In the winter of 1967-68, I was hitchhiking around Europe with Rick, a friend and fellow student hailing from San Jose, California. It was Christmas break from the Universite de Nice in France (where I was spending my Junior Year Abroad) and Rick and I were on our grand holiday from the Mediterranean to Grenoble (where the Winter Olympics were soon to be held) to Switzerland, Munich, Salzburg and Innsbruck, Austria. From here, Rick went back to Nice and I went on to Paris by myself. After several days there, I hit the road back to the Mediterranean with a girl from Milwaukee that I’d met in Paris. Those were formative years for me and my whole outlook on life changed dramatically because of the experiences I had and the people I met on that great European adventure.
On January 16, 1968, my diary reads as follows.
“Today was just about the greatest day of my life. I was never happier to see anything than I was today to see Nice.
We left Avignon very late and saw a few of the old ruins, including the Popes’ palace. Its a beautiful city just covered with history. We had terrible luck getting out, walking for miles till we got a short ride to Cavaillon, out in the middle of nowhere. We waited there quite awhile because somehow we had lost route #7. But we did get a ride finally to 7 and then one man going to Marseille went out of his way to take us to Aix-en-Provence (quite far out of his way, about 60 km to be exact). So we walked through the city (another long walk) and waited on the #7 again.
Somehow, out of the blue, a white Jaguar stopped, with an 06 (Nice Alpes-Maritimes) plate. Inside was a man who owned his own company and on his way to Nice and he told me he stopped only because I looked “tres sympathique”. I was never more glad that I smiled ever before in my life.
He took us all the way to Nice. He had a great personality and we had some good discussions on everything, mostly business and French politics. It was great talking with him and when we parted, real friends, he gave me his phone number and invited me fishing on his boat. Wow, that was great and it was also great to see some of my friends again, Sylvio and Christian, and to read my mail and find out that in some ways I’m important to other people. It’s a great feeling, believe me.
The people I met today included 3 girls at the hostel with a nice Spanish guitar, the hostel father who asked me to translate a Japanese game like chess into French (it was in English), a retired French mailman, the people who gave us rides, especially the last one (M. Guy Pilet). It’s just been formidable; really, really great.”
Centre Universitaire Mediterranean, Nice,
where I was a student in 1967-1968
where I was a student in 1967-1968
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