Warsaw to Prague Blog and Photos
Twenty-one years ago, my wife Sharyn and I enjoyed our first Tauck tour. It wasn’t our first big excursion. Previously, I had organized and led about a half-dozen group tours before I decided to leave someone else to manage the travel planning. That occasion was in September 2001 and was our most eventful tour in Europe. We were in Vienna and at the Bristol Hotel.
Since then, we have done more than two dozen large travel tours like the latest 2022 Poland to Prague. And I remember them all.
Not really, my memory isn’t that good. I write stuff down – with photos, travel logs, and journals of some form -- scrapbooks, slides, videos, magazine articles, websites, and books. Beginning in 1994, about a hundred are shared on my website for future posterity.
In preparation for the 2022 Poland to Prague trip log, I pulled up my 2001 journal. That trip was different; Tauck was different.
Our Tauck group spent three days at the Vienna Hotel Bristol on September 15, 2001. We were waiting to be allowed to re-enter the US after the World Center attack.
We were in fine order. While being stranded in Austria, all forty of us had bonded and were in a continuous party mood. (I’m told - a tour director dream – maybe.) We didn't know when we would be able to return to the States, but we were making the best of our holiday. The story reported:
We had our farewell party in a private dining room in Bristol. During dinner, several groups of our new friends got up and entertained the others. We had a rendition of the yodeling cow, followed by the goat act, we had some songs from other groups, a Hawaiian farewell song from Shelley (our tour director), and least important, a performance by Terry and the Eight Fraus of "Was ist dis mein dear". A good thing for Terry and the Fraus, the audience only threw their napkins, they had already removed the utensils. _
The Poland to Prague log has been my most extensive with stories, photos, videos, and references. I could not limit just a narrated video or a book. We did too much. The best way to report our excursions was on a couple of websites -- a travel blog https://war2prag.blogspot.com and a Shutterfly photo webpage https://evanscentertravel.shutterfly.com/warsawtoprague
Each of our destinations has a page. Each page tells “what Tauck said we were going to do” and then I added, “what we did.” Tauck promotes outlines and then lets directors fill in the details. Often, they weren’t the same. My blog also has over a half-dozen YouTube videos with snippets of the music recitals that we watched.
Each of our destinations also has one or more photo collections on Shutterfly. They are easily viewed as slide shows. 350 photos are edited and each has a brief description.
The stories also include lots of research content that are identified with hyperlinks (those underlined blue words.) Get ready to get smart with many hours.
The easiest way to study all this stuff is to follow the instructions with the HOME page at https://war2prag.blogspot.com and “Remembering the Tour” help. I’ll retain this website journal on my website www.evanscenter.com. I hope you get a chance to read some of it.
We have been fortunate to meet many new friends on these travels. We continue to travel with some of them. I wish everyone the best. If you have a moment, send me a note about what is happening.
Tom Evans
Comments
Thank you for all the information. Your photos were great. This tour has been on our wishlist but after reading your synopsis I’m hesitant. Seems like a heck of a lot of time spent riding in a bus/traveling…