Family Trip to Europe - 2009

With Some Parallel Views from Almost 30 Years Ago (1980)

This page has pictures from my first-ever trip abroad in 1980, between college and medical school, when I went on a six-week bike trip through England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and France. Some of the stops on the 2009 trip are the same as from 1980, and I tried to take some pictures in roughly the same places that I took pictures in 1980. On Facebook are some other pictures from the trip.

The Dam Square in Amsterdam, showing the National Monument and Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, where I stayed in 2007 while attending a conference.

Windmills in the Dutch countryside, with no discernable change!

Bicycling now and then. The interval change in my looks vastly exceeds that of the bikes!

The Markt Square in Brugge, Belgium as seen from the top of the Belfort Tower. The main difference is an excellent modern decision to ban cars!

Le Tour Eiffel, now and then. Not much change!

L'Arc de Triomphe, from slightly different vantages yet no significant change.

The Place de la Concorde, looking up the Champs-Élysées, still about the same.

The Sacre Coeur, no change.

The Pompidou Centre, site of modern art, about the same.

Still with street performers in the court in front.

And still looking about the same from up high in the museum.

The Paris Opera. The main change is the signs of the airline offices. British Air and Aeroflot then, and Royal Maroc now. Does that person in front of Aeroflot, circa 1980, have a rifle?

Enjoying a sidewalk cafe with female company, with my wife now and a friend back then. (No comment on any changes.)