Stones Endure

In 1969 Clyde Foreman and I arrived in Rome, tired, hungry and hot.
It was July and we had spent the previous days in Switzerland where it
was cool and beautiful. We had a book Europe on $5 a Day and we
stayed on budget. Many a night Clyde complained that he was still
hungry, but we spent 14 weeks in Europe, saw 12 countries, learned a
lot about life including how to live on bread, cheese, salami and
little else. Life was pretty good if you could live within your
means. Now it costs $5, actually 4 Euros, for a cup of coffee. the
hotels are $400 per day and lunch costs $75 and dinner $130. America
is still fighting, Afghanistan not Vietnam. Greece is going broke,
Italy and Spain are close behind. But here the streets are full, the
restaurants still serve fabulous food and the art and museums are the
greatest. We see few American tourists compared to the old days.
There are many Germans, Russians, Chinese and Indians. We hear a lot
of French and the Scandinavian languages spoken. The world is
amazing, renewal as seasons change and civilizations rise and fall.
When I was here in 1969' the American century was in full swing. We
have been to many beautiful places in Europe in the intervening 43
years. I have the sense something major is happening here. The great
landmarks will remain, the fountains, the churches, the museums, the
Roman ruins, stones endure. But the systems made by man, the Euro,
the European Union, the web of banks and pension plans and
universities, NGO's and bureaucracies are running into economic
reality. Life could be pretty good if they could learn to live within
their means. Dale