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The title
"Europe" is a misnomer. This page is about four European cities that I visited: London, Edinburgh, Paris and Venice, but I couldn't get all that on one Java button.... People often ask what I most enjoyed about traveling in Europe. I think it was never having to be in a car. Not sharing most Americans' love affair with the automobile, I was thrilled with the trains, busses, subways and ferries. Public transportation makes it so easy to travel in Europe--and you meet the most interesting people too! There and in the bars/pubs of course....
London is the most international city I have ever visited. There, people of different nationalities abound and many retain their traditional mode of dress. It makes for a fun, busy and cosmopolitan atmosphere that is unlike anywhere else. The sights of London are like a European history book come to life: London Bridge, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Trafalger Square, Whitehall, Parliament, the Thames River, and especially the museums. The collections of the entire world's most priceless art are housed at the British Museum and the Tate Museum of Modern Art. I will never forget touching the Rosetta Stone, seeing parts of the Magna Carta, visiting the Reading Room where Marx wrote Das Kapital--all at the British Museum. And Rodin's "The Kiss" at the Tate. One may rightfully wonder if these priceless objects are where they belong, but one can never be but moved by their magnificence....
When I arrived by bus into Edinburgh at daylight and saw Edinburgh Castle watching over the city, I knew I had come HOME, somehow. This is the only city where I cried when I arrived and cried when I left, so close did I feel to this lovely city. If ever I believed I have lived somewhere before in another life, it must have been Edinburgh. It's a lovely city, with the Castle perched on a mountain in the middle of the city, as though it still protects it today. Below the Castle is the lush Princess Street Park, around which lies the rest of the City. I will never forget wandering through the Castle grounds, when the haunting strains of a bagpipe floated through the air--I was quite ready to believe I would see some Scottish ancestor's ghost right then and there!! Trips by bus took us to the Firth of Forth and to the incomparable Scottish Botanical Gardens, which also is an outdoor modern sculpture garden-- an incredibly peaceful place...
Ahhhh, Paris, the "City of Light". I've heard many people say they were disappointed with Paris, but not I! It is a magnificent city, with the Seine meandering through the heart of it. And Notre Dame--as breathtaking as I could have imagined. The Champs Elysses and shopping on the Right Bank--too hectic, not to mention expensive, for me. The Tuelleries Gardens and the Louve Museum--my god, to actually SEE the Mona Lisa!! And yet my favorite museum in Paris is a small one, not so frequently visited--the Museé Rodin. Never an "establishment" artist, Auguste Rodin has always been my favorite sculptor. To see his home and gardens filled with his own artwork was truly moving--coming around a large shrub to practically fall at the feet of the "The Thinker"--unthinkable--but real!
Gypsy's Photos of Paris
Venice is a charming and magical city, but visitors are sometimes surprised to find that all those canals take a heavy toll on the buildings as well as the sense of smell. But experiencing the Piazza San Marco and the Doge's Palace, walking the city and finding tiny piazzas around every turn--the city is a labyrinth. Suddenly there is no more sidewalk--only a canal--and one catches the vaporetto (water going "taxies"), since gondolas are romantic, but only for RICH tourists. One should not miss the ferry trips to the Murano Glass Factory or to the Lido--arguably the most beautiful beach in the world.
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