Remembering eclipses

Tomorrow a total eclipse of Sun will be visible from Canada to China. I just put my story about the 1999 eclipse I saw in Salzburg as a comment on Boingboing.

I was longing for this eclipse since twenty years. I remember I was roughly nine, reading on a book the Total Eclipses agenda.

1981 Siberia, 1999 Austria.

I thought it was impractical for a 10 years old boy travel toward Siberia to see the nearest one. So I asked to my parents: "May I go in Austria during 1999?" - "Of course you can: you will be 29, and you will decide by yourself whether you should go or not."

Back then I didn't understood this anticipation, but I haven't miss my rendez-vous with the eclipse.