1979 Going Home (9/21-22/1979)

Friday, September 21, 1979

I’m heading home! We left early, taking the bus to Tetouan, and then one to Tangier. We passed the usual rugged countryside, rocky hills and mountains with scrubby trees. The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere to let off passengers. Two passengers were apparently smugglers since they spread their things evenly throughout the bus. After arriving in Tangier, we first stopped at the tourist agency to get the Royal Air Maroc address, then stopped at a bank to cash Kathy’s paycheck. At the Air Maroc office, they reluctantly agreed to keep my baggage in the storeroom for the day. Then we went souvenir-hunting and Kathy did an admirable job of bargaining when necessary. She bought book covers for her parents, a wallet for Aldo and a hand-of-Fatima charm for Pina. I got one of the charms for my sister. We were bothered only a few times by guys wanting to be our guides, but usually a “la, berekolofic” put them off. However, one guy insisted on knowing where I was from…

We had lunch at a restaurant where the fresh meats were displayed out front. We sat in a hotel garden until the stores opened up again. We were bothered again by a couple persistent “guides,” wanting to take us anywhere! Gives a bad reputation to Morocco. Finished our souvenir shopping and returned to the Air Maroc offices to pick up my bags. Kathy finagled them into getting a taxicab for me. Kathy and I said our goodbyes Moroccan-style, and we parted company after two months! It was a 15-20 minute drive to the airport. I had a two-hour wait, plenty of time for checking in and going through customs where bags were thoroughly searched and our clothes (the ones we were wearing!) were patted. After the quick body search, we were allowed on the 737 plane. Just before boarding you point out your luggage which they then put on the plane. Once in the plane, you could take any seat you wished! The plane left at 18:10 and we were served a dinner of a turkey sandwich, fruit cocktail, pretzels, cake and cookies with a tiny plastic bottle of water. We landed in Madrid 50 minutes later, but 20:00 local time. Went through customs and checked my baggage. Spent the evening exploring the international terminal of the airport. Found the souvenir shops and TWA desk. I read an Italian newspaper I found, and a magazine. Caught up on my declarable item list, journal, and game-book Kathy got me in Granville. There was no hassling, only a couple hisses. A lot of people were sleeping in the airport, so I joined them. At this airport was a specially designated “meeting point” such as one we had seen in the München railroad station. There was also a message board like one I had seen in the Tangier airport.

Saturday, September 22, 1979

I went to the souvenir shops and bought a cross pendant, then I checked in with TWA. Some guy wanted to sit and talk to me in Spanish. Later it looked like they were either taping a film, or waiting for a famous person to arrive. I think the former, because of the super-huge lamps, the single camera, the bunch of old suitcases, and the same old people waiting for hours at the luggage claim area, and the lack of huge crowds of curious on-lookers. I picked up my luggage and went through the procedures before boarding the plane. Our 747 took off by 12:00 Madrid time. I rented a headset and listened to the latest U.S. hits; I guess I didn't miss much! We were served lunch of chicken, beans, a roll, piece of cake, and a salad, etc. That was after a snack of peanuts and crackers! A while later the movie began, “Lost and Found” with George Segal and Glynnis Jackson. Kind of funny but halfway through it got cloudy (the film) and then it stopped altogether. A crewman pulled the projector down from the ceiling and loops of film spilled out everywhere. He pulled out the loose film and started the projector again. Twice again it stopped, and finally they didn't bother trying to fix it, so we will never know who got tenure.

TWA booklet cover (look familiar?)

TWA booklet: Duty Free info

TWA booklet: Menu

TWA booklet: Beverages and Duty Free info

I continued listening to my headset, and seven hours after take-off we landed at Kennedy Airport, NYC. It was only 13:00 local time, a relative flight of only one hour! We had a long wait for baggage. I breezed through customs and only had to pay $2.30 for duty. I took the bus of the JFK Subway-Bus Express to Manhattan to a parking lot where I caught the subway to 42^nd Street. Ended up hiking along 42^nd Street (I wasn't bothered by a soul!) to Port Authority where I called the family, and then took the bus to Mahwah, NJ where Mom, Dad and Kathy met me. A short walk to Suffern, NY and home again! (Although Suffern wasn't my home originally, it became my home for the next year or so!)

