European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 30, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Buys in eight european cities Vii pwn Row $4.20 Amft Paris $4.63it fines $355mmtnnci croon 12 3m is artists anti writers and composers now perhaps most appropriately Mozart. Tha Bicentennial of his death in 1791 is drawing near. He died in a House in Vienna a building Long ago demolished now supplanted by a department store. But there Are dozens or places linked to Mozart in Salzburg end Vienna and now is the time to visit them before the hype of the anniversary and its associated Kitsch escalate. Stroll into the Vienna Woods those tender slopes with their forests and vineyards Hal enchanted Beethoven and Schubert and in which Gustav Mahler used to roam in his student Days. You get there Tor the Price of a spree car ride. Conjure up the world of James Joyce in Dublin by taking in the vistas from the Liffey Bridge. And see the treasures of the West preserved in London where theater and opera tickets May be difficult to obtain but no great Effort or expense is required to visit and British museum and Many of the City s other famous collections. In the Alps revel in the tenacity of Mankind revealed in the ancient churches and villages nestling in the mountains the medieval castles perched on Steep rocks me isolated farms of cattle breeders and woodcutters High up on slopes where they will be Cut Oil from the outside world for weeks and months during harsh Winters. Anyone who Schus Sas Down a ski run or sets out to climb one of the Limestone towers of the dolomites or just glances at these peaks ridges and glaciers from an automobile or Railroad car will be so Rucic by the efforts of the people living and toiling there. Today the thriving tourist business in the Alpine regions lures guests with mock tyrolean decor saunas Jacuzzi tubs health dubs and acres ski nightclubs. Quite a few visitors who could afford such amenities however prefer to live Wilh a local family that May charge $35 or so a Day for bed and breakfast. It s a better Way of becoming acquainted Wilh an ancient culture and the scenery is free. Indeed Thil it a Good principle to follow to find a More ancient and authentic Europe. Break out of the package Lour circuits if possible and seek out some Small town or vilage in the country that you Are visiting and stay in a Small hotel or inn Lor a couple of Days or More. Go from Amsterdam to some provincial dutch town from Lisbon o Evora or the North of Portugal from Rome to Urbino or Subiaco. There will be none of the fast food havens and shopping marts that clutter Urban areas. Instead you i i encounter people who ride bicycles to Woik and still find time for tending a Kitchen Garden or even a Field for indulging in neighbourhood gossip or a Good natured argument about the performance of the local soccer team. To find the Avant Garde in Europe look to big City stores Art exhibitions and new architecture they provide sneak previews of tomorrow s designs and trends. The shop windows in say Paris or Milan the Art in the posters on the Walls Urban planning in Scandinavia and elsewhere they All prove that old Europe is still full of creativity and ideas. Some of Europe s cities Are almost completely new hastily rebuilt after the ravages of world War ii Rotterdam or instance or Cologne. Seeing those blocks after blocks of recent construction one can understand that the bombs shells and firestorm Aren t forgotten and Hal tie europeans Are acutely sensitive to the dangers of new International conflicts. The overriding impression of visitors to Europe is he ubiquitous presence of the past ruined greek temples and Heaters of Sicily and Southern Italy the flagstones of roman roads from Britain to the sack sea the Alhambra of Granada with the fragrance of its boxwood1 gardens the winged lion of the venetian Republic in the towns of Dalmatia. All these and windswept Sagres on the southwestern lip of Portugal the frowning escorial near Madrid the baroque reminders of the hapsburgs and the palaces of the sultans Napoleon s Arch of Triumph and his Tomb under the dome of Lea invalids in Paris they All speak of empires won and Osl of past conquests and disasters and of the heeling nature of Power. Listen to these voices the visitor pays Little or nothing for viewing the memorials some glorious some somber of european hrs Lory. It s he chichi hotel rooms the proclaimed gourmet meals mat Strain the budget in a Perkul of a weak Dollar you May travel frugally and still savor Europe s timelessness oar 30,1967 the stars and stripes Page 15