If you visited devout Christians' homes in Jakarta, among all the 'dust catchers', you will likely find the painting I told you earlier. BTW, I just learned about that new term 'dust catcher' from our host H in Zurich. He was right, all the ornaments that we put up at home, are basically meant to catch dust, especially if you visit my home :-). It was quite easy for us, besides we have Fr. Kus who can swear in Italian :-), to find Il Cenacolo Vinciano. Indeed it was nothing but a dining room, next to the church called Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie, Our Lady of Grace said the English people. The Dominican friars who (till this day) administered the church lived next door. At one time, they commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint a wall in that dining room so that the friars won't get bored just seeing their colleagues while eating the bland food :-). Centuries of damage from all kind of perils, floods, bombing and likely the smoke from the kitchen next door caused that famous painting, The Last Supper, to be in poor quality. If you have one at your home you are better off adoring yours and you save a bundle of money :-). However, I am certain that if Fr. Kus becomes the Pope one day, he will surely tell the Dominicans to lower the entrance fee. Kidding aside, were it not for Fr. Kus's excellent salesmanship and charism, this story would not exist. It turned out that you need to reserve the ticket several days before you can get in to Il Cenacolo. The Japanese tourists must have caused it :-). When we were at the ticket counter, we were told that tickets were sold out. Starting with 'buon giorno' Fr. Kus convinced the lady in (must be) perfect Italian that his two Canadian friends had come all the way just to see The Last Supper and would be leaving tomorrow, something like that :-). Having an Italian compassion, the lady squeezed in the three of us into a group that had just entered the vestibule to the room.
To compensate our pocket book after spending 29 Euro just to see a faded painting on a wall, we went to a castle museum that was once a fortress, Castello Sforzesco. The most important, this museum was free :-). However, after our kids did not like to go with us anymore to the museum, I also am not that enthusiastic about it. It is not interesting to explain things to Cecilia :-), playing Scrabble with her is more exciting. We spent the rest of the afternoon of May 11 with Fr. Kus, sightseeing from the trams. We saw Father to the train station because he has to get back to his study in Rome. His calling is not to be a tour guide :-).
We were fortunate again in the evening. After attending the Vigil Mass at the Duomo, we came back in the evening to enjoy a special concert performed by Orchestra Sinfonica Academia Concertante d'Archi di Milano in honour of our wedding anniversary :-). It was of course a free concert and we were able to get good seats in that lovely catedral. I think the stained-glass in Duomo is one of the most beautiful in the world. Two pieces were performed by that Milan Symphony Orchestra, Dvorak's Symphony IX, Dal Nuovo Mondo, there is a new world, said my friends from Marriage Encounter :-). The last piece was Haydn's Mass (Messa in Augustiis) complete with the sopran, alto, tenor and bass singers. Dona nobis pacem was the last song and indeed we felt so peaceful when we had to leave the Duomo that night and went back to our Albergo Italia.
As I said earlier, I love Milan and our experiences in that fashion city of Italy. The Italian people are like Indonesian, very friendly. I once said, you can tell Indonesian or Italian coming or leaving at Toronto Pearson International Airport just by looking at how many people greet or send them away. Since we were going to another unique Italian city, Venice, in the morning of May 12, we were as excited. I had anticipated our arrival into the Venice train station because S, my canoeing buddy and teacher told me about how wonderful was the scenery when she entered Venice in the morning and she could see the sea from her train. Perhaps we arrived too late in the morning or nearing noon. It was just a so-so view, nothing magical. Perhaps we have been married too long because indeed Venice is a romantic city. We left both our backpacks at the train station that cost 5 Euros per pack per 12 hours. We then walked for about an hour from the train station to our hotel near the San Marco piazza where the tourists from all over the world gathered.
In the next episode, I will share with you some more exciting things we experienced in Venice, including a private boat tour courtesy of Venice "tourist promotion" office to the famous island of Murano where they make the Venetian glasses :-). Stay tune, buon giorno or buena noce, ciao.
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We have been to the Canadian Rockies but never to the Alps. Being a mountain climber when I was a youth in Indonesia, I had been reading about European mountains such as the Matterhorn, Zermatt, Jungfrau, etc. Even though we didn't have the time to visit those peaks, we were very satisfied with the scenic fiesta that were bestowed upon us when the train started to enter the Alps region in our Zurich-Milan route. What made it so beautiful and breathtaking was when we saw peaks with ice-caps and glaciers on one side of our view and turquoise green lakes on another side of the picture postcard scenery. I just wished I could paddle my canoe on those lakes :-). Lake Lugano which is not far from the Italian border was one of the most beautiful, no wonder it is a resort area for the Swiss and Italian people.
Zurich-Milan was the first of our allowed 5 days Eurailpass trip. There were only 2 wagons of 1st class fare, the rest were 2nd class wagons. However, they were almost empty. Throughout the 5 days we were able to have a private compartment (6 persons sitting) because there were not too many 1st class fare passengers. The trains in the 3 countries we travelled were pretty clean and so were the washrooms. Their schedules were quite precise, departing and arriving as planned. I love train travel because it allows me to do many things while on the train. We don't have to waste time going through security check and wait for hours like when we travel with airplane. We don't have to fight traffic, especially in the cities like when we go with car. Seating in a train first class compartment is even better than airplane 1st class, with one exception. There are no stewardesses to serve you :-) but if you fly Air Canada, only old ladies serve 1st class passengers anyway because it seems that one has to work for 25 years before being promoted to serve 1st class passengers in the North American airlines :-).
