One friend worked for an air cargo company and every plane had at least 4 passenger seats-if no one was in them they could be purchased for a few dollars-no frills, no meals-just transportation but Los Angeles to Stuttgart for about 9.00usd was a real bargain even in the 70s-mostly we took weekend trips to Europe since one could get there in about 8 hours or so.
Another friend was a government liaison for a private corporation and could occasionally take someone with him-those trips were amazing because the governments of the various countries paid for everything, the accommodations were all first class and frequently there were expensive dinners and tours included in the trip.
The government of Austria sent us on a Rhine River cruise that is quiet a story-it was on a wooden boat/ship much like the one in DEATH ON THE NILE but very posh and well outfitted-on this cruise there were 4 employees for every one passenger.
I have some very vivid memories of that trip-the food was extraordinary - for the first time I had Beef Stroganoff made absolutely correctly with Filet Mignon, top vintage champagne and served on handmade fresh noodles-unforgettable....I must have raved a lot about it because frequently when there were things I did not like on the menu (I am very allergic to any seafood and I don't eat offal) I was offered beef stroganoff or a delicious variation made with poached chicken breast.
In the morning (I still laugh about this) the cabin steward would "tinkle" at the door;
He had a little silver bell that would be gently rung to wake you up-and he would stand there "tinkling" until one acknowledged him and gave him leave to enter...he brought the "light" snack for you to get up on and have the strength to make it to breakfast in the dining room.
It was always wonderful coffee with cream, some delicious pastry-not too rich-it was on this trip I learned to love PALMIERS and Chocolate croissants and always a silver pot of chocolate which I swear was a top quality milk chocolate bar melted in heavy cream with just a hint of cinnamon.
When you were finished you would clean up and dress for breakfast and drag your self the 40 or so feet to your table.
We had the choice of dining alone or being paired with "people of interest" and while I cannot and will not mention names at least one was one of the top classic stars of Hollywood (traveling with a very handsome young male "secretary" and a fabulous couple who were both in the arts-we became quite chummy and often exchanged anecdotes during cocktails on the deck (theirs were wonderful of course-racy and full of gossip) she especially was given to wearing vintage diamonds and she loved to tell the stories of whom they had belonged to or made for.
This was the first time I saw a canary diamond and I was instantly in love-the lady told me a good canary diamond must be the colour of healthy urine and have few or no inclusions.
Hers was 7 carats with a scattering of citron and aquamarines in Platinum to help bring out the yellow of the center stone...I do remember telling Liz Taylor about that ring and she mentioned the ladies name and I nodded to which she replied "I think I own that now."
After breakfast you found you deck chair and watch the magnificent scenery go by-the stewards served beverages and offered little amuse bouche so you wouldn't starve before luncheon-Luncheon was always like brunch in America-poached meats, beautiful vegetable terrines, salads, clever little sandwiches all brought around on carts for you to select.
Afternoons might be excursions or shopping in a village along the route or an impromptu recital, reading or lecture.
Cocktails and hors d'ouvre on the deck (weather permitting) and then dinner at either 8 or 9:30-one was formal the other more casual and finally a midnight buffet of deserts and delicacies where one could see liaisons and business deals arranged in a most civilized and elegant manner.
We went for 9 days and ended up in Vienna others went on to Eastern Europe.
The other amazing memory was the boat pulled into a small "harbor" where in the square along the river Puccini;s "La Rondine" was presented and we had our seats on the boat (with champagne and munchies of course).
I never knew exactly how much this adventure cost but I heard it was over one thousand U S Dollars per person per day...the cabin/stateroom we had was quite large-comparable to a small suite in a good hotel and others had larger rooms and had also brought servants.
Something I will never get to do again and also a kind of travel that has seen it's time-people move so much more quickly these days, have shorter attention spans and I just can't imagine that trip with Kale juice, health food, quinoa and that sort of thing.
I put this narrative first to offer a comparison to my trek to Libya.
It was a 19 hour flight from L A via Heathrow and Athens then a Libyan airline-we ended up in the same Hilton where the American press was held hostage by Khadafy-we had already been told that the room and pretty much everything else was bugged so be careful what we said.
Only Arabic TV and not much else to do and horrible "American" style food so we decided to take a walk-the only movie theatre in town was showing a 4 hour program of propaganda films about the Russian wheat harvest and other such fascinating topics-thankfully we were only there two nights.
Once while walking down the street a car "backfired" we looked around and found we were the only people standing the rest were face down in the gutters protecting their heads.
Saudi Arabia was even more repressed-we were greeted with a 45 minute in depth briefing about how to act and what NOT to do-the only time the food was edible was at functions with the Saudi royalty.
On that trip I was introduced to the Saudi Prince who killed his own brother in order to attain power-a few years later I would have him on a tour at Universal and took great delight in reminding him we had dined together-He and about 200 of his closest sycophants and me.
Rememebring how the middle east was then and what has happened since I have no desire to ever go there in this life again.
The Soviet Union was amazing-if that country ever becomes truly free and democratic it will be a number one tourist destination.
The art, architecture and history is overwhelming.
Everything SOVIET is oppressively impressive.
Giant statues and buildings designed to show the power and strength of the country.
The people were gloomy-it was as if they wanted to smile but feared what would happen if they did.
Like Saudi Arabia we were assigned an "escort" probably KGB.
A beautiful woman but cold and militaristic.
I have seen You Tube videos of North Korea when westerners are tourists it's very much the same-they have no filters about how terrible the USA is, how war like, how aggressive and how lacking in culture.
We were reminded at least hourly that the USA was barely 200 years old and Russia and the surrounding countries went back to the bronze age and before-in their minds they were practicing government far before the Greeks and Romans.
In Saint Petersburg we saw the beautiful palaces and the jaw dropping art and found (to our amazement) that virtually every fine artist os any ranking had studied at some point in Russia.
They also have many private collections (owned and curated by the supreme Soviet supposedly for the benefit of the workers).
Gold, Silver, Diamonds and other precious stones, fine furniture, sculpture, musical instruments and other art-lots of Faberge (real or recreations).
Most of this is not available to the masses since it was considered degenerate.
The schools are very good but responsible for many suicides-you are selected to succeed and given a finite time in which to do so at A plus quality level.
You could be a ballet or Opera star one day and be directing traffic or taking tickets on their underground the next-complain and you basically disappear-again much like North Korea.
Another place that I have been and while I would love to go back and see what I missed I wouldn't consider it even in the new deconstructed union.
One thing I learned in all my travels-Prague has the highest amount of male prostitutes and Munich the best of the female prostitutes...while I will never need this information if it ever came up at cocktails with a woman wearing a huge diamond ring I would have a somewhat educated-if dated-answer.
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