1979 Morocco Again (9/11-20/1979)

Tuesday, September 11, 1979

The next morning we got up fairly early and watched southern Spain fly by, with cork trees where the bark had been stripped off, a few fig trees, and a lot of olive trees. We saw century plants with their huge unattractive flowers on giant asparagus-like stalks. Finally we arrived in Algeciras at about 10:30. We walked through the center of the town to reach the port where we bought tickets for the 13:00 boat. We bought tuna sandwiches and drinks, and had a picnic in the shadow of the customs building. Finally we were able to board the boat where we played several games of Mastermind (learned on the train by the Moroccan groom who loved it), and then I fell asleep. At Ceuta, we took the bus to the border without any problems. At the border was some guy asking everyone if they were Americans, but other than that there were no hassles. Our baggage was casually searched. We were able to board a bus to Tetouan right away and had a relatively short wait before it took off. At the border you could look up in the hills and see footpaths followed by those who want to bypass the border guards. You could count the people taking the path but the guards weren't doing anything about it. These people may have been those without passports, where the true smuggler probably brazenly goes through the border customs as required. On the bus a guy asked me to move over so that he could occupy the third seat of our row, even though there were plenty of empty rows. Apparently that is unusual and at least shameful Moroccan behavior. When we arrived in Tetouan, a fellow told us in English that the tourist office was upstairs, a fact Kathy didn't know. We caught a fast bus to Martil, and finally arrived “home” safe and sound. We started cleaning house, being interrupted only to have dinner with the neighbors; Sue and Bechir were anxious to hear about our trip. We returned to finish cleaning, to finally take showers, and to fall into bed.

Wednesday, September 12, 1979

Slept late, did a lot of cleaning, shopping, washing clothes, and spent a little time on the beach.

Thursday, September 13, 1979

Again slept late, did shopping and loads of clothes washing, plus visiting with Sue and Peace Corps volunteer Marianne. Kathy began reading Hitchcock stories out loud, which is becoming a nightly treat.

Friday, September 14, 1979

Didn't sleep late because early in the morning we joined Sue and Marianne as Bechir drove us into Tetouan. We went to a Hammem, or a public bath. We women crowded into one of the stall areas and filled up buckets of water. First we had to get ourselves wet! We soaped up with Moroccan soap which looked like tar, but lathered really well! After rinsing off the soap, we took scrub rocks and really scrubbed the skin, actually rubbing off hunks of dead and dirty skin! The proprietress came to see how we were doing, and since I was the closest to her, she ended up giving me a very thorough scrub. After another rinse, we soaped up with regular soap. Next another rinse and we wet our hair. We put a resin mixture in our hair to sit for a few minutes. Then we combed our hair and rinsed out the resin. Then we shampooed our hair. Finally rinse, rinse, rinse, and a final douse of cold water. The whole process was leisurely and took nearly two hours, but it was just what we needed after our long trip. We went to the dressing room to dry and dress, and discovered someone had taken Kathy’s brand new undergarments! Afterwards we went to Kathy’s school to pick up her mail, go to a café for drinks, then to the Royal Air Maroc offices to make my plane reservations, before going home at noon. We also picked up some delicious Moroccan pastries. We spent the afternoon doing the usual: Masterminding, washing clothes, shopping, etc. Peace Corps volunteer Mark came by that evening to hear about our trip and we didn't get to bed until late.

Saturday, September 15, 1979

Sleep, eat, watch the rain, begin designing a Moroccan Monopoly game, and meet the new Tetouan Peace Corps volunteer Paul.

Sunday, September 16, 1979

Sleep, eat, Mastermind, beach it with Sue for inter-cultural relationships discussion, shopping, work on Monopoly game, and catch up on the journal!

Monday, September 17, 1979

We were driven to Tetouan by Bechir. I went to work with Kathy and shook hands and la-bersed almost everyone, did double-kissing with a lot of the kids. It was utter chaos with kids and teachers running everywhere; only Kathy knew where she belonged! The school day begins at about 9:00. At 10:00 they have a coffee and bread break. At 11:30 they are served lunch and are free to go out until 14:00. At 15:30 they have a soup break. The day ends at 17:00. Most of the kids have polio, a few have cerebral palsy, and they are in regular classes. There are also classes of MR, “crazy” kids, and deaf-mutes. Everyone was curious as to who I was, not believing I was American. Told everyone I knew only ‘shweeah’ Arabic, I can count wahada, zudj, cleta. And say wacha (okay), walloo (nothing), bezeff (a lot), muzien bslema (bye). I got along best with the deaf kids since Kathy taught me many signs which we used to our advantage during train trips in Europe. Kathy brought in a few of her cerebral palsy kids and I gave her some treatment suggestions. Her “helper” gave light rubdowns as an excuse for massages while staring out the window when the girls next door were on break. For lunch we met Marianne and had a regular beefsteak meal. We took a walk in the Spanish souk (open market) where they sell Spanish goods probably smuggled from Ceuta. We also confirmed my reservation at Royal Air Maroc, and stopped at the Moby Dick Bar (so called by Peace Corps volunteers because of a huge round window) for good but expensive ice cream which was finally gotten after a confused order where lemon and chocolate meant lemonade and cocoa to the waiter. Once back home, Kathy and Sue took their dog to the vet; she apparently had eczema and needed a formaldehyde-type treatment with which I had to assist.

