European countries I have visited

Here are the European countries I have visited.

I have made a few exceptions to my "don't count it if I was only there in an airport" rule. I included Poland even though I never left the plane when it made a stopover in Warsaw. The reason I count Poland is that the stopover was memorable.

The Warsaw visit was during my 1983 visit to the Soviet Union. This was my first airplane flight and my first visit to a Communist country. The plane, a Soviet Union Aeroflot plane, was parked away from the terminal while a few passengers got off and a few then boarded. The gray ugly terminal as seen from the plane, the few people visible, the military guards and vehicles, and the excitement and uncertainty at being in a Communist country all made this stopover memorable.

I also included Belgium even though I only saw the country from the train. This was before the Chunnel was built, and the way to get to Germany from England was to take a ferry to Belgium then a train across Belgium and France to Germany. I think I saw enough of Belgium and its people for it to count as a visit.

I listed Luxembourg over Liechtenstein though I am not 100% possitive it is correct. My friends Olaf and Kathi took me to this country for an afternoon when I visited them in Germany in the 1990s. I more remember more our meal at the outdoor cafe than I do the country itself. I probably was in Luxembourg as long as I was in Belgium.

(I don't know why Ireland shows up as black on the map. My image has it the light color of an unvisited country. However after I upload the image to Blogger Ireland is changed to black. *shrug*)

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