1975

Good friends of ours are off to Europe on Monday with stops in Greece, Crete, Spain and other places. They left behind a new film/slide scanner for Rob to work out its secrets. He solved the puzzle by scanning an ancient collection of our slides from our eight month trip to Europe and Russia way back in 1975.

I thought I would show you a few highlights - but promise you won't laugh too much...

We'll start in Athens.......this is how the Plaka looked back in 1975, looking towards the Acropolis. Guess who that fairly derelict looking guy is in the foreground.........

In those days you could wander all over the ancient temples of the Acropolis.

There's that derelict looking guy again, sitting on the steps to the divine Temple of Athena Nike, with a very smoggy looking Athens in the distance.

And there is me on the streets of Athens, looking very well padded by now from eating all the delights of Europe; unlike Rob who seemed to get more skinny the longer we were on the road.

..... and there's the derelict guy again waiting for the bus from Athens to Patras (to catch the ferry to Corfu).

We spent a couple of idyllic days on Corfu where the conditions were ideal for camping (unlike some of the other places we stayed in 1975).

From Corfu we crossed to Italy where we captured this cheesy shot (below), which Eddie may particularly enjoy if he doesn't find the hairy guy too scary.

There's me wandering the streets of ancient Pompeii, overlooked by a hazy Mt Vesuvius in the background....

The Ponte Vecchio in Florence in 1975...

 and just by way of comparison, 38 years later (yikes!) in 2013......

This is Rob looking very suave on a beach on the French Riviera...

..and looking nice after a haircut in Nice....

 ....and a few days later standing in the Place de la Concorde looking towards L'Arc de Triomphe on a cold wet November day in Paris.

Other random shots:
Rob standing in front of the painter El Greco's villa in Toledo Spain...

....and that is me standing in St Peter's cemetery in Salzburg. PS I really am a natural blonde; I used to dye my hair dark brown in those days (!!)

We loved our time in Croatia, on the Dalmatian Coast. The pic below is of Rob as we were leaving Split old town to catch the ferry over to the beautiful island of Hvar.

..and below is a pic of me drinking Croatian beer in Split old town (just adding more to my 1970s avoirdupois).

.....and ready for another day of backpacking in picture book Interlaken in Switzerland.