Europe 2026, 30 Years Later

I'm back from my European vacation. Europe is "different" but the same as it was 30 years ago when I first went. Now I understand why they protest the crowds - throngs of people everywhere and it isn't even summer yet.

Europe 2026, Thirty Years Later

The French tolerate foreigners, not rolling

their eyes as much. The Europeans have

relaxed their rules: skirts no longer mandatory

                                           to enter churches.

I spotted shorts, and that didn't stop anybody.

All they expect is silence as a sign of deference

             from everyone - hard to attain.

Self-respecting restaurants now open at 7:00PM

instead of 8:00PM. As for the dinner cruise boats

that ply the Seine, they exist as whales: enormous

       in size along with the charge for the meal. 

The Continentals protest the hoards of tourists.

Too many people crowd their haunts, and many 

                   speak American-English.

In Barcelona a repeat performance: people

everywhere. But they are much more voluble,

especially in the Basilica of La Sagrada Familia:

almost complete 100 years after the architect's death.  

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor