place Venice is, so like all the paintings you see, all the canals were quite clean for Italy and St Marks, beautiful mosaics in gold. Hoards of people there because of Easter and the souvenir sellers pestering everyone and the Gondolas charge $A5 for a short trip so we dipped out again. We spent three days in Venice just walking and looking. Everything was closed because of Easter but we found a great Pizzeria with a little old lady making Pizzas in front of you and they were really delicious.

From Venice straight to Yugoslavia. At the border there is a lot of soldiers but as we got further south we saw none, the country is so rugged it seems impossible to do anything with but every square patch of flat earth has lettuce growing in it, the Peasants are charming, we wave to them and they stop what they're doing and wave and wave. Split then Dubrovnik. The coastline is something out of this world, the water is so clear and clean, the small beaches so cute. The countryside is very clean and the people are willing to help. Dubrovnik is terrific completely walled and is in very good condition, today for 3 dinars (20c) each we will walk along the top of the walls. Last night for dinner I cooked some sort of fish and squid it was delicious even if I do say so myself. I think David agrees.

     We had our Yugoslav meal yesterday, a national dish - soup then grilled pork placed on top of rice and mixed vegetables, doesn't sound very exciting but it was good. We are hoping to meet Trevor and Mary Liz today at the Youth Hostel which is closed so we will just wait around and hope.   Dave says if I don't let him say something you'll think he's forgotten you, so over to him.            Love Pennie

Well not much left to say, except we are having pretty good weather as a rule, we expected to be swimming in the Adriatic, but there's quite a chill in the air despite the bright sunshine. The case lost in Milan was a bit of a shock, but a great nuisance, as Pen lost so many clothes, and me, the car documents which are replaceable I hope before we ship her off on May 26th. Otherwise we can feel lucky it wasn't the whole car taken, or damaged in some way. We are seeing all sorts of interesting buildings, museums, shops, trying restaurants and wines all over the place and of course seeing mind boggling amounts of fabulous scenery and talking to quite a lot of people, both locals and other travellers like ourselves. There are dozens of VW Kombi campers around, from all over Europe, but mostly U.S.A. and Canada, a lot of Aussies, in Bedford Dormobiles mainly.    We've just been talking to a Canadian couple, (This is where we met Ted and Penny from Vancouver, we still keep in touch and have managed to see them a couple of times over all these years.) as we sat waiting hoping to meet Trevor and Mary Liz, this couple have two children, about 9 or 10 years and a VW and come from Vancouver. They've been on the road about 7 months, all over Europe also into Asia and Africa, they gave us their address in Vancouver to come and stay a while if we get there from Carmel. We also met a US couple in Venice who are living in Germany teaching US Air Force kids, in Beyreuth, (This was Doug and Frankie) who've asked us to stay a while if we get there a night there on our way through Germany. It's wonderful sort of international friendship you find doing this sort of travelling, there is so much we all have in common to talk about, so much to lean about other countries by talking to each other.

We're beginning to think as the day wears on, that Trevor and Mary Liz aren't going to make it here - but we haven't had any message by post or though the Hostel - it's a bit depressing. Mail is coming through well, the Bank is super efficient with it (although Trevor didn't get my Kangaroo skin belt, I think it's gone astray as I suspect the occasional letter from us and to us hence the occasional times when we haven't known what the other is on about) and the bank will carry on even after we've left UK, so carry on with it as the standard address until we get home.

We've just, about to compose another epistle to Dudu, we've sent the odd P.C. en route, but haven't written for ages, as we haven't to you. Good on Cooma Cottage - hope it's all smooth progress , if involved and we really look forward to seeing what cooks when we get home. Interesting about Clive Lucas - I've met him several times and he's a really nice chap. Elizabeth Jamieson is a very poised little lady, going to be quite pretty I think - I always wonder what my little sister is gong to be when I see her again after 3 years!

No sign of Trevor yet, so we'll go off and park somewhere for the night cook up our canned beef, spuds, local bread and cheese, etc. and wash it all down with rough red wine. (4 dinars a litre here: a dinar is 7c.)

Taking masses of photos, been through 5 reels so far in three weeks of 36 per reel! Quite a developing bill if I don't start discriminating a bit.

Well that's about all, write again soon, we'll get it okay, yours of March 22 reached us April 3, which isn't bad.

Much love Dave.

Croatia (Yugoslavia) - Dubrovnik- April 1970

2011-11-22T06:34:00.001+11:00

This photo was taken out the window as we drove towards Dubrovnik.

Lunch stop beside the Neretva River between Split and Dubrovnik.

The Adriatic Coastline.

We arrived in Dubrovnik on the exact date that we had planned to meet up with our friends Trevor and Mary-Liz who were travelling from Australia. The plan was to meet at the Dubrovnik Youth Hostel, spend a couple of days here and travel back to England together.

The Youth Hostel was closed, one because it was Winter and two because they were doing renovations but we left a note and camped nearby.

