I saw totality in Mexico on July 11, 1991. It was great. That one lasted 6.5 minutes, too. I was on an eclipse tour, and one of the people I was with let me look at it through her binoculars briefly, right before it ended. I saw the end through the binoculars. Through the binoculars, the first bit of sunlight was like white-hot molten silver pouring over the edge of the moon.
> ...the first bit of sunlight was like white-hot molten silver pouring over the edge of the moon.
Poetic image. It gets intense fast, and I had to look away quickly.