It is exactly a year since my sister and I stepped on the plane and explored a “whole new world.” Europe was my adventure of a lifetime. If my memories would need to be erased, this will be one of those I would beg not to be deleted from my brain. I can still remember the moment we stepped out the plane and just felt that it was not Philippines [or Asia for that matter] anymore, it was Europe. I can still remember that we felt so cold in Amsterdam when we got out of the plane, and all my sister and I could tell each other was, “ANG LAMIIIIIIG!!!” We had such great, great memories!

For the past year, I have walked you through our journey from Amsterdam to Brussels to Paris to Versailles to Lourdes to Barcelona to Rome, and finally, to Venice.  If I haven’t bored you yet with my stories, I share with you now some final random [interesting] thoughts and memories of that unforgettable trip.

• Would you believe that my sister and I survived 3 weeks with only a 22″ luggage? Unbelievable!
• My favorite place was Paris, since we spent the most time there. But when I go back to Europe [whenever that would be], I would spend only a day in Paris and go see Switzerland, Greece, and London. And I would love to explore Belgium and Rome more.
• I had two heart-palpitation moments: when I saw the tip of the Eiffel Tower [when we first arrived in Paris] and when I saw the Sagrada Familia. Also, entering the Grand Place was a jaw-dropping moment [as in "wow" moment with your mouth hanging open wide for a minute].
• I was asked by a number of tourists, in different places, to take their pictures. I don’t know if I had a “I-take-good-pictures” aura or it was just my “trustworthy” look that they knew I wouldn’t run off with their cameras.
• It was my first time in Europe; but for my ever-reliable Canon Ixus 750 digicam, it was its third Europe trip!
• After a few days, you will become an expert on spotting the Filipinos in a sea of multicultured population. As in, when you see a Filipino, you would be able to tell yourself with conviction, “Pinoy to.”
• A stranger walked up to me once and asked if I were from Venezuela. I would like to take it as a compliment since in Miss Universe pageants, candidates from this country are almost always beautiful and fare pretty well. He! He! Anyway, I said no; although now, I wish I had said yes, just for the fun of it!
• Climbing the Eiffel Tower was one great feeling!
  
• In Paris, we were always cautioned to look over our things because Parisians daw are “swabe” in pickpocketing. True enough, one of our companions had the unfortunate experience of being a victim of pickpockets. And he didn’t even feel a thing!
  
• I consider it a miracle that I was able to get away from identification checking in Lourdes with only a photocopy of my passport.
  
• Among all the places we went to, it was in Barcelona that I met the most “mataray” person [a guy!!!]. In fact, it was there that people were  bit unaccommodating, a bit surprising because I was expecting people in France to be the most grumpy.
• As we moved further south (Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris-Barcelona-Rome), there were more and more Filipinos.
• I was able to last many days without rice! In fact, I count with my fingers, in one hand, the times I ate rice. This is not a surprise, since I really don’t eat rice.
• If I had to summarize each place in one [or two] words, they would have to be the following–Amsterdam: tulips; Brussels: Grand Place; Paris: Eiffel Tower; Versailles: unnecessary grandeur; Lourdes: inner peace; Barcelona: Antonio Gaudi; Rome: gelato; and Venice: gondola.
  

And with that, I conclude my Europe series! I hope that you had fun going around with me!

Postscript: Somehow, at the conclusion of my Europe series, I feel a certain level of sadness, perhaps because this is the last post and I had so much fun sharing with you, through the past year, my experiences. What an adventure!

Despite having toured Rome the best we can, my sister and I knew that we still had a lot to cover. But after 2 days, it was time to leave. It was another bittersweet moment for us, because although we were on our way to another new place, we were also on our final stop in our trip.

By that time, I can still vividly recall our first steps in Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Versailles, Lourdes, Barcelona, and, just previously, Rome, which were always a wonder for us. Everything was a “whole new world” for us. But now that we are on to the conclusion of our trip, there is sadness hovering over the excitement.

At 7:00 in the morning, at the Roma Termini Station, we found ourselves boarding our last train in Europe. I spent the train trip catching up on sleep, just glancing out the window every now and then, looking at what the other parts of Italy look like. After 4 1/2 hours, we arrived at our destination: Venice, Italy.

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With the many places my sister and I have already gone to in our trip (Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Versailles, Lourdes, and Barcelona), our eyes were soooo full of the beautiful places, and yet, we were still ready for more. So after exploring the very charming Barcelona, it was once again time to pack our bags and ride a plane, this time going to Rome, Italy.

Going to Italy has always been one of my dreams, maybe partly because of my desire to see Pope John Paul II in person.  Add to that is that one of my most-read books is Angels & Demons, and I’ve always wondered what the places described in the book look like.

When we boarded the plane at El Prat in Barcelona to leave for Rome, I felt Italy welcoming us right off the hat as we saw them; yes, there they were, two very pretty Filipina stewardess smiling at us! What a joyful sight! And expectedly, being their kababayans, we enjoyed special treatment, like getting freebies and getting the occasional, “Ok lang kayo dyan?” I immediately felt the Italy leg going to a great start!

