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So there I was, coming up on 21, father had died some 4 years before, my mum and I had got back on our feet a bit - so she wanted to go on a holiday.
She'd never been out of the country - I'd been on 2 school trips to Luxembourg, Germany, France, Belgium etc.. so we opted for one of those organised tour type trips (between 9th and 23rd August 1964) where you go by coach and if its Wednesday it must be Germany - or whatever. I know we went via Dover to Ostende, got on the coach there and spent the first night in Brussels. But from there I am unsure of our route but think we must have overnighted in Basle, but the pictures start in Lucerne - so.....(these piccies DO enlarge)
Mt Pilatus, a trip on the lake -
Lucerne
me - at left, mid-morning coffee
my old mum
at Vegiz - enjoying the mountains!
And now we started climbing. Most of what follow are taken from the moving coach, so excuse the quality/framing etc..
Down the road apiece...
Heading towards the St Gotthard Pass (no Motorways/Autobahns etc.. in those days - nor too many tunnels) - you had to go up and over....
A
good old Citroen DS following us up..
nearly at the top...
And we're there.. across the top...
approx 2100 Metres (the pass -
mountains around were much higher), and on some of those hairpin bends - our
coach meeting a lorry - there were occasions when we had to back up, move a bit,
allow him to move a bit, the two of use - to'ing and fro'ing, just because the
road was so narrow and the vehicles were wide - very entertaining!!
Then down the other side...
Nearly down...
And now we're getting towards Lugano
and finally..
We arrive in Lugano - what a great place!!
note the
Swiss flag..
I remember we stopped at a small hotel where there were live fish in tanks waiting to be eaten (not such an unusual site for me now that I've lived in Asia for so long! - but then....) - and we went out onto the terrace/garden to admire the views - fantastic!!...
we pushed on to Milan where we
overnighted again, then next day through Modena (didn't see a single Ferrari),
did some sightseeing round university town - Bologna and then into Rimini and
head for the very organised and very crowded beach..
mum well organised..
and this
is a current photo of the Hotel King and the Internet blurb says it
opened in 1967 - which is either wrong or maybe relates to ownership..?? because
- we were there in 1964!!