From Trieste to Paris via Salzburg,Munich, Rhine Valley, Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Paris, French Riviera, Verona

It was a trip I think took place in 1979 by car in the company of my girlfriend at the time. A journey through five countries where we saw many beautiful cities and also beautiful landscapes. It's almost 45 years ago, I was a young boy then, now I'm an old man, therefore a lot of nostalgia because everything about youth is remembered with pleasure. However, I remember Salzburg with a large hill on which there was perhaps a castle not far from the center and then I believe the festival dedicated to Mozart was underway which I believe this city celebrates every year. Munich is a beautiful city that I had already visited six years before and I returned there to participate in the Oktober Fest which was taking place in those days, so we went to the Festwiesen if I remember correctly, that is, the festive meadows where there are huge sheds for every brand famous for beer. Inside there are many long wooden tables and benches on which you sit and then the Kellnerin arrives, that is, the waitress who takes orders for the beers which are brought in large glass glasses. I remember they were quite expensive. At the back there is a stage with the band playing and every now and then it sings the PROSIT which is our cheers and then everyone stands up and sings a Prosit, a Prosit ohhohoho Maybe I drank two beers and in the end I was tipsy, we left our shed and then we couldn't find the exit to the park. Next to this area there are huge amusement parks with roller coasters and all kinds of weird machines. We had forgotten to write down the name and address of our hotel and didn't know how to get back. At a certain point I saw a police car and I turned to them, I don't know what I said or how I did it, I speak school German, however those good policemen escorted us and took us to our hotel. In the center of Munich we went to see the beautiful Marienplatz, the Mayorhouse with the facade that has statues that turn at the chime of the hour. Then we went to see the really interesting Science and Technology Museum and the Olympic village where they had hosted the Olympics only seven years earlier. Then we headed towards the Rhine valley,seeing many barges carrying large loads but above all the many castles and fortresses that could be seen on top of the surrounding hills. Naturally we also encountered cities such as the beautiful Cologne with its incomparable Cathedral and then at the confluence of the Rhine with the Moselle, Koblenz which in Latin was called Confluentia. Then we entered the Netherlands (Holland is just a region of the Netherlands as explained to me by a Dutchman). We visited two villages known for their folklore, costume dresses and traditional clogs. Rotterdam with its large port, but also a large park planted with roses, while in The Hague we saw the famous tulips of all colors. We also went to Schweningen, perhaps the busiest beach in the Netherlands with sand and lots of flies that besieged us as soon as you came out of the very cold water to the point that everyone covered themselves with towels to protect themselves from the annoying insects. However, the highlight was in AMSTERDAM, the capital of the country which is the Venice of the North with its many canals, the buildings with narrow facades because the value depended on the front on the canals, consequently being narrow, they have very steep stairs inside. We are staying in a hotel managed by an Indonesian and first when we were looking for a misunderstanding we ended up in a... hourly hotel for gays, I only realized it after seeing the very small room with bed, sink and that's it. Going down I noticed some photos of half-naked men on the walls and at the reception a guy all dressed in black leather! In Amsterdam we visited the exciting attic where Anne Frank lived, the Van Gogh museum with its beautiful paintings, the Rijksmuseum with Rembrandt's paintings and we also went to visit a diamond cutter's house, I believe the Coster. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, today it is the European city where young people would like to move, perhaps for the freedom granted to smoking marijuana? I remember that in the Damplatz in the center I saw a drug addict with a syringe injected who was having a crisis and within a couple of minutes he was being loaded onto an ambulance which had arrived so early. We also went to the red light district, I remember that there was a club called CASA ROSSO and it was run by Italians who got us a discount for the ticket. On the ground floor there were streap tease shows of very sexy girls of various races, on the second porn film and on the third live sex with various couples on stage going at it. Wow, and to think that in those days in Italy we almost didn't know what pornography and hardcore shows were. Then we went to visit Brussels very briefly, of which I only remember the wonderful Grand Place square with stupendous buildings and the Piss men, the statue of the child peeing. We also went to Paris which I had visited exactly ten years earlier. Naturally we went to the Eiffel Tower, to the Louvre, Pigalle (where we assisted at a can-can show), Montmartre, to the Champs Elysees with its Arch of Peace, Place de la Concorde, the Latin Quarter, we went to a bistro and ate crepes. We ended up going to Versailles and even Fontainebleau where there is an older palace of the French monarchs. We continued on the motorway to Lyon but we didn't stop because we wanted to visit the French Riviera which in fact we liked very much. Cannes, the cityh of the Festival of Cinema but also has a good sand beach and Grasse in the hills behind where perfumes are produced, we visited the Fragonard factory. Then Cap d'Antibes, beautiful Nice where we walked on the Promenade des Anglais and bathed in the beautiful beach below, not sandy like Cannes but with round white stones, but the water has a truly wonderful blue colour. We also visited the Principality of Monaco with its royal palace and Casino and then Menton, a beautiful town near the Italian border which we crossed with the desire to see all of Liguria. Unfortunately there was such intense traffic that we gave up and almost immediately took the motorway to Verona where we stopped to visit my maternal uncle's family also because we had run out of money and we couldn't even buy petrol or pay for the motorway to Trieste. I had forgotten this detail, but a few months ago I saw my ex again and while talking about our trip, she told me this fact. Verona is naturally splendid, I spent three months there during my military service therefore I knew it, so I acted as a guide for my girlfriend visiting the Arena, Piazza delle Erbe, San Zeno, the Scaligero bridge, the square with the Scaligeri tombs called Arche with the statue of Dante and of course Juliet's house and her tomb. Nice trip, I think three-four weeks which gave us the opportunity to see many new things and all beautiful and interesting. an

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