JULY 9-13 - SWITZERLAND
We arrived at Zurich airport on July 9 after an overnight flight from Detroit via Amsterdam and were met by one of the leaders of Pfadi Lachen, the Lachen, Switzerland, Scout group, who had participated in the 1997 and 2000 Michigan International Camporees. We changed money and took the train to Lachen, where we loaded a vehicle with our bags and walked to their new Scout house on the outskirts of town. This was an amazing building that their Scout group has built themselves with aid from the entire town. The rest of the day was spent walking through Lachen and enjoying an evening barbeque and swim in Lake Zurich. Thursday, July 10, two college-age members of Pfadi Lachen led us on a tour of Zurich followed by a boat trip on Lake Zurich to a town near Lachen. Friday, July 11, two other members of the Lachen group led us on a tour of Lucerne which included a glacier museum with many different types of exhibits and a great hall of mirrors. That evening we took a "short hike up to a mountain hut" that turned out to be quite a climb. We were rewarded by some outstanding views and a great place to stay in an Alpine hut where we were awakened by the sound of cowbells the next morning. We spent most of Saturday, July 12, hiking back down to Lachen. Sunday, July 13, the Lachen leaders drove us to the foothills of Mount Rigi where we took the train to a Swiss Alpine Festival near the top of the mountain. We enjoyed the view from the mountain and the atmosphere of the festival and a few of us tried tossing a 50 kilogram stone. With a great final barbeque that evening, we completed our time in Switzerland and an excellent start to our trip.
JULY 14-19 - CZECH REPUBLIC
After a long overnight train ride in couchettes, we arrived in Prague on Monday morning, July 14. Two college-age Scouters from the Breclav Scout Group met us at the station, helped us check our bags, and led us on an excellent tour of Prague. We spent the night is a college dormitory on the outskirts of Prague. Tuesday, July 15, we took a bus to Brno and then another bus to a small town near where the Breclav Scout Group was in their summer camp. A couple of us rode with the bags to the camp while the Venturers and the rest of the adults hiked to the campsite. The Breclav troop was nearing the end of their 3 weeks of summer camp and had a great setup. We camped in "tents" that had four wooden sides with canvas over the top, a Czech tradition. That evening, one of our Venturers injured his ankle. It looked like a bad sprain, but we wanted to make sure nothing was broken, so another leader and I rode with him and an injured Czech Scout to the emergency room of a local hospital the next day while the rest of the crew took a long hike through the Czech countryside. The X-ray showed that there was no break, so we purchased crutches (good-looking new aluminum crutches for the equivalent of $12) and returned to camp. The next day, we headed by bus to Breclav, the hometown of our host group, with stops at the city of Brno and at a cave complex where you both walk and take a boat through the caves. Our accommodations in Breclav were in another college dormitory. Friday, July 18, most of the crew took a bicycle trip around this part of the Czech Republic with rented bikes and borrowed helmets. Another leader and I took a couple of Venturers who were not ready for cycling by bus to the old country estate that was the destination of the bike trip. Another Venturer had had enough biking by that point, so I got the chance to bike back to Breclav. That evening, we had a great campfire with a group of Breclav Girl Scouts and the two Scouters who led us on the tour of Prague. One of them was a great entertainer. Saturday morning, we toured the factory that produces rice and wheat cakes that had been built by the company owned by the leader of the Breclav troop, did some last minute shopping, and then caught the train to Budapest. The Czech Republic provided another great experience.
JULY 19-22 - HUNGARY
We arrived in Budapest in mid-afternoon and were met by host families from Troop 400. This troop had hosted us in 1994 and 1999 and had participated in the 1997 and 2000 MICs, so we were meeting old friends. We spend several hours in the homes of our host families and then gathered in the evening to walk through the center of Budapest at night. It was amazing to see everything that was still going on late into the evening. The next day, Sunday, July 20, we toured some underground catacombs, did some shopping, and then visited the new "Museum of Terror" which gave us a graphic picture of the atrocities committed in Hungary first by the Fascists and then by the Communists. It was a moving experience, made more significant by the fact that the parents, grandparents, and great grandparents of our host families had lived through this period of terror. We then had a totally different experience going to one of the old Budapest "baths" for swimming and soaking up the warm water. Feeling refreshed, we attended mass with the Hungarian Scouts and watched the video they had made of some of their activities. Monday, July 21, we took a train to the family cottage of one of the Scouts on the Danube bend, swam in the river, and had a great picnic with the Budapest troop with some excellent camp-made Hungarian goulash and baked goods. After a final night with our host families, we took the Tuesday, July 22, train to Bratislava. Another country resulted in another great experience.
