Visiting Europe Then and Now

Age is fast catching up on me so naturally my memory is not as good as before. After being home for five days, I better start writing about my Europe trip or I may forget what I saw and experienced.

But instead of just sharing the nice pictures I took at the four countries I visited, I hope to write about my personal feelings of these countries, the impressions they gave me and some peculiar or interesting things I’ve noticed (if there’s any).

This is my second trip to Europe. To be honest, it wasn’t as exciting as the first even though that was made years back in 1989 when I just completed my final year exams in the university.

Back then, going to Europe was a big thing and obviously very exciting so everything I experienced made me go ‘wow’. I was so mesmerised then by the arches of the Gothic cathedrals, their multi-coloured stained glass and the awesome paintings of renowned artists amazingly found on the ceilings of the cathedrals. I remember also being enchanted by the night scene of Paris, the ever-prominent Eiffel Tower and the magnificent Arc de Triomphe. All those historical structures and buildings made a big impression because many were designed and constructed centuries ago, way before Singapore was founded. I recall that even the pigeons looming on the square in Venice somehow fascinated me.

This time round, when I saw the cathedrals, I went “Hmmm…that’s nice.” No, didn’t get the ‘wow-wee’ feeling. When I saw the famous monuments of each country, I felt……umm…didn’t feel anything really…gee. Ok, ok… you guys must be thinking, there must at least be something that would make me excited and go ‘wowowow’. There was one, and that was the breathtaking view of Glencoe and the other snowy mountains in the Northern Highlands of Scotland. But unfortunately, we only made a day trip there and due to time constraints, we didn’t get the chance to stop and take in the cold cold air nor get a close-up shot of those beautiful mountains. We just drove pass the completely white mountains and I had to snap pictures as quickly as possible with my not-so-steady hand on my digital camera through the windows from within the mini-bus. Sob! Sob! Sob! But at least there was one excitement on the trip right? :)

Will write about my impressions of the countries next. Stay tuned.

ps: I think I’m more interested in nature at this point of my life. As such, the things I was looking forward to seeing were very different from those I saw on my first trip to Europe.