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Our major trip in 1980 was with my parents and Carol, who were on their way from Thailand to the States for furlough.
In late June 1978 my Mom and sister Carol, who just graduated from Dalat School, arrived at Frankfurt airport where we met them and drove home to Boblingen. My Dad left Bangkok at the same time as they did, but stopped in India before continuing on to Germany where he arrived in early July. We spent a few days touring around the Stuttgart area before heading to Switzerland.
6 - 8 July Sunday to Tuesday. We drove to Weisstannen, Switzerland where we stayed for a couple of days at the same hotel as we did in 1974. We hiked the mountains, toured nearby Buchs Castle and the tiny country of Lichtenstein, and did some shopping in Sargans.
9 - 11 July Wednesday through Friday. We drove to Davos where it was snowing. We tried to walk around the town, but decided that the weather was against us. We headed east through Austria arriving in Oberammergau, Germany in late afternoon. We stayed at the NATO School apartments near Steve and Kay Joy. We enjoyed touring the
area with them, visiting Linderhof Castle, the Etal Monastery, and Garmisch. The main reason we were here was to share the experience of seeing the Passion Play production with them. The play tells the story of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. This production, began after the Black Plague in 1484, and is presented every ten years by the people of Oberammergau.
12 July 1980 Saturday. We drove home to Boblingen to do some laundry and catch our breath before part 2 of our vacation.
13 July 1980 Sunday. We drove to Calais and took the ferry to Dover, and spent the night in Canterbury. We walked around the town and visited the cathedral for their evening vespers. It was quite peaceful.
14 July 1980 Monday. From Canterbury we drove around London on the M25 to the Cotswolds, visiting the small villages of stone house with thatched roofs such as Morton-on-the-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold. We stayed that night in a small hotel in Chipping Campden. We walked the main street and saw the wool market which made the town rich during the 16th century.
15 July 1980 Tuesday. We stopped at Stratford on Avon for a quick tour of
the Shakespeare sites before continuing north to the Lake District. There we stayed in a farm house B&B near some old stone rings; kind of a miniature version of Stonehenge. That evening we drove into Keswick to attend a session of the Keswick Conference.
16 July 1980 Wednesday. The next day we drove into Scotland and around Glasgow to Loch Lomond and Fort William where we turned towards Mailaig. There we caught a ferry over to the Isle of Skye. We stayed at a B&B in Portree. We enjoyed talking to our hosts and then having dinner in town.
17 July 1980 Thursday. The next morning we took another ferry to Kyle of Lochalsh, and passed the Eileen Dornan Castle, a picture of which is on so many calendars. We continued to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle for another attempt to find Nessie. We spent the night in the wool knitting town of Pitlochry, where Linda and I had stayed in 1974. Of course, we had to buy wool sweaters.
18 July 1980 Friday. We drove to Edinburgh; where we walked the Royal Mile and toured the castle. Then we headed south across the borders stopping at
Jedburg Abbey and Hadrian’s Wall. We spent the night at a B&B in Ripon.
19 July 1980 Saturday. We drove to London, where we stayed at the Foreign Missions Club.
20 July 1980 Sunday. We spent the day touring London, starting with Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall and 10 Downing Street, the Horseguards, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, Piccadilly Circus, the Tower of London, and still had enough energy to see a play that evening. This was pretty much our routine when visiting London.
21 July 1980 Monday. My parents and sister flew from Heathrow to JFK, and we returned to Boblingen.
We would see then a few weeks later when we took our first home leave. After our 1980 home leave we would earn six weeks or home leave every two years, for a total of seven during the eighteen years we lived in Europe.
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Rosanna
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Where?
Where was Shakespeare's home? I would love to see it!