Postcards from Europe

Around Europe in 21 days? The idea seemed exciting. Dinner in a floating restaurant in Amsterdam. A visit to the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. A gondola ride in Venice. A stroll through the Colosseum in Rome. Mt. Pilatus by cog-wheel railway in Switzerland. A view of Paris by night from the Eiffel Tower. A cruise down the River Seine. A walk through Mozart’s birthplace, Salzburg. In-depth sightseeing tours in Munich, Cologne, Rome, Florence and Paris. A tour of the French Riviera, a whiff of French perfume in Grasse, a view of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a trip back in time in Rothenburg, Heidelberg, Innsbruck and St. Paul de Vence. A guided visit to St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Beaching around in Cannes, Monaco and Lido. A lacey day in Burano.

Whew! All these in 21 days? Yes, and buffet breakfasts daily, zany shows (think Moulin Rouge), memorable dinners (with Three Tenors for dessert), and charming first-class hotels.

All these in the "European Explorer" package offered by Insight Vacations (okay, so this was in the pre-terrorist days of July). Dading Clemente of Rajah Tours (which is the exclusive Philippine agent of Insight Vacations) assured it would be an unforgettable vacation.

It was. Right from the time we boarded Air France for its Business Class cuisine and cozy beds till we hopped into the First-Class coach of Insight Vacations (call Rajah Tours at 813-31-45, 522-05-41 or 523-88-01 if you’re curious about winter vacations).

Meanwhile here are some postcards from a 21-day European sojourn:

LOURDES, France to Mons Romulo-Tantoco:

What better way to start a European journey than by praying in Lourdes? Yeah, I know, God is everywhere and you can pray anywhere. But only here in Lourdes do I feel this serenity within my soul and hear myself talking to God. Even as I shed a tear when I see hordes of sick people in stretchers begging for miracles. This is my fifth trip to Lourdes since 1985 when I thought I was dying. Some people go to doctors for medical check-ups. I go to Lourdes to heal the wounds in my heart and recharge my spiritual batteries. But of course I lighted a candle for you and your family right near the grotto.

LONDON, England to Tanya Lara:

Happy birthday! Don’t worry about turning 31. Today’s London Times carried an article saying the new 30 is 50. Their Sunday magazine cover featured Farrah Fawcett looking gorgeous at 53. They also showed Susannah York but unfortunately she didn’t age as gorgeously. There’s even an article on flirting at 50.

This morning we rode a bus from our hotel (the Kensington Hilton, where the rooms are traditional, but wow, the coffee shop is so sleek and modern) and discovered one of the joys of bumming around London by bus. Poems are written on the bus walls for you to read. A sample, The Embankment by T.E. Hulme goes: Once, in fitness of fiddles/ found I ecstacy/ In a flash of gold heels/ on the hand pavement. Now see I/ That warmth’s the very stuff of poesy./ Oh God, make small/ the old star-eaten blanket of sky/ That I may hold it round me/ and in comfort lie.

And that’s how we almost missed our Oxford Circus stop.

DOVER, England to CALAIS, France to Perry Pe and Robina Gokongwei-Pe:

We took this cool ferry boat, so huge it has restaurants, shops and endless game rooms. What’s nice is that it’s taking us less than an hour to cross the channel. We will take the Insight Tours bus at Calais and from there our smooth ride around Europe begins. Our group is composed of 42 travelers from Australia, Canada, United States, New Zealand and South Africa. Robert and I are the only ones from the Philippines though there are two Filipino-Australians–Meldy Parker and Connie Beard–who help their wealthy Australian husbands manage their furniture business and farm, respectively. Our tour director, Ruth Ridgway, is British, while our coach driver, George van Rooy is Belgian. The way our group is bonding this early, you feel like singing "It’s a Small World After All." You should hear all the naughty, naughty jokes the guys are cracking inside the coach.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands to Maurice Arcache and Alex Van Hagen:

No one could stop all 42 of us from posing for that photo-op beside a windmill. We were told there are only 1,000 windmills left in the Netherlands and only 500 are still working. We were amused to learn that windmills can speak and that during the war, windmills were positioned to convey messages. And yes, if the windmill is in the "X" position, it means it’s no longer in use. We saw a lot of old windmills turned into houses.

We went through the usual must-dos in Alex’s land: visit a wooden shoe factory and a cheese farm, get dazzled in a diamond factory, and then of course, wander through the red light district of Amsterdam with its quaint brothels, sex shops and all. Painted in psychedelic colors, palanggas, are the coffee shops with names like "Mellow Yellow" and "Feeling Funny."

Our tour director said "soft drugs" are legally sold in these coffee shops. No wonder the people sitting outside were all looking very happy.