Tuesday, September 18, 1979

Again accompanied Kathy to work and helped with the kids. Walked up to meet Mark at work. For lunch had couscous (semolina) with vegetables and meat on top. Later we were joined by Marianne and we took a walk in the old part of the city, the Medina. It had narrow streets and alleys in a maze-like pattern. I was warned to watch out for pickpockets and kids starting fights to block your progress to facilitate the picking of pockets. All kinds of things were sold in the Medina, and I bought a bottle of black kohl (used as eyeliner) which I put in my pants pocket, later to discover it had opened and blackened everything in my pocket. That evening Bechir took us girls for a drive to Mdig where we went to a restaurant with an observation deck overlooking the port. We had ice cream and viewed the sunset, watched the fishing boats go out, and saw the Ceuta lights sparkling across the water. We had hamburgers and French fries for dinner with Sue and Bechir.

Wednesday, September 19, 1979

Again went to work with Kathy. Met Paul and Mark for lunch where I had paella (rice with seafood: shrimp and squid). We went to the Medina for more kohl and a kohl applicator for a total of $1.00! Evenings I help Kathy drink hot cocoa, keep up on her journal, scratch her back, catch mosquitoes, etc.

Thursday, September 20, 1979

I had a bad case of the trots early in the morning, so I didn't go to work with Kathy. I was okay, but hungry all day. Did lots of laundry, magazine reading, and figured out how to play backgammon so we could teach Sue. We went out to dinner with Mark. That evening I packed and we played backgammon.

Next: Going Home.

1979 Madrid Again (9/9-10/1979)

Sunday, September 9, 1979

We arrived in Madrid at 11:00 and we figured it was too late to go to the Prado which was only open in the morning on Sundays. So we picked up our bomb suitcase, made reservations on the next day’s train for Algeciras. We found that to get a cuchette would only cost $5 over our Eurail Passes, so we reserved cuchettes. (We later found out that a cuchette actually costs six times as much! Thank goodness for the Eurail Pass!) We took the subway to the hotel we had previously stayed in, and re-checked in. We had lunch at Burger King, then walked to the Plaza de España in hopes of finding the bus to the zoo. As we walked in the direction of the zoo, we saw several buses we wanted (#33) but couldn't find the actual bus stop. We ended up hiking all the way to Casa de Campo, the huge area in which the zoo and amusement park are located. Only then did we realize how large the Casa de Campo was, as we walked along its border looking for the zoo entrance. We passed a section of gardens, and then a large area which looked exactly like an abandoned fairground, which it turned out to be. Several (an understatement) kilometers later, we reached the zoo, noted for being modern and generally without cages. It was the nicest zoo I have ever seen, but there were still cages, and some of the open areas seemed too small and lacked any shade. We saw a large variety of animals, but very few from the Americas. Supposedly expansion of the zoo is being made to include those animals, too. They had prairie dogs living in an area without barriers, and they were willing to let humans within an arm’s length. There was a pair of Giant Pandas who apparently just arrived from China.

Zoo ticket

Amusement park ticket

When we finished at the zoo, we went to the amusement park, Parque de Attraciones, which was supposedly comparable to Copenhagen’s Tivoli and Disneyland with “unique” rides. It was like Tivoli, but hopefully not like Disneyland or else I will be very disappointed! The rides were not unique, in fact there were not very many of them. We saw only a couple rides to excite our fancy, but they were closed! We saw lots of pinball machines, restaurants, the cascading main fountain, and a loud drunk wandering around followed by two concerned-looking women. We joined the crowd waiting to see “Pecos.” “Pecos” turned out to be a band featuring two fresh-faced kids, the apparent heart throbs of Spanish teeny boppers. When “Pecos” finally came out, we left. We caught our #33 bus back to Madrid and found out why we hadn't seen a bus stop in Plaza de España. It doesn't actually stop there! We took the bus to the end of the line and walked back to Burger King for dinner. We returned to the hotel for the night.

Monday, September 10, 1979

We overslept and our only time-telling piece had stopped, so we had no idea what time it was. We hurriedly dressed, but made it in time for breakfast. We left our bag at the hotel and headed more or less straight for the Prado. We saw men hosing down the streets of Madrid!

