Travel Writing Gems, Places
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Our favorite place to eat in Europe is the “Street-side Cafeteria.” A wonderful place to eat, as we continued to walk in these fascinating, beautiful cities in Europe.
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On a summer night, there must be more Europeans in campsites, then there are in hotel rooms.
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We have eaten lunch in our RV
on a Norwegian fjord;
beneath the Eiffel Tower;
just below the Parthenon;
within sight of the Coliseum;
within the arms of the Louvre;
across the Tiber from St. Peter's;
right next to the Brandenburg Gate;
across the street from Windsor Castle;
across the river from Le Pont D' Avignon;
with the Rock of Gibraltar out our window;
and hundreds more.
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Like a Roman theater, the hills around Portofino create the “seating area” on three sides. The harbor is the stage, beautiful yachts are the stars, fishing boats play supporting roles, the row boats are the extras, multistory homes occupy front row center seats.
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For us, an hour is better spent in a supermarket or a furniture store, than in any nightclub or fancy restaurant.
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Thousands of years ago they produced works of architectural enchantment, that appear to be beyond the abilities of today's engineers, architects, and financiers.
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Block after block of row-houses rise and fall over San Francisco's never-ending hills.
It looks like giant centipedes are eating the whole scene.
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As I pointed out the sights, the rolling hill beauty of San Francisco, one man said through his tears, “Just think, these poor people have to live in these crowded conditions!”
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Early closing hours, exhibits and buildings closed for repairs, bank and religious holidays can appear at the most inconvenient time and place.
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Who knows, it may rain for a week straight.
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We visited a thousand cities and towns in a host of European countries and found that whole towns, and considerable parts of others, have not only been preserved, many have been freshened and revitalized, thousands of ancient buildings, bridges, and streets are in everyday use.
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Once you know which country you are in, you must now drive with their rules, and their driving habits, or else.
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It would be nice to describe the difference in the people and their land. We “feel” and “see” a difference, we do not know the words needed to describe that shade of difference.
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We visit the countryside and the market place, exploring towns and cities, and talking to cabdrivers, farmers, gardeners, shopkeepers, and our seat mate on the bus or train.
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Sunday is the best day of the week to introduce yourselves to any large city in Europe. However bad the Sunday traffic, it's a great improvement over the rest of the week.
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It is remarkable to see the fine condition of many buildings built so many years ago, and even the ruins are so remarkable.
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All that is needed to build a cobblestone street or walkway, is a man, a bucket of sand, a pile of stones, and a hammer.
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When people say the US is “…one nation, indivisible …” consider the few similarities and the many differences between the Maine lobster trapper and his home and way of life, with the cowboy in Montana, and with the people who live on the mountain-side above Beverly Hills in Southern California! Not major differences that would make the people incompatible and contentious, but a shade of difference, that adds character and interest to both the people and their land.
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The discovery of Naples is not easy, but from what we have read and what we have seen through the windshield, it could be a rewarding experience.
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It would be a sad day indeed if there would be something new to say about the ancient Jewel of Venice.
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It’s hard to imagine so much splendor, so many paintings, sculptures, and works of art, the myriad of palaces and cathedrals, the multitudinous ruins of the ancient architectural art.
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Capri is like a diminutive opera setting — incomparable beauty, exceptional climate, superb facilities.
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Why is it that steep streets always go up the direction we want to go, but not down?
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It’s funny how a line can be painted in the middle of the street for two lanes, but there will be three or four lanes of traffic.
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In Greece, most every rock, every tree, and every turn in the road had a folk tale, a old wives' yarn, a fable, a legend.
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We visited a green-house filled with flowers and other exotic plants, in the middle of an Icelandic ice storm. It's heated with hot water from underground, no concern that heat might be wasted.
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Firth of Forth Rail Bridge is one of the strongest, strangest, one of the ugliest, ever built, but everyone agrees it is safe.
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What it boils down to, but is not said straight out, “If there is money to hide, hide it in a Swiss Bank.”
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In this centuries-old monastery, the pans containing the puppy food were Coca-Cola trays.
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Most people are proud of their churches, and Cathedrals everywhere have large and carefully designed steeples. But no other country has church steeples taken care of so carefully as in Austria.
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The cemetery has a hundred or more graves, each is a separate, trimmed, beautiful flower garden. The “gravestones” are metal crosses with a little roof, and many with the photograph of the person buried there.
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Hameln, the home of the Piper, and the former home of rats and kids.
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Their driveway was an excellent Campsite, and it included breakfast in their dining room.
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How do we describe these captivating, exceptional buildings? Words like Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, and Rococo describe specific architecture styles, we have yet to discover words to define the beauty.
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Concentration camps must be seen, but they are a place a person cannot stand to see.
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There is nothing but horror at any of these dreadful places, but if a tourist is near, he must visit one of these monuments to the revulsion of WW II.
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We visited the death camp, with the famous sign “Albeit Macht Frei” (Work will make you free). It offers both a fascination and revulsion.
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These ancient cities are near, over, around, or under a “ruin” that must be of interest to someone.
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Just as a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day, there are two views that show the Pisa tower standing straight.
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The campground was named “Mozzarella ‘d Buffalo” after the herds of water buffalo, whose milk is used to make Mozzarella cheese.
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Plaza del Campo — Siena’s civic center — is incredible;
Torre del Mangia — the fairest tower in Italy — is astonishing;
Palio delle Contrade — a bareback horse race — is phenomenal;
Duomo (Cathedral) —dark green and white stripes — is conspicuous.
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There's a very good reason we can't stop at the side of the road — there is no side of the road.
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We came to the large ancient city with a tangled jumble of streets, from a different direction than in any of the previous years we had visited here, but the driver, with no map, went directly to the Campsite.
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When we see lovely old towns with beautiful homes, churches, castles, bridges, and shopping streets, we wonder, did the builders specifically design the elegance, or did they just build in the style of that day, and
the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
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We find European cities fascinating. The people are friendly, helpful, smiling and good natured. We see and “appreciate” the beauty, and never notice the negatives seen by the tourist who comes to “criticize.”
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There was a good reason the the nearly strangulated, cliffhanging mountain road had no safety rails at the downhill side of the road. There was no room for rails. For us, this was an hour of terror, interrupted by moments of sheer panic.
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The campground was rather new (it looked like it),
Rather isolated (we thought),
The desk clerk was rather crabby (of that we were sure).
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We can see and enjoy a hundred “aged” buildings, but one spotless, immaculately cleaned Cathedral will outshine them all.
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A trip on a ship is our favorite way to travel, except maybe for an RV trip through Europe. But combined, both are best! We fixed our meals and had a good night's sleep while we enjoyed our slowly-rolling, slightly-pitching campground from Brandisi, Italy to Patras, Greece.
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An Italian shopping street, alive and colorful with bright window displays while the stores are open, often becomes drab and colorless after hours when they close the shutters.
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The amount of renovation needed to keep buildings beautiful over the centuries, reminds us of the 100-year-old hammer that had ten new handles and five new heads.
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We've seen Berlin with and without the Berlin Wall. Believe it, we prefer without.
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Tidbit by Jim and Emmy HumberdSimilar tidbits in: Book = Writing Gems, Travel Tidbits
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