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Adventures in the Orient

In the summer of 2001, my family, friends and I took a trip to the Orient. After a 15-½ hour flight, we realized that our travel agent had neglected to inform us of the rain and high humidity during July. We stayed in Hong Kong and went sight seeing and shopping in Aberdeen. Six days later we traveled to Guangzhou, China’s third largest city. The streets of Guangzhou are like nothing you have ever seen: no one yields at stop signs, red lights have no meaning and cars drive against the traffic. We were expecting to see peasant type workers and were shocked to find that Guangzhou has more skyscrapers than Boston. Besides vacation and exploration, the other purpose of this trip was to develop business contracts concerning the import of products to the U.S. Before any deals were made with a Chinese manufacturer, I wanted to make sure that the working conditions were good and that no child labor was being used, which I did. I learned that since families can only have one child they encourage their child to get the best possible education they can. We then took a tour to Beijing where we visited the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, climbed the Great Wall and were awed by the preparations and renovations being done for the 2008 Olympics.

Our last evening in Hong Kong was spent at the Peninsula Hotel; we surprised some friends who have a residence there. We toasted China and sang God Bless America; it was a perfect ending to a wonderful vacation.

Scandinavian trip offers breathtaking vistas, rich history

On May 3, 2002 I began my 15-day Nordic adventure through Denmark, Norway and Sweden with my 82-year-old father, his sister, Marie, and my wife, Pat. We began our adventure with a tour of downtown Copenhagen, a beautiful old city with stately architecture that lit up the night. Many outdoor cafes and restaurants lined the sidewalks throughout the city. Due to the high altitude of Scandinavia, we experienced daylight until 11:00 p.m. each day.

We said good-bye to Copenhagen and visited the statue of the Little Mermaid and Hans Christian Anderson’s childhood home. We crossed a lengthy bridge to the Jutland Peninsula and settled for the evening in the Danish Town of Aalborg. The next morning we took a two-hour ferry ride across the North Sea from Frederickhaven to Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden’s second largest city and a very industrious seaport. Headed toward Oslo, we crossed into Norway over the Svinesund Bridge, northern Europe’s highest bridge. The next day we visited Oslo City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is given annually. After lunch, we toured Vigeland - the 80-acre park home to the life’s work of Gustav Vigeland, one of the greatest sculptors of his time. While in Oslo we visited the Viking Ship Museum, which contained three ships buried during the Viking age around 1000 AD.

The following day we headed into the mountains of Norway, which to our enjoyment were still covered with snow in May. The highlight of our day’s adventure was Vermork. This power plant, the world’s largest when built in 1911, was partially blown up by Norwegian Commandos during World War II to stop the Nazis’ use of ‘heavy water’ for atomic fission. After seeing the internal works of Vermork, we took a ferry across the beautiful Hardanger Fjord on our way to the picturesque Hanseatic seaport of Bergen. Known as the gateway to the fjords, Bergen was built on seven hills. We traveled to a mountaintop overlooking Bergen, where the view was unforgettable.

A four-hour cruise on the Sogne Fjord was the scenic highlight of our trip. The next day we traveled through snow-capped mountains and spent a delightful afternoon in the many quaint shops and restaurants of Lillehammer, sight of the 1994 Winter Olympics. After leaving Karlstad, we visited the Castle of Gripsholm at Mariefred. We departed from our tour companions in Stockholm and spent four glorious days at the Crystal Palace. While in Stockholm, we met up with our son, Tommy, and several of his fellow classmates who attend Uppsala University. We visited the Royal Palace in Gamla Stan (old town) and the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. We spent our last evening in Stockholm at the Veranda of the 307-room Grand Hotel. We toasted the north countries, its people, history and each other during this most memorable journey, while at the same time, looking forward to our homecoming - because there is no place like home.



     

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