Europe, Then and THEN

In 1987, my friend Steve and I traveled through some of Europe. It was one of the highlights of my life, and I met some wonderful people in England, France, and Switzerland. Here we are at the Mall that leads to Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace on VE Day:

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson wannabes at Scotland Yard on the trail of Professor Moriarty: I wish Ida was with us! (theartsdesk.com)

“The British Lion”; Trafalgar Square in 1950, and in 1987: The front paws from one of the lions in the vintage picture had been removed for repair from bomb damage in 1941 during the London Blitz. (AFAR Magazine)

Bomb damage from the Battle of Britain in front of the Royal Exchange Building:

Regent Street, looks like the 1930’s:

Piccadilly Circus in 1949 and 1987: We saw a play here starring David McCallum (Illya Kuryakin) called ‘Run for Your Wife’. (Vintage photo from Chalmers Butterfield)

The crosswalk at Abbey Road: I don’t like to brag, but when I walked across the most famous crosswalk in the world in 1987, it wasn’t as populated as it is today!

Ah, there he is; Winston Churchill at Number 10 Downing Street. This is as close to 10 Downing Street as I got.

“Here now, and where do you think you’re going?”

“I wanted to say hello to Margaret!”

“Off with you now!”

Bomb damage in front of Buckingham Palace during the Battle of Britain; “This was their finest hour.” Few things were better put. My grandmother was born in Liverpool, and I don’t think anything makes me more proud of my English blood than Churchill’s words.

The Arc de Triomphe after the liberation of Paris during World War Two, and some dummy standing in the middle of the Champs-Elysees being honked at:

Quasimodo’s hangout, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris:

“The bells made me deaf, you know.” he tells Esmeralda. They didn’t do me any too good either; I was there on All Saints Day with a hangover from too much wine on the Champs-Elysees the night before! I had been looking for all the Halloween parties they must be having.

“Where are all the Halloween parties? Where are all the ghosts?”

“Le ghosts?”

I learned that they don’t celebrate Halloween in France; at least they didn’t in 1987.

This was” l’imbecile” who stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in Paris in 1911. It was recovered in 1913. You couldn’t use flash photography so this was the best image I could get with my 1980’s camera of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, probably, the most famous painting in history. Hmmm, she looks like she was checking me out! I guess, everybody thinks that.

Rue de Castiglione during the battle for the liberation of Paris in World War Two: The Time-Life Books caption from the two page picture says the sheets hanging from the hotel on the left were from German soldiers surrendering. (Time-Life Books World War ll Series)

Champs-Elysees and the liberation of Paris in 1944: Vive la France!

Beautiful Zurich from the Lindenhof Hill in my picture:

Mount Pilatus, in the Swiss Alps, from the bottom and the top: “Made it, Ma, top of the world!” Even Heidi didn’t make it this far up! (J. Cosmas)