europe-1

In 1980, I had a tentative plan to bicycle around England and Ireland with a girl I met folkdancing. She backed out shortly before I was to leave, but I went anyway. Rather than bicycle, I decided on hitch-hiking. In London, I stayed at Astor's Hostle, across the street from the British Museum, for about $10 a night, which included a brown liquid that was purportedly coffee, and a reject croissant from the day old (meaning week old) store. Did you know that THE Rosetta Stone is in the British Museum. And more mummies than in Egypt. And 2 Gutenberg Bibles. (One printed on paper, the other printed on vellum.) And Trajan's Column. None are copies, all are original. There are probably copies where the originals came from.

After a week or so in London, I hitch-hiked up to Coventry, stayed a couple days with a friend from Torrington Mfg (often referred to as The Fan Company) then continued up to Edinburgh, Scotland. (There was a little rain - much less than expected.) Next, it was over to Belfast, Ireland, and then down to Dublin, where I was accosted by half a dozen gypsy kids, who had a hand in every pocket, but someone yelled at 'em and they left. I stayed in Dublin a couple days, then it was back to Wales, where I did stop and look at Stonehenge and then to London.

Stayed in London a few more days, and picked up an Eurail Pass that mom and dad got for me, then headed to the coast. Took the ferry from Dover to Calais (because that's what it says in the poem, btw, the white cliffs of Dover are dirty grey) and headed to Paris. I stayed at the Hotel Nesle, of which the tour book said, "Cleanliness is not their forte". But they were nice. Again, brown liquid and day old bakery rejects, but also around $15 a day. Two blocks from the Seine, Ile-de-France, and Notre Dame Cathedral.

I was away for 3 months, from the middle of September to the middle of December. One month in England, Scotland, Ireland, and back to London. Two months in Europe, using my Eurail Pass. Nearly always, on a budget, when you're young, you take the night train and save a day's lodging. You don't sleep well, but back then it was okay. For the trip, I had a back pack with clothes etc (but no camera, unfortunately), and I also had a small money belt where I kept my passport and my dwindling supply of traveler's checks that had started out at $3k. That estimate, through no planning, turned out pretty good.

To a great degree, I was following in my cousin Lolly's path. She had worked for Vista, which is the US version of the Peace Corps. The deal there is they give you half your salary for the 2 years you work, and the other half as a lump sum at the end. Lolly took that, and with a girl friend went to Europe and traveled all around for a bit over a year. She'd have stayed longer but thought she felt a lump in her breast and thought it good to come back and have it looked at. She was a far better traveler than I. I expect that for both of us, it was the trip of a life-time.

From Paris, I took a short trip to Quimper. Got there after dark, and I do mean dark. Didn't take 2 hands to count street lights. Wandering away from the train station, in the dark, eventually I did see some light. Small cafe, and when I started talking, the lady said, "Wait, I'll get my daughter" who did speak English. I asked, what was good and reasonably priced? "Steak tartar." "Really?" "Yes." "Okay." She was right! One of the most memorable meals of my life. Simple and really good. I've tried a couple times since, but nothing else has ever come close. After dinner I asked, "I hear there's a hostel near here?" "Yes, in fact, the two guys over at that table will be going there shortly, you could go with them." So I did. Only stayed one night (not a major tourist destination) then back to Paris, and to the Hotel Nesle. The very heavy lady who owned/managed/??? it said, "You're back." "Yes, but I cannot stay." "Oh we're not nice enough for you." "It's not that, I'm taking the train tomorrow, and I don't have any more Francs." "That's okay, you can sleep in the couch." Yes, I'd go back. They're nice.

Took the night train to Vienna. Arrived early in the morning to 6" of snow on the ground. Remember, I'd left San Francisco in the middle of September, and was not at all ready for winter. In 30 seconds, I turned around and got on the train, headed back to Paris.

Next I went to Denmark for a couple days, then to Germany. In 1980, Germany was still divided, and I took the train to West Berlin, which was 60-100 miles inside East Germany. During the three months of the trip, every once in a while, someone would look at my passport. On that train, they looked. At the passport, and me. And the passport, and me. And the passport, and me. I've never been so thoroughly checked. When the train got going, it never slowed down, rattling through a switching yard and on, for an hour or more, until it was inside West Berlin. I met up with a couple folks from Australia while in West Berlin, and we traveled as a group of 3 for a few days. It cost $25, plus you had to exchange $50 into East German marks (which were pretty worthless) to go into East Berlin for a day, so we did that. We talked to a lady in a shop, who quietly said they close at 5. When we went back 4 of us walked to the apartment she shared, and she told us that she couldn't talk at the shop, or she'd have been reported, and would be out of a job.

From Germany we headed to Stockholm, where the hostel was a remodeled sailing ship, and was easily the nicest hostel I've ever seen. From there we went to Oslo, where they'd arranged to take the train over the mountains to Trondheim, stay the night, then a ferry in the morning, and a train trip back to Oslo. Did you know that it was cold, and snowy, and icy, in Norway in late November. It is. And there's some water, on top of the ice, on top of the snow, at 6am when it's still very dark, and we had to walk down to the ferry. AND, we'd had heat. our cloths were dry and warm. Such luxury. Wanting to keep that warmth, I put a couple of plastic bags on my feet. They were almost water proof. They let water in, but not out. So I carried a puddle on each foot, in case I ran out of water on the ground. But it gets worse. Do you know how much friction there is between plastic bags, and ice covered in water? NONE! On my butt in a flash. With my backpack holding me down. (Did I mention that it was kind of heavy?) Had to roll over to get up, only to repeat the embarrassment. Got up again, and walked really carefully to the ferry. Couldn't find a warm spot on the ferry, and was cold at least until I got onto the train after the ferry ride.

Next, back to Oslo, and we split up. I went to Paris, then to Italy. Everywhere in Europe, there was lots of space on trains. I sprawled out on 3 seats, and more people came into the compartment. (I was a bit rude) Finally one lady muttered, "American". Oh lord, I hunched up in the corner and stayed there for the rest of the ride. Stayed a day in Venice. I can't find anyone, or anything to verify the memory, but I swear there were red row boats that said Hertz or something on them. After a night in Venice, I went to Rome and stayed a few days. This is December by now, and it snowed all the way down to Naples. And I'm dressed for September in San Francisco. Went to the Sistine Chapel and it's really cool. All those colorful rooms with decorations that you see are really pretty plane square rooms, painted to look like they all sculpted. Pretty amazing.

Went to Florence, and saw the Statue of David. If you ever get a chance, go. There is not another piece of sculpture like it in the world. Did see the Leaning Tower -- yes, it really does lean. By then, I was running out of time, so I took the train back to Paris, and London. Called the airline - they're all booked. Oh there's a space tomorrow. I took it. As I was on the plane, on the runway, I thought to myself. "What am I doing here? I could have stayed longer." But the die was cast, and in a couple days, I was back at work at the bank.

If you ever get the chance do it. It's a life changer.