We waited one day for them, we waited two days for them, we waited three days for Trevor and Mary-Liz to turn up or send a message but on the fourth day we had to move on. When we arrived back in England we received a letter from them saying they thought Dubrovnik was the name of a Youth Hostel in Greece!!!!! Trevor and Mary-Liz did get to Dubrovnik but days after we'd left but they got our message so they knew we'd made it on time.

I might add the waiting was not painful, we loved Dubrovnik, the food was good, the people were lovely but there was no where for us to shower! so driving up some quite road, heating up some water, stripping off and tipping the water over us was the only way we managed to keep clean.

Dubrovnik a walled city until 1808

At the Gates, this bus was packed solid with passengers when it arrived and as soon as it disgorged it was quickly packed once again.

Almost the same spot below from Google.

This chap was wearing leather pants and a skull cap, he's outside a masonry workshop.

From Split to Dubrovnik on Google Maps.

Croatia (Yugoslavia) - Split - April 1970

2011-11-21T06:02:00.001+11:00

Doesn't this look idyllic! This is where we pulled off the road to sleep our first night in Yugoslavia, right in the middle of these Olive Trees. Lovely and peaceful it was too. Till the next morning!

So we'd woken up, got ourselves dressed and I ducked below the taxi to pee. There I was, pants down and in a squat position when I heard this man shouting at me, it wasn't just a man it was a soldier pointing a rifle in my direction... YIKES! Of course I had no idea what he was shouting but I got the message and quickly pulled up my pants and hurried back to the taxi where David was and saw another soldier sitting in a jeep.

We indicated that we were heading south and off they went. Phew! When I asked David why he hadn't stopped him, he just said... 'He had a gun!' Mmmmm....

Lets get away from that Olive Grove quick smart! Heading for Split.

I'm not having much luck finding these same places on Google Maps, they haven't taken their camera in to these old Yugoslavian countries so no luck.

Lots of farming going on in these hills.

Google Maps from Rijeka to Split.

Slovenia (Yugoslavia) - Rijeka - April 1970

2011-11-20T06:05:00.000+11:00

After Venice we camped the night beside the road just outside Trieste in Italy and were woken very early with all these fuel tankers rolling by. Up and ready and into what was called, Yugoslavia.

I've been having fun on Google Maps finding which countries we actually visited in Yugoslavia, firstly - Slovenia!

Drydock at Rijeka - David has written - An Austro-Hungarian seaport until 1918, then Italian, then Yugoslavia after WW11.

Below is a photo I found on Google.

The Adriatic Sea at Rijeka.

Driving through a Dalmatian Village.

On the Adriatic coast.

From Google Maps from Trieste in Italy to Rijeka in Yugoslavia.

Postcards - Trieste, Italy - 1.4.1970.

2011-11-19T06:09:00.001+11:00

Trieste, 1st April - Written by David.

To: Mrs D C Evans, Killara. NSW 2071 Australia.

Dear Dudu,

So far we've had a fabulous trip, in Milan Cecile and A.B. took us out for a great Italian meal in the best of style, since when we have moved on to Venice where the weather was super, where despite fantastic Easter tourist crowds we were able to park and camp for 150 lire (2/-) per day, and buy wine at 3/- per litre and see the most lively and fascinating city I've yet to visit, Paris included.

We went all over Venice on ferries, walked miles, saw the famous glass-blowing, and met up with a young U.S. couple living in Germany, who've invited us to stay with them on our way through later on. Spending $US.6 per day, all included and H.A.L.T.

love Pennie and David.

Italy - Venice #4 - April 1970

2011-11-18T06:24:00.040+11:00

Gondolas and Motoscafos and Vaporettos and Ferrys... boats, boats, boats.

David has written under this photo - 'Bored, exploited Gondola - riders.' They certainly look it don't they and it wasn't the best way to see Venice! Walking and walking and exploring through the alleyways and over the bridges... getting lost was so much fun and you really got the feel of the people who actually live in Venice!

See the Guard there he's watching David as we boarded the Motoscafo, David was trying to avoid paying the fare! He caught him! David doesn't look like he cares much though does he!

The Rialto Bridge from the other side from one of my other posts.

Time to leave Venice, which has to be one of our very favourite cities... heading towards Yugoslavia around the very north of the Mediterranean Sea.

Italy - Venice #3 - April 1970

2011-11-17T06:57:00.006+11:00

This was our best find in Venice... a Pizza Shop! The shop was just a hole in the wall down several narrow alley ways and it was the very first Pizza we'd ever eaten! Pizza wasn't big in Australia or England for that matter, not as it is now so this wonderful smelling, wonderfully tasty treat was a revelation! They even threw the dough up in the air :-)

David has written beside this photo - 'Pizza Margherita with the little old lady near Ponte S. Gregorio.' DAVID she looks younger than I do now! LOL

We tried to find this Pizza shop again and again but all the alley ways, see below, looked the same...we were lucky on our third and last day in Venice! Hurray!

Oh dear... why would I need this hat?? I can't remember buying it but that's something in my hands I wonder what it was!

