Exchange-Rate Reunion

Lugano, Switzerland, July 1971. We'll stop here before we shop.

After-Dinner Conversation

Suburban Chicago, October 1972. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, chats with Vytenis. Tatjana dozes again; she had narcolepsy. She wears the watch we bought for her in Switzerland.

Space

Jungfrau region, Switzerland, July 1971. It looks empty, but it's a crowded place.

I'll wait in the car.

Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, July 1971. I found this trip exhausting. By the end of the month, I only wanted to focus on reading Arthur Hailey's Airport.

Swiss Drive

When we traveled to Europe in 1971, we realized we preferred the wild scenery of the American West. In Switzerland, by contrast, even "remote" spots had been touched by civilization.

Earlier today, I mentioned the seasonal opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The drive along that road isn't for the meek, but it's breathtaking.

How does this drive through the Swiss Alps compare?

Interlaken Gardens

 Interlaken, Switzerland, July 1971. Dad tries to find the right subject.

Riding Up

 Jungfrau region, Switzerland, July 1971. Mom filmed our train ride up to the Jungfrau.

Not-So-Swiss Reunion

Lugano, Switzerland, July 1971. There's a different feeling here.

We dip South.

Lugano, Switzerland, July 1971. We're still in Switzerland, but we are close to the Italian border.

Direction Reunion

Altdorf, Switzerland, July 1971. We should learn something from the Swiss about roundabouts.

A Disappointment

Near Hintertux, Austria, July 1971. One of the things my Parents and I didn't like about hiking in the European Alps was the lack of "wild" places. Even remote spots in Austria and Switzerland were cultivated and civilized. But I was happy to see a Swiss Brown.

The Kayaker

Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, July 1971. In the 1970s, few people kayaked in the United States. Whenever Dad saw a kayaker, he took a photograph because the activity reminded him of his time in Lithuania.

Devil's Bridge

Saint-Gotthard Massif, Switzerland, July 1971. It's a spot scarier than the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Bankers' Hours

Swiss Air Force declines to scramble a hijacked aircraft "because the incident occurred outside normal office hours."

The Legend of Wilhelm Tell

Tellskapelle, Switzerland, July 1971. We're observing the visitors at the Wilhelm Tell chapel.

Crosswalk

Interlaken, Switzerland, July 1971. Everyone should follow the rules.

Side Street

Gandria, Switzerland, July 1971. There's not much to do in this little town, so we pause at a shop.

The Top of Europe

Jungfrau region, Switzerland, July 1971. This is a view of the Jungfrau from the Sphinx Observatory. It's the place at which I experienced altitude sickness.

Gandria

Gandria, Switzerland, July 1971. We visit the town that looks more like an Italian village than a Swiss one.

Why don't you post some photos from the 1970s?

Mr. Irene asked me that question a few days ago.

So here you go, Mr. Irene. But these snapshots may not be what you had in mind.

In 1971, my Parents took me on a European vacation. The original plan was to go to Norway. My Parents had just seen Song of Norway—the movie about the life of Edvard Grieg starring Florence Henderson—and they thought a tour of the fjords might be fun.

Everyone had the same idea that season, so my Parents scratched the Scandinavian itinerary. Instead, they decided to structure a trip around my Parents' fluency in German and my favorite movie, The Sound of Music. We spent the month of July traveling through Austria, Germany, Switzerland. At the end of the vacation, we realized there was no place as beautiful as Glacier National Park, and we returned there for our vacation the following year.

What do I remember most about the European trip? Four things.

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(1) Air travel is glamorous:

Vienna, Austria, July 1971. Mom and I get our "sea legs" upon landing. The trip from O'Hare to Vienna was my first flight. We flew on a 747 "Jumbo Jet."

*     *     *     *     *

(2) I ate my way through Europe. I gained about twenty pounds in four weeks:

Hungarian border, July 1971. I dive into some rye and goulash at a cheesy place that was part of our tour along the border.

*     *     *     *     *

(3) We dressed up whenever we left the hotel. Mom and I sewed a number of polyester dresses that would travel well, free of wrinkles:

Salzburg, Austria, July 1971. I stand with Mom at a spot made famous by Julie Andrews and the "von Trapp children."

*     *     *     *     *

(4) I got altitude sickness—badly—during the two-hour train ride straight up to the Jungfrau. When we reached the summit, I needed oxygen:

Jungfraujoch, July 1971. Mom and I hang out of the train that took me to a bad place.