Dear Mom, and Dad
Thank you for your Birthday card and letters. I had a fine birthday, although I missed everyone very much.
This letter is to mainly tell you about my recent leave. I really had a great time. I saw quite a bit, and I doubt if I will ever forget it. I had a few unpleasant experiences with the good ones, but all together they made up a very interesting trip. Now for the details.
Friday afternoon, May 21, was when I finally got all my last minute preparations taken care of, hopped in my car and started my trip. I drove all afternoon and at about 6:30 PM I arrived in Innsbruck Austria. After a confusing drive around the city, I finally found a fairly inexpensive hotel to spend the night in. I consider Innsbruck the most beautiful city I saw on my trip. I only spent an evening and a morning there, but in that time I walked around quite a bit and was very impressed by what I saw. It is completely surrounded by huge mountains, all of which are very spectacular. The night I was there, there was a thunderstorm, and I have never heard such loud thunder. I think this was because the mountains acted like a giant echo chamber. It was like being bombed by heavy artillery. I know now that it only takes about 6 hours to get to Innsbruck and that area down there so I will probably make a few weekend trips back to see a lot of the things I didn't have time to see this trip.
At about 10:00 AM I left Innsbruck and drove all day until at about 8:00 PM when I got to Monaco. It was a very long drive and an exhausting trip, but interesting. When I left Innsbruck, I crossed the Austrian Alps through the famous Brenner Pass. This is surprisingly a very easy drive because it is all on one of Europe's most spectacular autobahns. It is an excellent high way (and I do mean high!) It is almost completely supported along its entire length by huge pillars. Part of it goes accross the highest bridge in Europe.
As soon as I crossed the Brenner Pass, which didn't take too long, I came into Italy. I went straight down through Trento and then Verona. Then I went west to Milan, and then South again to Genoa. From there I went along the coast until I finally came to Monaco.
I only stopped twice in Italy. Once to rest and once for gas, and I'm sure it isn't fair to judge a country from such a brief encounter, but I did anyway, and my opinion of it was not good. It's a hot dirty and extremely smelly country and most of all, they wrung more money out of me by just driving through than almost any other country I was in. It seemed like every ten miles there was a toll booth that demanded very exorbitant fees for driving on their not so hot roads. Worst of all, after driving all day through Italy I finally got to a town called San Remo, which is very close to the French border and about 30 miles from Monaco. The traffic was very bad. I guess everyone was going to Monaco because the race was the next day. This very long line of traffic I was in would move about 10 feet and then stop for 2 or 3 minutes. This pattern continued for about an hour. I was almost out of the city when an old man started to step out into a cross walk. naturally I stopped for him.. I was going very slow to begin with, because of all the traffic and I didn't even stop particularly suddenly, but I did stop, but the guy in back of me didn't! When I felt him hit my rear I almost felt like crying. I had gone all this time without a scratch on my car. It's hard to describe what happens to fiberglass when it's hit. It doesn't dent but kind of rips and cracks. So I can't say I dented my car but I did crack it! It really isn't too bad, and most people haven't even noticed it, but at the time it seemed like it was a lot worse than it was, and it didn't make me feel too great. I think it can be fixed with liquid fiberglass easier than a dent in a metal car could be fixed and it doesn't really bother me any more. The guy that hit me was a young kid and had 3 other kids in his car so he must have taken his eyes off the road for a half a minute. The only thing is, he only spoke Italian and it was very hard to communicate. I did manage to get his name and license # but I don't think it will do me any good since he lives in Milan Italy. He broke a headlight on his car and dented the fender.
Well I did manage to get to Monaco in one piece. Monaco is a beautiful city in its own way, but not like Innsbruck. When I was there it was jam-packed with people who were there to see the race. There were no rooms available at all so I ended up sleeping in my car, which wasn't too bad. I saw a lot of people sleeping on park benches, or just about any place that they could stretch out on. I got up early the day of the race (mainly because a car seat is not conducive to sleeping in) and began a walking tour of the city. Monaco reeks with richness. You wouldn't believe the size of the boats in the harbor. They had names of ports from all over the world on their sides. You also wouldn't believe the number of exotic sports cars parked on the streets; Ferraris, maseratis and lamborghinis were the most prominent. I was surprised to note that I didn't see another single Lotus Europa there. Believe it or not my $3500 car got as many stares as the $20,000 Ferraris, even with a cracked rear end. But I still felt out of place there. It was simply too rich for my blood.