When the train passed Chiasso, Swiss border town after Lugano, the Italian immigration officer embarked and checked our passport. The train arrived at Milan central station at 3:35 PM, about 2 minutes difference from the written schedule. I haven't told you yet. There is no camping facility in Milan. The closest campground is in another town and it will be too long or a waste of time to go back and forth from that campground to Milan. The same thing in Venice. So we decided early to stay in a modest hotel in both Milan and Venice. Through our Europe Lonely Planet book, we were able to find the closest hotel to the station, Abergo Italia. The rate was not too bad for that one star hotel, 70 Euro per night. Our room was quite spacious and there was a bath or shower inside. We stayed for 4 nights in Milan and we enjoyed the city very much. We arrived on May 8 and thus had one more day preparation prior to celebrating our 27th wedding anniversary at the Duomo :-). One small note, besides US $ traveller's cheque, I also purchased (American Express) Euro T.C. It was not widely accepted yet. So I cashed them all in Milan at an Amex office. Milan's transportation system was one of the best in the cities we travelled. It has 3 main subway lines, M1 to M3 and numerous tram and buses. The best deal was to buy a 48 hours ticket that entitled us to use any kind of public transportation, 5.50 Euro. Like in Zurich, this was the way we do our own sightseeing and were able to go to many places in the city. We love Italian food and having a sweet-tooth, eating Gelato (Italian ice cream) outside a cafe was like sitting in a paradise for me :-).
Father Kusmaryanto joined us on our D-Day, May 10th, coming straight from Rome to bless us :-). Yes, he celebrated the Eucharist on our 25th wedding anniversary in Rome in AD 2000, together with 6 other Indonesian priests. I am looking forward however to the time he will graduate from his study and be able to celebrate my 30th wedding anniversary with him in Pasang Surut or Deso Musi Banyu Asin near Palembang :-). That's one of the reasons I keep exercising and try to be fit all the time. One needs superman energy to survive in that harsh environment.
After meeting Father Kus at the train station, since it was already late or lunch time, we went to a nice Italian restaurant and enjoyed another fine Italian meal, thanks to the Italiano ability of our translator :-). Then we went to the Duomo and prayed in front of Fr. Kus's patron saint, Carolus Borromeus whose body was rested in a crypt at the cathedral basement. We had prime and excellent time throughout our blessed May 10th day together with Fr. Kus.
However, in the next episode we will tell you about how pissed-off was the gentle Fr. Kus upon visiting JUST a dining room called Il Cenacolo where we had to pay 29 Euro for seeing a faded picture that was painted on the wall of that dining room :-). Take care my friends, hope you like my story so far. Ciao.
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Remember when I was disappointed that my young wife wouldn't want to walk 4 km with her pack from Zurich train station to the campground? I said, "When we were doing portaging you could carry your pack and sometimes the canoe for kilometres distance. How come you already gave up before the 'battle'?" Indeed she won the war and I was wrong because again and again, she was so loved by 'Oom Han' (intimate name for God used by Indonesian youth). A week before we left for Zurich, we went for our routine dental check-up. Mei-mei, the doctor's private 'dental assistant' :-) mentioned to us while helping her hubby whether we still remember C, our Indo friend who once lived in TO but then emigrated to Swiss and lives in Zurich. Of course but we didn't think of asking any help. To cut the story short, Madame a.k.a. Bu Tien of Toronto called C and we got a limo pick-up from the airport :-). C came with her Mercedesz and then drove us from the airport to the campground! To top that, C and her husband, a native Schweizer from Zurich invited us over for dinner the next day. Now you know more why I kept saying to you all, thank you always for your prayers :-).
As soon as we said farewell to C, we put up our tent and took an early siesta because we didn't sleep well on the short flight from Toronto to Zurich. A couple hours sleep was all that we needed before we started our venture to downtown Zurich. We learned first hand how expensive is everything in Switzerland when the campsite attendant told us the fee, 33.50 Swiss franc (Sfr) per night. On top of that fee, taking a shower at the campground would cost us another 2 Sfr for just 3 minutes. For Net addicts, cost of an Internet connection is 15 Sfr an hour. BTW, one Sfr is approximately the same as 1 Canadian dollar. Our campground was on the shore of Lake Zurich, about 4 km from the train station which is in downtown. We have to transfer from the bus to tram at a place called Buerkliplatz. All European bus and tram systems are not too complicated. Once we learn one system, it should be easy to learn another. Strolling along the famous street in Zurich, Bahnhofstrasse, where only the rich can afford to buy things, restored our confidence. We felt like a rich couple, sort of Japanese tourists who stayed at a five-star hotel and not at Camping Seebuch where we lived :-). After all, the Schweizer won't be able to distinguish our Indonesian from Japanese :-). Here on Banhofstrasse you would start to see big Swiss banks with signs, 'by appointment only'. I can only imagine the Indonesian tycoons going in and out to such banks.
Zurich is not a big city compared to say Milan or Vienna; it is much smaller than Toronto. Therefore, it was very convenient for us to do the city tour ourselves. We hopped on a tram after checking its route and compared or looked to the city map from time to time. This way we would know what building we were passing or which area we were in. The help of my small Suunto compass was very valuable especially at times where we emerged from the cities subways and wanted to go to certain places. As Cecilia once said, this is the main difference or advantage of doing your own tour than taking an arranged one. You are free to go to places where you would like to and you can take your own time once you are there. Almost in all package tours that we knew of, there was a gang-up between the tour provider and the local merchant. From time to time you would likely be whisked to places where you either would be hard-sold to buy the goods or would waste your time in a shop you hate :-).
If you recall, my friends at the IBM Toronto Lab showered me with gifts upon my retirement. A and M who took care of the shopping included a Cdn $ 100 gift certificate from MEC. Prior to our trip, while biking along with J and D my cycling buddies from the office, we went to Mountain Equipment Co-op for a shopping spree. I bought a new MSR gas stove and also its cooking set. They were excellent. Cooking rice was a breeze. Cecilia's estimate on the food we brought was near perfect too. Not too much, just enough to last. We ate our last rice meal in Salzburg and we didn't even throw one grain. I had to buy 2 canisters of Camping Gaz cartridges, unfortunately I had to leave the last one half-full because it wouldn't be allowed to board the plane with us :-). Zurich was still quite cold when we were there from May 6 till the 8th. Our down-filled sleeping bag, the fleece jacket and headband provided enough warm that we were able to sleep soundly, despite the train traffic by the campsite.
In spite of the pricey Zurich or Switzerland, we were happy and felt blessed upon seeing the beautiful scenery on our train journey from Zurich to Milan on May 8. I will tell you more about this Alpine route beauty in the next episode. Till then, auf wiedersehen.

