EUROPEAN REFLECTIONS

EUROPEAN REFLECTIONS

I entitled this blog, European Reflections, and so as we near the end of this trip, it is time to put some of our thoughts down in writing.

As we have heard many times from others on our shore excursions, "A B C", to describe what they have been seeing - Another Boring/Bloody Church, Another Boring Castle, Another Boring City. Norma even came up with one of our own, A M V - Another Medieval Village. However, while it is possible to sum up the trip that way, we cannot. We found each city, church, castle, village to be interesting in its own way.

Once we mastered how to not get run down by the bicyclists in Amsterdam (I think bicyclists must be the same the world over - the rules are not made for them), we were absolutely charmed by the different architectural styles of the canal houses. Being at the Van Gogh Museum at the same time as the Van Gogh and Munch retrospective was taking place was a highlight. To see the work of these two masters who lived at the same time but who never met, displayed side by side was so interesting. Seeing the Guggenheim in Bilboa was another artistic highlight. We were awed by the mammoth sculpture, The Matter of Time, and later (after seeing Gaudi's work) saw much influence of Gaudi in this work. We equally enjoyed viewing the architecture of the Museum itself and how it was designed to fit into the city of Bilboa. The Port Building at Oporto, Portugal, was another marvellous example of modern architecture which is a work of art. It was totally unexpected. Genoa was also an unexpected surprise. I had forgotten what a centre of wealth this port was. We enjoyed seeing all of the different architectural styles used in the numerous palaces and the use of materials - black and white marble for the earliest buildings, yellow, red and white pigments on the newer ones. Some were covered with frescoes and trompe l'Oeil paintings. For me, the biggest disappointment was Monte Carlo, Monaco. This city made me feel that I was not rich enough, not beautiful enough, not chic enough to be worthy to walk on its soil. I did not imagine this and it is not paranoia kicking in as we were told that Prince Albert is aiming to keep out the riffraff (like us) and make his tiny country a haven for only the super-rich. To do this, he is in partnership with the Sultan of Qattar. I imagine Russian oligarchs will also be welcome. So if you want to come here, do so sooner rather than later. While it was clean and shiny, they still didn't provide seats on their toilets! I asked the guide today why this was so everywhere we went. She said that not only had no one ever asked her that question, but that she had no idea why. They have seats on their toilets at home. We concluded that they were easier to clean that way. Norma and I have vowed to practice peeing in our toilets at home without using a seat in preparation for our next trip to Europe.

Mont St. Michel, our first AMV, was built with a very dark grey stone so it had an atmosphere of its own despite sharing with others the typical narrow winding cobblestoned streets lined with souvenir shops. I found the atmosphere here to be more sobering than other villages. In Spain, the AMVs, were built with white stone, and thus seemed so bright and cheerful. In Italy, built with yellow and ochre coloured stones, a feeling that they had always been there and always would be. Most of the small villages were built on top of the mountains so they could be defended from attack. It seemed to us that most of the centuries were spent fighting for these strategic locations. I guess not much has changed in the world on that point. The views from them all were spectacular so you can see why today, people want to live in them. As we are at the tail end of the tourist season, the crowds were not too bad. I imagine that at peak season, my claustrophobia would kick in big time. Too many people and not enough room to manoeuvre. I am sure that tour buses only visit certain ones and that if you were on your own, you would be able to visit less popular but equally charming AMVs.

I must say that the Chateaux we visited varied from being in ruins or being so musty you marvelled that anyone would want to live there, to the absolutely sumptuous and beautifully decorated that you wondered why anyone needed that much space and that much wealth.

Now to the ABChurches - all of them Roman Catholic. We found that they differed too depending on when they were built, the materials used, and the purpose, other than worshipping, they provided. The earliest ones were built on a prominent site with very few windows except for ones at the top which were used to defend the building. They were more like fortresses where people took refuge when their village or city was being attacked. As time went on and there would be an extended period of peace, the architecture changed and beautiful stained glass windows were added. The interiors became more opulent over the centuries. The Baroque-styled ones were so 'over the top' there wasn't a surface in them that wasn't decorated. Gold leaf everywhere - so much richness. However, nothing compared to La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's crowning glory. To us, this is what a church building should be - we found it more of a tribute to nature - whether he intended this or not. It was not overly florid but instead awe-inspiring. Having a guide with us made this visit all the more worthwhile. Also, on the subject of the Catholic Church, all of the young guides we had disparaged the church, said they never went, would never marry in one. We were surprised by the animosity they felt. According to them, all over Europe, only the elderly are attending services and the church is having difficulty maintaining their buildings.

We have only one more day here and one more shore excursion on the Amalfi Drive -hard to imagine. Despite all the wonderful things we have seen, the highlight of the trip was our 6 hours spent marvelling at Gaudi's works in Barcelona. There is a lightness and sense of humour in his buildings and his genius was apparent in everything we saw.

But the very very best, was meeting and being part of the FAB FIVE - Sandra, Bill, and Tom - made this a trip that we will always remember. From the very first night we met at the Social Travellers, we hit it off. Imagine having a song written about us on the first night of our cruise. Bill taught us everything we needed to know about ordering martinis and other cocktails. Sandra with her indomitable spirit and sassy wit had us all laughing hilariously. May we keep in touch for many years.

Having said that, it is time to bring this A B B (Another Boring Blog) to a close. See everyone soon.