On 20-21 March of 1969, I completed my train trip across Europe, taking the sleeper from Munich to London. The train left at dusk, and I slept through Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Köln, and other German cities, awakening in Belgium. My companion in the compartment was an American anthropologist en route to USA. He had hominid teeth in a briefcase that was hand-cuffed to his wrist. I can't recall if he slept with his teeth, but he took them to Abendessen und Frühstück. In Ostend, we boarded a ferry boat for a comfortable and remarkably warm crossing of the English Channel to Dover.
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| White Cliffs of Dover (Tri-X film, Nikkormat FTn camera, 105mm ƒ/2.5 Nikkor lens, orange filter) |
The winter light was spectacular, and I recall the White Cliffs of Dover glowing in the morning sun. The cliffs are composed of Late Cretaceous chalk streaked with lenses of flint. I used an orange filter to enhance the clouds and glowing cliffs.
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| Approaching Dover |
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| The English Channel |
We finished our journey with the train into London St. Pancras station. I checked into a cheap hotel (note the repeated theme of cheap) and spent two days exploring London. In James Park, a flying duck deposited a dump on my wool coat. I bought a couple of souvenirs at Selfridges.
When it was time to leave, I bought a TWA ticket to Boston for $63. That was the period when TWA and Pan Am were matching (trying to destroy) Sir Freddie Laker's no frills Laker Airways with cheap cross-Atlantic flights. In 1982, Laker went into bankruptcy, and Pan Am and TWA promptly raised their ticket prices.
To buy the cheap TWA ticket, you had to go to the downtown ticket office and check if one of the bargain seats was available. It was mid-week in winter, so I ended up with three seats to myself. It was modestly civilized to fly in that era, although people smoked onboard. Thus ended my seven months in Europe.
Thank you, Dear Readers, for riding along.
