Vilnius - Prague - Paris - London  Amsterdam - Vilnius

     I would like to share my impressions of my Euro tour with you. In 1998 I had very interesting Euro tour. We left Vilnius in the evening, drove on the bus the whole night through and arrived in Prague the next evening. We stayed in a hotel that night and the next morning we toured the city – a little on bus, a lot on foot. We had a lot of free time to walk, have a beer or coffee. It was hot - 37! Celsius!
     We left Prague that evening for Paris. Another night and day in the bus.
According to international rules a driver may drive 8 hours and have 4 hours rest. After 20 hours the bus must stop for 10 hours. There were two drivers who switched with each other. Every 2 hours the bus must stop for 20 or 30 minutes. The fourth day of the trip we reached Paris in the evening and went to our hotel. Although we wanted to see Paris by night we were too tired and just went to sleep in the hotel .

    Paris, queen of cities – says a popular song. Paris will always be Paris, says another. Over the centuries Paris has acquired an air of everlasting glories. Things have changed – the world has found other major capitals – France is no longer the all-conquering empire of by-gone days. The town has lost a good deal of its old charm, but it still remains the queen of cities.

We stayed in Paris for two days. One day we toured by bus, one day we toured on foot. We visited many tourist sights – the Louvre, Pompidu Center, Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, Cimetriere du Pere Lachaise – where Frederic Chopin, Edit Piaf etc. are buried - Perfume Museum, bird market, and many other places. I went on this tour with two friends. It was too short to see the Louvre so we went to the d’Orsay museum where we enjoyed viewing original works of the impressionist: van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Sisley, Cessanne, Gaugiun, Seurat, Tolouse-Latrec and many others.

     What a shock this “metal monster” (the Eiffel Tower) must have been to the classically-minded people who lived on the banks of the Seine. Here I am now with my childhood friend

just 505 days ‘til the year 2000.

     Notre Dame du Paris! - Heroine of a seething novel by Victor Hugo. There is a very popular street theatre in Paris. We saw Quazimodo and Esmeralda “live”. Usually these actresses stay without moving and take on the image of some person. If someone throws them money, they “come alive”, start to act and invite persons to take pictures with them.

     We spent one evening in Montmartr, where we watched its life and the painters. In the shadow of the Sacra Cour, the old streets on the hill are all witnesses. The intimacy of Montmartr, its calm, little squares still give Paris an air of village life. On another evening we went on an excursion by boat. It was a romantic leave taking of Paris by night on the Seine. We left Paris at 12:00PM and a storm started.

     A long night lay ahead of us. We arrived at the immigration services of England at 4:20AM. Everyone was interviewed. The drive through the Euro tunnel was impressive.   To save time we went from Dover directly to Stratford-upon-Avon, a distance of 300 Kilometers.

This is the beautiful birthplace of Shakespeare. We visited the house of his birth, looked at his daughter’s house and went to the church.
After this we went to Warwick, 9 miles, to the castle of Wilhelm Victors (11th century). We then went on to London. We got to London and went on a bus tour of the city and settled into our hotel in the evening – for two nights this time.

     The second day we toured on foot and by bus. We saw the Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Piccadilly and Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and Parliament. We didn’t see the changing of the guard until the second day because the queen decided not to have it performed on the first day we went there. In the afternoon we visited Madam Tussard’s wax museum where I had my picture taken with the wax figure of Princess Diane. We spent three days in London. I visited Westminster Abbey – a living church that enshrines the history of the British Nation. Although not a museum, there are may things worth seeing. I was also in the church where Diane was laid out for viewing. The last place I visited was the National Gallery. After that I searched a long time for a post office from which I could send my internet friends a postcard. I tried in Paris and London but had many problems.

From London we went back through the Euro tunnel to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam we visited the diamond museum, and went on a tour of the city. We saw its canals, flowers and flea markets and its red light district – everything that reflects the face of Amsterdam. We took an hour trip by boat through Amsterdam’s canals.
Shakespeare felt a strong attachment to Stratford and was often influenced in his writing by his hometown, its surroundings and events that occurred there.
The first written mention of Amsterdam cores in 1275. In that year count Floris V granted the people living near the dam on the Amstel River freedom to navigate the waters of the Province of Holland - without paying tolls.

 

In 1300 or 1306 - the year can't be fixed for sure - Amsterdam was granted a city charter by its feodal lord, the Bishop of Ulrecht.When the bishop died in 1317, the situation turned around again. Lordship over the city passed to his near relative, William III, count of Holland. Amsterdam was back in the power - full arms of Holland for good. We departed Amsterdam at 7:00PM and had a boring drive through Germany and Poland and arrived back in Vilnius late the next night. All in all, we spent 4 nights in hotels and 6 nights in the bus. I wasn’t tired the whole trip because I just wanted to see everything I could. We had a wonderful guide and a great group.

I have heard that such a trip would cost in the neighborhood of $3000 for an American. We made it for less than $300 each!

By sleeping in the bus and only having breakfast in hotel we saved a lot of money. Despite the inconveniences of sleeping on the bus we had a great trip.

Last updated 18-12-2004

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