As soon as I chose to write about this adventure I knew I was dating myself and putting myself into the category of "Throw-back"...child of a lost era filled with chaperones and "must-dos at the appropriate time", dress codes, white gloves and simple joys. Adventure was to be savored and experiences appreciated, especially when they were expensive and offered with such joy and unselfishness. Ours was not a blase, unappreciative youth!
I look back now I realize how blessed and fortunate I was. Just before my graduation from high school my parents and aunts presented me with a most unbelieveable gift...I was to have a summer abroad... touring England, Holland, France, Italy and Switzerland! This was called "The Grand Tour" and young ladies just leaving high school, who were lucky enough , were sent on this adventure into the world. Of course there had to be a chaperone... ("respectable young ladies" always had to be accompanied)...and mine was my adored Aunt Anna. A delightful, fun, gentle, sweet woman. She had an important position in a major textile company (someting rather remarkable for a woman all those many years ago!). When her boss, a frequent world traveler, heard about her trip with me he set about seeing to it that this would be a trip neither of us would ever forget...He arranged for us to sit at the ship's captain's table for dinners...upgraded our first class cabin...had us taken on a private Vatican tour...arranged for fruit and flowers in our rooms at each stop and best of all, had his own travel agent book our trip asssuring us all the perks and advantages of the really high rollers! This middle-class girl was about to live in a world she thought she could only dream about!
I do not know how I got through those last days of high school...Regent's Exams, graduation, parties, poignent farewells to friends who would be off to far away colleges...and at last...my steamer trunk..(.yes...I had a steamer trunk)...and suitcases packed...
...we were off to Europe on the Queen Mary!
We arrived at the pier and many friends and family were there to see us off. My dad ordered champagne and my aunt's boss had arranged for canapes. It was a party, indeed. At last the ship's horn blew and visitors had to leave. My aunt and I stood on the deck and waved to the crowd below us on the pier as our magnificent Art Deco vessel took to the sea. Once under way we started to explore the ship. We left our cabin while the steward unpacked for us...and walked down the paneled hallway ...
...we then proceeded to the dining room,
...checked out the enclosed Promenade deck
The shipboard days seemed enchanted and flew by far too quickly. At last we were packing (well, not we exactly, our steward packed for us...boy what a life to have to get used to!) and we arranged to have the trunks with all the fancy shipboard clothes stored aboard for our return voyage.
We finally arrived in France...docked in Cherbourg and were transported to Paris. How can one possibly describe a first visit to Paris? I loved the cafes where people sat and sipped coffe that tasted like burnt rubber (this was only about 15 years post WWII and chicory was still added to coffee to make it go further!) I loved the beautiful buildings that had balconies overflowing with geraniums and dripping vinca vines. The chic women in their summer dresses seemed so sophisticated and worldly to this American teen-ager. My first time in Paris...and I fell in love with it at once!
Our hotel sat right next to the opera house and close to Place Vendome and shopping!
We did the whole Paris tour from the Eiffel Tower to the boat ride on the Seine. The museums and the the churches...from the Moulin Rouge to Versailles...We ate in fabulous restaurants and a young Parisian man, son of a woman my aunt knew, asked me to dinner! It was thrilling! We had a guide who took us to out-of-the-way places, arranged reservations at restaurants and translated for us. I shopped on my own...already well on my way to being the world class shopper I have morphed into today! I knew that this was only my first trip to Paris...I would return...again and again...
We boarded a train to Switzerland. Lucerne...it took my breath away. We arrived at the Palace Hotel which sat just above Lake Lucerne and Mount Pilatus was directly in our view.
Our room was simply breathtaking...with a huge terrace on which we took breakfast every morning. At night the moon shone on the lake and the shadow of the Alps was in the background. " It is the most romantic place in the world," I thought..."some day I will return here with my husband." And 25 years later my husband and I shared the same room, watched the same moon rise over Lake Lucerne and I rememberd my first stay there and had the pleasure of seeing a dream fulfilled!
On to beautiful Lugano and the lake region.
Switzerland is such a feast for the eyes...lakes, mountains, flowers... the greens and browns of the land and the blue of the water against the blue-grey hues of the whitecapped mountains...truly magnificent. We toured, saw sights undreamed of in New York and bought watches and chocolate! (The watches made it home... chocolate...not so much!)
...and on to Italy!!! Venice...I was totally gobsmacked! How I loved it. The canals, the history and the mysteriousVenitians!
...glass..fabulous masks...art...lace...
(and just a few years later I would have my wedding veil made here!)
The streets connected by bridges over the canals...the gondola ride and the gondolier who hit on me (remember I was just a young girl!) We stayed at the Bauer-Gruenwald right on the Grand Canal and celebrated the 4th of July with the other American guests on the beautiful terrace that sat right on the canal...and enjoyed fireworks and a complimentary glass of champagne with our fellow countrymen.
No comments:
Post a Comment