Prado ticket

We entered the Prado and began exploring the last of a long list of art museums on our itinerary. By now all art was beginning to look alike, so we weren't overly impressed by all the Rubens, etc. We did see several rooms of Goya, each in a different style from soft classical, good classical to weird modern, almost surrealistic. He was a prolific painter like all the others. It seemed Rubens had a huge collection in every art gallery. The lighting was better for viewing, but not for photo-taking. The collection itself was very large, but not the largest we had seen since the Louvre. It didn't take very long to go through the Prado which had several signs asking to excuse the inconvenience caused by the “climatization,” but we saw no hint of construction inside. We spent the rest of the day souvenir-hunting. I found a leather eyeglass case for my sister, and Kathy found some games for her brother. She also bought a miniature “Mastermind” game for our own amusement. For lunch we stopped at Burger King again. We picked up our bag from the hotel and took the subway to the Chamartin train station to retrieve our two big bags. There we explored the boutiques in their shopping mall and had a snack. Then we Metro’ed to the Atocha station. It must have been rush hour, since we were shoved in like sardines. Being surrounded by men who took advantage of the situation, we were more uncomfortable than would be usual. At every station it seemed more people got on than got off. We couldn't believe the hands (and other assorted body parts) of the guys surrounding us! Busy! We used our elbows and knees as best we could to stave off strangers, but it was difficult being so crammed in. Perhaps fortunately we had a wall to one side and our suitcases to another which left only two sides open to attack. Finally we arrived at Atocha where we shoved our way off the train. Once in the train station, we had a bit of a wait before our train was ready for boarding. When we got on the cuchette car, a porter was waiting to show us the way and to throw our suitcases up on the racks. We were joined by a Moroccan couple coming home from their honeymoon. The groom spoke French, Spanish, and Italian, as well as Arabic, plus he knew a little English that he practiced with us. He seemed pleased that Kathy spoke Arabic and conversed away. We were also joined by a Spanish couple, who apparently had a dog along in the baggage car, and they had to pay a fare for him more than what we paid for our cuchettes! As we rode along, we ate our respective dinners. Then the porter came along to make up the beds. Kathy and I were relegated to the top bunks while the menfolk took the middle bunks and their wives got the lower bunks. It was hot in the top bunks, but apparently cooler down below. Kathy kept using her toe to open the window, while the Spanish man kept reaching over to close it. But Kathy and I slept well enough, when it seems the women below didn't sleep at all. For us, cuchettes are much better than fold-down seats for sleeping!

Next: Morocco again.

1979 Lisbon (9/8/1979)

Saturday, September 8, 1979

We pulled into Lisbon at about 11:00, but had to put our one watch back an hour. The train itself was an hour behind schedule. Once in the station we changed money, made reservations for the train back to Madrid that night, and got a map of the city. We knew the stores would only be open in the morning, so we first made our way to the cork shop recommended by the “$10” book. It was quite a hike but it took us past some great sights including what seemed to be the main entrance to the city, a huge square with a huge arch. We saw all sorts of trolleys including tiny ones without glass in the windows; it was a working trolley museum. We saw quite a variety of buses including double-deckers. We turned into some side streets and found ourselves almost vertically climbing the steep hills. We even saw a trolley that was built to fit the angle of the street it climbed. We seemed to have gone in a circle, but found the cork shop, a half-empty dusty old place with a couple cork items in the window and a dirty abandoned workshop appearance within. We decided to skip this wonderful attraction and went back down the hill to the main drag. Here we found an ice cream shop specializing in Italian ice cream. We each got a cup, I had lemon and chocolate which tasted surprisingly good when mixed. We then went to the newly-built shopping mall at one of the train stations. It had a lot of boutique-type stores. There was also a Chinese restaurant where we decided to have lunch; I had sweet and sour pork and Kathy had chicken and almonds, after the traditional egg roll. We followed the meal with several cups of green tea. We went off in search of the old part of the city where we had heard there was a flea market called the Thieves Market. We ended up climbing steep and winding streets, and not having a sufficient map, we really didn't know where we were. At one point we seemed to leave the area habituated by tourists, but then ended up within the walls of the castle of St Jorge, sitting on top of the hill overlooking the city. We explored the castle which had a collection of all sorts of ducks and birds, including swans and even white peacocks. The birds had special areas set behind low hedges, but they weren't caged and were essentially free to go where they pleased. We even climbed higher to walk atop the walls where I re-found my fear of heights, suddenly getting weak-kneed where there was no wall on the downhill side. We wanted to look over the edge of the outer wall into the city in hopes of seeing the flea market, but we didn't see anything nearby except foliage immediately below us. We left the castle and found a tourist information place where we were told to follow the trolley tracks. The tracks split a couple times, but we forged ahead. Suddenly we saw a lot of pedestrian traffic on one of the side streets. We investigated and found the Thieves Market! It was really huge and sold absolutely every type of junk imaginable! Nuts and bolts, old lamp shades, keys, door hinges, screwdrivers, pieces of appliances, clothes, kitchen gadgets, coins, furniture, shoes, buttons, iron scraps, old irons, electric parts, etc., etc., etc. We managed to go up and down every row of booths. There was even an indoor section which was closing up when we arrived. One loud woman proprietor had a microphone (which she didn't need!) to help sell her wares, silverware sets and wallets! When we finished exploring the flea market, we went downhill to the train station. We stopped at a nearby café for some nice cold drinks. We had seen the American fellow hanging out at the station, so we bought him a Coke. Kathy and I went for a walk along the waterfront, but it was mostly warehouses. We returned to the station and sat outside for our dinner of tuna fish sandwiches and potato chips, our usual meal! Finally our train was ready and we boarded. We were joined by three young Japanese travelers, all also with Eurail Passes. I mentioned to Kathy I had noticed an auto carrier car attached to our train. She didn't believe me so we took a walk to the end of the train to look out, and sure enough, we could see spooky auto headlights chasing us in the dark. We went to the restaurant car for chocolate milks and ran into the American guy again. Soon the lights were turned off for bedtime.

