July 15. 1971

 Dear Mom and Dad,

Well whether you want to or not you're going to see a little more of Geneve before I move on to somewhere else.

This is the Palace De Wilson, on the Quai De Wilson, both named after President Woodrow Wilson.  this was the original League of nations Building.

Here's a good shot along the shore of Lake Geneva with the city in the background.  It rained shortly after I took this one.

A Swiss Swan Swimming

I bid farewell to Geneva.

Here are the pictures I've been really waiting to send you.  After Geneve I drove to Interlaken, which took about half a day.  These next 8 pictures were all taken along the way which was through the most beautiful country I have ever seen.  My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures.  The one above was taken at the very beginning of the road that led through the Grimsel Pass.  I took this route because it looked like a shortcut to Interlaken.  It seemed to be a very little traveled road, and it turned out to take quite a long time to travel it because of it's very steep and winding nature.  However it was well worth it.  I really can't describe how spectacular it was.  This was the last picture I took until I got to the top, mainly because the road was so nerve shattering that I didn't dare stop any place to take photos.

This is the top of Grimsel Pass - 2165 meters, or 7144 feet.  There's a small hotel here and also a restaurant where I stopped and had lunch.

This one was also taken from the very top.  you will notice that there is another small hotel on the other side of the frozen lake.

This one was taken on the way down.  The road going down wasn't quite as bad as the one going up, if you believe that from lookin at these pictures.  Can you even imagine how they could find a place for a road in land like this?  I can't either, but they did.  If you look very  carefully, you will see another hotel in this picture.  It blends right in with the rocks.  They say switzerland is a nation of Inn Keepers, and I can believe it because they put them any and every where.

Here's another one taken on the way down.  Notice part of the road below me in this one.

This one was taken just as I was almost all the way out of the Grimsel Pass, but it was still quite high.  I took this one mainly to show you some quinine Swiss cows.  they are somewhat of a different breed than you will see anywhere else.  In most of the Swiss towns, the hottest selling items for tourists are these big cow bells that the Swiss ;put on their stock  so they can keep track of them in the hills.  I was tempted to stop several times and appropriate one, for free from a real swiss cow, but I didn't.

These are the last two I took on the Grimsel Pass, on the north side.  About 35 miles down this valley is Interlaken.  If you put these last two pictures side by side you will get a panoramic view of what the whole valley looked like because I took them from the same spot.

July 15, 1971

Dear Mom & Dad

Here's another dozen pictures for you.  These were all taken in Geneva Switzerland.  I left Cannes early in the morning and drove most of the day through France until I got there.  Geneva is right on the French border so the predominant language spoken is French.  Geneva is a city where you are likely to see people from all over the world, many of them in their local dress.  I saw a lot of Africans, all of whom spoke French and none who  sported an"Afro" hair-do. 

I start out right in downtown Geneva.  I took this one mainly to show you a picture of a streetcar, which are very common in most large European cities.

Walking a few blocks from where I took the first picture, I came across this open air market which is another sight that is very common over here, especially in Germany.  Usually you can buy just about any kind of fruit or vegetable you can think of at these places.

Moving out of the main commercial section of the city I came to a large park which extends along the shore of Lake Geneva.  This fountain was in the park.

In the same park, I came across the subject for this picture.  It seems only appropriate that in what could be called the world capital of clocks and watches that they would have one made of flowers.  There is also one of these in Interlaken, both of them are working models.  As you can see, it was 10:30 when I took this picture.

this is a monument to the Reformation of the church.  the whole monument is about a block long with statues of many different people who played important parts of the Reformation.  This is across a large tree covered mall from the university.

Back down town I ran across this river which runs into Lake Geneva.

This is Lake Geneva with part of the city in the background

This is an interesting monument, only I don't know what it represented.  It was unusual for the fact that it looked like the top of a church steeple that had been cut off and placed there.

This is one of the cruise boats that will take you on an all day ride around lake Geneva.

This is the Geneva Opera house.

This is the main entrance to a very large church downtown.  It was rather bare inside though.

The International Exhibition on Education.  This is where I got some of the literature that I sent you.  

Still more pictures to follow!

July 14, 1971

Dear Mom, and Dad

Here are some more of the pictures that I took while I was on leave.  I want to try and get the rest of these sent within the next few days, so I can concentrate on writing you a good long letter to catch you up on my news on this side of the Atlantic.

In these pictures you will see Cannes France, where I went after Monte Carlo.  I stayed there for about a day and a half.

This is a shot taken along the waterfront.  notice the French flags.  The beach at Cannes has a reputation of being one of the best in Europe, but as you can see for yourself it doesn't look as attractive as most of the ones on the West Coast.  Anyway 99% of it is all private beaches belonging to the hotels in the background.

This is just another picture of the beach at Cannes, taken in the opposite direction of the first shot.

