On April 1, 1964

Fifty years ago, my parents, siblings, and I flew from Portland, Oregon, to Frankfurt, Germany, on Pan Am. In Frankfurt we picked up a Volkswagen camper we had ordered, and started a four-month tour around Europe. It was pretty unusual at that time. My parents had to make plans ahead of time regarding money and mail – credit cards were rare – and in many places we visited we were quite the oddity. But we also met family and friends, and my dad spoke a tiny bit of German and Danish, so we weren't completely on our own.

I was seven and a half, my sister turned 12 in Rome (I remember we had cheese panini sitting in a piazza, and a street artist did sketches of us – not sure where those are now). My brother turned 9 somewhere else in Italy, and all five of us could just fit in the camper, tucked into every space longer than three feet.

our camper looked like this - source

We went through (West) Germany twice, I think, initially heading south in April to get into better weather. We went as far as Naples and Pompeii before going north again to Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Scandinavia, the Low Countries and France. Finally, we crossed the English Channel to Great Britain and saw Scotland, Wales and England. I love to imagine that I passed my future husband as a boy on a street in London – and who knows?

In August we sailed from Southampton to New York on the Queen Mary, with the camper stowed below. The crossing was about five days.

my sister and me

We drove straight through New York City, looking up at the skyscrapers, and went to Washington, DC. Then we drove across the country back to Oregon.

What do I remember? Lots really, aided by countless slide shows after we got back. Here are some highlights.

The Beatles were being played everywhere, especially "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand."

Neuschwanstein Castle was every bit a fairy tale castle. We were almost the only ones there because it was April. I think that's the most significant thing that's changed – now you can't go anywhere without hordes of other tourists, at any time of year.

Northern Europe had some enchanting parks and playgrounds.

 

I remember standing so close to the Mona Lisa that I thought I could touch her – I would only have to reach across a rope! She's been behind glass since the 1980s.

We walked into Mount Vesuvius and held our hands in steam vents. And we couldn't have ice cream in Italy because they didn't pasteurize their milk at that time.

We walked up hundreds of steps in church towers and domes. 

We saw glass-blowing in Venice and diamond-cutting in Antwerp. Venice was fascinating - I loved taking a gondola ride!

In Copenhagen we went to Tivoli Gardens, staying into the evening to see all the lights come on. It was paradise for children. My dad's lovely, elderly cousin Helena went on the roller coaster with us.

My brother made a friend on the Queen Mary, and I tagged along as much as I could. They managed to ditch me once, and I got lost in First Class trying to find my way back to someplace familiar. I was crying when a nice officer came and took me back down into the bowels of the ship where our Tourist Class cabins were.

Source

In the on-board cinema they were playing "What a Way to Go" with Shirley McLaine. We watched it every day, and one time my brother, his friend and I sneaked behind the screen and watched it reversed.

I remember nothing about the trip across the US – sensory overload by that time!

We sold the camper soon after returning home and got our first (of many) VW Beetles. We children had been given Pam Am flight bags, which we used to carry our toys and books around Europe, and which wore out many years ago. Damn! The slide photos that my dad took all faded, and my parents actually got rid of them several years ago (=:-O).

I still have these two pins, one from Switzerland and one from Denmark.

The trip began my appreciation of European culture and history. Although I didn't go back to Europe again for 25 years, I studied languages and the history of western European art and architecture -  and loved it! In the last 25 years I've spent months studying in Italy and then years living in England. I'm sure that early trip started it all.

Do you like to travel? Europe? Asia? Tropical paradise?

Val