Tuesday, 25 April 1978

Holiday in Rome for the ending of the Second World War. Must be a type of Remembrance Day. P.M. to lay a wreath on the tomb of the unknown warrior.

Arch of Constantine, Rome

Morning sightseeing to the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican Museums – long gallery of exhibits of maps, paintings, tapestries that are hung in the Sistine Chapel, ceilings all fresco.

Sistine Chapel fully painted by Michelangelo. Ceiling has the story of creation. One fresco near the top tells of the story of Jesus. On the opposite side the story of Moses. Need a pair of field-glasses and a book to get the meaning out of each picture.

The end wall tells of the Creation – done by Michelangelo in his later life. Took 8-12? years. Some later painter covered the nude bodies with a veil like effect.

St Peter’s Basilica is immense, very bright and spacious inside. ‘La Pieta‘ now enclosed by large glass screen.

Thousands in the cathedral as a mass was being celebrated. Rich colours in the High Altar as the priests conducted the service. Beautiful choral singing. Solo girls. One sang ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ in Italian. Deep diapason notes in the concluding accompaniment to each verse. To the top of the dome over 400 feet designed by Michelangelo.

St Peters Square, Rome

Vatican City – A Swiss Guard

St Peters Square

Afternoon tour to EUR – the new section of Rome and the Catacombs.

New apartment blocks, office blocks, artificial lake, churches, stadium and park areas. Clean. Different impression altogether.

Catacombs where Christians buried their dead. Five levels, visited 2nd level. Many tunnels and galleries 10 to 14 feet high. Built in volcanic rock, soft and stable. 140,000 in this one.

Went to a church to see the statue of Moses by Michelangelo.

Monday, 24 April 1978

Fine/hazy

By autostrade through very interesting country – irrigated, rice, fruit trees pruned so branches run in a straight line. Very fast road. Some difficulty finding hotel. Very nice hotel.

Lunch in Rome. Afternoon sightseeing around the old city. Stopped at Piazzo Venetia and looked at Michelangelo-designed steps to old Forum that has been excavated.

Ruins of the old Forum

Visited the Colossium. It really lives up to the word. Says it only took 8 years to build. It is a maze of tunnels underneath.

Interior of the Colosseum

Exterior of the Colosseum

Looked at Rome from Michelangelo’s Square that has a bronze statue of David. Very hazy and bridges and river not very clear. Remains of old Roman wall and tower on hill. Drove up the Farvole Hills past many of the villas that were owned by the richer section.

At night went around to see Rome by floodlight but I couldn’t see many floodlights – must have a different meaning. Drizzle rain made it hard to see out of the windows.

Stopped at the [Trevi] Fountain to throw in two coins for me and one coin for Elsie. Alan’s and Bob’s kids wouldn’t let me throw them all in at once.

Called in at a night club for a FREE WINE and be serenaded by two men, two women and three instrumentalists. One singer then took the tambourine around.

The whole night was something like the weather – a bit of a washout.

Sunday, 23 April 1978

Fine, warm, clear

Breakfast at 7.15 – departed 7.50.

Lush farmlands of the Po Valley. Through the Tuscan Hills. Beautiful cultivated hills as the road starts to rise. Road is a wonderful piece of engineering as it rises and snakes its way through and over the hills and gullies. Many tunnels and high viaducts vary in length from 150m to 600m (quite common), 800m and one must have been about a mile long. One tunnel of 800 odd metres came straight into a viaduct of 400m to the opposite hill. A very fast and well graded road. As we descended you could look back and see four of these viaducts that we had crossed. Florence for lunch.

Afternoon to Florence leather shop. Many coats and other leather goods.

Guided tour of city – Ponte Vecchio bridge, old Roman watch towers, Michelangelo Square. Started to rain – Palazzio Vecchio – the meeting place of the Commune (statues & towers), Florence Cathedral – immense Tuscan arches – huge dome 130 feet (like St Paul’s) built in 14/15 hundreds – an immense church inside.

Up to Fiesole in the Tuscan hills – coffee and pizza. Struck traffic jam from football on way back. Six lanes wide across the road blocked. Hotel at 7.30. Meals so far quite satisfactory.

