Kathy and Tom Urban's recent trip to exotic China

Kathy and Tom at the Great Wall of China on a chilly morning

Tom picked up a local Shanghai beauty with Kathy's permission

The Urbans at the Palace of Heavenly Peace in Beijing

The Urbans at the Shanghai radio tower, which is taller than the Levittown water tower and even more famous

Tom in Beijing's world famous Tiananmen Square

Kathy Armstrong Urban, class of 1962, and her 1960 graduate husband Tom traveled from Beijing to Xian then down the Yangtzee River to Shanghai. They stopped at 10 ports each for a day along the way, March 13 to April 3, 2012.

The trip was booked with Viking River Cruises on its China “Cultural Delights” tour, a 17-day adventure. "We had traveled with Viking through Europe and been delighted, so China was a no-brainer," Tom commented.

Kathy and Tom met at DAHS when she was a freshman and he a junior (1958). They have been together ever since marrying in 1965.

More photos of globetrotting 1960 Division Avenue graduates

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Frank Barning (1960) visited Copenhagen, Denmark in 2003.

Jim Halpin (1960) in Shenzhen, China. He and his wife visit China virtually every year.

Ira (1960) and Eileen Selsky in the Galapagos.

Larry Bory (1960) at the Pissing Fountain near Kafka Museum Prague, Czech Republic.

Annjoy Herman Romdalvik (1960) in Siena, Italy.

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

BEYOND LEVITTOWN: Travel photos from Warren Zaretsky's current visit to Dalian, China.

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His friend Tom moved to China from New York in 2004.

This leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary was made by Warren's friend Andy.

Xi lan hua he zha tudou -- Warren's favorite dish from his previous China stay; broccoli and French Fries. It could be found on column A.

Several photos of my high school classmate Warren Zaretsky have appeared in our travel series in recent months. A world traveler, who I refer to as "Wandering Warren", he is currently in China after spending some time in Thailand. He has emailed dozens of photos, and his shots of local food have made your blogger salivate on a regular basis.

He is now in Dalian, China where he taught English to Chinese students for two years in 2003-2005. While most teachers from the United States and Canada hang out with each other, the wandering one took the road not taken by most imports. He built ties with local people, to sample their lifestyle and culture. On his current trip, Warren reunited with some of his old friends.

BEYOND LEVITTOWN: More travel photos from early Division Avenue graduates. The 12th in a series.

Wandering Warren Zaretsky (1960) is currently traveling in Thailand but not by elephant
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Pat Stanley Share (1962) with her friend Bob at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, Alaska. Link to the farm: http://www.muskoxfarm.org/

Annajoy Herman Romdalvik (1960) in Alsace, France

Don Davidson (1960) in Portofino, Italy

Marilyn Monsrud Frese (1963) and husband Don in Virgin Gorda, in the British Virgin Islands. Marilyn wrote, "The beaches are surrounded by these boulders of un-erupted volcanic lava that was left behind hundreds of thousands years ago as the sea washed away the covering earth, leaving this amazing landscape behind. These boulders are also underwater, surrounding the island. It makes the snorkeling and diving in the crystal clear water incredible. Virgin Gorda has no airport (except a tiny one for some small private planes). It's only a few miles off of Tortola and is our favorite Caribbean island. We have vacationed here once a year for the last 18 years."

“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.”

– Dagobert D. Runes

BEYOND LEVITTOWN: More travel photos from early Division Avenue graduates. The 11th of a series.

Warren Zaretsky (1960) at the Temple of Concordia, Agrigento in Sicily in 2007

Michelle Fromm-Lewis (1963) and husband Chuck on the left while visiting the Incan ruins at the Parque Arqueologico de Tipon in Peru

Frank (1960) and Vivian Barning at the Villa d'Este 20 miles from Rome

Karen Biro Hewson (1960) with her husband Brian on a sailboat ride, Lake Balaton, Hungary

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”

– John Steinbeck

BEYOND LEVITTOWN: More travel photos from early Division Avenue graduates. The 10th of a series.

Annjoy Herman Romdalvik (1960) goes native in the Black Forest, Germany

Frank Barning (1960) in Australia, 2005. He says "Not my favorite animals."

Don (1960) and Phyllis Davidson at the Trevi Fountain in Rome, 2005

Sandy Kelly Mincher (1961) with husband John while visiting St. Thomas in 2010

Larry Bory (1960) with the silver man in Brataslava, Slovakia, one of a number of whimsical statues in that city

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable."

