Europe Trip.

We had planned for this tour of Europe as this would be the last chance that the whole family could go together. So we arranged for my son, Yi Hui, to fly in from US to meet us in Paris where we stayed for three nights. The apartment belongs to a French woman, Annie. She reminded us that the staircase is 130 years old and “you can break all other things in the apartment but not the staircase”.

The view of Paris with Eiffel Tower in the background was taken from the top floor of Galerie Lafayette, a well known department store. The dome of the store is something you need to see for yourself. It is so beautiful.

Of course, everybody has to see Eiffel Tower and maybe go up the tower for a bird’s eye view. To take this night scene means waiting until at least 10 pm as the sun sets only then. So it’s best to go to Europe in summer when you have lots of daylight for sightseeing.

We went to Nice by fast train, TGV. Only 200km/hour, not as fast as China’s train nowadays. And took a bus to this beautiful medieval village, St Paul de Vence. All old stone houses and cobbled lanes. Only a few hundred people live here but 2.5 million visit.

Next stop, Rome with the beautiful Colosseum. Then it is pasta, pizza, pasta, pizza and pasta. Do you know that for a proper dinner they have appetizer, first meal (pasta), second main course (meat) and then dessert and coffee. We only manage one. Of course Euro prices.

Venice is full of tourists and hot, hot and hot like Malaysia. And nice Gondola rides for deep pocket tourists. You won’t think that Italy is facing some economic crisis.

We were in Pisa, of course, to see the leaning tower and the other monuments in Miracle Field. Most of the monuments have been spotlessly cleaned of all the accumulated dirt everywhere in Italy with some in progress.

Florence with the famous Ponte Vecchio in the background has mostly jewellery shops on the bridge. The designs are all so exquisite, so Italian. Plenty of leatherware shopping also in Florence. The Uffizi Gallery is on the right where you can see the original Michelangelo’s David, while the copy is outside at Signoria Square.

After a week in Italy, our last stop was in Milan and the next morning was an early train ride to Tirano at the border of Italy and Switzerland, where we boarded the 4 hours scenic train ride, Bernina Express, through the Swiss Alps to Chur. The scenery was postcard perfect. And then to Lucerne where we stayed at this beautiful Swiss Chalet by the lake, where everything creaks, because it is an old timber house. You could almost imagine a cuckoo bird coming out from a window.

To the top of the mountain at Mt. Titlis, 10,000 feet. And you will think that you are in Kashmir and China at once. Indian tourists and you can hear Putonghua. There is only a sprinkling of pale faces. In fact, Switzerland seems to be the favourite country for Indians as they were there by the bus loads and train loads. But Chinese, they are everywhere on tours and traveling on their own.

Swoosh, an overnight train from Zurich to Cesky Budejovice in Czech Republic, the original home of Budweiser Beer, for those beer drinkers. Cesky Krumlov, about an hour’s train ride is a World Heritage Site with a lot of beautiful old houses and buildings and a castle to see. And lots of Chinese tourists.

Prague with the famous Charles Bridge is most enchanting with a big castle complex on a hill at the back. Czech Republic is the most economical country compared to Central Europe. Prices are like Malaysian. They use Koruna (CZK), but if you are ever there, it is better to use Euro as you get a better deal than exchanging Euro into Koruna.

On our way from Prague to Munich, we stopover in Salzburg, where the movie “Sound of Music’ was filmed. Visited the Mirabel Garden with the view of the Salzburg Fortress on the hill in the background.

In Munich, we made day trips out to see the fairy tale castle, Neuschwanstein Castle. The picture was taken from Marien Bridge which is across a ravine from the Castle. No photographs were allowed to be taken of the interior. The furnishing were fabulous which included a million pieces of mosaic laid out in designs and a modern sitting wc built in the 19th century.

Rothernburg Ob Der Tauber, which means Red fortress above the river Tauber, is an old medieval town and one the best preserved in Germany. When we were there, the townsfolk were celebrating the festival Meistertrunk for an event that happened in 1631 when the city council rescued the town by drinking 3¼ liter of wine in one gulp. The town is older than that, take another 500 years back.

The beers are so cheap in the supermarket anyway. But by the cafes in the squares it cost about 3-4 euros for 500ml. Hoegaarden wheat beer is still the best. Delicious and crispy German pork knuckles cost about 8 euros per portion. Not that expensive, although Munich is said to be the most expensive city in Germany.

A little side trip to Brussels to see the Mannekin Pis and the Grand Place in Brussels and to Bruges another medieval town worth many hours of walking.

Our last stop was in Amsterdam for a full 3 days of sightseeing. Plenty of picturesque canals in Edam, the cheese town. You could imagine having a nice cottage by the canal and sit in the garden in summer drinking tea and coffee and watch the ducks. Here (where else) the ducks would have disappeared into somebody’s kitchen!

And plenty of small, red lighted cubicles where the ‘wares’ are displayed and if you are interested you can strike up a bargain, enter and the curtains would be drawn for your sojourn. Mustn’t miss this when you are there. And the coffee shops where they don’t drink coffee but smoke hash! Hear that they would not allow tourists into these joints from next year onwards, so hurry up. We didn’t try though. But you can always have Argentinian steaks, plenty of Chinese food and the usual pizza and pasta. The Chinese are always there in the red light districts, don’t know why.

A number of the old buildings seem to be tilting and leaning like they will tumble at the slightest jolt of earthquake.

All in all, the train runs on time. When it says 2.22 it arrives at 2.21 and leaves exactly at 2.22. In the southern part of Europe, it was hot but gets cooler to the north. Intermittent rain was an irritant. In Amsterdam it rained, stop, rained, stop, rained, stop…….

This is the second time traveling through Europe by train for my husband and I. The first time (separately) when we were still young and single. I had traveled with Siaw Cheng in 1988. Would we go again? Of course and to other countries where we have not been like Spain and Portugal, Greece and the south of Italy. It is a good once or twice in a lifetime experience and much much better than traveling with a tour group. You will see much more at your own pace and at much lower costs. The world is so beautiful out there. Life is like a book, you need to read more than one page.