British Isles – Wayfaring: Still

Expectations were feverishly high because it was after all (pricey!) Europe and well… our honeymoon. The honeymoon. One may travel to many places in his entire lifetime and promptly forget about some of these places several moons later, but nobody forgets the honeymoon.

As luck would have it, our honeymoon turned out to be nothing short of perfect. The itinerary was unsurpassed, the tour leader unrivalled, and the company unparalleled. Our group was manageably small with only 19 adults including 3 other pairs of honeymoon-ers like us, and everyone was pleasant, jovial and considerate.

If anything, I only have two minor grouses – we didn’t get to see much of Rome and totally missed out on Vatican City because of late Pope John Paul II’s funeral. I also didn’t particularly enjoy the incessant rain, in which we were told was not in congruence with Europe’s usual climate in April. I didn’t remember this, but the mister recalled that the rain started shortly after we landed in Rome, and only stopped after our day trip to Volendam in The Netherlands. He knew it for a fact that it wasn’t raining prior to 8 Apr 2005 because of a colleague who left Rome the day we arrived – apparently it was the only day which rained in the week she was there.

We were in Volendam on 19 Apr 2005 having our dinner of fish & chips when our Italian coach driver (who is a Roman Catholic) announced that the new Pope had been elected. It was raining bucketfuls of cats and dogs prior to dinner, but reduced to a drizzle when we were done with our scrumptious dinner. By the time we arrived at our hotel, the rain had completely stopped.

Was it a coincidence, or was there divine ‘intervention’? The oddity of the rainy season occurring within the period of sede vacante (Latin for ‘the seat being vacant’) of the Holy See, which promptly ended with the cessation of sede vacante – seemed to suggest that it was more than mere coincidence. We are not deeply pious people, but… it was some food for thought.

Our honeymoon coincided with the funerals of late Pope John Paul II and Prince Rainier III of Monaco, and the wedding of Prince Charles & Camilla Bowles. As you could see, we visited Europe during a very, for lack of a better word, interesting time. The trip was quite the eye-opener – we learnt how and why a papal conclave is convened, the difference between white smoke versus black smoke, Grace Kelly (not the bag!) and the House of Grimaldi from the Principality of Monaco. Speculations on the identity of the next Pope and expostulations on the sovereignty of Monaco considering Prince Albert II’s lack of a lawful heir totally preponderated the European, if not the world’s, prime time news. The media were having a series of field days.

We thought that Jeffrey Hoh, our tour leader, is the very epitome of an exceptional tour leader. He totally blew our minds with his experience, general knowledge, even temper and high level of service orientation. Following Jeffrey’s tradition of bestowing every tour group with a specific name (to distinguish all the groups he’d ever led), our group was aptly titled ’2 Funerals & a Wedding’. He professed that it would be difficult to forget our group given the unusual events facing Europe during our travel. He held true to his words, because several years later, he found and added the both of us as his friends on Facebook.

Regrettably, we’d lost contact with almost everyone in the group, with the exception of Kenneth and Sharon. If you are, or know any of our group-mates from the picture above, please email us at tenodddays[at]gmail[dot]com. We’d love to re-connect!

‘Of all the countries you visited, which is your favourite?’

We got asked this question umpteen times, by friends and family alike, following our return to reality. Not trying to play favourites here… but we have to concede that we enjoyed Italy the most. Something about the Italians’ honest charm, warmth and gregariousness tugged at my heartstrings – possibly because being reticent and bashful by nature, I couldn’t be more different than they are. The mister readily agreed with me, for an entirely different reason, I suspect – he had been raving incessantly about the unlimited potently flavoursome shots of espresso he got to enjoy at breakfasts in Italy.

Check out CTC Travel if you would like to trace our footsteps. While we do not sanction a package tour for seasoned travellers, we highly recommend it for virgin travellers (to Europe) who have no inkling of their travel likes and peeves, as a starting point.

Not that Lake Maggiore in Italy, Brussels in Belgium and London in England are any less important, but they have been lumped together simply for convenience’s sake since we spent very little time in these cities and it seemed appropriate to put them together in a post (rather than completely omitting them).

