Fifty years ago, on this date (a Tuesday then, the day after Memorial Day), classmate and longtime friend Kevin O’Malley and I took off from Logan Airport in Boston bound for a four-week tour of Europe. We left in late May because the airfare went up in June. I had left Columbia Journalism School a little early, missing graduation ceremonies in early June. (They mailed me the degree.)
Kevin had made all the plans — itinerary, hotels, etc. — for which I thank him effusively and very belatedly.
Here’s the list of locations, in order, and a map:
Amsterdam
Copenhagen
Munich
Lucerne/Wengen
Venice
Florence
Rome
Nice/Monaco
Paris
I kept a journal during the trip, which will be a source for posts about each of the destinations. And there will be some of what we remember (we have reputations to protect). Kevin will be contributing his recollections.
And there will be lots of photos. You’ll get to see what some of Europe looked like a half-century ago. The scenes were captured on positive film, 35-mm slides, using a Nikon F I had purchased in Japan in 1969 while in the Navy on deployment to the Western Pacific (still have it). Film was Kodachrome and Ektachrome, names totally unfamiliar to many younger folk.
Here are thumbnails of a selection of photos.
The flight from Boston was a red-eye, leaving late on the 30th and arriving in Europe on the 31st. Our first post on the trip itself will be tomorrow.
It’s EuropaTour ’72!