DECEMBER 2018 Voice Happiest of Holidays to all of our VIP Members and your families! Palace of the Grand Master, Rhodes, Greece Santorini, Greece Taormina Village, Sicily, Italy THE GREEK ISLANDS & EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN What a great group we had on this amazing tour in October. Special thanks to all 74 of our VIPs and guests from all regions of our banking family! With so much to take in on this amazing tour it s hard to choose what was the most memorable! This tour Venetian Harbor, Chania, Crete was full of history, spectacular views, and of course amazing Mediterranean food from the Welcome Dinner in Rome with live entertainment to traditional Greek dancing with our meals! And the NCL Spirit did not disappoint as well! We hope the photos will help share our wonderful adventure with the VIP Club and TRIPS who never let us down on these tours!
St. John s Co-Catheral, Valletta, Malta The Parthenon, Athens, Greece View from the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Mykonas, Greece
Fulda/Slayton GREEK ISLANDS/ MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE It was an amazing trip! So much to see and history to hear about!... just a few of the comments about this spectacular cruise. Seventeen VIPs and guests from the MN Region spent two weeks cruising Italy and the Greek Islands. From the beautiful churches to the amazing scenery and historic ruins, Greek dancing and cheese making, words alone aren t enough to describe what we saw. Hopefully through these pictures you can experience just a little of what we did! Thanks to all who went on this trip and made it such an enjoyable one!!
Moline/Davenport HOLIDAY MYSTERY TRIP This year our Mystery Trip was combined with our annual Holiday Trip and the secret destination was Cedar Rapids, Iowa! Our first stop was the Brucemore Mansion. This estate sits right in the middle of the city. Thomas Sinclair marketed Fidelity Hams and a variety of other pork products. Due to an industrial accident, Thomas was killed and left Caroline a widow with 6 children. She and her children built and lived in the mansion until all of them were grown. She then traded homes with George and Irene Douglas for a smaller estate. George Douglas was in the cereal business which later merged to become the Quaker Oats Company. The Douglas added many new features to the home, making it a true country estate. The Douglas eldest daughter, Margaret, was married to Howard Hall and lived on the estate in the Garden House. The estate was willed to Margaret after her mother s death and they also made more changes to the estate but continued the tradition of community leadership and philanthropy. The Hall s loved animals, particularly German Shepherd dogs, lions (they had 3, all named Leo) and a monkey. The animals were kept on the estate and were all buried in a pet cemetery next to the beautiful gardens. Brucemore was so beautifully decorated with many Christmas trees, garlands and wreaths. It was indeed a wonderful experience to view the mansion in all the holiday splendor. Brucemore is a great tribute to the city of Cedar Rapids and its prominent families. Newbo City Market was our next stop. The market has many diverse vendors to entice the public to the heart of the Bohemia District. There are so many delicious food vendors, it was difficult to make a choice for our lunch. We shopped, ate lunch and relaxed before moving on to our final destination.
The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library is recognized as the premier institution preserving Czech and Slovak heritage in the United States. This museum was devastated by flood waters in 2008, only the red roof top was visible. The loss of such valuable exhibits, books, and artifacts was overwhelming. The community and nation helped in an epic rebirth to restore and rebuild. Our first step of the tour was to view movies of the flood and rebuilding, special exhibits were shown and a cartoon of a favorite Czech mole and snowman was delightful. One of the special exhibits was Guts and Glory, depicting the war train that shaped a nation. As World War 1 ends in 1918, political leaders in Europe and America create the new nation of Czechoslovakia. Crucial to that decision are 60,000 brave Czech and Slovak soldiers who supported the Allies, seizing the Trans-Siberian Railroad and fighting their way 5,000 miles across Siberia. This and all the exhibits were very historically fascinating. The museum store is a shopper s paradise. It features hand-blown ornaments, glass, jewelry, apparel, and so much more. This time of year, Christmas ornaments are on full display, featuring Czech and Slovak creations. Our members took full advantage of buying 3 ornaments and getting one free. Lots of packages accompanied our travelers back home. Our weather was great the whole day. Cedar Rapids escaped the recent snow that covered the Quad Cities with over 13 inches. The sun was shining all day which made walking the Brucemore estate very pleasant. Everyone was quite impressed with each venue we visited. We had a drawing on the return home which was won by Jan Goodman. She received a VIP bag with lots of VIP goodies inside. To all of our VIP Members and Families, We wish you a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! We can t wait to see you all at one of our VIP events in 2019! Dorothy Burdick & Joanne Swanson