A picture taken along the boardwalk by the beach.  I took this one to show you a real French Poodle, in his native land!

This is not exactly the most classy hotel in Cannes, but it is where I stayed and it wasn't too bad.  Two meals a day plus a room for about $10 a day.

In France you can "read the writing on the wall", so to speak.  This bit of Communist expression was right next to my hotel.

In Cannes, this is one of the most popular buildings.  The "Movie house".  The film festival was in progress while I was there and this is where all the films are shown.  It is also a good place to look for International stars if you are so inclined.

This picture gives a good idea of the many different countries represented down at the Cannes dock.  From front to back: Monaco, USA , England,Panama, and England again.  I spent a lot of time down at the waterfront.  I found it very interesting.

Again, down at the dock I came across this VW bus, waiting for a ship  to Africa!  It says on the side:  "From Berlin to Cape Town, via East Africa"

Here's a closer look at one of the big private boats from panama.

This is a group of men playing Bocce ball.   it is played by throwing little steel balls.  I don't know much about it, but it must be interesting, because it seems like the men around here spend 80% of their time playing it.

My last shot of this group is a close up of a boat from New York, USA!    

More to come.....

June 27, 1971

Dear Mom and Dad,

In the last envelope of pictures I left off at Monte-Carlo.  These next 12 pictures are all from Monte-Carlo.

Just as  the race was about to begin, this ship came off shore and let all it's cargo of tourists out to add to the already jammed streets.

Here is a shot of a group of Monte-Carlo cops, about ready to clear the streets of people.

I took this one to show you how many people were crammed into every available spot.  This picture was taken fairly early in the morning.

 This is just another view of the city, taken from along the route of the race.

To tell you the truth, this is about the closest view of one of the race cars that I got during the whole day.  They were taking this one to the pits about two hours before the race began.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took during my leave.  This is what I call determination!  this guy was going to get a good view of the race no matter what.  I have no idea how he got up there in the first place, but it took three men to get him down.

A shot of the Ferrari service truck.

A shot of the Lotus service truck.

This is a picture of the front of the Monte-Carlo Casino.

This is a statue that is on the dock at Monte-Carlo.  Notice the Helicopter behind it.

This is a picture of the palace where the prince and princess of Monaco live.

My final shot of Monte Carlo is just another view of the harbor with part of the city in the background.

June 23, 1971

Dear Mom and Dad,

Well here are the first of the pictures that I took while I was on leave.  I've got 4 rolls developed now and two more that haven't been developed yet, but you will be getting them in the near future.  I had a good time taking them and a real good time at the places at which they were taken.  I think you will find some of them interesting.  I'm going to start at the beginning of my trip and work on from there.

These first two were taken on my first day out.  They were both taken from the same location, but in different directions.  This was down on the German-Austrian border, S.E. of Munich, in the area called the Bavarian Alps. The Austrian border is just a few miles from where I took these pictures.

 This was taken in Innsbruck, during my first stop, and first night lay-over.  This is a picture of the bed in my hotel.  You might think it strange to take a picture of a bed in a hotel, but in this case I thought it worthwhile.  This was my first experience with European beds.  Please notice the big white thing on the bed that looks like a giant pillow.  That was the problem, I didn't know whether to sleep on it, under it, or in it.  It was very soft and comfortable on it, but nothing left for covers.  It was a little small to get in, so I finally took the last choice of under, which I believe was correct.  It's like sleeping under a mountain of feathers, but very comfortable.  In fact I grew to like this type of bed so much by the time I came back, that I think I will buy one of these very comfortable comforters before I come back to the states.

This is the only picture I took of Innsbruck, because I didn't stay very long but I should have because it is a very beautiful city.  I took this picture out of my hotel window early in the morning.  The clouds were covering up the mountains.

The above two photos were taken not too far out of Innsbruck, on my second day.  I took these pictures along the autobahn that goes through the Brenner Pass.  This is only about 35 miles from the Italian border.  As soon as I hit Italy this excellent autobahn ended and turned into a 2 lane winding, miserable road, but the scenery on both sides of the border was beautiful.

Well I made it to Monte Carlo OK, and this is a picture of the entrance to the small bay there.  All the pictures of Monte Carlo were taken on the morning of the race.

This one was taken from the same position as the one above but in the direction of the city.  As you can see there were quite a few very large boats docked in the bay. 

Monte Carlo is a big hang out for the world's "jet set".  This is a picture of one of the many Ferrari's I saw parked on the streets.  This is about a $20,000 automobile!

Monte Carlo is built on the side of some very steep cliffs from which I took this picture overlooking part of the city and the blue Mediterranean.

A little closer view of the city.

This is a picture of the backside of the famous Monte Carlo Casino.  I didn't go inside, but from the outside it looks like quite a plush building.

That's all for this envelope.  I still have more to mail.