In 1967, my high school French class took a trip to Montreal, Canada, to attend the world's fair called Expo 67. I was 16 years old at the time, and this was the biggest trip I had ever taken. We travelled by bus at night, all night it seemed. No one slept, but we talked and drank coffee on the trip. Once there, we stayed in some sort of youth hostel accomodations, with simple, spartan bunk beds. A lot of the students were upset by this, and wanted a better place to stay. I didn't know the difference, myself. I was just happy to be able to go.
I had never been on a subway before and found it fascinating
and so easy to travel anywhere in the city. I became friends with another classmate,
Jackie, and we explored the expo together and had a wonderful time speaking
French and pretending not to understand English. We were allowed to take the
subway to the expo in the morning, and just to be back at the place we were
staying at night by a certain hour. I had never known such cosmopolitan freedom
before! We bought French pastries in a bakery in the morning for breakfast,
went to the Expo during the day, and one evening we went to a coffeehouse and
listened to live music and singing. It was Gordon Lightfoot that day, the first
time I had ever heard of him. 39 years later, Jackie and I are still dear friends.
I found these snapshots that I had taken on this trip. I wish there were more, and I wish I remembered what each one was. I hope you enjoy looking at them anyway. |