Saturday, 22 April 1978

Fine, warm, sunny

Early start. Followed a mountain stream. Peaks on both sides. Very high mountains covered with snow, precipitous sides but road followed stream between hills. In narrow parts road has been supported on piles. Past villages that were devastated in earthquake 12-18 months ago. Along the autostrade – very fast road – bus travelled at 130 km to hotel outside Venice for lunch at 12. Hotel on road to Chioggia.

Bus into Venice 20 minutes. Left at Roma Square and took water bus to Rialto. Walked to St Marks Square through a maze of narrow alleys crowded with little shops. Guided tour – bell tower, clock tower, Bridge of Sighs. Taken into the cathedral. Many mosaics. Saw glass blowing. Elsie purchased liqueur set (40,000), vase (30,000) and tall vase (38,000) – 108,000 lira (£70 stg).

St Marks Square, Venice

Group loaded onto five gondolas, very choppy on main canal. Gondoliers waited for each other even though the place was busy with boats and five abreast we slowly went down the canal. In one gondola was a fellow with a piano accordion. He played a number or two then another fellow we had not noticed before stood up and started to sing, O Sole Mio. Crowded water buses slowed down to have a look as we were serenaded. When we came to a side canal to turn off, some barges were in the way and there was a great argument for 5 minutes to have them shifted. We moved very slowly up the little canal and the fellow started singing songs again. The buildings on either side were four-storey’s high and people opened their windows and stuck their heads out to look and listen. As we came to the little overpass bridges we were photographed and one bloke in the house above got out his movie camera.

About to be serenaded

Along one of the Venice canals

Was a very crowded and long ride back to Roma Square at 7.35. Back to hotel at 8.05 and dinner.

Friday, 21 April 1978

Fine

Good motorway. Lots of cultivated fields, fertile plains, very windy. Steep climb to top of Semmering Pass. Snow on hills – a winter skiing area. Travelled alongside river Mur and passed many little villages.

Semmering Pass

Lunch at —– a very interesting host. Anxious to look after everybody. Very neat and well painted dining room. Soup, salad, meat loaf, slice of rich cake.

Three-hour drive to Italian border. Road narrower. Lots of  heavy traffic. Many timber trucks, large timber mills. Passports collected and stamped at the border. Whole process takes about ½ an hour. (£1 = 1550 lira).

Went to the bank and collected 64,470 lira – at this rate we will soon be millionaires. Inflation in Italy is running at 20-25%. Cup of coffee 400 lira, tea 300 lira, Kit Kat 200 lira and [only] a 100 lira coin from a thousand lira note. It is like using monopoly money.

From the border [it] was not far to Tarvisio – a ski resort for the overnight stop. The hills are quite steep, covered with snow but are shrouded in mist. The room has a large balcony that overlooks the mountains. Should be a good view but it was still mist-covered the next morning. The sides of the roads are lined with snow that has been cleared from them. The footpaths have heavy drifts in some places.

Tarvisio from the hotel balcony

Much slurping and laughing in the dining room as everybody ate their spaghetti. Meat (camel’s meat the waiter told one small girl) and small chunks of fried potato and fruit.

Elsie thirsty at 9.30 and said she would have a large beer thinking it would be in a glass. Came in a large 1 pint mug. Helen (Alan’s girl) took a photo.

Thursday, 20 April 1978

Fine

In Vienna 9.00 am. City sightseeing. Klaus the guide had an excellent command of English expression and was very subtle. Vienna occupied by four powers until 1955. Monument to the Russian soldier commemorates 17,000 Soviet soldiers.

Visited the palace of Schönbrunn (1400+ rooms). Inspected about 40 rooms. Decorated walls and ceilings – timber covered with gilt. Original furniture still in rooms.  Magnificent ceramic stoves 8-10 feet high in the corners of the rooms. Stoves fuelled by wood from out of the room. Rooms of Maria Theresa, the various Habsburgs, Franz Joseph, Napoleon. Small reception hall, large reception hall 150 x 35 feet. Painted ceilings, oriental rooms.

Afternoon, walked down to the main shopping area. People very well dressed. Lots of dogs and dog dirt everywhere.

Had meal in snack bar. Soup, ham and eggs.