JULY 22-28 - IN CAMP NEAR VYCHODNA, SLOVAKIA
When we arrived at Bratislava, we were met by Scouts and leaders from our International Friendship Scout Group, the 113th Blue Mountain Scout Group of Slovakia. Many of the Scouts were Scouts we had hosted at the 2000 Michigan Iinternational Camporee. We joined them in a long bus ride to the campsite between the High and Low Tatras near Vychodna where we had camped with them in 1999. It was great to see all the interaction between their Scouts and our Venturers on the way to camp. We carried our gear into camp where we camped in tepees that they had set up during their first two weeks of camp. We laid out our foam pads and sleeping bags on short wooden platforms the Slovakians had built inside the tepees. Each day, we took a bus trip with their Scouts to a different area of Slovakia. Highlights of these trips included a hike through Slovak Paradise, a visit to a very impressive old castle, a trip through ice caves, a visit to the home of a woodcarver with a chance to purchase some of his carvings, and a hike along a stream to a restored wooden water mill. On Sunday, July 27, our last full day in camp, we traveled to the High Tatras. We took a ski lift to a point near the top of one of the mountains and many of us hiked on up to the top. On Monday, July 28, we boarded the bus to depart from camp. After a stop in Banska Stiavnica, and a tour of the old gold mine and the museum of mining history, then a stop at in Bojnice castle, a beautiful restored middle age castle with an excellent English language guide, we arrived in Bratislava and met our host families in the evening.
Photos of our stay in Slovakia on the web sites of our Slovakian host troop. There are 97 photos there in groups of 15. If you doubleclick on a photo, you will see the larger version.
JULY 28-31 - BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA, AND VIENNA, AUSTRIA
We spent Monday night, July 28, with Slovakian host families. On Tuesday morning, July 29, we and a few of our Slovakian friends took the train to Vienna where we were met by a group of college-age Austrian Scouters from the Perchtoldsdorf Scout Group. They led us on an excellent tour of Vienna which included what most of us decided was the best ice cream of our trip. After spending Tuesday night with our host families, we returned to Vienna on Wednesday, July 30. In the morning, we traveled a few miles west of Vienna to visit Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Austria-Hungary monarchy. We then returned to Vienna for an afternoon of shopping. We spent all day, Thursday, July 31, in Bratislava with our host Scouts, with a visit to Bratislava Castle and then touring and shopping in the city. After a very fond farewell to the Slovakian Scouts and our expressed hope that we will camp with many of them again next summer at the Michigan International Camporee, and in 2005 at Eurojam in England, we took the evening train to Vienna and then the overnight train to Gorizia, Italy, on the Italy-Slovenia border.
AUGUST 1 - SLOVENIA
A leader from the Croatian contingent to the 2001 U.S. National Jamboree and two of his Scouts met us at the Gorizia train station in a charter bus from Croatia. We boarded the bus, crossed the border into Slovenia, and traveled to Postojna Caves. The size of this cave was truly amazing. First on train and then on foot, we saw an incredible display of cave formations. We next stopped at Predjama Castle and were impressed by how it was built into the side of the mountain, and then traveled on to the Lipizzan horse farm at Lipicia. We watched the presentation of the Classical Riding School and toured the horse farm, then continued southeast and crossed the border into Croatia.
AUGUST 1-5 - CROATIA
We arrived in the early evening at Scout centre ESPERANTO DOMO in Kostrena, an eastern suburb of Rijeka (Ree-yaa-ka). It was a great place to stay, with separate room with bunks and mattresses for male leaders, female leaders, male Venturers, and female Venturers. As the first American Scouts ever to visit Rijeka, we were given a special greeting by the local Scout leaders. The next day, Saturday, August 2, was a relaxing day, with a morning tour and shopping in Rijeka and an afternoon swimming in the Adriatic Sea, just downhill from the Scout Center where we were staying. That evening, the Rijeka leaders took our adult leaders (minus one who volunteered to stay with the Venturers) to a very enjoyable evening at a restaurant with outdoor seating. They would not tell us what was in the first course until we all ate some. Then they explained that the key ingredient was octopus. It was actually pretty good. This was followed by clams and other seafood. It was a great evening. Sunday, August 3, we took a day trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park. According to Rick Steves’ Europe TV show, "Plitvice is one of Europe's most spectacular natural wonders. It's a refreshing playground of 16 terraced lakes - separated by natural limestone dams - connected by countless waterfalls." We took a guided tour that included bus, hiking, and boat and all ended up agreeing with him. It was really a beautiful area. Monday, August 4, we took a bus to the island of Krk, which is an Adriatic Island near Rijeka, reached by a bridge. We had an enjoyable time there, swimming in the Adriatic, celebrating one of our girl’s 17th birthday with a restaurant lunch, and doing some shopping. We were amazed by the number of different countries that tourists in Krk came from, but we didn’t notice any other Americans. The morning of Tuesday, August 5, we said our goodbyes to our Croatian friends and took a charter bus to Venice, Italy. A few of our leaders were already discussing the possibility of family vacations in Croatia.
AUGUST 5-7 - ITALY
We had no Scouting contacts in Italy, so we had reserved rooms online at the Ramada Hotel Venice. This turned out to be an excellent choice, with great rooms and a location on the mainland near the causeway that goes into Venice. We checked into our rooms and then took the shuttle bus into Venice for the afternoon. In Venice, our Venturers had the responsibility of leading us through a city with no assistance from local Scouts. They did a great job. They had planned a visit using both the streets and the water buses and it worked well. Wednesday, August 6, we visited the Piazza San Marco and saw some of the heritage of the era when Venice was the greatest naval power in the world. Although Venice is a beautiful city, it seems that all that is left there now is tourist shops and pigeons. Thursday, August 7, we took a morning shuttle to Venice Airport and flew to Detroit via Amsterdam. Another great trip was over.