SUMMER TRIP 2001 with Eastern Michigan University’s Cultural History Program.

This was a great group to travel with. A bit unusual in one sense, twenty-eight young women and three young men, but that seems to be the general trend future of higher education. Already American college enrollment is 60% female, 40% male, except in technical schools like the university in Munich where we ate (we really changed the gender ratio in the Mensa [university cafeteria] for an hour or two).

Two very pleasant memories were of wine-tasting, both in magnificent locations─German white wines at the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein overlooking the Rhine River at Koblenz, and Italian reds on the balcony in Florence with a view of the Medici tombs and the Duomo.

 Wine tasting at Ehrenbreitstein:

One of the reading assignments was John LeCarre’s The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, which gave me an opportunity to tie together our London itinerary and Berlin, together with some memories of my own experiences crossing the Wall, visiting East Berlin, and the summer of 1990, watching communism come crashing down. (photo by Lindsey MacAllister)

Our day trip to Potsdam, to visit the palaces of Frederick the Great. Sans Souci below.

 

An enjoyable meal in Prague. Tasty, inexpensive, and not time-consuming.

Just a matter of getting off the beaten track a bit. (Prague is usually the favorite city on the trip.)

 

 

A day trip to Plzen, the home of Pilsner beer:

 

And good food (authentic Czech cuisine):

 

An enjoyable visit to the Forum in Rome,

With a look at Nero’s Golden House the next day. Lovely weather for July, too!

One student’s excellent webpage