All work and no play. . .

After I left Adak, I went into the inactive reserve for about 15 months while I tried to earn a living. That wasn't much fun - there was definitely no time for photography - and I decided, "the hell with this!" and went back into the Navy. I went first to CCA "C" School to learn the trick of controlling airplanes on an aircraft carrier while the Navy arranged for me to take up residence on USS Franklin D Roosevelt (CVA-42) for the next two years. In mid-June 1972 I met the ship in Souda Bay, Crete. The Navy's recruiting slogan at the time was "It's not just a job - It's an adventure!" The Navy had a great slogan, and they didn't lie - I had a great time on the ship. In another post, I'll include some photographs from the ship. But in this post, I'll stick to the few pictures I have from liberty ports in the Mediterranean. Liberty is great all over the Med. At the time, it seemed that I should take care of my drinking first and take pictures when I had some spare time. Missed opportunities. . .

In late October 1972, I left the ship in Naples and took the train to Rome where I spent four days visiting a friend of mine who was in seminary at the North American College. Harry arranged a room for me in a pension run by a few very old nuns about a block and a half down the street from St. Peter's. This first shot was taken from the street in front of the pension. It was convenient for sightseeing but it was a little disconcerting to return just before midnight and have to pound on the door of a dark building to wake one of the nuns and gain entry. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she accepted gracefully the hours I kept, even though I still wonder what she was mumbling in Italian as she walked away.

This shot of the Foro Romano was taken from our dinner table one evening in a trattoria across the street. That was the first night I ever had spaghetti carbonara and I thought, "These people really know how to cook."

This is the view of St. Peter's looking west from the Borghese Gardens, easily one of my favorite places in Rome. Considering the very few pictures that I took over the four days I was there, I must've been walking around goggle-eyed and with my mouth open at all the wonderful things there were to see. My other favorite spots were Piazza Navona, the Vatican Museum, and the Pantheon.

This, of course, is a portrait of Snowflake, the most famous lowland gorilla who ever lived. I remember how startled I was to come upon him at the Barcelona Zoological Park. I had read about him in National Geographic (March 1967) but had not remembered that he was in Barcelona. I always thought he looked very angry in this picture, but I understand now that his albinism made his eyes very weak and he tended to hold his head down and glare at sailor/photographers (and presumably other people) from beneath those heavy eyebrows. He was about 10 years old in 1974. Snowflake died in Barcelona in November 2003, still the only albino gorilla ever reported.

This beautiful place is the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona, and I thought for a long time that it's a wonder I ever found my way there. It's well off the beaten path - at least for sailors on liberty - and certainly far from my usual haunts in this terrific city. I found out in the course of creating this blog, however, that the Parc is where the zoo is. Finding the zoo would not have been difficult; the zoo's location here was simply serendipitous for me.

Still at the park, and with more wildlife to shoot. I don't recall whether I was with anyone on this outing or not. I hope it's not taken as a commentary on the class of my friends that I can't think of any of my "runnin' mates" from the ship who might have gone with me to the zoo. That could be another reason why I took so few pictures while on liberty. . . but it was probably the drinking.

Ah, Athens! As much walking as we did, from Falleron Delta (the fleet landing) in Piraeus to the Acropolis or the aerodromeo (the Air Force base) or Glyfada, it's a wonder I didn't somehow find time to take more pictures here. I do remember that the Parthenon and the other buildings were shrouded in scaffolding and getting any decent pictures up here was difficult. I had lots of adventures in Greece and the people I came in contact with made Athens my favorite port in the Med. I took this picture from the Acropolis, looking out over the harbor where USS Roosevelt lies at anchor. The section of a column in the foreground being available for study, I realized for the first time that the Greeks and, I suppose, the Romans cut these round stones with square mortises and tenons on opposite sides of each disc and simply stacked them to create a column however high with no cement or mortar.