A Coach Tours Around Europe

As far as I know in the 18th and 19th centuries tourism was mainly for the rich. Only well-to-do people could afford to travel abroad, but Europe has always been the main attraction. Rich people used to take tours to France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. The purpose was to get familiar with local sights, universities and art galleries. I suppose, it was considered some kind of “a duty” of any well-educated person to visit Europe as “the birthplace of western civilization”.

Nowadays tourism is available to common people, but European countries with their landmarks are still the most popular attractions. Tourists flock to Europe each year to visit its famous sights of historic interest and to rest. I am not an exception either.
All my life I was dreaming to see with my own eyes the Colosseum, Buckingham Palace and other places of interest in order to get closer to the world history. Last summer my dream came true. I have got an opportunity to go abroad, but it was a difficult choice to make what country to visit. So, I decided to make a coaching tour around Europe, and now I would like to share my impressions of what I have seen.
My journey started in Moscow at the railway station because our tour group had to go to Brest by train. On the way there we had to go through the customs, where passport control officers checked our passports and put stamps. After this procedure we got on the train and crossed the frontier of Belarus and Poland. A few minutes later we found ourselves in Terespol and at last we got on the coach. A coach is a special bus for tourists with all conveniences to cover long distances. It is equipped with comfortable seats, air conditioning and TV to make the journey as pleasant as possible. So, that coach became our “home” for 13 days.
The first destination was Warsaw, the capital of Poland. We visited the historical center and saw the symbol of Poland – the statue of Mermaid with a sword.
The next day we went to Dresden. It is a very beautiful city with magnificent architecture. We visited the Dresden Gallery and enjoyed the masterpieces of world- famous artists – Rembrandt, Rubens and Raphael.
Then it took us the whole night to reach Venice. I found out that this city is situated on 118 islands, and narrow streets join each other with 400 bridges. It is a very romantic town, but the water there is green and smells very bad. It turned out that there is no chute in the houses and people put their garbage in water and then the man in a boat collect it. We visited San Marco square and tried the real Italian food – pizza and lasagna.
After Venice we headed for the world capital of perfume Grass. There are 30 perfume factories there, but we visited only two of them – Galimard and Fragonard.
We stayed in Grass for three days. The fact is that it is situated near Monaco, Cannes and Nice, that`s why we had sightseeing tours every day.
Cannes is a city of palaces and festivals. Of course, it was impossible not to visit the Palace of Festivals and Stars Avenue. We also made a trip to St. Margarita`s Island.
Monaco is the princedom with the capital of Vila. We were walking along the picturesque streets of the Old City and visited the luxurious Palace of Prince, the Museum of Napoleon and world-famous Cousteau`s oceanographic museum. The port quarter La-Kondamin links the historical center of Monaco with Monte Carlo where we could see the casino known all over the world.
Paris was my love at first sight. I will never forget the unrivalled beauty of Notre-Dame de Paris and the Palace of Justice. We were delighted walking in the Latin quarter – Sorbonna, the Pantheon, Luxembourg Garden and the Palace, Elysian Fields, the Triumphal Arch. In the evening we enjoyed our trip along the Seine by the steamship.
Of course, we visited the most popular tower in the world – the Eiffel Tower. It is really magnificent, and it is worth seeing. I was also impressed to see Versailles, the Louvre and the Museum d`Orsey.
We spent the last day in France in the Disneyland. Feeling like children we visited all attractions and had a lot of fun. Most of all I liked “Space Mountain: Mission 2” – “Blast off on an intense adventure that will take you to the edge of the universe. A voyage of discovery taking in some of the most mysterious and fabulous space phenomena ever!”
The next day we were coming back to Moscow. It was an unforgettable journey, and I was overwhelmed with impressions. But one thing I know for sure is that I have fallen in love with Paris. Maybe someday I will come back there

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