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April 22, 1963

4/22/2011

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  This morning a painter who was painting our hotel, changed our flat tire.  He was one of Paris’ nicest people and then we met another.  We went for coffee in an Expresso Bar (this is where one gets coffee in Europe in standup bars – lots of them and they always serve coffee – all Expresso, liquor and pastries.  We went in with our usual questions “Combien coute une grande café?”  Combien pour une petite café?  Combien pour une croissant”   The madame came over and told us to have a roll on the house and later wouldn’t let us pay for it.  She evidently thought we didn’t have enough money for both a coffee and a roll. 

Paris Streets are full of interesting sites, sidewalk cafes, flower stands and sidewalk urinals for men right on the sidewalks - little round huts of tin with no roof.  They are shoulder high and open from the knee down with a little hole in the sidewalk.  Men can just go right in whenever they feel the urge.

We went to the Arch de Triumph, in the center of the Place D’Estoile where 12 streets come togeher.  From the arch, is the ritzy Champs Elysse which runs all the way down to the Place de la Concorde.  Then to the Tuilleries Gardens to the Jeu de Paume Museum of Impressionists, Picasso Gaugain, Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Renoir,  then we walked over to the Left Bank and down the length of St Germain to Aux Deuz Magot Café (Café of the 2 Maggots) to see the café which is noted as the meeting place of Jean Paul Sartres and the Existentialists. 

Tonight three  guys from the base at Orleans came up.  We all went to the Cirque with trapeze, elephants, tigers, etc.  Only one ring but really good acts and lots of fun to see - even dancing horses.  Back on the left Bank we tried three or four jazz spots and clubs but all were too crowded to get in.  We went to Mont Parnasse on Left Bank and stopped in several night spots for a beer and music.  We sauntered home at 3 am, on still crowded, lively streets of Paris

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    A daily diary of a journey in 1962.  Please post comments about where you were then on the Background  page.

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     1962 was pivotal.  This is the background:

    It was a year colored by the Cuban Missile Crisis, an escalating involvement in Vietnam, the Berlin Wall and the Cold War with Russia, Civil Rights issues, a nascent space program, Nelson Mandela in prison, Betty Friedan's, The Feminist Mystique, the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the death of Marilyn Monroe. 

    In the face of all of this, Pat, Judy and I  blithely took off for Europe with the intention of traveling through Europe and North Africa until our money ran out.   We had a travel guide and a book titled Europe on $5.00 a Day.  Since we had all read The Ugly American in preparation for the trip, we thought we were very smart to buy a used Volkswagen with Dutch license plates.  We dubbed the car "Louie" since a cute guy from Switzerland named Louie had helped us acquire it.

    There was no such thing as a cell phone, a computer, Twitter or Facebook.  Our parents didn't hear from us for weeks on end.  We wrote regularly, but letters took forever to deliver and we only vaguely knew where we would be next.  It was a very cold winter and we followed the sun.

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