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Many years ago, when I was much younger I read a book entitled "Europe in 50 $ a day". It was not a Canadian book, therefore the currency was in US dollars. The author did not mention camping ground at all but highlight places where one could eat decent meals and stayed at budget hotels. I knew before I went backpacking to Europe that it would be impossible these days to budget 50 dollars per day in Europe unless you are still young and healthy, thus can carry your "food and lodge" in your backpack. That was what we, Cecilia and I did, starting our journey of a lifetime, May 5, 2002 from Toronto to Zurich, Switzerland.

Knowing I could still portage a canoe (don't tell people that it is a Kevlar one :-)), I know I can put our three-season tent, sleeping bag, Therm-a-rest (for non-camper readers: it is a sleeping pad), cooking set, stove, eating utensils, and most important, FOOD in my backpack. At the end of our European trip on May 22, when I did the final calculation of our expenses, we spent an average of US$ 80 per day. We didn't really 'live miserably', we were only cautious in our expenses. If we had to spend, like celebrating our 27th wedding anniversary in Milan (Father Kusmaryanto can testify) we didn't hesitate to eat in a fancy restaurant :-). When it was our belief that it was worth it to buy a package deal like the Salzburg 3 days card for visiting all the museums and other major tourist attractions, we bought the 32 Euro ticket. Yes, we didn't spend $ 500 on a La Scala opera ticket in Milan but we had free musical symphony concert in the famous and beautiful cathedral (called Duomo).

