We were traveling north and I spotted a horse jumping and running like he had spotted some danger. He had! It was our left front tire which had come off the car, leapt the fence and scared the poor horse. Stopped and put the damn thing on again. Jo  took the opportunity to pick some strawberries from the farmyard which came right up to the road.

‘Mannikin Piss’ I recognized this years later while working in a foundry. Someone had ordered the can opener as Christmas gifts. Must have made 50 or so. I managed to grab one.

Lots of humorous sculpture.

We toured the 1958 World’s Fair site. It was in dismal shape. Took a video emphasizing this. If I ever figure out how to convert them to the internet I’ll post it.

If you want to see this story ‘Europe’ from the beginning or my previous story ‘Japan’ go to potpourri above and click on the subject.

We had to order a tyre from England as there were no such tires on the continent. So, Jo’s cousin did the job, bought the tire and two tubes.(just in case) We were stuck in this campsite, the wind came up so I thought it would be fun to fly a kite. So…I made one.

Ah, Midge. Not an especially loyal girlfriend but  turned into a great lifelong friend.

It was fun and we met a lot of great people who were camping there. The campsite was a kind of squatters retreat and some of the people had been there for months.

Waited and waited for the tire and tubes.

As we climbed the mountains into Switzerland the car kept burning out. Fortunately there were places on the road that we could pull over and let the damn thing cool down. Good views, though, of the Swiss Alps.

Switzerland was quite different from any other country we visited on this trip. The Swiss were a pathologically neat and clean. Once I parked with one of my tires touching the inclusive parking lines. More than one passerby pointed their fingers and shook their heads.

Staring at the car.

Jo and I were standing on the street when we noticed a bakery. We were admiring the good looking baked sweets in the window when one of the servers came out with two sugary buns. “For you” she said. Delicious! Apparently we looked looked poor hungry travelers.

Which we were.

Crossed the river and entered Germany.