My Holidays
I’ve visited a lot of places across Europe. Five weeks on my Norton Commando across France to Spain and Minorca; trips across Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. Here are some of my favourite memories.
Click on the thumbnails for larger pictures.
When
the Nazis almost totally destroyed Warsaw in 1944 this tired old tree
was the last thing left standing in the Ghetto. It's covered with messages
from Holocaust Survivors. 
Photos of snow in Zakopane remind me of holidays with Magda.
Magda with her friends Aleksandra (left) and Marta
Marta has a husband and baby. Aleksandra is married and an artist in Norway
I went back in April 2002, February 2003 and 2005. This photo was taken in the Polish National Park - GORCZANSKI PARK NARODOWY near the village of Szczawa. It's quite close to the Slovakian Border and the Tatra Mountains. Pawel left his ski lift to take Magda and myself into the mountains.
In 1984 I first saw The Cathedral of St. Basil The Blessed in Red Square.
The Moscow skyline and the Space Monument are unforgettable. I stayed at The Hotel Cosmos so it was easy to wander round the Space Park amongst lunar vehicles and Sputnik. Spacecraft were everywhere.
In Crimea we were shown wild, though slightly moth-eaten bears.
I visited Livadia where Stalin, Churchill & Roosevelt held the Yalta Conference, then on a hydrofoil trip saw a clifftop folly called 'The Swallow's Nest'
Kiev was almost destroyed in The Great Patriotic War and what remained suffered years of communist abuse. St. Isaac's was a magnificent church that was turned into a state museum.
In 1999 I visited Budapest, taking the tourist trail and a trip on The Danube.
The murals in the Hotel Art were holiday highlights.
Their Government Buildings were copied from our Houses of Parliament.
There's
a sculptured tree in the synagogue garden; each leaf bears the name of
someone who went to a concentration camp.
Most houses in the old part of Budapest are decorated with religious statues.
It's a lovely country. Next time I'll stay a month to absorb the culture and the beer.