– Clifton Fadiman

BEYOND LEVITTOWN: Globetrotters . . . Travel photos from early Division Avenue graduates. The ninth of a series.

Warren Zaretsky (1960) in Moscow at St. Basil's Cathedral, 2011

Karen Biro Hewson (1960) at Stonehenge, England

John Koehler (1960) with sons Kevin and Robert in Kauai, Hawaii.

Jim Halpin (1960) in Huiling, China with his wife SuLin, 2009

Rudyard Kipling:

“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it."

MORE BEYOND LEVITTOWN: Travel photos from early Division Avenue High School graduates. The eighth of a series.

Ira (1960) and Eileen Selsky recently traveled to the Galapagos Islands.

Don Davidson (1960) visited Ibiza, Spain in 2010.

Sandy Kelly Mincher (1961) sailed through the Panama Canal.

Karen Biro Hewson (1960) at St. Paul's, London.

Mal Karman (1960) in Persepolis, Iran in 2006. He spent a month there.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

BEYOND LEVITTOWN: Travel photos from early Division Avenue graduates. The seventh of a series.

Annjoy Herman Romdalvik (1960) enjoys a snack in the Black Forest, Germany.

Larry Bory (1960) and his wife Marellen on snorkeling trip in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Jim Halpin (1960) and his wife Huiling in Shanghai.

Warren Zaretsky 1960 in Shenzhen Park, China.

Dotty Caggiano Pribish (1960) in Alaska. She commented, "I am with my 91-year young husband of 38 years, Vincent, the father of our five children and of my two stepdaughters. We were on a day glacier cruise out of Whittier, Alaska this past June. Our seven children funded this vacation in honor of my husband's 90th birthday to fulfill a dream of his. What a great eight days; what great kids!"

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After his retirement, Winston Churchill was cruising the Mediterranean on an Italian cruise liner. Some Italian journalists asked why an ex British Prime Minister would chose an Italian ship.

“There are three things I like about being on an Italian cruise ship” said Churchill. “First their cuisine is unsurpassed. Second their service is superb. And then, in time of emergency, there is none of this nonsense about women and children first”.

A shake, rattle and roll vacation experience in Montserrat

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By MARILYN MONSRUD FRESE

Class of 1963

My husband Don and I vacationed on the island of Montserrat in 2007, just before Christmas. The island, which is in the British West Indies, had a terrible volcanic eruption back in 1995, which wiped out about one third of the island and buried its port city capital of Plymouth. Of the 13,000 people who lived on the island, 8,000 left and never returned.

It's a beautiful and super friendly island, black sand beaches mostly, and the people who remained on the island are just wonderful. This volcano is in the Sourriere Hills area, overlooking their port of entry and capital. The island is only about nine miles long and about six miles wide. The volcano erupts every few months. It sometimes just covers the island in volcanic ash, other times larger and with more damage.

The latest large eruption, re-burying much of the "exclusion zone", which is miles of dangerous area around the volcano, occurred on 2/11/10. The islanders live with this threat on a daily basis, but the new volcanic observatory built after the 1995 eruption has a warning system now in place on the island. The volcano is constantly monitored by the observatory.

One day we were sitting around the pool of this beautiful private villa we had rented. It had acres of land with amazing gardens and it was right on the top of a cliff with a 300 foot drop into the ocean. Suddenly everything started rolling and shaking. Waves started breaking across the top of the pool.

One reason we had rented this villa was because it was as close to the exclusion zone as was permitted, just on the edge of the danger zone. It has a view of the volcano, which is beautiful at night. Light from the fire inside makes it glow in the dark. We thought we were having a good size eruption and ran to see the volcanic mountain erupting (in hindsight, not too intelligent), only to find out it was an earthquake instead! A very different kind of vacation experience. Nature at its finest.

This is a link to the story and video of the eruption(s):

http://www.youtube.com/user/ptvmontserrat (may need to be copied and pasted to view.)

BEYOND LEVITTOWN: Travel photos from early Division Avenue graduates. Chapter six in a series.

Karen Biro Hewson (1960) on QE 2 in 1989.

June Johnson (1963) at the Great Wall of China.

Sandy Kelly Mincher (1961) on a 2010 eastern Caribbean cruise with husband John.

Frank Barning (1960) at Wat Prakaew in Thailand, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Don Davidson (1960) in Portofino, Italy in 2010.

According to author Bill Bryson, whose specialty is humorous books on travel:

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”