Then and Now - Lugano

As noted in a previous post, as a family we traveled to Europe in 1957 aboard a twin-tail Constellation, a flight well before the restrictions of terrorism and one that afforded a young man an opportunity provided by the navigator to play with a sextant in a small dome on the craft, the better to ensure that we made it to Shannon, Ireland. Despite my concentration and several attempts, none of my sightings made it into the craft's log. Today, no one gets to feel the 11-hour heterodyne vibration of a four-engine propeller plane as it bumps its way from refueling in Gander on its way to Shannon across the sea.
From there, over the summer we managed to tour Ireland, Britain, and seven continental countries, with Lugano, Switzerland, among our favorite rests, and where my late sister, Eve, took many photos, including one of me on the edge of Lake Lugano, just steps from our hotel. Ever since we rediscovered her snapshot among her collections, we have planned to recreate the scene at our earliest opportunity, which presented itself last week.
With the help of Ron and a copy of the original photo, we walked the edge of the lake under the ancient, pollarded chestnuts, looking for the alignment of mountain and lake and buildings for an updated photo. After several tries, we decided that I had grown, the lake front had changed, and our cameras differed from Eve's. In a stroke of genius, Ron then grafted in Photoshop a separate shot of my presence onto the best alignment we could find.
Voila! After 53 years, Ron has recreated the scene. Thanks, Ron.