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Fun Facts from Our Year in Europe
Father Joseph Powers and his sister, Mary, got the nicknames Ma and Pa Powers from Tim Nugent while onboard the SS France. When he saw them dining together, he was reminded of Ma and Pa Kettle from the movies. So, Nugent coined the nicknames. Mary didn’t like them. Pa grew to like the moniker. He was proud to be called Pa Powers.
The trip across the Atlantic Ocean on the SS France took five nights. We embarked from the Hudson River in New York City in mid-morning and arrived in Southampton, England in the early morning of the last day.
While onboard the SS France, we met the lyricist for the Andrew Lloyd-Webber Broadway hit musicals “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Tim Rice entertained on the piano with songs from both shows and selections from their then upcoming London West End musical “Evita”, which was delayed to 1976. Rice joined us in a few drinking games.
We visited the UNESCO World Heritage site of Stonehenge when visitors could still climb on the famous stones.
Our overnight in Stratford upon Avon included a performance of “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare and an afternoon free to explore the historic town, including Ann Hathaway’s cottage and a few English pubs.
Long Distance Travellers: Malone and Mahaney flew to Nairobi, Kenya over Spring Break (8,873 km / 5,513 mi)
Marty had a hot time at the border between France and Belgium. She let a ‘gentleman’ try her harmonica but was distracted by someone else, during which time the ‘gentleman’ smeared her harmonica with hot chili pepper. Laughs resounded from inside and outside the bus even as Marty drew a lovely bird in the air for the ‘gentleman’ and his friends.
During the Northern Tour especially, when we’d visit a new remarkable site, Caruso would break into song with “It’s Impossible” by Perry Como.
During the Berlin Tour, the military guards on the East German side of the border between the Czechoslovakia Socialist Republic and the German Democratic Republic, did not like it when Tim decided to photograph three huge propaganda murals for later translation. After they had collected passports for inspection, Tim jumped out of the bus against the rules to take said photographs. One guard took umbrage. Tim dove back into the bus, heading for the rear. The rest of the group, sensing danger and wanting to protect its own, leapt from their seats to find anything in the overhead compartments, thus thwarting the overzealous army youth from nabbing Nugent’s camera. Joe Zohrer and Pa Powers returning with passports saved the day.
Long Distance Travellers: Baunach and Bergquist travelled to Fez, Morocco (3,118 km / 1,937 mi)
Chrisse and Rafael joined the English drama group at the University of Salzburg. Chrisse directed and Raf acted in the play “Gallows Humor” by Jack Richardson. They also assisted with a production of “The Governor’s Lady” by Alice Bradley.
The most frequently heard sound upon entering the centre was “Schuhe aus.” One wonders how many times Frau Strobel reminded Salzburgers over the course of so many years to remove their shoes!
Our occasional football games drew the attention of many older, local Salzburgers who couldn’t make heads nor tails of what we were doing and complained to the landowner that we were making noise and harming the grass. Spoilers sports!
Long Distance Traveller: Wrobo flew to Rome then to Casablanca, Morocco by himself (3,012 km/ 1,871 mi)
After a guided tour of the historic Olympic Stadium at Olympia, Greece, almost half the group stealthily invaded the stadium after hours, evading the flashlight toting guard, giggling in the long grass, and consuming a fair amount of Ouzo and regional black wine, the national beverages of the founders of the ancient Olympics.
Since our year abroad was supposed to be educational, we sat through lectures at many cities in both our northern and southern European tours. Our first was in Salisbury, England while the last lecture was in Venice, Italy.
No Christmas party is complete without the arrival of Santa Claus. (Spoiler for all true believers!) Mikey slid down the staircase at the centre in her plastic Santa costume for her dramatic arrival. Not on purpose. Hogan and Tim helped her into her red and white sled upstairs. She slipped on the top stair and bounced her Ho, Ho, Ho’s to the ground floor where she was helped to her gift giving perch by a few equally inebriated elves.
Chris Gastner was our procurer-in-chief. In addition to helping arrange travel for our group tours and some individual travelling, he also helped us purchase bicycles and skis. He’d show up from time to time at the centre offering his assistance and suggestions. Did it become annoyingly comical? Who’s to say.
At the border between Austria and Hungary for our Budapest Tour, we were assigned a young member of the Communist Youth League to be our in-country host, er informant. By the end of our long weekend, she was practically begging to be hidden in the bus and smuggled to the West with us. Clearly, that didn’t happen.
Long Distance Traveller: Les trained to Moscow, Russia on his own (2,215 km / 1,375)
Father Paul Waldschmidt, then president of the University of Portland, and later auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, visited us on at least two occasions staying in the always locked upstairs bedroom at the centre. In addition to supporting Pa Powers on these visits, and hobnobbing with the Salzburg clergy, he spent several sessions with us at Augies celebrating the program he created.
Long Distance Travellers: Over Christmas break, Costa and Souza travelled to Portugal then hopped a flight to the Azores where their forebears originated (2,579 km / 2, 501 mi)
Herr Strobel, who was gainfully and appreciatively employed at the Steigl Brewery on the west side of town, kept us supplied with bier at the centre where we paid one schilling for each bottle we enjoyed. Paid may not be the right word because occasionally small hands were caught purloining a few schillings, so the University made up the difference when our honor system came up short.
Father Waldschmidt, supported by Pa Powers, insisted that we would only learn German if Frau Strobel spoke it exclusively when with us in the centre, at parties, and in the backyard. Some of our group assumed she knew little to no English, to their dismay at the end of the year when we discovered at the train station that she had become fluent in English by listening to our inane conversations, retorts, and some might say rudenesses. She laughed it all off in her inimitable way. What a treasure she was.
