Switzerland
Some of you may remember a Friday night in 1950 when a number of schoolchildren gathered in the Oldham Education Offices to begin their journey to Switzerland under the supervision of Mr. Tate, who organised the holiday. The journey passed without event and we reached Weissenburg rather tired and very glad to be able to change our school uniform for summer clothes. Immediately we explored the neighbourhood and discovered a waterfall which tumbled down the hillside and eventually poured its water into Lake Thun. We spent many evenings in the spacious lounge where dances -and fancy dress parades were held. We could ramble in the Bernese Oberland through fields of singing crickets, and past trees laden with ripe fruit. In the distance, through the hot clear air, we saw little chalets, the lower part painted dazzling white, contrasting with the dark coloured wooden roofs. The window boxes full of bright flowers added colour to the countryside. We made several visits to Spiez, the nearest town, on the banks of Lake Thun, where we bathed in the cool water and sun-bathed under a hot sun while the tranquillity was broken only by an occasional paddle steamer linking the lake-towns together. During our stay we boarded some of these steamers when we visited Thun and Interlaken, where many presents were purchased.
We made an excursion to the Neiderhorn, one of the mountains that bordered the lake. To reach the summit, we travelled by funicular and small, open cable-chairs. From the top we had a magnificent view of the Jungfrau and spent some time photographing the surrounding countryside, all except one boy who, spellbound by the beauty of the panorama, had dropped his camera half way up the mountain. Unfortunately, he could neither stop the chair nor jump the twenty feet separating the cable chair and "terra firma" and so he had to spend his time clambering down the mountain looking for his lost camera. The Swiss looked on sadly, but after all, what could one expect from the "mad Engleesh". They must do things for themselves. The chairs would take you to the top of the mountain, but this boy had to try for himself.
The days seemed to flash by and our holiday drew to a close. On our last evening, we had dinner by candlelight, surrounded by waitresses in Swiss national dress, and listening to Swiss songs. Soon, however, the time came for us to leave. One fleeting visit was paid to Berne, where two friends and myself almost missed our lunch, then we turned for home with suitcases laden with presents for parents and friends after a very happy holiday - thanks to the organisation of Mr. Tate.
B. SUTCLIFFE, VI.
Holiday in Austria
Fervent hope of youth at last attained - a holiday abroad! How_ glorious this holiday was going to be! Oh yes, we had read all the leaflets' about Austria and about the beautiful placidity of the tiny Tyrolean villages, and now we were going to live for two weeks in one of these villages, Igls.
Travelling details can be avoided, except to say that Continental trains have that disease of lateness - no idea of time, and if one train did happen to be on time, there was always a long wait for the connection.
We had two glorious weeks of sunshine. Once the temperature reached 120° F (shades of Hades!). The hotel was much to our satisfaction, situated at the base of a mountain, Patscherkofel, in the village of Igls, just a few miles up the mountain side from Innsbruck. The ascent from Innsbruck could be made either up a winding mountain road or by a rattling old train-cum-tram, which was much more picturesque. The village was only very small with a handful of hotels, a few typical souvenir shops and a Catholic Church (a feature in all Austrian villages) which faced our hotel, with a graveyard surrounding it, but it did not mar the picture.
Near Igls was a much smaller village called Lans, and here was a natural swimming pool in the lake, which was frequented by our party almost every day. On the way to this lake was a small souvenir shop, which was worth calling upon, even if only to listen to the owner's broken English when offering people his goods; to him everything was "nice, ees very nice, only fifteen schillings . . . auf wiedersehn". This process took place with everyone; the only tiling that changed was the number of "schillings".
One day we travelled to the summit of Patscherkofel on the cable-car, and although it was very breezy on top and slightly hazy, we had a wonderful panorama of Innsbruck and its environs. This was one of the best examples of a river valley with the River Inn winding in a cutting between the two great mountain walls. In the valley the red-topped buildings stood out and on the mountain side giant fir trees in black and green made their contribution to the physical features of the Tyrol.
One of the most enjoyable spectacles of this holiday was the Tyrolean evenings that were held occasionally in the hotel grounds. Our hotel seemed to be the mecca of these evenings. The garden was arrayed with chairs and tables and on a small central platform were a few Tyroleans in traditional costume, giving a display of their songs and dances. They yodelled excellently and no doubt if the mountain cattle were still outside they would be ringing their cow-bells in answer to this. It was one of our great assets having these evenings in our own hotel as we could listen and watch from our rooms.
That is a very brief outline of the holiday which contained a thousand and one more incidents and anecdotes not to be chronicled in such a small space. It was a first-rate holiday, and on the return journey we were caught in a thunderstorm at Munich which did not spoil the reputation of the holiday. Never before had any of us encountered such a storm; we were stranded on the station with no shelter, the rain pouring down and vicious lightning rending the sky and lighting up the whole city, showing the stark outlines of half-annihilated buildings with the ultra-modern, new buildings springing up around them. To add to this, two trains were struck with lightning in the station, and we had been forced to miss a meal owing to the unerring lateness of our train. Finally, our train arrived - packed to overflowing; so we relentlessly added to the overflow and pushed our way through.
Owing to inefficiency of German railways, reserved seats were already filled, and, although we obtained seats from Munich to Aachen, we were compelled to stand from the German frontier to Ostend. This was a hectic ending to a very enjoyable and salubrious holiday in Austria.
Our thanks to Mr. G. Wright, who made this trip possible, and arranged all the facilities, and also thanks to the rest of the staff who accompanied us, and to any other person who helped in any way.
B. GARTSIDE, VI Lit.