Scranton Central HS December 1955 Yearbook (Scranton, PA) - Full Access

W E sailed from Montreal, Cana– da aboard the SS Waterman on July 16 1955. The hip wa a Dutch transport owned by the Dutch government and run by th Holland– American Line to carry Dutch im– migrant to and from the .. and Canada. Our ship wa mall but comfortably compact. There were eight of u in a room, eighte n by ten feet in size. Th re were eight bunks, a mall do et for each per on, and two sink . In our group were thirty-one boy and girl from Pennsylvania, thre boy from the Carolina , and our two leader from the tat Y.M.C.A. staff. We pent much of our time aboard getting better acquainted with our fellO\ traveller . Our dele– gation had dail meeting to discu the \ orld' Y.M.C.A. entennial Conference topics on "Li ing To– gether." W also heard report we had written on place w w re to vi it. The food aboard " a wond rful. We had Indone ian cabin boy and ' aiter who saw to it we had plenty to eat and were alway comfortable. ROLLA D On July 25 we docked at Rotter– dam, Holland wher we di em– barked. From there we went to mst rdam, the principal city and capital of Holland where we had our fir t chance to truggle with our baggage which we had to handle ourselves. Our first night in Europe wa spent in a hostel on the Zeider Zee. Thi ho tel a other all over Europe, was dormitory in style with bunk bed and no hot water. We tayed in the youth ho tel , run by the national government of each country all over Europe. Our first full day in Europe wa pent vi iting the fir t of many castles we would se . It belonged to Hooft, the famou Dutch poet and historian. In th aft rnoon we took 10 OUR VoiJendam, Rolland a walking tour of Amsterdam and a boat trip through it harbor and canal which are very clean, color– ful, and interesting. That evening we warn in the Zeider Zee and talked with orne people on the b ach. We truggled with our fir t– year German which i imilar to utch, and they, in turn, with their canty know) dge of Engli h. On July 27 w left Holland, a very friendly cl an and picture qu ountr . John Wickenden, '58 GERMA A D ITALY On of the fir t countri ' e vi ited wa Germany. We certainly expected to ce more of the re ult of war th r but, much to our urpri e there were only a very few trace of th bombings that had taken place. The buildings that have been rebuilt ar of modern archi– t cture with fluore c nt lightina y t ms. H idelb rg, th fir t city we VJ I– ted, wa a city of friendly, cordial, and tru ting people. We went to the a tie of Heidelberg which had been bombed by the French in the fifte nth century. There are how– ever, a few room left a they wer at the tim of the bombing. Our next top wa Munich, where there remain a few trace of war. While in Munich we sa\ youth ho tel , built from donation from var.ious countrie aft r th war. TRAVELS Our next top wa Venice Italy. In Venice we took a boat to our ho tel. A we floated down the main canal in Venice, I noticed a great tower vi ible all over the city. I later found out it wa St. Mark's Tower at the Squar of the arne name. AI o there i St. Mark's Cathedral a magnificent e ·ample of Italian culture and arti tic ability. Around the square are all th shops, with an open area for band concert and other activitie . We left a day later for Geneva, witzerland. Traveling through the Italian and S\ i Alp wa a thril– ling experience. All we could see were the e va t range of bold, magnificent now-capped mountains. At the bas of the e mountain were ro\ s and row of terraced vine– yards and often a few goats on the limited amount of grazing lands. Our fir t few hours in Geneva were pent touring the cleanest and mo t colorful city we had yet vi ited. mong th many places we visited w re th International Headquarters of the Y.M.C.A. and the Red Cro , th Big Four Meeting Palace and the house in which Pre ident Eis n– hower had stayed when he was th re Ia t July. Gene a i ituated on the end of Leman Lake, commonly call d Lake Geneva. On the shore of Lake Gene a i the tallest man– made water fountain in Europ . On Tower of Beidelburg Castle in Heidelburg, Germany IMPRES IO