Eclipse: Good, Bad And Disappointing

By Harriet Barovick, James Colburn, Autumn De Leon, Michelle Derrow, Daniel S. Levy, Lina Lofaro, Andrew Meier, Anne Moffett and Desa Philadelphia

Everyone between southwest England and the Bay of Bengal had the same occupation last Wednesday--star gazing. Well, star-and-moon gazing, to be exact. But the last solar eclipse of the millennium wasn't all celestial. A roundup:

In Serbia, the Ministry of Health released a bulletin warning that the eclipse "can induce rapid heartbeat, spasms, itchiness, jump of blood pressure, higher blood sugar and frequent urination"; 26 Jordanians were admitted to hospitals but released when doctors found their eclipse-related illnesses to be "psychological."

Designer Paco Rabanne had predicted that the Russian Mir station would fall on France during the eclipse. Revelers held a "survivor's party" outside his headquarters. French ornithologists reported panic-stricken reactions of birds, particularly sea gulls, who clamorously flew out to sea, returning once daylight resumed.

Disappointment reigned in Britain, northern France and Germany, where eclipse seekers tried in vain to outdrive cloud cover.

In Romania, clear skies offered more eclipse--2 minutes, 23 seconds--than anywhere else. Turkey, Iran and Iraq also got an eyeful. But Iraqis, too strapped for the proper glasses, were advised to view the eclipse through glass blackened by candle soot.

Even the Pope joined in. He ended a meeting with pilgrims early and was whisked away to a papal retreat, where he watched through a piece of welder's glass.