Long Distrance Travellers: Marty and Kaser hitchhiked to Istanbul, Turkey (1,863 km / 1,158 mi)
On the last day of our northern Europe tour, we visited Dachau concentration camp. On the bus afterward everyone was sullen, depressed, or tired after nearly three weeks on the road. Longing to get to our destination and new life of nearly a year, we erupted into cheers when we saw the castle come into view. After getting settled at Gasthof Stern for the men and Pension Jussey for the women, we had a nighttime tour of the illuminated sites of Salzburg followed by a dinner at the Stiegl Brau beneath Hohensalzburg, where we were introduced properly to Lederhosen, Dirndln, Stiegl bier, and Austrian heritage songs and dancing. Welcome to tourist heaven!
The intrepid, patient, and overall fine gentleman, Joe Zohrer, was our bus driver for all of our sponsored tours (Northern Europe, Munich art tour, Vienna, Berlin, Budapest, Zell-am-See for skiing, and southern Europe), including driving our bus to meet us in Athens while we luxuriated on the overnight train.
Long Distance Travellers: After ditching Currier and Les in Madrid, Spain, Kaser travelled to Fez, Morocco by himself (3,118 km / 1,937 mi)
Returning from Zurich, Switzerland, Wrobo and Dill were arrested at the Bern train station. They were interrogated as suspects in a Zurich bank robbery. The quick and fleet George proved they were on the train when the heist occurred, so the near ne’er-do-wells escaped with drinks with the cops, a free hotel night with breakfast, and a ride to the train station the next morning. Seems a questionable way to get freebies but at least they had their freedom.
Prepping for the Vienna Opera Ball, the guys didn’t act fast enough to secure rented tuxedos in Salzburg. The ever present and helpful Chris Gastner called around and found a shop in Munich that held tuxes until the guys could get there for selections and fittings. A week later, Tim drew the short straw so went to retrieve them. After the Ball, Tim drew the short straw a second time. Pa Powers gave him a day off from classes to schlep the tuxes back to Munich. He had a great day exploring the city by himself.
At the Vienna Opera Ball, we were introduced at the top of the staircase as if we were royalty and Viennese society families. The thrill didn’t end there. We tripped the waltz fantastic on the Opera House’s specially installed dance floor with global luminaires such as Imelda Marcos of the Phillipines, Queen Beatrix of Belgium, the King and Queen of Greece, and too many Habsburgs to count. Music was played by the Vienna Philharmonic and the Staats Opera big band orchestra.
Long Distance Travellers: Costa and Souza hitched to Bulgaria, then bussed to Istanbul, Turkey (1,863 km / 1,158 mi)
In part because of geopolitical issues during our year in Europe, it was not always great to be an American. We each dealt with that the best we could with some sewing Canadian flags on coats or backpacks and others simply identifying as Canadian. Being American lead to some good and not so good encounters along the way.
On their way to Istanbul, Costa and Souza hitchhiked into Yugoslavia, where they slept in an abandoned car, before continuing into Bulgaria. Due to time, and schooling waiting back in Salzburg, they bussed to Turkey, where they hooked up with Marty and Kaser to visit the famous markets and saw the sights. They caught the Istanbul express train back home.
Our year in Salzburg was punctuated by reminders of the real world, especially the geopolitical issues of the day including the Vietnam War. Several among us joined in the march against the war in Salzburg. Prior to which we were visited at the Center by the Austrian office of the CIA to warn us to not participate. With motivation like that we were there in force, along with the CIA informant who had befriended us weeks before then disappeared into the mists of time afterward. Our visit to Florence, Italy coincided with their anti-Vietnam War march. A few of us joined in there, too.
Our first encounter with the warm winds blowing from Africa over the Alps, the Foehn, was an emotional rollercoaster. The signs of Foehn preceeded the weather phenom: wispy clouds, temperature fluctuations, a feeling of electricity in the air. Over time we adjusted as we came to recognize the signs of the impending warm winds.
We had a friend at the local American Express office. American Michael Gollner helped us with money exchanges, funds transfers, and information about the Stadt und Land. A great guy who occasionally stopped by the Center for bier and a chat.
Ploeser and Bergquist enrolled in a beginner’s French language course at the University of Salzburg even though they were not beginners but wanted to keep that language as crisp as their German. The professor took less than a shine to our friends, harrassing, haranguing, and berating them until eventually tossing them out in front of the other students, stopping the class until they packed up and marched out the door. And a lovely, warm welcome to you, too, Frau Uebleis!
We discovered early that members of our group shared first names. The convention quickly arose to call people by last names in order to avoid confusion. Nearly 60% of us were identified by last name. Hence, we had:
Steve: 4 (Baunach, Kaser, Mahaney, Ploeser)
Mary: 2 (Costa, Gallagher)
John: 2 (Hogan, Wrobo)
Ann(e): 2 (Frey, Kegel) – for some Frey was Annie; Kegel was Ann
George: 2 (Dill, Krantz)
Kathy: 2 (Bergquist, Desmond) – Bergquist now goes by Kathleen; Desmond Frandsen by Katherine
Also, a few others were mostly called by their last names when we gathered as a group: Caruso, Coyle, Duso, Malone, Nazario, Souza (Souza was always Souza)
During the holiday season, Chrisse and Marcia, the professional singers in our group, entertained us with a masterful rendition of “Lullaby” from the opera Hansel and Gretel by Englebert Humperdinck (the original born 1854 in Prussia not the British userper of pop / lounge fame). Chrisse’s fingers danced on the piano keys while Marcia and Chrisse tra-la-la’d to the delight of the inebriating gathering.
