Jan 3 1963

2/3/2011

Dede, Judy and the monkey on the Rock of Gibraltar

We had to pass through half a dozen customs offices and across the runway of an airstrip to get to Gibraltar. Then drove down the Europa Road half way around the rock to the light house, then back to St Michaels Cave. It was full of stalagtites and stalagmites, eerie organ music and water dripping everywhere. From there we walked on up to the top of the Rock where we could look on both sides. It is really big rock! From there we descended 365 very steep steps to the apes den where a monstrous little monkey came over, stole Pat's cigarette case and promptly began eating it, then threw it over the side. From there we went to the upper gallery which is a long hall in the rock with guns placed in holes about 100 feet apart, making it possible to see both sides of the peninsula and pick off approaching ships.

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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.

Jan 3 1963

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1962 was pivotal. This is the background:

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