Linda and Karen's Great European Adventure

By Linda Pashley Murray

I wrote this little non-fiction journal style book from a notebook I kept in 1972 during a trip a girlhood friend and I took to Europe at that time. The itinerary was loosely based on the Hemingway novel The Sun Also Rises so yes there is drinking in Paris cafes, no money, a wild drive from Paris to Pamploma and then to Madrid, including a bullfight a riot,and Ceuta, Heidelberg ,London and the terrific assortment of people that we met along the way. This was before GPS and cell phones , Vietnam was raging and the only terrorists we knew about were Irish and German. I did not meet famous artists or writers, but the places are still there and now when I reread Hemingway a lot of it really comes to life and I know what he wrote was "true".-Linda Pashley Murray

I so enjoyed reading the narrative of your trip to Europe in 1972. It is a wonderful account of the adventurous travels of
two young American girls, experiencing the various cultures they encountered along the way within the context of the history going on during that period of time. I am so glad you kept the journal as you went along because doing so you were able to recapture what it was like to be in your shoes. Reading it brought me back to memories of younger days. Life is an adventure to be enjoyed while somehow not succumbing to unforeseen pitfalls."-Connie Pashley McDade

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781479794027

Book preview

LINDA AND KAREN’S

GREAT EUROPEAN

ADVENTURE

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WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED

BY LINDA PASHLEY MURRAY

Copyright © 2013 by Linda Pashley Murray.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Copyright Registration Number: TXu 1-842-365

Effective date of registration: February 7, 2013

Rev. date: 03/05/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

130738

Contents

Acknowledgments

April 19

June 1 New York

June 2 Luxembourg

June 3 Paris

June 4 Paris

June 5 Paris

June 6 Paris

June 7-9 Drive to Madrid

June 9 Madrid

June 10 Madrid

June 11 Madrid

June 12 Madrid

June 13-14 Ceuta and Málaga

June 15-17 Train to Barcelona

June 18-20 San Pedro Pescador

JUNE 21-22 Switzerland Interlaken

June 23-July1 Heidelberg West Germany

July 2 Ostende to London

July 2-July 9 London

July 9-11 London to Brussels or Bust

Postscript

This story is true and is dedicated to the memory of my parents, Robert Wilfred Pashley and Dorothy Watts Pashley, who instilled in all three of their children (Bruce Robert Pashley, Glenn Scott Pashley, and Linda Robin Pashley) and, I hope, in you, Brooke, their only grandchild (Brooke Nicole Pashley), the courage and fearlessness to experience the adventure that is life—a curiosity about all things great and small, a gut instinct and common sense to keep safe, and an appreciation of the wonders of the universe and nature. Live by the Golden Rule and keep laughing.

I am happy to report that they read this in 1972 upon my return from my great European adventure and got quite a kick out of it. I hope you do too.

Forrest Gump’s mama was right. Life was like a box of chocolate. You never know what you’re gonna get.

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I so enjoyed reading the narrative of your trip to Europe in 1972. It is a wonderful account of the adventurous travels of two young American girls, experiencing the various cultures they encountered along the way within the context of the history going on during that period of time. I am so glad you kept the journal as you went along, because by doing so, you were able to recapture what it was like to be in your shoes. Reading it brought me back to memories of younger days. Life is an adventure to be enjoyed while somehow not succumbing to unforeseen pitfalls—the wonder of being young. Thanks for sharing your story with me. So well written; reading it made me feel like I was there with you and your friend. [I] loved the photos, especially of you with your mom and dad. As Harry used to say to me, Life is an adventure, and you don’t have to go looking for it. If you are out there, it comes to you.

—Connie Pashley McDade

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Karen for taking the trip with me; my parents for letting me go; my mom’s cousin Lorraine Gooding Bates for her support and help with final edits; Laurie Slattery for her encouragement; my dad’s cousin, Connie Pashley McDade, for her kind words; my husband, John Jay Murray, for his patience as I typed and put this together; and finally, all the strangers I met along the way, for all their kindness, which made this trip so memorable. Patti, you were so right about taking this trip.

The photograph on the cover of my book is of a painting I did on an original clay bowl crafted by Connie’s sister Carolyn Pashley and originally designed to be a wall hanging. I gave this painted bowl to my parents for their fiftieth wedding anniversary on June 14, 1997, which I have back now.

The subject for my bowl painting was inspired by a Vincent van Gogh painting, called Enclosed Wheat Field with Rising Sun, which had been used as an illustration for the cover of a soft cover version of The Sun Also Rises* by Ernest Hemingway. That novel was the inspiration for this trip.

* The Sun Also Rises is a 1926 novel based on true events written by American author Ernest Hemingway about a group of American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights… The setting was unique and memorable, showing the seedy café life in Paris and the excitement of the Pamplona festival, with a middle section devoted to descriptions of a fishing trip in the Pyrenees. The title comes from a quote from Ecclesiastes: What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

—"Wikipedia, The Sun Also Rises" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_Also_Rises

This Rand McNally map is the