alancollins's VirtualTourist Home Page
| Page Views: 7,471 | Banbury-My present home town by alancollins - last update: Jun 29, 2009  |
I had my first trip overseas in 1964, when an Aunt & Uncle suggested I might enjoy a motoring holiday with them to Germany. We finally ended up in Munich and my first encounter with theThird Reich when I visited Dachau Concentration Camp and Berchtesgaden for the first time. The travel bug had bitten and I went with them the following year on another motoring holiday to Germany, this time taking my pride and joy at that time a Norton Dominator 88 motor cycle. We again visited Dachau and Berchtesgaden, but after a visit to one of the beer halls in Munich it was suggested we should visit Tegernsee which was described to us as a popular holiday resort used by people from Munich. At the time we had no idea that it had also been a popular resort for top Nazis before WW2 and off we went and ended up at a lakeside campsite. It was a lovely campsite with a clubroom but we were the only Brits there and were meet by a stony silent when we used the clubroom. On the trip home we stayed in Cologne and I visited the Cathedral that by some miracle had remained standing despite having been struck by 14 bombs during WW2. |
|  | San Antonio, Ibiza I got married to Lin in 1968 and in 1970 we tried a cheap package winter holiday to Ibiza, with one of the travel companies that went bust shortly afterwards, I think it cost £40 for the two of us for two weeks, so no wonder it went bust. The nightly entertainment was a man called Joan who played the organ. For us it was something new and we stayed at a hotel in San Antonio and watched as the Market Square was decked out in flags. The future King, Juan Carlos arrived for a holiday and his motorcade made a detour to drive around the Square, where he was greeted with much enthusiasm by the local population. At the time Spain was a Fascist Dictatorship headed by Franco and was a repressed society that was kept in check by armed police. At the time San Antonio was a quiet town and the concept of lager louts had not emerged and if they had, cracked heads and being thrown in jail would have been the order of the day. We use to go to a bar where they lit the fire with cheap brandy and cursed the british, well somethings have not changed. |
Majorca We tried a 2 week summer holiday to Majorca with Lin’s parents in the summer of 1974. This was the holiday I laid around every spare moment trying to obtain a tan. Though I spent many hours in the sun I only ever went slightly brown. That’s when I decided laying in the sun was a waste of time for me and there was more to holidays than obtaining a tan. It was a convertion from holiday maker to traveller. It was also a time when I decided I could sit around at home for 50 weeks of the year but I was going to pack as much as possible in those 2 weeks. | | |
| | Munich Julie was born in 1980 and Emma in 1982, more package holidays followed over the years but in 1994 I tried my hand at organising a holiday to Florida. The internet was still fairly new but I obtained the information from teletext and magazines. As the daughters grew up, Lin and I tried holidays to New York in 2001 and Washington in 2002, on our own this time. The same year we went to the Bodrum Peninsula and later in the year I went to Istanbul. Also in 2002 I went full circle and suggested to Lin a holiday in Munich. By now the internet was available at home so a holiday could be booked in minutes, well after several days of research before making the booking. I guessed right that Lin would find Munich & Bavaria attractive, so attractive that we returned 2 more times that year, once with the daughters and again with Lin’s brother. On the last trip to Munich we were booked into a luxury hotel and the holiday had been arranged by a travel agent friend. We got the rooms in the hotel for half price on some pretext that the travel agent was going to recommend the hotel to clients. As it was late October the clocks went back and the hotel computer crashed because of it. Cold water and heating followed, though it did not affect Lin and I as we have discovered over the years, the early riser gets the hot water for a bath or shower. Gifts appeared from the hotel to compensate us for this terrible state of affair in the form of chocolates, baskets of fruit and wine. We also had to put up with the breakfast buffet that was enormous and delicious and then have the cheek to ask for hot food. When we went to pay for the rooms we had become the guests from hell, we had the cheek to complain about the terrible conditions we had to endure during our stay, so the hotel cut the price in half again. I still feel guilty about all the complaining we did when the problems did not affect us, and having obtained the room for a quarter of the price. |
Interest in Modern History By now I had become interested in visiting sites of the holocaust and other places having a connection to WW2. I have recently discovered that they call this 'Dark or Grief Tourism.' As the family did not always share the same interest, I started visiting these sites on my own.
So in 2003 off I went to Berlin, followed by Krakow, Prague & Budapest all in the same year. In 2004 I went to Paris, Bratislava, Salzburg, Frombork, Ketrzyn & Warsaw
2005 I went to Warsaw x 3, Krakow, Lublin & Zamosc.
2006 I went to Warsaw & Wroclow.
2007 I went to Rugen, Weimar and Berlin.
2008 I went to Berlin four time and once to Poznan.
2009 I have been to Berlin twice, once to Somerset and shortly to Prague.
These are some of the places I have visited, some more than once. Some are well known but most are not.
