Switzerland

We go along the platform. Aramis suddenly shows on a special edition of the newspaper (Blick – Extrablatt): “Mitten in der Nacht: Sowjets ueberfallen Czechoslovakia” is planted huge black letters. I was dumbfounded. I buy one copy for 20 Rappen. We are unable a word. We get on a train to the previously selected Zuerich completely mechanically.

That’s awful. I was developing my plans with our friends yesterday at Bern, I was full of enthusiasm. It is awfully difficult to me. What my parents and sister? Several years ago, I might not have so many reasons to return, but now? School, apartment and exciting life in the last half a year. All seems lost.

Aramis is considerably calmer. Always wanted to stay somewhere abroad, no flat, not studying. His bonds in the family are much looser. He calms me. He says that we have almost four days opportunity to continue in a planned way and then decide.

Noon, I buy any more newspapers at the train station in Zuerichu, I try to read it, I understand only a little. Aramis phone to our friends from Bern. They do not listened to morning news, so they also do not know anything, but we have to return.

We decide to try to hitch-hike. We have little money, and now we need them.
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ITINERARY:
This trip was done by trains and started in Prague (Czechoslovakia). It continued across Austria and reached ITALY in the afternoon on July 26. We visited: Venice, Verona, Lago di Garda and Rimini. From Rimini by bus for a day (on July 31) to SAN MARINO. After that a train to Rome and VATICAN (on Aug 2). Next came Napoli (with Pompey, Herculaneum and Mt. Vesuvius) and the island of Sicily (with Palermo, Agrigento, Syracuse, Catania, Mt. Etna and Taormina all these between Aug 6 and 13). Back by train to the mainland and Sorento with a boat trip to the island of Capri (Aug 14), then to Florence and Pisa followed by Genoa and Milan (from here an overnight train to Venice and then back to Milan still on Aug 18). Early on Aug 19 the train crossed the border to SWITZERLAND (visiting Geneva and Bern). In the morning on Aug 21, when changing trains in Lucerne, we learned that the Warsaw Pact led by the Soviet Union military occupied Czechoslovakia and the Czechoslovakian borders were closed. That stopped our further travel for a while.

Travel office: No travel office used, but a government permission for travel to Western countries had to be obtained, however this year no invitation letter was needed. We traveled by train and slept in a tent.
Who took part: I traveled with my childhood friend Frank Z. (Aramis).

ITINERARY:
After the invasion of Warsaw Pack members into Czechoslovakia and temporary closing its border on Aug 21, 1968, the Swiss authority secured accommodation and jobs for Czechoslovaks, who were caught in the situation in SWITZERLAND. I got a job at Grundig as a TV repairman. The accommodation was secured at houses and apartments of local citizens. I got a room in an apartment of one older lady. Immediately I started working on my German language, which needed a lot of improvement.

On Sep 20, 1968 I took part in a yearly trip with Grundig employees. By train from Zurich to Lausanne on Lake Geneva, then crossing the lake by boat and several hours stay in Evian in FRANCE. My first visit to that country. The return was the same as entrance to France but in a reversed order.

On Mar 16, 1969 I took a car trip with two Czech friends to the eastern Switzerland and LICHTENSTEIN. We visited a Lichtenstein ski area, the capital Vaduz we saw its castle there and drove the lengths of this small country to its southern point, where is another castle.

During the year I visited many places in Switzerland. Among them: Geneva, Lausanne, Berne, Basel, Zurich, Lucerne, Schaffhausen, Constance and other and learn German pretty well.

I left Switzerland on Apr 2, 1969 for my trip to Paris, Luxembourg, Iceland and United States of America.

ITINERARY:
Early morning on Mar 8 Lothar takes me to San Diego airport. Flight via New York and Geneva to Zurich, SWITZERLAND, where early on Mar 9. Two days of sightseeing Zurich on my own incl. zoo and the Uetliberg Mountain.

On Mar 11 flight from Zurich to Tel Aviv, ISRAEL, where I am met by a Monitor Products Israeli representative. In the next 4 days I am taken around Israel visiting several electronic companies with whom Monitor Products Co., where I am a Production Manager, has business contacts. I also did some sightseeing of Tel Aviv and Jaffa by myself.

After finishing the business part of my trip, I joined a British travel company “Insight” on Mar 16. In next 7 days we traveled by bus through Israel visiting: Tel Aviv and its vicinity, Jaffa, Netanya’s diamante company, Caesarea, Haifa, Acre, Nazareth and a kibbutz at Sea of Galilee. Then a boat trip on the Sea of Galilee to Tiberius and by bus to Capernaum, Golan Heights, through PALESTINE (West Bank) along Jordan River to Jericho and past Qumran back to Israel and its resort on Dead Sea (a dip in its salty waters). That was followed by a cable car visit of Masada fortress, drive to Judean Desert to Bethlehem (West Bank) and Jerusalem (Israel) with full two days of sightseeing of all its famous places.
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ITINERARY:
On May 2 early flight from Prague to Zurich, SWITZERLAND. The whole day I explore the city and stay in a hotel overnight there.

The next day I fly from Zurich to Tripoli, LIBYA, where I join the Adventures Abroad group of travelers. In the afternoon sightseeing the excavations of ancient Sabratha near Tripoli (started as a Punic city, became important during Roman times and was destroyed by successive earthquakes and declined after the strongest one in 365 AD). The following day sightseeing The Libyan capital Tripoli (the Citadel, the Roman Arch, Medina, the Green Square and other).
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ITINERARY:
On May 22, 2019 before noon I take a train for four-hour ride from Prague, Czech Republic to Vienna, AUSTRIA. A taxi brings me to my hotel, where I join the group of travelers from USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Next day we sightsee Schonbrunn and Vienna.
On May 24 we drive to Krems to take a riverboat on Danube River to Weissenkirchen lasting one hour. Then we drive on our bus to Salzburg and take a tour of the city. The following day we make a side trip to Berchtesgaden in GERMANY. In the day after we visit Innsbruck, cross the border to SWITZERLAND and end up in a hotel in St. Moritz.
On May 27 we use the Glacier Express (6 hrs. train ride) to bring us to Zermatt. Here, the next day, we take a cable car to Klein Matterhorn to see Matterhorn, but there are clouds. On May 29 going on the bus we see Lake Geneva, take a tour of Chillon Castle, cross the city of Montreux and come to Switzerland capital, Bern. After sightseeing the city, the following morning, we continue to Interlaken and the Valley of 72 Waterfalls. An impressive place. For next two nights we settle in Lucerne. We explore the city and go by a cable car to Mount Pilatus.
On June 1 our bus takes us to Zurich. Some people fly home. I spend next three days wondering through the city I have lived in 7.5 months in 1968-69. In the evening on June 3 I board a plane for one-hour flight back to Prague, Czech Republic.

Travel office: Globus Tours
Who took part: Total of 44 tourists, British tour director, driver and local guides