A change of pace, with a post that just spans a month, rather than several generations, and colour photos.
The year was 1987. It was a week or so after the Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery, and La Bamba by Los Lobos had just knocked Who's That Girl off the top of the charts. And Mags and I, with our friend Gary, were heading to Europe.
We had "Interrail" tickets, a scheme that is still running today, allowing Europeans under 26 unlimited train travel across Europe (except your own country) plus a few ferries, for a full month for £124.
We got the ferry from Dover to Calais.
Money was tight, and to keep costs down, we slept where we could, including Cannes beach.
We headed into Italy, visiting Florence.
And splashed out on a night in a youth hostel.
After a quick look at Pisa, it was off to Rome.
And from Rome to Brindisi, where we took a ferry to Corfu. We stayed for two days in very rough accommodation - a step down from Cannes beach; the kitchen sink emptied to the bath, and we shared a room with a random Fin - then on to Patras in Greece. The train from Patras to Athens was narrow gauge - and very late.
The plan was to climb to the Acropolis in the cool or early morning, but with the train four hours late, it was the heat of the day.
But we made it!
The train north out of Athens was packed. Fortunately it thinned out after some hours and we got space in the corridor. Luxury - I could see out the window now!
The train took us to Zagreb, now capital of Croatio, but at that time a provincial city in Yugoslavia, where we had to deal with a light case of sunburn from that trek up to the Acropolis...
Next stop was Venice.
We visited a few cities in central Europe; I must admit I an not sure of the exact order. I think this is Saltzburg.
And then headed to Scandinavia. We took an overnight train, and I was very surprised when I work up to find the carriage was swaying. The train was on a ship!
We visited Stockholm and Oslo, but also had to visit...
From there we headed north, to Narvik, just inside the arctic circle. As we approached, the train made it way down a fjord as the sunset.
There are days in Narvik when the sun does not drop below the horizon. That would be about a month earlier than we were there, but it was still light at midnight.
We went down into Finland (and saw that guy we shared a room with in Corfu on one of the trains), to Helsinki, then back again, via Copenhagen.
And Legoland - which is just like Bekonscot, but made of Lego.
Back to the central European cities, this was Geneva.
And Amsterdam.
And finally the ferry home, after each buying 24 cans of Stella duty free!
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