After a month away, I’m back and raring to go. Bev and I had a wonderful vacation, but there’s no place like home. I thank my colleague, Gary English, for keeping an eye on things at Gateway during my absence and to Gary and Peter Gilmore for being guest bloggers.
Tourism is one of Ireland's most important industries and the Emerald Isle was the first stop on our European holiday. Ireland has been severely hit by the GFC and the former “Celtic Tiger” is in recession. As the first country in the world to guarantee bank deposits as a result of the GFC, Ireland is still trying to work through the aftershocks of its sovereign debt mess.
I’m not sure whether the locals Bev and I met in Dublin suppress their economic sorrows with a pint of Guinness, but they sure are a friendly lot. The Gaelic language, Celtic music and Irish riverdance certainly lifted our spirits and made for a pleasant stay in what was originally a Viking settlement.
Next stop on our vacation was Amsterdam, headquarters of the Netherlands-based Rabobank. Rabobank is a co-operative bank which is owned by a federation of local credit unions. The bank is rooted in the ideas of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the father of the global credit union movement.
In the Netherlands, the bank is known as the Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. Rabobank has clung steadfastly to its status as a private co-operative and, impressively, maintained its Triple-A rating throughout the GFC. It’s a very safe bank, just like the Dutch capital, which is a safe place to house the world’s largest collection of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings.
Leaving the canals and windmills of Amsterdam, we then headed for the ancient cobblestone streets of Copenhagen. The Danish royal capital is delightful and, contrary to what Shakespeare wrote, there is nothing rotten in the state of Denmark. Indeed, Denmark ranks as the world’s least corrupt country and is also the birthplace of one of the world's most popular toys, Lego.
Copenhagen’s most famous son, Hans Christian Andersen, would be proud of how cosmopolitan his city has become. However, he probably couldn’t afford to live there today. Copenhagen is an expensive place and I suspect the local McDonalds is a popular eatery for tourists on a budget.
Just across the bay from Copenhagen is Sweden but we didn’t stop at the capital, Stockholm. Rather, we stayed in a city called Gothenburg. Bev’s cousin, Anne, lives there with her Swedish husband, Lars. I told Lars I would mention him in this blog in return for the complimentary accommodation they gave us.
Anne and Lars were delightful hosts (now we’re even, Lars, as I’ve made you “globally” famous!) and I’m looking forward to my next “free” holiday in Sweden. But please don’t be upset, Lars, ‘cause I’ve already exceeded my blog word count limit, so I can’t tell my readers about your wonderful home town.
From Gothenburg we flew to Munich, the capital of the state of Bavaria and home of the Bavarian Motor Works (BMW). Each morning, we had a hearty Bavarian breakfast before setting off to see the sites. We were too early for Oktoberfest, which this year celebrates its 200th anniversary, but we did get to see the Oktoberfest 1810-2010 exhibition.
Well, that’s it folks. Hope my postcard has not made you too jealous. Now please stop frothing at the mouth and go back to work!
Regards
Paul J. Thomas
Podcast is available here 
Posted Monday, August 30, 2010 
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