Fifty years ago today I left for Europe.

I left via San Francisco to New York and Iceland. I spent 13 months traveling first to the Scandinavian countries, then Great Britain (not Wales) and back onto the continent and working in Zermatt over the winter and my sister joined me there and we traveled to Rome where she stayed and I went on to Greece and back to Italy. I traveled by train and hitchhiked. I've never been back. I walked all over cities and really got a feel for the countries. I kept a journal. I'm still friends with KS I met in the French Riviera at the youth hostel. She married a guy she met in Europe. My niece was born in Rome after the moon landing.