Auschwitz
Belzec
Berchtesgaden
Numerous sites in Berlin
Bernau
Bogensee
Buchenwald
Chelmno
Colditz Castle
Dachau
Flossenburg
Gross-Rosen
Halbe
Kostrzyn
Lidice
Majdenek
Mauthausen
Nordhausen
Obersalzberg
Palmiry
Peenemunde
Plaszow
Prague
Prora
Ravensbruck
Sachsenhausen
Schindler’s Enamel Factory
Seelow
Stutthof
Sobibor
Terezin
Treblinka
Walim
Wannsee
Numerous sites in Warsaw
Westerplatte
The Wolf’s Lair
Zagan-site of the Great Escape
Zamosc
Zossen
Nurnberg
Holocaust Museum in Washington DC | | |
| Palace of Culture and Science |
| | Visits to Warsaw In November 2004 I went to Warsaw for the first time. I arrived late in the evening and got a taxi to my hotel. Probably the same as everyone else I felt nervous catching the bus into the city centre and not having a clue where I was going. I got off the bus to soon, in fact about 3 or 4 kms to soon. Then I caught sight of one of the entrances to Lazienki Park, it was in fact the entrance furthest away from the city centre. As I wandered through the park with few people about and soaked up the landscape and sites, I realised this city was a hidden gem with lots to offer. As the week went on Warsaw began to feel more and more comfortable. Though I’m useless with languages and above average height I fitted in so well that I would wander around out of the way places and would not be given a second glance. As I stood at the bus stop or sat on a tram someone would ask me for directions or information. Having spent so much time in Warsaw I have made friends via VT and have discovered out of the way places that are rarely visited by tourist and only known to the local population. Yes I’ve done all the tourist sites and felt proud to be a part of the crowd celebrating Independence Day twice. I have now been to Warsaw at least 6 times, though I’m sure I missed a visit and it could be 7. |
Cameras Lin gave me a 35mm camera for a present in the late 60’s; it served me well for 35 years but was limited what it could do. In 2004 a local Dixons was closing down so I went in and saw they has a Canon EOS 3000N SLR film camera plus another lens for sale. I negotiated what I thought was a good deal as the box and all the other extras were missing. I bought the camera and after some research discovered that I had been given a different lens to the advertised offer that was a better specification telephoto lens. The next day I was back in the shop looking at various other items for sale when I spotted the camera box. Being cheeky I pointed out that my recent purchase was minus the box and it must be the one that went with the camera. So they gave it to me and it included the batteries that cost a few pounds. A few months before hand I had been given a Fuji Finepix 405 digital camera for a present, which was easy to use but had limitations. I was also given a canon camcorder for a present which made some really good movies. How long will it be before you can put camcorder movies on VT? So now, off I would go taking film, digital and camcorder pictures whilst away on my travels. As the digital cameras have gradually got better my last present was a Canon EOS 400D. Its great to use and those lenses from the film camera that are interchangeable. So I can’t wait for my next trip as I will only have to carry the one camera instead of 2 and I’m expecting some great results. I’m sure the family can’t wait to be bored to death, as I will be able to show them 1,500 instead of 150. Now if Lin feels tired I just get out a photo CD and 5 minutes later she is a asleep. I have just been given a camera phone for Xmas which will be handy for more impromtu photos. | | |
| | Future Plans So what of future plans? I’m still weighing up the pros and cons. A motor caravan could be an answer to my itchy feet and could make for an inexpensive base, whilst being in whatever city. The only problem with motor caravans is they are expensive to buy. Or I could tow a caravan but it’s much slower because of speed limits and my favourite trick of passing the turn I need, and then have to find somewhere to reverse a caravan. Only time will tell?
My future plans have now become my present plans. I am now job sharing so I can work for 2 weeks and then have 2 weeks off. This will allow me to be more flexible with dates for holidays. Though to start with I will have a long list of jobs to do at home. As someone said the other day, you will still be working full-time but for half pay. I have just acquired a new car so I will no longer have to car share with my daughter. I only had the old car at weekends when it needed fuel. So it may be back to camping for future holidays. |
 alancollins' Albums | | | |
|
 Comments for alancollins | | | | |
StumpTim Tue Jun 30, 2009 01:32 UTC
glad you clearly understand who the boss is in your home - things work better when we quit pretending we are in charge | christine.j Sun Jun 28, 2009 21:46 UTC
I'm looking forward to your new pages about places in the UK. Wasn't it Weston-super-Mare where there was a bad fire some time ago? | Nemorino Sun Jun 28, 2009 18:55 UTC
Hi Alan, thanks for your visit to my Karlsruhe page. I've been there a number of times for work, opera and VT meetings and rather like the place, though it's not one of the wonders of the world. I've also been to Baden Baden but haven't made a page yet. | ranger49 Thu Jun 18, 2009 20:35 UTC
Alan - I'm so glad you spotted my Bedruthan Steps page under its nom- de- plume! It is good to have a comment from some one who has a connection to St.Eval. Many thanks for your visit and comment. |
|
|
email me
add as friend
