What are the most interesting places you've ever been?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Brother_Karl

I am so jealous. What was your impression? Did any of your views get changed or challenged while you were there or were your views simply confirmed? Why did you decide to go in the first place? How much did you enjoy it there? Was there anything particulary weird about the place that stood out to you?

I had been in Germany for about 3 years at the time and had been most everywhere within driving distance and wanted to experience something completely different. I was living in Fulda, the likely focal point of any Russian invasion of Western Europe, and wanted to see what the "enemy" was all about.

The visit largely confirmed what I thought to be true, having been across East Germany and into East Berlin a few times. The biggest impression was the scarcity of common foodstuffs. A grocery store we went into in Moscow had stacks of bread and dried fish and not much else. Also, the accounting for/spying on western visitors was palpable within the hotels and on any formal tours/outings. We were left alone though as we wandered on our own through Leningrad and Moscow.

I remember the feeling of intense relief when our plane touched down in Vienna after our visit. It was like a burden had been lifted and we'd only been there 8 days.

[merrylander]

Been to every province in Canada except Newfoundland, Flown into or driven through about 25 of the fifty states. England, The Netherlands, France, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Israel. Guess that covers it

[Charles]

Originally Posted by finnbow

I had been in Germany for about 3 years at the time and had been most everywhere within driving distance and wanted to experience something completely different. I was living in Fulda, the likely focal point of any Russian invasion of Western Europe, and wanted to see what the "enemy" was all about.

The visit largely confirmed what I thought to be true, having been across East Germany and into East Berlin a few times. The biggest impression was the scarcity of common foodstuffs. A grocery store we went into in Moscow had stacks of bread and dried fish and not much else. Also, the accounting for/spying on western visitors was palpable within the hotels and on any formal tours/outings. We were left alone though as we wandered on our own through Leningrad and Moscow.

I remember the feeling of intense relief when our plane touched down in Vienna after our visit. It was like a burden had been lifted and we'd only been there 8 days.

Didcha bring back any vodkey???

Chas

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Charles

Didcha bring back any vodkey???

Chas

I did. And I'm not much of a liquor drinker, more just beer and wine. I still have a liter bottle of Stolichnaya that I bought there that has about 1/4 remaining. It's now over 30 years old and has "Made in the Soviet Union" on the bottle.

We drank a lot of the Crimean champagne while we were there. Krimsekt, as it was called in Germany, was always a big hit with the honeys in Germany. We were on a 50 person tour and at least half of them were DoD school teachers looking to party. We got pretty stupid on a nightly basis.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by JJIII

After 18 months there you've seen it all!

Now I can see where visiting Hinesville should be on everyone's short list of places to see...but brother, it can't hold a candle to Calumet, Oklahoma.

Back in the early 70's they had a big pile of dirt.

Chas

[JJIII]

For those that aren't as well traveled as Charles and I, Hinesville, Ga. is just outside the main gate of Ft. Stewart, Ga. Ft. Stewart was made famous by the Beetle Bailey comic strip. It was called "Camp Swampy"in the strip, as well it should. 250,000 acres of Georgia swamp complete with 'skeeters, bobcats, wild boar, alligators, etc. Hinesville had its share of the usual "entertainment" for the troops.

[piece-itpete]

Hey, no teachin' us nothin'!

I liked DC and Colonial Williamsburg (I think DC is the most visitor friendly place I've ever been), but spending time in Hartlepool as a kid I probably got the biggest (although unrealised) history lessons. Playing on the ww2 gun emplacements, touring old castles, cathedrals, legends told by townsfolk, heck the very stones in the town wall screamed age and secrets lost. I've got to remember to thank my dad again for that (mom has passed on).

Now I do my journeys and time travel (both ways ) via books. Although I do visit the deep, dark, mystical hood occasionally lol.

Pete

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Hey, no teachin' us nothin'!

I liked DC and Colonial Williamsburg (I think DC is the most visitor friendly place I've ever been)...,

One of the real beauties of the place is that nearly all of the essential tourist attractions are free. I'm reminded of this in other cities when they charge $10-15 to get into a museum or a noteworthy historical attraction.

[merrylander]

Once in London while visiting the Tower we stopped in the little church at the road leading down to thhe Tower, St. Marrtin's in the field if memory serves (no not the one off Trafalger Square).

The cornerston had a date of 600 something AD - old stones? You betcha. The oddest thing was that its patron was head of the TOC-H society, a group that my Dad had neen a member of - spooky.

[finnbow]

A London site that Pete would go nuts over is the Churchill War Rooms. Very cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_War_Rooms