She looks great at ANY age

more from Ginny about our 1972 trip to Europe

Great pictures. Is that Joyce in the brown jacket? the grandkids are adorable. I remembered the taxi driver too in Pompeii taking us for the loooong ride to the ruins. I remember the brand new facilities for the Olympic team in Munich that they allowed us to stay in before the athletes got there. We had hand dryers to dry our hair with for a change. And then the athletes were killed in that very same building.
I remember the most handsome boys in Yugoslavia but by the time they were 22 they looked old. They also thought we were old at 22 whereas Mary was desirable at 18. And strong like bull. I remember getting my hair cut with a knife blade at the Athens sidewalk cafe. And getting robbed at the bullfight in Barcelona by slicing my string pouch with a knife. And the dirty room we rented in Barcelona that had needles for drugs laying in the ashtray in the owners living room. And landing in Florence from the train at midnight instead of the morning with no place to stay. Staying with the nuns in Rome at the nunnery through your friend the priest. Stopping on the Yugolslavian Communist border for hours while they squeezed our toothpaste and ripped apart tampons while looking for drugs.and contraband. Trying to get a discount rate for college students on the Eurorail train when we really weren't eligible for it since we were already a part of the workforce (they held our passports and wouldn't return them and they didn't speak Englisth--can't quite remember the country but I think it was Greece or Yugoslavia). Crying my way through the concentration camp in Munich and only making it half way through because it was so horrific. Going to the beer brewery for a meal because they served free beer and appetizers which turned out to be potato chips. Relying on "Europe on 5 Dollars A Day" to stretch the dollar. Drinking out of the communal wine mug in Greece. Not using the bathrooms in Yugoslavia because they were co-ed with 2 footprints on the floor with a hole. Going through 5 countries before we got constipation pills for all. Gaining 10 pounds from eating the wonderful bread and butter each morning for breakfast ( and also the muscle that we built up from carrying those backpacks with all the bundles tied to the outside.)

posted by Diana/Mom/Nonna @ 9:03 AM