At Isola Bella — *Took a couple pic at the dock of Isola Bella.*

While on the way from the French Riviera to Lucerne, our coach made a stop at Lake Maggiore (Italian: Lago Maggiore). For this detour, we have our experienced tour leader to thank. I’d been to England’s Lake District years back, and I loved it there. Italy’s Lago Maggiore and its vicinity was equally charming.

A boat hire was necessary to bring us across the lake to Isola Bella, one of the Borromean islands of Lago Maggiore. We both liked Isola Bella a lot. For starters, this quiet little island was not swarmed with tourists. It was also a good break for us all, to be amidst Mother Nature instead of built-up cities. We didn’t have a lot of time to fully explore the island, but I do remember that a small trattoria on the island served about the best fare we had on the whole trip. We had nothing fancy for lunch, just simple pasta (the mister had aglio e olio). It was mind-blowingly delicious!

Before we knew it, it was time to leave the island. We did after all have quite a distance more to travel. Here is a parting shot of the friendly boat captain who traversed us across the lake to and from Isola Bella.

Brussels in Belgium was another day tour we made while travelling via coach from Paris to Amsterdam. We were supposed to come by many sites including the Atomium, the Chinese and Japanese pavilions etc. but it was raining incessantly. Rain… a definite mood dampener for me. Because of it, we never got off the coach till we arrived at Grote Markt (the central square of Brussels). We saw Manneken Pis who, unfortunately was buck-naked, and not dressed up in any costume. The 61cm tall bronze statue that we saw was of course a mere copy from 1965 and not the original. We were told that the original statue was kept locked up in at Maison du Roi on Grote Markt itself, presumably to foil any future plans of stealing it.

The Mannekin Pis — Was rather disappointed to see buck-naked Manneken Pis, not dressed in any costume.

And we came across numerous shops selling Belgium chocolates. It was where we went quite crazy shopping for chocolates to bring home to family and friends since we were only left with Amsterdam and London before headed for home. Here, on the historical square of Brussels, I first heard about the folklore of Lady Godiva and the origins of the term “Peeping Tom”. It was also here that I finally decided that I do not fancy Belgium chocolates. Too bitter for my tastebuds.

We had a good couple of hours to ourselves, and thoroughly explored the historical centre of Brussels. With it being a rainy and gloomy day, we hardly took out the DSLR to take pictures. There is really nothing I hate more than rain when travelling.

London needs no introduction. Please don’t be offended if you are a Londoner or is a fan of London, but if there is any city I’ve come across that I felt is grossly over-rated, it is London. Considering that I made up my mind about this metropolitan city at the age of 17 (and felt strongly about it) it had to count for something, because at that impressionable age, I was greatly undecided about most things.

Since we had very little time in London after flying in from Schiphol Airport Amsterdam, we broke from the group after checking into our hotel in Knightsbridge. While the group went visiting the usual touristy places like Trafalgar Square, London Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and the likes, we headed straight for Old Bond Street and Oxford Street. If these two streets reek of a shopping haven to you, you are quite right. I was however, not there to shop for the usual stuff women shop for: I was there for the old-style bookstores and bookbinders. 12 years ago, they were all over Oxford Street. Alas, 12 years later, I had serious trouble locating even one of them. Must have given way to the more commercialised and profitable shopping trade in the name of ‘progress’. 😦

We took the least amount of pictures in London since we were busy soaking in the commercialised aspect of the city. On hindsight, it was a rather self-serving decision on my part not to revisit the usual sights in London. After all it was the mister’s first visit to London. Although he was very agreeable to break from the group, he wouldn’t know what he was missing since he’d never been. My conscience has been weighing heavily on me these years because of what he missed as a result of my wilfulness. I promised to make it up to him; one day we would do an extensive fly-drive tour of England, including a visit to the mecca of every Manchester United fan – Old Trafford. It is my dream to watch a live match between the red devils and the reds but the mister fears my safety because well… football hooliganism is very real. We have not sorted this out yet, but will. Soon.

Category: British Isles

Epilogue – Europe Honeymoon

The ‘Motleys’