Anyway, when we arrived at Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Gel and I were so amazed to be in Rome that we let the other passengers off before us [partly also to have our pictures taken with the Filipina stewardess] and took our time getting off. We leisurely strolled the airport, taking pictures here and there every now and then. The end result, after 1 hour of picture-picture and pasyal-pasyal around the airport, we got lost and eventually exited the airport WITHOUT our luggage! Ayun naman kasi…kung saan saan pa nagpunta! We had to beg the [Italian] guard to let us back in because we still haven’t claimed our luggage. Our Italian was very raw and his English was raw, so I don’t know how we communicated!! But anyway, pleading must be a universal language, so the mataray na guard let us back in, but not without the smirk. We set off and ran to the luggage area and  saw that our bags were only two of  three left on the conveyor belt! Gel and I had stomach aches laughing our hearts out when we saw this! Grabe pala ang tagal namin! Good thing that my sister and I both had the patience and humor to look at this experience as a funny one! Imagine, it took us hours to reach our luggage! Instances like these give more excitement to an already exciting trip! He! He!

Anyway, on to Rome. Condensing our 3-day stay in Rome is no easy task, as I found Rome to be one of the richest places in terms of historical significance and grand places. In fact, we had such full-packed days touring everything we can, from sun up to sun down.

Here, I’m going to share with you what the things and places [and memories] Rome has to offer. Take the “walk” with me!

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As we neared the last legs of our trip, we still had three places to go to. We’ve already been to Amsterdam, Brussels, Versailles, and Lourdes, so what’s the next destination? Well, it was time to say “au revoir Paris” and “hola Barcelona”!

Early morning, we were already at the Charles de Gaulle airport to catch our early-morning flight to Barcelona. It was a bittersweet departure. Ten minutes in the CDG airport, we were already missing Paris. On the other hand, we were excited to be moving to another country.

We left Paris via a low-cost airline, Vueling, which is the counterpart of Cebu Pacific here. The trip was soooooooo cheap, I can’t stress it enough. Rick Steves actually “introduced” Vueling to us, and we can’t thank him enough! Imagine, the Paris-Barcelona trip didn’t even reach 100 euros! What a bargain!

Anyway, after a 2-hour plane trip, at around 8 in the morning, we were at “Hola” country. Welcome to Barcelona, Spain!

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After moving from Amsterdam, to Brussels, to Paris, and to Versailles, let me take you to a part of France that not many tourists include in their itinerary: Lourdes. My mother’s only request for our Europe trip: go to Lourdes and pray for me. And so I did.

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While in Paris, if you have a day to spare, you may want to visit Versailles, a small town around 30 minutes away from Paris.

Versailles (pronounced versay in French), formerly de facto capital of the kingdom of France, is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and is still an important administrative and judicial center. The city of Versailles, located in the western suburbs of Paris, 17.1 km (10.6 mi) from the center of Paris, is the préfecture (capital) of the Yvelines département. Versailles is made world famous by the Château de Versailles, from the forecourt of which the city has grown.

Versailles is one of the more charming and historic parts of France. It is a small town, and a day or two is all you need to go around. It has its unique charm though! It has a very important role in the politics and history of France because it was once the unofficial capital of the country. It also became the home of some of France’s most notable political figures. But although it is a tourist spot, it is not as famous as Nice, Toulouse, Monaco, or of course, Paris, and most people don’t even know about it, which is sad because it is a very beautiful place.

The most popular site in Versailles is the Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles [which, hereafter, is what I will be using to refer to the Palace]. And this was our destination one Saturday in France.

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Because of the unreliability of the i.ph site, I’m also posting the message here:

Paris, London, Frankfurt, Rome now selling at $450 round-trip fare until May 30, 2009, on KLM and Air France. Weekday flights to Europe on business class from $1700. For ticket conditions, call (02)8871202 or log on to the KLM Web site.

Please pass this news…it may benefit someone you know.

Known as the City of Lights, Paris did not disappoint me. It was everything I had been imagining, and more. After our trip to Amsterdam and Brussels, I thought that it would be just easy when we arrived in Paris. However, as we stepped out of the train at Garu du Nord, I felt a certain feeling of uneasiness, maybe because I felt that this was France: THE France. I felt uneasy and uncertain, and I was thinking, “What a bad way to start my Paris stay…feeling uneasy.” The feeling, fortunately, was short-lived, because as soon as I saw the tip of the Eiffel tower from the taxi, all uneasiness was replaced with excitement [not to mention heart palpitations]. And that then set my Paris adventure: full of excitement and heart-stopping adventure.

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Going through the initial adjustments in Amsterdam for the first 2 days, we were ready for our next destination: Brussels, Belgium. This place was not in our original itinerary, but then we thought, it was just a train ride away, so why not? It turned out to be a very great decision for we found Brussels to be VERY beautiful.

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I know I have promised to do separate posts on the places my sister and I went to in Europe, as well as our adventures [and misadventures]. I know it’s a little delayed, but here’s Part 1, which starts in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Amsterdam was our first stop. It was our first step on Europe soil. We went via KLM, and thus started out European adventure. We already noticed a distinct smell in the plane. No, it wasn’t mabaho, just distinct [we later on realized that the smell carried on until we were in Amsterdam]. My rhinitis caught up with me [because of the strong smell]. We had our first taste of Dutch food in the plane. I found it nice, but I later on decided I can’t live on the taste.

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