1992

This was a relatively quiet routine year, farming for Dick, and a lot of genealogy for me.     It was my last year of trying MLM, and I actually had enough success with Nikken to win an all paid trip to Japan.     There were delegates from all around the world, and some 40 of us from the US.     The whole experience was incredible and I came away really impressed.    Although there was something somewhat robotic in the service people.     Service in the stores, hotels, tourist venues, etc. was incredible.     At the hotels, if the bell boys weren't working, they stood at attention around the lobby waiting to be called.     In the stores, the clerks lined up at the end of their respective counters and stayed there unless they were tending a customer.    

We Americans started to be a little self-conscious after a while (although not enough to change).    We noticed that when we were taken to the various tourist spots, there would be one tourist guide after another with their entourage of tourists following behind them.     The orientals would line up obediently behind the guide, stop when they did and continue on when they did.     Our poor tour guides were constantly trying to keep us together and working us like a collie does a herd of sheep, most of the time with little result.

Nikken itself treated us royally, and the reception given to us the first night was something to be experienced.    It was held at the company headquarters.     The Geisha girls were beautiful:

We were put up in 5-star hotels and I have never seen lobbies like they had, before or since:

This was the one at the Osaka Royal Hotel.

Every day we were taken to the local tourist spots:

Kyoto, which was the former Imperial Capital

Temple of the 1001 images

Todaiji Temple

These were just a few of the places we saw.    We saw a Buddist statue that was two stories tall, one delightful shrine with over 1000 statues of children, a beautiful deer park where the same line of deer had lived for thousands of years.     Little shrines were everywhere and people would stop for a few moments to reflect as they conducted their every day lives.    

At the end of the trip we took the bullet train to Tokyo.     The train travels at 400mps!     And when they say it runs on time, they mean it runs precisely on time.     There was something robotic about this too, one felt that things would collapse if anything went out of kilter for one second.

The bullet train passed Mt. Fuji and although it wasn't as clear as this picture the day we went, we did seem the snow capped peak.

Tokyo was an education!     When you think of the population of this huge city and how the residents live in little cublicles of apartments, the mass of humanity and activity is incredible and YET, even though it seemed that 85% of the Japanese smoked, you never saw a single cigarette butt or piece of paper on the ground.     We had a lady from New York City with us and she suddenly exclaimed "where's the noise?".     No honking of horns, no shouting.     We noticed that if one car had to wait for another at an intersection, they would actually bow to each other as they passed.     There were coin operated machines along the main streets, selling soft drinks, candy and tea.     They were never broken into.     My roommate and I walked the streets late one evening and window shopped and felt perfectly safe - and all this in the heart of the city!   

This was 20 years ago, I don't know if it is that way anymore, but it was pretty impressive to all of us.

We went to the Nakamis Shopping Center, apparently it is busy like this all the time.     We got held up here for a while as Gorbachev was in town (actually stayed in the same hotel we did, the Imperial Hotel, right across the road from the Imperial Palace), and I did catch a glimpse of him as he walked by.

Alltogether, this was an experience not to be forgotten and I am very grateful I got to do it.    

The rest of the exciting 1991.....

Before we took our European trip, we had a trip to Cancun, Mexico - the first time we had been on that coast.     We took a side trip to the Mayan Ruins and found it fascinating.

Louise gave us two parties that year, one was a Mexican lunch out with friends and family to celebrate Dick's 60th birthday, and then another one at the time of our anniversary itself.

This one was in our back yard, and Louise did a great job of decorating.

My Heavens!     Were we ever that young?

I had another month long visit from relatives from the U.K.     This time it was my cousin Mary, her husband Peter and their son Jason.     Among many trips we went up to Vancouver Island to spend time with Irene.

Irene lived in Duncan which is known as the City of Totems.

Our trip there had to include the Buchart Gardens of course - this has to be on everybody's bucket list.

Peter took some great photos of our house and I thought I would include a couple.     It might bring back memories of ten great Christmas' and Thanksgivings we had here

1991 Christmas was no exception, and for Dick and I we had the added happiness of our first great-grandchild there............Jessica

This has always been one of my favorite photos of Katrina, (taken this Christmas).

Our 'animal family' was still Duke, Lady, Callie and Lena.     Had to throw the following picture in - it always amazes me to be reminded just how big Duke was!

We wrap up our trip....

Leaving Switzerland, en route to southern Germany, we stopped by the principality of Liechtenstein.    The whole country is only 62 square miles and sits between Switzerland and Austria.    This photo of Dick shows the old and the new.

In Germany, we passed the road leading to Auschwitz.     We considered going to see the site and museum there, but to be honest this trip had been such a joyous event, I knew that visiting this shrine would put a major dampner on my spirits, so we took a pass.    But I distinctly remember at the age of 12, our class was taken to see a film of the British troops arrival at a concentration camp after the war and the conditions there and the survivors.     It is something I shall never forget, and even though horrifying, I still believe that every young person should be shown these films so that they know the horror of the holocaust and understand why war IS necessary sometimes and why we always need to be our brother's keeper.

On to Munich where we spent the last few days before flying home.    These next two photos are of the Residenzmuseum in Munich.    I have never seen anything like this place before or since.    The sheer beauty of some of these rooms and some of the artifacts made me cry.

I had always heard of the Glockenspiel, so of course we had to go see this famous one and waited for the turn of the hour when the figurines appear and go around in a circle.    I would have liked to have been a bird so I could have seen them closer!

We toured the Olympic Park.    Those of you old enough will remember that this was the Olympics where the eleven members of the Israeli's team were taken hostage and subsequently murdered by the Palestinians.     Dick's old high school football coach attended these Olympics.

Our last major tourist spot was the Nymphenberg Castle.    Another splendid place inside, but it's main beauty was the gardens.

And so on to home.    This was the highlight of this year, but the next log will tell about the other exciting happenings in the same year.