Mary's vacation

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.

From A New Way to Proficiency in English

An Ideal Holiday

If we are fond of travelling we see and learn all sorts of things that we can never see or learn at home, though we may read about them in books and newspapers, and see pictures of them at the cin­ema. The best way to study geography is to travel, and the best way to get to know and understand the people is to meet them in their own homes.

Most people who spend a holiday travelling take a camera with them and photograph anything that interests or pleases them - the sights of a city, views of mountains, lakes, valleys, plains, water­falls, forests, etc; famous men and women; the ruins of ancient buildings; and even animals and birds. Later, perhaps years later, they will be reminded by the photographs of the happy time they had had.

When I was a boy every holiday that I had seemed ideal. All day I played on the sands with my friends. We made sandcastles with huge yellow walls, and watched the incoming tide destroy them; we played football, we splashed each other in the water and shrieked with excitement. When the tide went out, we climbed over the slippery rocks and stared down at the fish and the seaweed in the rock-pools.