Next: Madrid again.

1979 Madrid (9/5-7/1979)

Wednesday, September 5, 1979

Awoke in Paris. Went to the information booth to see if it was possible to get to Mont St Michel. We were given explicit directions, to take a train to another Paris railroad station to Pontorson from where it took a bus only five minutes to get to Mont St Michel. So we Metro’ed (on a rubber-tired train) to the Montparnasse station, boarded the train with the proper train number leaving at the expected time. It passed through some beautiful softly rolling farmland and was really a pretty ride as long as we were awake. The only problem was that we ended up at a strange destination, in Granville. There was no indication that we would have to change trains or anything. We were rather lost! We figured we had already wasted a day, and that too much time would be needed to get to Mont St Michel than we planned. So we made our top priority getting into Spain as soon as possible, because we knew the Spanish trains were slow and unreliable. We took the next train back to Paris. While waiting in Granville, Kathy went out to buy bread and water (our sole/soul sustenance!) and a surprise of a macaroon-type affair and a cupcake, and even a book of mazes and puzzles to keep one busy when unnecessarily having to wait in train stations or riding unnecessary trains! We did keep ourselves amused with this book during our travels, as well as with typical travel games, and our own games reminiscent of our college physics class (“what is it?). Finally arrived in Paris, Metro’ed to the Austerlitz station and hopped on the first train towards Spain. It was a train with brand new coach cars, rather than compartments. Later in the night we each had our own pair of seats to “stretch out” on to sleep.

Thursday, September 6, 1979

Our days are getting to be so exciting… 

Woke up in Irun, Spain where the French train ended its trip. Walked through customs simply waving our passports. We went to see about getting a train to Madrid and the ticket man told us the time the continuation of the Iberian Express left, almost an hour later than the Talgo train which was leaving immediately. We waited around and joined the long line for reservations only to find we didn't need them. We got on the train and ate our tuna fish on wheat bread breakfast. Later when the conductor came by he told us to move up a few cars if we were going to “Madrith.” (One had to be careful because sometimes certain cars of a train were shunted off to be attached to other trains going in other directions!) We slept a good bit, but managed to see some rolling country with little green shrubs and some rocky areas with mostly two tire-track roads, and like the “$10” book said, no billboards to mar the scene where you can imagine Don Quixote roaming around. We took a walk to the restaurant car to find a bar and an area with waiter-service. We figured we could wait until Madrid to eat, but at the next station a cart went by selling drinks and sandwiches. As we neared Madrid, our fellow passengers, some guys in the service, tried to talk to us. We told them where we were born, where we had just come from, and where we were going in hopes of answering all their questions. They continued to try to talk with us, but since we didn't understand, they gave up. Finally at about 18:30 we arrived in Madrid in the new modern station of Chamartin which reminded us more of an airport. We wandered around quite a bit before we found the baggage check place. We bought a map from a hotel information booth. We bought some ice cream which can’t compare to Italy’s. As we studied the map and the “$10” book for hotels, I saw the Moroccan brothers I had first encountered during my first Spanish train trip. Small world!

We took the Metro into the central city. On our way to the Metro stop we stopped at a bakery-deli for some delicious fancy cupcakes. Once in the city we immediately took a room in the first hotel we tried which had its own bathroom with a cute half-sized tub. We went downstairs to the restaurant recommended by the “$10” book, for our big “splurge” meal in Madrid. For about $5 each we got soup or salad, a main dish with French fries and peas, and a dessert with a beverage and the offer of coffee. We then took a walk around town, finding the TWA offices and a Burger King. We saw the fountains of the Plaza de España lighted up at night, and we did a lot of window shopping although we are seeing less and less to excite us as we reach the end of our souvenir list. We found an “all-around” type shop which was still open, so we bought After Eight mints for dessert. Back at the hotel, our room was hot, and we had problems falling asleep, probably because we had slept so much on the trains that day.

