Travel Memories

The travels recounted here are my experiences and outlook, at the end of the 20th Century. On these particular trips, I took notes and wrote them up when I got home. I have relived these years through the notes and writing of this memoir. It makes me realize how fortunate I have been to visit these countries. On these trips, I felt a continual excitement at what we were seeing and doing, and this was true in spite of physical fatigue. In Greece, I enjoyed our trek up the Acropolis and the view of Athens on that clear and sunny day was beautiful. The Parthenon was graceful even as the workmen were repairing cracks and weathered places in preparation for the upcoming summer Olympics. It was stimulating to be on a cruise with Karen Armstrong in Greece. She gave lectures about the monotheistic religions as we visited a number of sacred sites. Cape Town, South Africa, is a resort city for Europeans where history had been made when apartheid no longer governed a primarily black nation. The changes in law and the culture had been made only a few years before the Parliament of the World's Religions held its convocation there. Former President Nelson Mandela addressed us. Perhaps the greatest treat for me was the visit to the Soviet Union in 1989 just two months before the Berlin wall came down and the world rejoiced in the televised performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein. I enjoyed our visit to Spain and Morocco where we learned from Harvey Cox about the history of "convivencia" that describes the three monotheist religions as they found ways to live together in Spain. My last trip was with Janet Moore and her tour, Distant Horizons, to Jordan where we learned how educated and capable women live and work in that Muslim country.