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One Traveler's Opinion: Accidental Witnesses to History

One Traveler's Opinion: Accidental Witnesses to History

Old Jul 7th, 2008, 07:23 AM
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I was on a primary (grade) school trip to Paris in 1968, just as the demonstartions hit the news bulletins back in Scotland!
I have to say, we didn't really appreciate what was going on, or why the teachers made us run back to our lodgings - a residential ecole, on the Boulevard St Michel, right in the heart of the "action"
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Old Jul 8th, 2008, 02:24 PM
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Neal and Love Italy et al:


Here are some scanned pix of Vaclav Havel at his press conference...remember, they're scanned...may not show up too well.

stu T.
http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Havel93
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Old Jul 8th, 2008, 05:00 PM
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We were lucky enough to be invited at the last minute by my husband's company to visit Ireland and London in 2005. Due to weather issues, we ended up in Paris instead, and were there during the days just prior to Pope John Paul's funeral. Though it was a sad occasion, it was a beautiful time to visit Notre Dame. The entire cathedral was lit up with candles in the Pope's honor. Later, in London, I was amazed by the news reports of all the people who came to Rome for the funeral.

We were also in London on the day Prince Charles married Camilla. At Buckingham Palace there were many protesters, and we saw the police arrest a guy holding a sign saying that Charles should abdicate.
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Old Jul 8th, 2008, 05:57 PM
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We were at the "after" party for a wedding outside Adare, Ireland, when the news came that JFK Jr. had been killed in a plane crash. The dancing stopped, a priest was called, and everyone got down on on their knees in the reception hall to pray.
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Old Jul 9th, 2008, 01:53 PM
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I don't have any exciting adventure to share, but I sure have enjoyed reading about everyone's brushes with history.

stu t - What a great story about "sneaking" into Vaclav Havel's press conference! I checked out your photos... how cool. Thanks for posting.

Robyn >-
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Old Jul 9th, 2008, 02:43 PM
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August 1971: I was stationed in the US Army in Germany. My wife and I were going to drive from Stuttgart to London. We stayed in Belgium before catching the ferry to Dover.

My wife recommended I buy some English pounds. I did not do it as I had plenty of gas, my boat trip paid for and could wait till we got to London.

That evening, as we slept in Belgium, Nixon devalued the dollar about 25%. All the money in my pocket (we had no credit cards) was worth 25% less! All we had was cash!

My wife said...I told you to get those pounds! I think the date was August 14, 1971. It sure cut into our trip budget.
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Old Jul 9th, 2008, 03:32 PM
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Hello again Stu, thank you for sharing your photos. Stu, the photo of Havel could be a photo of my mother's oldest brother. The photo of his face made me jump so to speak.

Life is interesting. Just yesterday Mimi posted a website with photos of photos taken of stylish women on the streets of Paris. One of the photos could have been my daughter.

Well I have often heard we all have a twin "somewhere".

What next trip do you and Roz have planned? Somewhere quite interesting I am sure.

My best wishes that is true and that you are both well and enjoying life!

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Old Jul 10th, 2008, 01:28 AM
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A great thread. The pedant in me though must point out to Neal that Shakespeares birthday (and death day) is April 23rd not 25th.

I am afraid to go on holiday to France again. First time we went to Normandy to celebrate our wedding anniversary minus kids, and woke up the first morning there to hear that Princess Diana had been killed.
The second time we went, again around our anniversary we got back to our cottage and switched on the TV for the weather forecast only to see pictures of a plane crashing into a skyscraper. The reception was awful and we couldn't get the sound so we rushed back to the car and tuned into BBC world Service to hear whet was going on. 9/11 of course. Now I just pass through France as fast as possible in my way to Kent. I hate to think what might happen if we holiday there again. I'll warn you all if we do go back!
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Old Jul 10th, 2008, 06:59 AM
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LoveItaly:

happy that we were able to "shoot" your uncle! See email below.
Heading to Russia next..it will be my third visit since the 70's...twice before during USSR days.

Neal: don't mean to hijack...your thread idea is a great one..very interesting stories resulted, and all posters above got into the spirit so well. Thanks!

stu t.
[email protected]
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Old Jul 10th, 2008, 07:53 AM
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stu - have a great time in Russia! I'm looking forward to your trip report and pix!

hetismij - totally understand your feeling about France! I felt the same about Turkey - after the brush with war in '74 I didn't go back until '99, and then I fell in Istanbul and wound up on crutches!! Happily, when I went through in '06 (just two days in Bodrum and two in Istanbul) nothing went wrong!

For a while my friends were talking about not letting me travel - I was out of the country when hurricane Fran came through, for a bad ice storm, and then for 9-11. Not sure whether my 9-11 story fits here - I was crossing the border from China to Pakistan on the Karakorum Highway that day.
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Old Jul 10th, 2008, 09:07 AM
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Good morning Stu, I have it, thank you!!!
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