Tuesday, 18 April 1978

Frosty morning, fine day

Left Koblenz at 8.45. Motorway very impressive. 15 minutes to boat for 2½ hour trip up the Rhine. River very wide flowing fairly quickly. Lots of barges going both ways. Steep sides of the hills planted with grapevines. Rhine wine 0.50 DM per glass. Sweet Riesling not very impressive. A number of castles used to demand a toll for the use of the river. Travelled down as far as the Lorelei Rock. Rejoined bus 1½ hours. A chaff bag for lunch [containing] a three-course meal – soup, meatball and veges, pear & jam.

A river toll house

Travelled for 2 hours along motorway into Bavaria. Very fertile fields, fully cultivated. Drinks at a self service machine place – 1.20 for Fanta, mineral water.

Castles on the Danube River

The Danube ferry

Further 1½ hours to Regensburg on the junction of the Danube and the Regen rivers . Arrived 7.10. Very nice room with shower and toilet. Tea at about 8.10. Soup, large rissole type and peas and rice. Diced pineapple to follow. Cup of tea 1.50 DM.

No walking. Breakfast tomorrow at 6.30 am.

Monday, 17 April 1978

Cold, clear

The Belgium Atomium

Optional tour (£3.50) around Brussells. Atomium (1958 World Fair) viewed from distance. Past Chinese temple transferred from American World Fair 1900 to here. Used as a museum but not open on Mondays. Very ornate carved woodwork. Past embassies and other large buildings. Building for Courts of Justice very church-like. New Common Market building of glass. St Michael’s Cathedral – beautiful stained glass windows of 1537, 1568. Done in a process that used oil colours. Much lighter – very big. Very ornate carved wooden pulpit depicting Adam and Eve scene running from the Garden of Eden.

Special Square that is surrounded by old middle age buildings put up by the various guilds. Bus parked and we walked back. Very cold and cloudy.

Three course meal back at restaurant at 12.00. Salad, pork chop and veg and two rings of pineapple. Left at 1.15.

Travelled along motorway to German border through picturesque farming lands. Neat paddocks fully cultivated to the road edges. Very tidy houses and yards. Brownish bricks and dark roofs.

At border an official walked along the bus just to see that we had a passport. A bank and self service food shop were alongside. (£1 = 58 Bfr / £1 = 3.7 DM [Deutsche Mark])

Continued along motorway. By-passed Cologne (Koln). Turned off to travel through Bonn (West German capital). Followed the Rhine down for many miles. Occasional castles on hills. many barges, some heavily laden to the waterline. Many fine views of the river and the steep hills on the far side which are cultivated to grow grapes. Stayed at a hotel 7km out of Koblenz. Hotel is right on the river’s edge.

Castles on the Rhine

Another castle on the Rhine

Soup, steak and kidney and vegies, yoghurt.

In all the hotels you have to pay extra for drinks, tea or coffee. Tea and coffee served in china teapots (6 DM).

Sunday, 16 April 1978

Raw throat arrived. Redoxon & Disprin.

Taxi at 8.45 to Victoria [Station]. Queued up at sign for 3410 but no activity. After a while another large group came along looking for their sign. Alan Coggan, his wife Noreen and their two girls. A friend of his, Bob, his wife and their three children were travelling with them. They had had a minibus around Scotland & England.

Dover Ferry with Alan (ex-Oatley 13 yrs ago) on same tour

Names checked and moved off to the train about 9.45. Special carriages for Cosmos groups. About 9 bus loads.

Cosmos tour of Europe

1¼ hours to Dover. Through Customs to boat. Boat left 12.30. Smooth crossing 3½ hr trip.

Ostende at 5 o’clock Belgium time. About an hour before we started off in the bus. Very modern bus.

Drove along motorway through Bruges to Brussels (120km). Fully cultivated fields, very tidy houses and yards. Flemish & French spoken.

Some congestion of buses at hotel. Had tea at restaurant. Soup, chicken and chips and peas. Ice cream.

Stayed in hotel. Wit went out to change some money to buy some water £1 = 56 Bfr [Belgium Franc]. 1 bottle of spa water 50 Bfr. Dosed up with Redoxon and Disprin. Tea/coffee 45p each.