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It is difficult to book a seat on a plane or find an empty hotel room in the

summer in Europe. The continent is overrun with tourists, many of whom are

students who head over for studies abroad or in-depth tours.

 

The history and the art give you a sense of fulfillment, that you are doing

something that is kicking provincialism in the teeth. You know that your tenth-

grade teacher would be overwhelmed. Ah the museums—The Louvre, the

D’Orsay in Paris, the British Museum in London, the Uffizi, home of The David, in

Florence and all that Rome has to offer—from the Sistine Chapel to the

Colosseum to the Forum to Circus Maximus to the Vatican, St. Peter’s and Piazza

Navona.

 

And, you eat and drink so well wherever you go. Paris, Rome, Brussels,

Amsterdam, Tuscany, but not greater than you do in the small towns and villages

particularly in the French and Italian countryside.

 

But don’t become dismayed when you discover that there are as many

familiar American fast-food restaurants over there as you find here. At least in

some places.

 

It is the side trips that heighten travel in Europe. Like driving 54 miles from

Paris to Giverny, the home of Oscar-Claude Monet, but before you go, visit the

museum which displays his Impressionist art in Paris.

 

While you are in France, take a trip to the invasion beaches in Normandy

but stay for a week. The tour is astounding, the story of the beginning of the end

of the Nazi regime will make you proud; find a cozy little cross-roads restaurant

where the food is very good. The wine won’t disappoint and the Calvados (apple

brandy) will exhilarate but only if there is no wake-up call.

 

There’s Bruges, with the greatest of charm in Belgium, with its sights,

restaurants and canals; the stunning Amalfi Coast and a pizza at ol’ Napoli;

Rembrandt’s Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; the Alhambra at

Grenada; Salzburg and Viennese coffee; the Bosporus in Istanbul and walking the

streets of Prague, as electric of a city as can be. I would like to live there for a

summer. Lastly, Maastricht, pretty much off the beaten path, but I promise if

you go there you will vow to return. What a lively, upbeat place!

 

If you are into sports, you have more options than you do most anywhere.

There’s the Henley Regatta the last of June. Talk about tradition and

sophistication, for a sporting event—featuring white tablecloths and candelabra.

 

The Tour de France begins in late June and lasts for three weeks and gets more

coverage than an SEC football rivalry. The running of the bulls at Pamplona, the

feast of San Fermin, the second week of July where Spanish aficionados drink

more sangria in a week than they do beer at the Super Bowl. The French Open at

Roland Garros is a fortnight of Grand Slam tennis competition, but you will never

tire of the sights and sounds of Paris along with walks down the boulevards

adjoining the Seine and dinner at a sidewalk café in the evening.

 

Wimbledon begins the last Monday in June, also for a fortnight, and while

the restaurants of London don’t compare with Paris, you couldn’t have a better

travel experience than a pub life for a fortnight in a truly great city.

 

It all ends with the Open championship in the third week of July. There are

eight venues which host the event—four in Scotland (there were five until Donald

Trump bought Turnberry, and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, which runs the

championship, will not return to Turnberry until Trump goes away; and four

courses in England. The Scottish courses are Carnoustie, St. Andrews, Muirfield,

Troon and recently Royal Portrush in Ireland is lobbying to become one of the

permanent venues on the rota. I am for that. The English courses are Lytham &

St. Annes, Birkdale, Liverpool (Hoylake), and St. Georges (Sandwich).

 

You can actually take in all of the venues aforementioned in one trip, but

only if you have the time and most of all, the money. There is no layaway plan.