Figure 1.-- This photo was taken in March of 1958, when I was 7 1/2 years old. I'm not sure why we boys weren't wearing ties, but had buttoned up our shirts to the top. The noticed differences in clothing as soon as we arrived in Europe. We were amazed at the French boys our age wearing very high cut shorts and berets. We certainly stood out as foreigners.

We actually visited France on our way to live in Italy. Here is a family snapshot in front of the Eiffel Tower. This photo was taken in March of 1958, when I was 7 1/2 years old. I'm not sure why we boys weren't wearing ties, but had buttoned up our shirts to the top. The noticed differences in clothing as soon as we arrived in Europe. We were amazed at the French boys our age wearing very high cut shorts and berets. We certainly stood out as foreigners. At this time we'd had about 6 hours of sleep after a 22 hour plane ride. The U.S. did not have commercial jet travel at this point, so we sat backwards in an Air Force cargo air plane with no hot food.

Arrival

We actually visited France on our way to live in Italy. Here is a family snapshot in front of the Eiffel Tower (figure 1). This photo was taken in March of 1958, when I was 7 1/2 years old. I'm not sure why we boys weren't wearing ties, but had buttoned up our shirts to the top. The noticed differences in clothing as soon as we arrived in Europe. We were amazed at the French boys our age wearing very high cut shorts and berets. We certainly stood out as foreigners. At this time we'd had about 6 hours of sleep after a 22 hour plane ride. The U.S. did not have commercial jet travel at this point, so we sat backwards in an Air Force cargo air plane with no hot food.

Stationed in Italy

We lived in Italy for a while. We enjoyed out time in Italy. It was quite an experience for us all. We were there during the late 1950s. I made many Italian friends. We both traveled around Italy, but also many places in Europe as well. I had both Italian and American style play clothes. I think that is because mom brought some clothes with us, but we had to buy clothes while we were in Italy. While I didn't wear short pants much in America, mom did but shorts for me in Italy and I wore them for play while I was there. I think, however, I ,ostly dressed in my American clothes. Our family photographs show me playing in both Italian and American style clothing. The first photo shows me in in normal play cloths.

Travels in Europe

We got the opportunity to travel a good deal while dad was stationed in Italy. We both traveled around Italy, but also many places in Europe as well. We spent time in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and several other countries. It was a real education. We had great fun as a family, but I don't think we fully appreciated just what a fantastic experience it was. As boys we took it rather much for granted. Looking back it really was a wonderful opportunity that few American kids were fortunate enough to experience. The previous page showed me in the Tivoli Gardens in Denmark (figure 1). I was always amazed at the places where dad could take that car. We spent a lot of time negotiating mountain trails, especially in the Alps. There is a picture of us at the end of a 10 Km Alpine track that was literally a goat path a points. I still remember my mother trembling "Oh, Ed" at my dad when the drop cliffs were many 100s of meters high. The previous page showed me in the Tivoli Gardens in Denmark. The gardens were interesting. Mom especially liked them. After visiting the gardens I realized why all those movie theaters in America were called Tivoli. Few Americans understand the origins of the name. We also lived and traveled in France. While it never got cold enough to freeze, when we lived in Aviano, Italy, Toul, France was a different matter. We lived close to the German border, on the Mosel River. Of course as we lived in Italy, many of our trips were in Italy itself. Of course we went camping a lot, but we also visited many tourist sites as well. We went to all kinds of interesting places in Italy. The whole country is like a big museum. One of our favorite spots was Venice which had all kinds of interesting attractions. Since Venice was only a 45 minute ride from our house, it was a favorite place to visit and we went into the city on numerous occassions.

Created: 1:35 AM 11/12/2006
Last updated: 1:35 AM 11/12/2006