Friday, September 7, 1979

We awoke early and had our included breakfast of tea, sweet rolls and melba toast, with fancy curlicues of butter. We went first to the TWA offices where I wanted to change my open ticket for one from Madrid or Morocco. It turned out I could fly from Tangier to Madrid to New York City for only $2.00 more than just from Madrid to NYC! While I waited to go through all the red tape of getting a new ticket, Kathy went looking for some small item with the Lacoste emblem (an alligator), the preppie symbol, which she wanted to get for the new Peace Corps volunteer Trip. She didn't find anything, but got the idea of getting socks or underwear on which she herself would embroider the alligator. Afterwards we went to the store recommended by the “$10” book as a place to get special soap which is apparently real expensive in the U.S. We bought half a dozen bars, and the proprietor was very friendly and showed us two counterfeit bills he acquired during the course of his business, one being a U.S. $50 bill. We made our way to Puerta del Sol which is supposed to be the center of Madrid. From the bustling square we caught a bus recommended by the “$10” book to get to a small museum. We had no idea where to get off, so Kathy used her little Spanish to ask the conductor where to get off. He obliged and motioned us in the correct direction to take. Kathy tipped him with a couple After Eight mints! We walked the several blocks and finally found the museum. Just as the “$10” book suggested, we began on the third floor and worked our way down. (Actually it was the fourth floor American-style.) We had heard about some Leonardo da Vinci painting hidden in a corner, so we carefully looked for the painter’s name on every painting! We finally found it on the ground floor, and it was spotlighted with green velvet drapes framing it! Hidden, indeed!

Museum ticket

We left the museum and began walking towards the center of Madrid, window shopping along the way. We found an honest-to-goodness Sears department store that really looked like the average Sears inside! This is where we got the underwear and socks for Trip. We walked past a couple squares, with a triumphal arch in one, and a neat fountain in the other.

Puerta de Alcalá in Plaza de la Independencia

Plaza Cibeles

We passed what seemed to be a military installation, being guarded by and full of men in uniform. There were even guards with rifles on the roof of the bank next door overlooking the area. But this place had lovely gardens and “rose trees” inside the fancy wrought-iron fences. Finally we took to the side streets to find the “cheapest restaurant in the world” as recommended by the “$10” book. We found it and it was a cheap-looking place all right, small and crowded with linoleum tables. We decided to eat there nevertheless and got a salad, beefsteak and French fries, and melon slices, all for about $1.50. The proprietor came around trying to make us take a squirt of wine from an animal-skin bag. We refused because we don’t like wine, but he thought we were afraid of the method of drinking, by squeezing the bag to let a stream of wine shoot directly into your mouth. When we had finished, we still had plenty of time before the stores and the Prado opened up again. So we window-shopped our way back to the Burger King where we got milkshakes. We sat for a while by the fountain at Plaza de España. We then went to the stores as they opened up in search of souvenirs. We arrived at the Prado and walked completely around it before finding the entrance. As we walked behind the museum we saw a lot of construction equipment for the “climatization” of the Prado, and we kidded it might be closed because of construction. However, we refused to believe that we came all the way to Madrid only to miss its most important landmark, the Prado, the best art museum in the world! When we found the entrance, it was truly locked! We were shocked! But it turned out the hours were from 10:00-18:00 and we had arrived at 18:00 because the “$10” book said the hours were 10:00-14:00 and 17:00-20:00. We were sorely disappointed but decided to continue with our plans to go to Lisbon, Portugal, but to return again to Madrid long enough to see the Prado. We did some souvenir-hunting and food shopping on our way to the hotel to pick up our suitcase. We took the Metro to the Atocha train station where we checked our bag, and got boarding passes. We had a hard time closing this suitcase, and wouldn't you know it, a police officer was inspecting every bag being checked. He said he was looking for bombs. We had a real struggle to close the bag when he was done. During our wait we went to a nearby café ordering Cokes and sandwiches, hoping the waiter understood. He came back with grilled cheese sandwiches which was close enough! We boarded the train, finding the seats we were assigned. In our compartment we were joined by three middle-aged Spaniards traveling together, a Portuguese woman, and an American who spoke fluent Spanish and was apparently teaching English in Spain, but needed to leave the country after six months to get his passport stamped as a way of getting around a visa. Two girls came in to try to claim our seats, but fortunately they did not have boarding passes. So there were “only” seven of us in the compartment. The Spaniards had communication problems with the Portuguese woman, and the American translated every once in a while for us. The night wore on and everyone dozed on and off, except the American guy who sat up reading all night, of course leaving the light on, which made sleeping difficult for everyone else. Plus he smoked, drank beer, and his face constantly twitched; a seemingly very nervous fellow with insomnia who had no consideration for the rest of us. Rude American! We dozed nevertheless.

Map of Madrid

Next: Lisbon.

