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A glimpse at and postcard from Europe.....

Europe continues to engage one's senses and various experiences......

French women remain chic and the food is without equal. The buildings are magnificent and the wide boulevards wonderful. The love of food and wine isn't matched in any other country. Interestingly, contrary to all expectations, the French are adhering to the ban on smoking in restaurants which came into force on 2 January. Why 2 January? So that the locals could still have a puff after midnight on new year's eve.

Berlin is vibrant and an edgy city. The differences between the old East and the West of the city are certainly diminishing, but considerable money will still need to be spent to make the 2 halves, as it were, reasonably equal. Some of the housing in the old East, as things like certain underground railways stations, are in dire of need of "upgrading". For opera, concerts and all sorts of entertainment [mainstream and otherwise] the choice is overwhelming.

Dresden, fire-bombed by the Allies just before the end WW2, has been largely rebuilt - to the original plans. Things are looking good in this city with a thriving economy. So, whilst there is an element of awe in seeing the old buildings [like the Zwinger and the Semper Opera House] they are, in reality, not the "real" original thing. It's all rather surreal and odd, for instance, sitting in the Opera House where Richard Wagner first mounted some of his operas, but then again it not being the actual building he was in - even if the building is to the self-same plans as the original.

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