Europe on a Eurorail Pass and a Prayer

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train."
Oscar Wilde

Martin and I toast to the glory of Florence, Italy.
"Would you like some Grey Poupon?"

      As a fresh wet-behind-the-ears college graduate in 1991, I spent almost three months in Europe backpacking just after the end of the Cold War. I chronicled my reflections and impressions in a diary which at times makes hilarious reading. I am sure every person who in their youth backpacked around Europe will find much that will remind them of their own adventures. Please keep in mind these are the arbitrary writings of a young man straight out of college made in hostels, trains, parks, etc. and do not necessarily represent my present thinking.

In fact, I blush today reading some of what I wrote while in Europe. At the time, I was clearly someone who had read too much about the world and seen too little of it. I think to myself, "I was so young and arrogant!" Don't worry, I was to learn later on. Years later I re-read these journal entries and I conclude that I was pretty full of baloney a lot of the time. However, I had a certain passion for life (and female companionship) that time and experience seem to have mitigated and the reading is still enjoyable. There really is nothing like the enthusiasm of youth. Read on and enjoy the ruminations of a cocky yet thinking young man adventuring through foreign lands for the first time!
Apology

      I have received an exceedingly large amount of e-mail from college students ready to graduate and undertake their own backpacking adventures across Europe requesting more info. and advice (which I dispense gladly). I recently received an e-mail from a young man asking me, "Just in what way have they [your views] changed and why" since college? I immediately wrote back an extemporaneous e-mail describing in a very few words what I learned during my first few years fresh out of the university and in the "real world."
"What I learned..."

I HAD MY ADVENTURES;
NOW YOU GO HAVE YOUR OWN!!
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:
I apologize beforehand if anyone takes offense at anything I wrote in my journal about their country.
Keep in mind that I did enjoy every country I visited and sincerely appreciated
the hospitality that was shown to me.

---

Europe!

"When one is tired of London, one is tired of life!"
London

"The deep, deep sleep which is rural England."
Cambridge, Plymouth, York
Liverpool, Glasgow
Rural England and Scotland

Ireland: the Republic, and Northern Ireland.
Belfast, Dublin
The Island of Ireland

France!
Paris, Roeuen, Strassberg
France, Urban and Cosmopolitan

Amsterdam: Tradition of Tolerance Declining to Drug Culture.
Invasion of the lotus eaters!
Amsterdam

Berlin: East and West.
A Crossroads of History; Ghosts of the Past
Berlin

Prague: Free at Last!
The End of the Cold-War and Freedom.
Prague

Munich and the Dachau Concentration Camp
The SS "soldiers" and terror.
Munich I

Austria: Beauty and Art
Salzburg, Vienna
Austria

Italy: The Zest for Life
Venice, Rome, Naples, Milan
Italy

Germany and Italy: Octoberfest, and Florence
PARTY UNTIL YOUR HEAD CAVES IN!
Germany and Italy

South of France and Spain
Spanish and French women: To die for!
Spain and the South of France

Switzerland and the Frankfurt Airport
Coming Home
Switzerland