1979 Geneva (9/2-4/1979)

Sunday, September 2, 1979

But we got off in Hannover, Germany. The next train headed south wasn't for three hours, leaving for Basel at 7:10. We had to keep ourselves amused in that time, with writing journals and people-watching. We have found that all German train stations have a mission chapel somewhere on the premises, usually evangelist and sometimes Catholic. We caught our train and slept most of the way to Basel. Once there, we almost immediately transferred to a train headed for Geneva. Once in Geneva, we checked our bags and checked the hotel boards for the best within-our-budget hotel. There were direct telephone lines to the hotels, so we called to confirm availability and price of a room. We walked the couple blocks to look at the room and confirm our reservation. We went to a nearby McDonald’s for dinner, retrieved our luggage and settled into the hotel. After cleaning up, we took a walk around Geneva which was lighted up with neon signs advertising mostly watches, and light bulbs lined the bridges crossing the river. Also a lighthouse was lighted up, as well as the trees on a tiny island. A utilities building was colorfully lighted which made it look like a casino. It was really beautiful at might. We saw several camera stores which we planned on visiting the next day, as well as stationery stores where Kathy wanted to look for a zip-up three-ring binder type notebook. And we saw a lot of chocolate shops, with all types of figures made from chocolate including elephants, swans, even split chestnuts, neat! We headed back to the hotel after getting drinks at McDonald’s to accompany the super-huge Tobler chocolate bar we had bought. In our room was a radio on which I heard my special song, even here in Switzerland! I had also heard it in the open-air market in Florence. One of the beds had a massage unit. It was supposed to take U.S. quarters since all the information was written in English. We didn't have U.S. quarters and the Swiss don’t have a 25 cent piece. So Kathy tried a Moroccan dirham which is the same size and value as a quarter. It worked, so we had a vibrating bed to help relax us and put us to sleep.

Monday, September 3, 1979

We were awakened by the maid with breakfast at 9:00. Had a wonderful meal with great instant hot chocolate, croissants, and regular rolls with butter and jam. We took it easy in the morning, catching up on correspondence, washing clothes, etc., because we knew the stores weren't open Monday mornings. Just before noon we left, going to the post office and the TWA offices, which seemed permanently closed. We walked along one river bank toward the lake, seeing the huge geyser-like fountain and numerous swans and ducks.

Geneva's Jet d'Eau

We saw a couple windsurfers, one who did fairly well and the other who got dunked a lot. We found a lovely park with a rose garden to wander in. We headed back towards “downtown” Geneva, window shopping along the way. We also looked for a place where we could try a cheese fondue, but the restaurants seemed too expensive. We went back to McDonald’s. After a late lunch, we started hitting the camera places, where Kathy discovered she couldn't get a better deal for her old Minox. So she wanted to buy a reflex camera, but the ones in her price range weren't well-known to us. She was given a real sales pitch by one fellow who figured she’d surely be back. After about the 5^th place, we decided on another deal. I would more or less sell Kathy my camera, so that she would have a camera she can trust in Morocco. With the camera situation settled, we continued window shopping. We ended up in an old and obviously elite section of the city. Back in the “normal” part of town, I bought a leather make-up case for a friend. We then went off to find a Japanese restaurant, but it wasn't open yet. We walked back to our hotel to get information on possible movies to see, and what buses we should take. We were planning on taking a bus back to the restaurant, but we just missed one. We bought the bus tickets anyway from a vending machine and started walking towards the restaurant, keeping an eye out for the bus. We ended up walking the whole distance. Even though we didn't have reservations, we only had a couple-minutes wait for a table which was fortunately hidden in a corner so that it wasn't obvious how ignorant we were. There was a table in the restaurant surrounded by a bench with pillows so that the diners could simulate eating at a low table, but put their feet on the floor. We had regular chairs with similar pillows. The menus were brought with a tightly rolled hot washcloth on a small plate. We assumed we were to wash our hands with it. I ordered a tempura meal and Kathy ordered two separate dishes. We shared almost everything, and managed well with our chopsticks. We started first with Kathy’s pickled crab, followed by my vegetable salad. Then came Kathy’s sukiyaki with my tempura seafood and vegetables. We both also got rice with a tiny bowl of soy sauce. I dipped my rice in the soy sauce and Kathy poured the soy sauce over her rice. I had a bowl of bean soup that I sipped directly from the bowl (eat soup with chopsticks?). A little while later came the pickled vegetables which tasted terrible! For dessert I got apricot-sherbet (awful!). Our main dishes were great, though. We generously tipped the waitress who was very nice, We had plenty of time to walk to the movie theater, but decided to take the trolley-bus because we already had the tickets. We bought movie tickets right away, and wandered around the area, seeing more exclusive shops and finding a square with neatly lighted old buildings; a museum and an old theater, perhaps.

