Davos International Summer Camp - 40 years later

From June 30 - July 20 1968 I was very fortunate to go to a summer camp in Davos, Switzerland. It was my 8th grade graduation present from my parents while we were living in London. WOW -- what an amazing experience! I met some interesting kids I would never have met otherwise, and had some great experiences that I'm still trying to re-capture by visiting Davos again 40 years later.

About the other kids at camp -- there were two American girls (Renee and Sheryl pictured with our counselor, Becky) who were living in Tripoli, Libya because their dads were working there for oil companies. They each had their own horse and went to a private American school there.

Then there was Ronnie, a very friendly and enthusiastic girl from the Bronx. Melissa was the only one I stayed in touch with for several years after summer camp in Davos -- she was from Summit New Jersey, and her dad was a pilot for TWA. There were three sisters (or cousins) from Iran, two of whom cried for two weeks non-stop because they were homesick. They were supposed to stay there for 9 weeks, but the camp sent them home after two weeks because they were so miserable. The other Iranian girl, Taraneh, was a lot of fun - she had great English language skills and she looked exactly like "Googoosh," a famous pop star in Iran at the time. Her cousin, Moneer, was also a lot of fun -- he ended up as the "boyfriend" of a wealthy Canadian girl at camp whose dad owned a bunch of jets that were leased to various airlines.

The counsellors were all American college kids who were there to keep us VERY active all the time -- Lon, David, Becky, Cathy, Romy, Heidi, Ken, Gabrielle, Lynda, and others whose names I've forgotten. We went hiking, swimming, boating, ice skating (on the open-air rink which is still there), tennis playing and shooting. In fact, I learned to shoot a rifle pretty well in Davos.

We went on overnight hikes up and down the mountains surrounding Davos and we went on a trip to Lake Constance and Liechtenstein. At night we had a disco downstairs in our hotel, and for the first time I heard such popular American pop songs as "Yummy Yummy Yummy I've Got Love in my Tummy" and "Simon Says" and "Bonnie and Clyde." On the 4th of July we had a big cookout complete with fireworks, because most of the kids at the camp were Americans -- including quite a few who were children of the American military personnel based in Germany then.

 

Where was the "camp" held? Well, there were several different locations for the different ages of the campers. The youngest ones stayed at the "Sonnenberg" Hotel, the middle kids stayed at the "Victoria" hotel in Davos Dorf, and the older kids (that was my group) were at the "Angleterre." That's right, at age 13 I stayed at the grand old "Angleterre Hotel" when it was slightly down at the heels. It was originally built in 1875 and in the 1980's was torn down or rebuilt to become the "Kongresshotel," a 5-star hotel that is headquarters to the World Economic Summit held in Davos every January.  I'm still not sure where my room was in the hotel, but I know we were on the third floor and that there were three or four of us in each room, and we had fantastic views to the mountains and to Davos Platz.

It was an amazing three weeks, and I'm still trying to recapture it. So that's partly why I've been back to Davos three times in the last four years -- reliving the experience of summer camp in 1968. I've been up and down the mountains, walking around the town of Davos Platz, to the outdoor ice rink, the Hallenbad (indoor swimming pool), the Davosersee (Davos Lake), remembering all of the things we did that summer.

The pictures I took this trip will help to show you why Davos is such a special and beautiful place. Enjoy!