Europe on $5 and $10 a day

[Bill Kover]

We used Frommer's "Europe On 5 And 10 Dollars A Day" to prepare for our very first trip to Europe in 1973. We signed up for a 15 day "Freelance" Tour covering the cities of London, Vienna, Rome and Paris. The tour company arranged flights, hotel and offered optional bus tours. Other than that, you were on your own to explore. We avoided the bus tours. At Speakers Corner in London, we listened among a small group of spectators. We marveled at London toilet paper stamped with "Government Property". While walking the gardens of the Schonbrunn Palace, we met an elderly gentleman who showed us his squirrel friends performing small antics for food. We had lunch at a wine cellar called Zwolf Apostelkeller. After drinking two large mugs of wine each, we had thoughts of having to crawl back up the stairs to street level. We had to hold each other up. In Rome, we had dinner at Tre Scalini Restaurant in the Piazza Navona while having a conversation with two young girls from Chicago. The waiter invited us all to a party after the restaurant closed (although tempted, we didn't go to the party). We visited an open market in Rome with a young girl from Mexico. Since Spanish is similar to Italian, she translated as we bargained for a handmade table cloth. Finally she advised us to walk away. We were immediately called back and our price was agreed to. The merchant shook our hands and said we were good negotiators. In Paris, we had a romantic dinner on Bateaux Mouches accompanied by harp music. The lady with the harp played "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" for us. None of this would have happened if we were on a bus tour.

[Marlene Hench]

Ahhhhh.... the good ole days. Some things were simpler then and we all moved around much easier with so much endurance Some thing never change though, and those are the good times we spend together!!
Thanks for sharing these pictures and your fun!!! I know you will find Paris just as beautiful and romantic as you did in the 1970s.
Our daughter and her husband spent their honeymoon in Paris last Nov. They took the Bateau Mouches dinner boat ride then and described it as very romantic. Guess some thing never do change!!!

[Powen Shiah]

Bill, I really enjoyed reading this. I really got a kick out of the $10 or $15 Broadway shows.

[Deborah and Donald Wise]

Thanks, Bill, we enjoyed reading of your first trip. We have yet to visit Paris, but it is definitely on our to do list.

[Vance Roy]

How did you ever get such a beautiful girl to pay any attention to you???

[Bill Kover]

Oh Boy Vance! That's a loaded question! On our first date, I made sure that my clothes were ironed, my fingernails clean, my shoes polished and my hair combed (I had hair then). Her mother noticed. I passed inspection. The rest is history.

[Pete and Maggie Haggart]

Well - what a blast. You might be interested to know that my uncle Stanley Mills Haggart and later with his partner Darwin Porter originated the Europe series of $5 and $10 a day for Frommer. I have some of the orginal $5 and $10 guide books. Maybe that is where I got my wanderlust from.

[Bill Kover]

That is really interesting. You should post a blog about the book series. I would like to see some photos of the originals.

[Marcella Craft]

My father boasted to all his friends that I didn't understand why anyone would spend so much-i.e. $5 a day in Europe--that must have been about 1963. I distinctly remember a 3 course Vietnamese meal in Paris for 1 franc. Amy

[Bill Kover]

The year was 1973. It doesn't seem like that long ago.