We didn't enter Europe through the front door nor did we go through the back door or the cheapest way but rather we came through the side door. Hence, it will be my story's title of our journey of the spring time of Anno Domini 2002 in Europe. Sit tight my friends, this story will be as exciting as Mr. Lantern Coleman's one if not more :-). Because of my love for my Canadian and native English speaker friends that I am writing this story in my second language despite the fact that I am a better writer in Indonesian :-). Let me begin with sharing our trip planning a bit with you.

As you all know, because I am a retiree now and Cecilia is her own boss at home, we have a lot of flexibility in our trip length. However, being a devout Catholic my wife wanted to come back to Toronto before the World Youth Day 2002 event so that she can meet the Pope again. We met or rather saw him last on May 10, 2000 when we were in Rome celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. We also knew we wanted to stay for about a month in Indonesia so that we would have enough time to meet our families and friends. Thus, we planned to be around (but not more than) 3 weeks in Europe and later on around 2 weeks in Australia and New Zealand. This would leave about a month in Indonesia, our birthplaces.

After reading about 10 Lonely Planet books on Europe, also having been to some other countries, we picked Switzerland, Italy and Austria as the 3 countries and chose Zurich, Milan, Venice, Vienna and Salzburg as the 5 cities we would be staying. Yes, this way we (started to) saved on the Eurailpass ticket because there was a special fare of visiting 3 countries in 5 days train travel. It was also a good deal because the ticket was first class fare. If your age is beyond 50 like ours :-), we recommend first class fare Eurorail ticket rather than a second class. It was much worth it, especially when we took the night train from Venice to Vienna (I will tell you more about this). So, our schedule in Europe was quite set. We intentionally left it open as to how many days we would spend in each of the 5 cities. The Canadians say, let's play by the ear or rather as it turned out by the cost of the enjoyment :-).

That's for now. In the next episode I will share with you our Zurich camping experiences. If you recall or are aware of, Cecilia and I fought before we went. In my opinion she was sissy, not willing to walk 4 km from Zurich train station to the campsite. In her opinion, of course I was wrong :-). Wait how this battle turned out to be :-).

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