Also sleeping in the Isola Car Park were these two Americans, Doug and Frankie who were teachers in the American Military Base in Germany, we called in to see them on our way back to the UK and kept in touch for a few years. They had their second daughter on the same date and we had Tomos.

On the Island of Murano watching the Glass blowing, I picked up a few mistakes that they were giving away free and we used them as swizzle sticks for years... I wonder if I still have them? Nah, can't find them.

Vetreria Murano Arte Glass Factory.

Italy - Venice #2 - April 1970

2011-11-16T06:06:00.069+11:00

We arrived in Venice at Easter time so there were crowds and crowds of people buzzing around especially for the event, the atmosphere was terrific!

Piazza San Marco, I think I'm enjoying one of those wonderful Italian Gelato's in this photo, actually I wouldn't think about enjoying it I know it was delicious, I'm just not sure if that is an almost empty cone in my hand.

David in front of the St Marco Basilica and below from Wiki. What a lot we miss with our Black and White photos eh!

Omigosh! Look at all those pidgeons!

Torre dell 'Orologio Clock Tower with a colour shot from Google.

Gold mosaic ceiling inside the Basilica Saint Marco, look at the colour below from Google.

Galleria dell'Academia, these paintings are Rubens and Titian.

How wonderful is this... sunshine, outdoor restaurant and a Quartet to entertain... as if there isn't enough beauty to entertain around us in this beautiful city.

Italy - Venice, Beautiful Venice! - April 1970

2011-11-15T06:19:00.039+11:00

Crossing the Causeway to Isola Nuova, the Car Park in Venice, where we slept for 3 nights inside Tabitha Taxi.

Below from Google.

Isola Nuova, piers at the Car Park.

Grand Canal at Piazzale Roma.

Vaporetto turning off the Grand Canal.

David has captioned this photo - Wealthy affluent tourists doing their thing. I think he must have been a bit taken aback at the cost of a ride on one of these Gondolas, the cost is about $80 now days.

Rialto Bridge, beautiful isn't it! and below from Google.

Venice is such a beautiful place, the colours (which you can't see in our black and white photos unfortunately) the laneways which are easy to get lost in, the people and of course the food! Wonderful place and it is so sad that it now floods at high tide. They fixed the Leaning Tower of Pisa so lets hope, one day that they can stop Venice from being flooded.

Palazzo ca D'oro.

Mouth of the Grand Canal, looking to the Island of St George - San Giorgio (beyond PuntaDogana, center)

Venice from Google and below closer up.

Google Map, from Verona to Venice.

Italy - Caravaggio to Verona - March 1970

2011-11-14T06:18:00.025+11:00

Lake Garda.

Verona, I think this photo of was taken because of the gent in the foreground, fishing in a suit! Fabulous boat as well!

Castelvecchio Bridge.

Ponte Pietra.

Ponte Vittoria from Castelvecchio Bridge.

Ponte Vittoria.

Google Map from Caravaggio to Verona.

Italy - Milan to Caravaggio - March 1970

2011-11-13T05:46:00.002+11:00

Just outside Milan, driving beside the train line in Milan, driving really close to the train line.
Actually I wonder if this is a Tram? I searched but still can't decide! Below is a modern train from Google.

The gardens of the Museum of Modern Art on a cold winters day and below from Google Maps in what looks like summer.

We spent most of our time in Milan at the Police Station, but firstly we visited and were taken out to dinner by friends of David's mothers, the Jamisons, here is an extract from a letter I wrote to David's mother.

Back to Italy along the lovely lake Como and into Milan, showered at the  Youth Hostel and went to the Jamisons, Cecile looks very well much  better than she did last year and full of beans, they seemed pleased to  see us and we all chatted non stop.  Elizabeth arrived from England the  day before and the next day they were all off to Sardinia for Easter -  we really had a slap up meal at a lovely restaurant, you didn't order  anything, trolleys laden with food were bought to the table and you  helped yourself, 6 courses we had of real Italian food and gallons of  wine and bread.  Stayed at the hostel that night and had our suitcase  stolen, it was our own fault it was strapped onto the luggage rack not  locked in the car as it should have been.  All our clothes went, 320  cigarettes and all our important documents for the Taxi and about  shipping the Taxi home.  We had one change of clothes in the Hostel  luckily but they are good ones and too warm for down here now.  The  really annoying part is we've thrown everything out that didn't fit in  the trunks so that now leaves us no clothes at all except a couple of  good things we had no intention of taking to Russia or the U.S.A.  I'm  going to be busy sewing when I get back to the UK for three weeks.  The  Australian Consul is looking into it for us but we haven't much hope of  recovery

This is a the waterwheel that keeps a Sawmill working but I can't find it on Google, maybe it's gone.

Cooking dinner just outside Caravaggio and behind the monument to Giovanni Ancillotto a famous Italian Aviator, this is where he died in a road accident in 1924.

A photo from Google Maps and below a couple of photos I found on Google.

From Lake Como to Milan to Caravaggio. Next stop Verona!