We continue to see what we can learn from this box.

The Harvard Club of St. Louis, 55 years ago. It looks like there were about 350 members. I wonder how many are still alive. It gives names, graduation dates, address, phone number and occupations. There are no women.

My address is a townhouse/apartment in Brentwood, which I remember as having no air conditioning, but a large community pool. My phone number is totally unremembered.

The Kennedys visited Canada in 1961. It was a 3 day visit, and this brochure gives a detailed schedule of activities. Now, think of Dallas two years later. The schedule here tells you which of the 9 cars (each numbered in the order in which they will travel) the President will drive in from the airport, and exactly what route the motorcade will follow, turn by turn. You can bet that doesn’t happen now. Or maybe it does.

Pierre Salinger was Kennedy’s press secretary. He was on the 1961 trip to Ottawa. And 22 years later, he was at a Booz Allen worldwide officer meeting and signed this piece of paper. You now know what I know. Oh, how did I get this? Don’t know. Did I pay $1.50? Doubtful.

Ah, Asitane restaurant in Istanbul. It was my favorite. It got very high ratings. But it looks like the pandemic may have overtaken it, and it might have closed in 2020.  It was an atmospheric restaurant set right next to the Chora Church, an old Byzantine church/museum with wonderful murals, and it served Ottoman food from historic recipes. You can still go to its website and see the menu. Your mouth will water. 

http://www.asitanerestaurant.com.

I don’t remember the Mikhailovsky restaurant, but for some reason, I kept the sugar packet. I do remember some of the St. Petersburg restaurants we went to. Casual ones: Idiot (named after the Dostoevsky book, not the chef, I assume) and Teplo, where we went twice. They are both still in business. Mikhailovsky? Maybe not.

No, I was not at this event. I remember finding this chocolate wrapper on the street. I don’t even know what the Great Arab Revolt was, but I admit that those three words placed together make me a bit uneasy.

Except for my 1958 high school class tour of the White House, this is as close to entering it that I have been. Don’t know where I got this. Or why I still have it.

I must have soaked this off a bottle of Georgian champagne. This must date from my 1974 trip. The food in Russia in January 1974 was awful. The one good meal we had was at a Georgian restaurant where tourists and boisterous groups of important Russians could dine.

Okay, how many of you remember the short-lived Trump Shuttle? Who would have guessed?

And finally, we all remember these glorious days:

Stephen Strasburg, Adam Eaton, Bryce Harper and Victor Robles. Strasburg and Eaton no longer playing, Harper in Philadelphia, and Robles in Seattle. No current Nat was on the team 5 years ago.

That’s it for today. More to come.