Vacation in Europe, 1956

so paris is a dream city for honeymooners we'd been there for two weeks seeing the sights and sitting at sidewalk cafes but our time was limited and we wanted to see rome too we saw an ad in the paris edition of the herald tribune we'd heard about linear bus from some friends that it was a wonderful service and just about the most pleasant way possible to see the country still we thought we ought to see the coach for ourselves so joan and i went to the terminal where a hostess greeted us and showed us her modern coach she called our attention to the large windows and we were charmed by the idea of a refrigerator for cold drinks on board but it was the welcome of the comfortable seats that sold us a few days later we were on our way to rome watching the panorama of the french countryside as it unrolled past our picture window our hostess who spoke five languages told us bits from the fascinating history of auxerre on the river yawn crowned by its cathedral from the middle ages the old mill in at germantown with its outdoor restaurant is known as one of the finest eating places on the road from paris to geneva we ate a delicious meal under the trees by the placid mill stream after lunch our route followed the canal of burgundy and then up the foothills of the jura mountains late in the afternoon we arrived at champagne where our lodging for the night was the delightful hotel ripato there was time for tennis on the hotel courts neither of us is very good at it but we had fun anyway in the morning breakfast was served in the garden then the coach started its climb up through the high pastures in quaint mountain villages of the jurass as we crossed into switzerland lake geneva greeted us at the end of the lake is the city of geneva famous as the home of the league of nations this monument to woodrow wilson symbolizes a peaceful universe lake geneva becomes the roan river in the very heart of the city geneva is most famous for watches there are dozens of shops and beautiful swiss watches cost less than half their price at home our tickets allowed us the choice of coach or boat passage to moan trip our pad wheel steamer left geneva for a four-hour cruise up the lake we glided past ancient forts medieval towns it was a peaceful trip so placid in fact that i doze in the warm sun joan who never misses a thing woke me to point out the terrorist vineyards near lausanne be sure to take plenty of film when you make this trip like everyone else we use twice as much as we'd planned and why not the scenery on this part of the trip is among the most spectacular we've ever seen in the distance was the chateau of chiyon made famous by byron's poem about the prisoner kept in an underwater dungeon here for seven years at mantra we left the boat here we rejoined our coach to leave lake geneva and go up the valley of the rhone river toward the simplon pass we climbed first through alpine villages and then through the tilted fields which as you get higher are called alps the mountains of switzerland get their names from these high pastures especially on this part of the trip we were glad that we had competent experienced drivers we focused our attention on the scenery while they concentrated on the road after rising 4 000 feet in 14 miles we reached the summit of the past where we stop for scenery and afternoon tea we had done our mountain climbing the easy way into the sky-high pastures where the hutchman grazed their brown swiss cattle in the summertime as we went south we went down the arrangements to cross the italian frontier handled as usual by the hostess took only a few minutes so we arrived at the hotel milano in stresa soon after leaving the pass no one who goes to stresa should miss a trip to the barmy isles just offshore in lago majori the hostess suggested that we would find the island of the fishermen isola pescatore the loveliest of these enchanted islands so so so we returned to stresa after traveling through the villages on the shore of lake maggiore we sped along the otter stride the express highway soon after lunch we passed through genoa birthplace of columbus one of italy's great ports many places the road becomes an avenue of politics as it winds down sea level glamorous problems in late afternoon we arrived at cestry levante above the town is the castle today it's a beautiful hotel here he dined and spent the night early next morning we took a swim from the hotel beach breakfast was served in the rose garden the road south wandered the coastal mountains and passed hilltop villages our next destination was a town outstanding in the history of the scientific world galileo used its principal landmark in his early experiments is turning into we passed the ruins of one of the great aqueducts that once served the eternal city our congenial companions and it was with real regret that we set surprise for hostess and drivers who had made our trip so pleasant most of the sites are close together it's only a few minutes walk from the forum to the coliseum the huge oval stadium in which gladiators fought and martyrs were thrown to the lions the entire arena could be flooded through these underground channels so the naval battles could be staged before thousands of spectators we got an impression of the huge size of the coliseum when we noticed a man moving in the distance dwarfed by his surroundings we saw the plaza of st peters with its obelisk and its fountains there are many beautiful fountains in rome one of the most interesting is the trevi fountain there's a legend that if you toss a coin into the fountain you will come back to rome joan missed on her first try but the young businessman who knew he would fish it out eventually gave her another chance this time she was lucky we knew we would come to rome again by linear bus you