Movie ticket

Finally it was time for the movie: “The Wiz” which was in English with French and German subtitles. They had difficulty with the translations: “ease on down the road” was translated into French as “go down the street prudently.” Before the movie started was the usual 10-15 minutes of “commercials.” On our way home, Kathy skipped along her imaginary yellow brick road and was swinging around lamp poles. We finally got to the hotel and into bed.

Tuesday, September 4, 1979

This time we were awakened via phone by the desk clerk at 9:00 and our breakfast soon followed. We consolidated all our souvenirs into one suitcase and ended up throwing away a lot of boxes, old socks, shoes, etc. There was one big bag full of junk to be thrown out, but we still had Kathy’s pack, my backpack, and two small suitcases; no longer the light and easy travelers. We checked out of the hotel, went to the post office, and then to the TWA offices. Apparently just a front! We walked on the near bank of the river to see the Woodrow Wilson house, to pass a war memorial in a lakefront park, and to see the grounds of a mansion on the lakefront where we saw several chipmunks and a black squirrel. We continued on to see the Palace of Nations and several United Nations buildings. We even found the International Red Cross Headquarters. We went into one of the Geneva museums showing basically only ceramics. The main attraction there was a serving set molded to look like cabbage heads.

Ariana Museum

We went to the botanical gardens which included an aviary, and closed-off areas for ducks, llama, deer (totally pestered by flies), peacocks, and some strange-looking bird species. There was a dahlia garden where apparently you can order bulbs. There were lily ponds where we saw tadpoles, but only heard the frogs. We also saw a strange wormy-writhing creature in these ponds. Finally there was a tropical garden greenhouse which was super-hot and humid inside. It felt really cool and breezy once outside again. We made our way back to the train station, doing some grocery shopping along the way. We checked the train schedule, then went to McDonald’s for a quick late lunch. We got our luggage from the hotel and boarded the train for Lausanne. We had asked for information as to the best way to get to the French Brittany coast and were told to go through Paris. We asked the best way to get to Paris and were told to go through Lausanne. When we arrived in Lausanne we found only one train went to Paris and it left at some ridiculous hour. So we re-boarded the train which had taken us to Lausanne, to take it to Biel. The conductor on this train told us it would be better to get a train for Paris from Basel, so we continued to Basel. Once in Basel, we found we had a three-hour wait for the midnight train to Paris, We sat and waited. We felt thirsty, but had no more Swiss money. The fellow at the snack bar wanted us to go to the bank to have our French money changed to Swiss currency (at this hour?). We figured it wasn't worth the trouble for just two Cokes, and let him overcharge us in French francs. There were two girls from Venezuela who claimed to be “lost” and wanted to get to Paris, so we told them when the train left. Finally we walked through customs and boarded the train. An American from California joined us, but she wasn't able to give us much news about the States. We sacked out pretty uncomfortably until we arrived in Paris.

Map of Geneva

Next: Madrid.

1979 Munich Again (9/1/1979)

Saturday, September 1, 1979

We decided to go all the way to München because the Minox camera was made in Germany. When we arrived, we went to the tourist office for a map and were told the stores are open all day because it is the first Saturday of the month. And we had thought we would have only a couple hours in the morning to shop! So off we went window shopping and stopping at every camera store to see if they had Minox cameras, which they did not; apparently sold out. We found a shoe store selling the German-made sandals (Birkenstock) Kathy had been looking for. They even had her size and style, but they wouldn't take charge cards. So we used almost all our cash. We went to another camera store which suggested Kathy could send her camera to the factory to be repaired, then they could send it to her home in the States. When she went ahead to arrange that (only to find it couldn't be done because of customs red tape) I went to the train station to change more money. We continued walking up and down the main pedestrian-only shopping area where a major department store was having a 100-year jubilee celebration and was handing out flags, pinwheels, and yo-yos. We got one, two, and one of each respectively. We also stopped to listen to the street musicians. Previously we had really enjoyed a group of Spanish musicians with an active tambourine player and a guitarist with a great (as in size, volume, etc.) voice. We especially liked their costumes with ballooned shorts and stockings. This time among the usual guitarists and flutists were a bassist, a weird old mechanical-type instrument (sounds of India), a religious choir with a booming evangelist, a bongoist, etc. We managed to pass the Rathaus three times right on the hour to see the circling figures including jousting knights that performed as the hour tolled on the clock tower. We had lunch at McDonald’s and ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. On the street there was a magician from the U.S. doing his thing. He was mostly showman and not so much show although he did juggle flaming torches. He kept making Italian, as well as French and German, comments, so we gave him some of our leftover Italian lire. Kathy found yet another music store to look for a Joan Baez songbook, but she hasn't found the right one. That evening we wanted to head for Switzerland, but wanted an overnight train to sleep on. The schedule was such that we first took a train to Hamburg.

Next: Geneva.