ARNHEM, Netherlands to Boysie Braganza:

We remembered you and the many battles you must have fought in Mindanao as we saw the "Bridge Too Far," the scene of so much fighting during World War II. This was the bridge which the Allied Forces under General Montgomery planned to guard. Unfortunately, there were "leaks," so thousands were killed near this bridge which is gone. Only bricks remain in this famous battlefield.

RHINELAND, Germany to Amado Del Rosario:

Germany is a heavily industrialized country with such a beautiful countryside. The most beautiful sight of all was the BMW Building shaped like car cylinders. Sort of telling us: Welcome to BMW Country! Only now did I realize that BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works and that the blue and white checkered flag in the BMW logo is the flag of Bavaria, the home province of BMW. The latest BMWs look so great, I wonder when your company will bring them all in to the Philippines. One thing admirable about Germans, said our tour guide, is that Germans are so fiercely nationalistic, they prefer German cars, whether the pricey BMWs and Benzes or the more affordable Volkswagens and Opels. Though I wouldn’t call the oh-so-cute new VW Beetle "affordable" at P1.8 million.

COLOGNE, Germany to Honny Fernandez:

The sight of "beggars" masquerading as musical troubadors and starving artists is a vanishing sight in the streets of Europe. Today, we see a more creative breed of "street entrepreneurs" in Europe–people deftly clothed and made-up to look like statues, most of them stone white, with the omnipresent tin can in front of them waiting to be filled with alms. Here outside Cologne’s fabulous 13th century cathedral, we saw one looking like an Egyptian Pharoah in all his golden splendor. A photo op would cost a tourist only a few coins. I wonder how you would "sculpt" yourself should you be stranded penniless in Europe.

HEIDELBERG, Germany to Kathy Moran:

This is University City. Where Jose Rizal once wrote his poem To The Flowers of Heidelberg. Where student taverns’ walls are filled with graffiti dating back to centuries ago. Where there are more bicycles than people. Where there are student jails for young people who are imprisoned for 24 hours for staying too long in taverns. But that was until 20 years ago. The center of it all is Heidelberg University, founded in the 1300s, which boasts a large foreign population, mostly from Japan and the United States. Such charming ruins and romantic scenery, Rizal must have been so inspired!

But oh so sorry, no Nike Town here!

SALZBURG, Austria to Rod Nepomuceno:

They call Salzburg the "German Rome" because of all its statues and piazzas patterned after Rome. But this is really Music City, rather Mozart Country. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, that giant of a composer who stood only 5’1" but composed 600 songs before he died at 35, was born here.

Of course, I remembered you here because you always say that The Sound of Music is your all-time favorite movie. The hills of Salzburg are truly alive with the sound of music, I could almost hear the voice of Maria Von Trapp–rather Julie Andrews– filling its flower-lined parks and baroque buildings. Such a beautiful place.

Our guide said Maria Von Trapp is still alive. She lives in a monastery and occasionally gives lectures. As for the seven Von Trapp children, they ‘ve all migrated to the US. They bought a ski lodge in Vermont, among other properties. And now they are all suing each other. How do you solve a problem like that, Maria?

ROTHENBURG, Germany to Paulo Alcazaren:

The cynical and jaded tourist would say that Rothenburg is like a theme park in Disneyland. The romanticist would find it precisely that–romantic. Imagine a well-preserved medieval town with cobblestoned streets, with people going about their business in medieval clothes! Strict planning laws are enforced to make sure everything looks just like 600 years ago! Why, even McDonald’s is not allowed to put up its screaming golden arches here. Not a hint of Ronald McDonald inside McDo where paintings instead of kidstuff decorate its walls. It’s even Christmas all-year-round in this medieval town where Christmas decor–including Christmas trees of all sizes and colors–and wonderful toys are sold in five different Christmas shops. What if we had our own Rothenburg in Intramuros!

From here, we proceeded to Nordlingen, another city with walls, but looking more like a real town. So charming was Astron Hotel, an old convent converted to a cozy hotel. Even more charming were the artworks in the streets around it!

MUNICH, Germany to Doris Magsaysay-Ho:

Here is a city that values its heritage. All buildings in Munich are built in the classical or neo-classical manner. No atrociously big signs are allowed to identify shops or restos.

This was where Hitler attempted to launch a coup in 1923, then served a short prison term during which he wrote Mein Kampf. More terroristic memories: Munich hosted the 1972 Olympic games where 11 Israeli team members were massacred by Palestinian terrorists.

But Munich is still so beautiful.

INNSBRUCK, Austria to Loren Legarda Leviste:

Why did I remember you in this winter sports resort? There are a lot of ski jumping competitions here in winter. But in the height of summer, Innsbruck is so green, so cool, so lush. Perhaps because the Austrian Empress Maria Teresa passed a law in 1750 that for every tree cut down, two trees must be planted. Such remarkable foresight! That law still exists today. Maybe in line with your preserve-the-environment program, you can do a Maria Teresa! (To be continued)