They had bleachers set up along various areas of the race course, but of course these were all reserved many months before. It was possible to buy what they called a "circular" ticket for 25 Franks. What this amounted to was a pass to walk the streets and try to find the best view possible. I got one and felt that I would be able to walk the course and see the race from many angles. My big mistake was that early in the morning I found a spot right near the road that gave me a perfect view of a very important corner. I stayed there for hours and guarded it with my life, as more and more people came into the city. About an hour before the race was to begin in the afternoon, the Monaco Police came and chased me and some fellow "circulars" out of our closely guarded position. it turned out that we were in what was to be the "pit" area! By this time every square inch of the city was taken up by a warm or semi warm body. You would find it hard to believe the crowd that was there. By this time in the afternoon it was impossible to get closer to the track than what seemed to be a least 3 miles. After walking and walking I found a spot where I could see exactly 5 feet of race track with a high powered telescope. I think I saw one or two blurs that were the race cars, and I heard something that sounded like the roar of engines or maybe it was my ears ringing. Finally I gave up, went back to my car and left Monaco. It just wasn't worth it. Really I had a great time just being among all the excitement, and seeing all the interesting people.
From Monaco I went down the coast about 25 miles to Cannes. Although Cannes is another big resort area, at this time it wasn't too crowded, even though the Film Festival was going on. I stayed there for the rest of Sunday and all of Monday. I found a very cheap hotel called the Hotel Verginia! The best part about it was that included in the price of the room, you also got two meals a day. Cannes is another haven of the rich, but it wasn't as bad as Monaco. I went to one film while I was there, that was part of the festival. If you go to the films at night it is mandatory that you wear a tux. Needless to say I went to one in the afternoon. I happened to see and American film, which was just so-so, but it was very serious business to everyone who was there. Each movie is rated by a panel of international judges and at the end of the film everyone claps like they had just seen a play or something. It was very interesting, and a least I can say that I've been to the Canne Film Festival. Besides the Film Festival, there is not that much to see in Canne, except for the beach, which isn't as good as a lot of the ones I've seen in Oregon and Washington. Oh, I had one experience in Canne that I won't soon forget. I was walking around the city and I came to a crosswalk without any stop signs or lights. There was however, a very clearly marked crosswalk which I was in. I was about half way in the crosswalk when I noticed a car coming a good distance away. He had plenty of time to stop or at least avoid me. The next thing I knew he was a foot away and still going at a good rate of speed I must say. Somehow or another I managed to leap just at the right moment and landed on his front hood! I was not hurt at all, but I was just really lucky in this case. The thing that really got me, more than being hit was that this guy was mad at me! He only spoke French, but I got the idea that he thought I should have watched out for him! I very seldom get real mad, especially at strangers, but this was about enough to do it.I think he may have learned some very expressive American slang, and if I had been listening more closely I probably would have learned some interesting French.
Oh well, no harm was done, and not too many people can say that they were hit while driving in Italy, and run over while walking in France...and live to tell about it, at least! From then on I take extreme care in crossing all European streets!
From Cannes I made somewhat of a change in my original plans. I drove north from cannes to Lyon France and then over to Geneva Switzerland. I spent about a day and a half in that city. Geneva was another city that I really enjoyed. There is something about that city that give one a completely safe feeling when walking the streets no matter where or at what time of day or night. All the main international and world organizations are headquartered in Geneva, so it has a very international feeling about it. Mostly I just spent my time there walking around and looking at everything. They have some very interesting stores there. If I hadn't already had a good watch, Geneva would have been the place to buy one. There is a least one watch store on every street!
From Geneva I went to Interlaken switzerland. On the way to Interlaken I went over a road that until they build a road straight up Mt Everest, will surely take all prizes as the most hair raising and spectacular road in the world! It was an 80 or 90 degree grade all the way, mixed in with 180 turns. it was only 2 lanes, with 10000 foot drop offs on every side. It was a very beautiful drive, but somewhat unnerving.
I really liked Switzerland. It must have some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. The area around Interlaken is very very nice. The water of the two lakes is, I believe the cleanest looking I have ever seen.
Well that just about wraps up the story about my leave. From Interlaken I went all the way back up to Frankfurt and the next week I spent with relatives who flew over, as I told you before. Mainly I spent that week in areas of Germany that I had already seen. I did spend a couple of days in Munich and managed to get away long enough to go into one of Munich's famous beer halls where I ordered a beer that was in a liter mug. It was truthfully a fairly enjoyable week as well.
Well now I'm back in Bamburg and what I would like most is a chance now to rest up from my leave. it was quite an experience.
I think this is my longest letter yet, so I must stop for now. I took 6 rolls of film on my trip and I am anxious to get them developed so I can see them and then send them on to you
Well that's about all , will try to write again soon......
