MARY'S VACATION

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 572.

When Mary was at University she had very long summer holidays. She finished her exams in the middle of June. University began again at the beginning of October. That meant that she had three months to fill. The first two she usually spent working. Mary had a job selling ice-cream in summer. One year she took the money she earned and went on holiday with a friend. They bought a ticket which entitled them to a month s travel on European trains. Mary, of course, wanted to visit the Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries. Her friend was more interested in sun, sea and sand. Therefore, they planned to take in Greece and Spain on their tour. They took a boat from England to Holland. There they spent a day in Amsterdam, enjoying being abroad. They visited Anne Frank's house before leaving. She was a Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis in the war and who wrote a now famous diary about her experiences.

From Holland they went on to Germany. Mary had friends in Hamburg: they spent the week­end with them before catching the train to Berlin. Berlin was a very exciting place to be, because when Mary was there the Wall had come down only the year before. It was easy for them to go from Berlin to Warsaw. Mary and her friend, however, preferred Prague, their next stop. It was charming and they could have spent a week there but there was no time. They wanted to see other places. As they were already short of time, they decided to miss out Greece. They travelled through Austria, stopping a couple of days in the mountains, and then went down into Italy. They stopped at the sea­side town for a few days, before making their way to France. TIme was running out now so they nipped into Spain, before travelling home through France. Paris was their final stop. They liked it, but after all the interesting places they had seen, they could not say it was their favourite. Tired and hungry they boarded the ship home at Calais. In England they parted company for their different homes. They each had pleasant memories and a camera full of photographs.

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