European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 18, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Travel tips Winum him  it j9tk v y v it m v a i h is a v \ a. Pc amp is ii is 1\ 3 ifs Salt. ,. A of ill. S a  Kojs so a v ass a so s a it \ \ >�?Tnv��.<sssfs. A s s Tir at left. Queen Elizabeth la s state dining room is one of the 18 rooms in Buckingham Palace that Are open to the Public through oct. 2. Proceeds will help foot the Bill for repairing the Queen s weekend Home Windsor Castle which was heavily damaged by fire in november of 1992. At right is the music room where the Queen usually receives guests during state visits. The Palace which has 600 rooms was built As a mansion in 1703 and contains More than 2,000 Oil paintings. Buckingham Palace once again open to the Public by Mim Swartz Scripps Howard news service if you did t have a Chance to get a peek inside Buckingham Palace last summer Queen Elizabeth ii has opened up her London Home again this year. The capital City s famed Royal residence is open for Tours through oct. 2. Tickets Cost 8 pounds about $12 for adults 4 pounds about $6 for children under age 17 and 5.50 pounds about $8.25 for visitors age 60 and older. Be sure to have an identification card or passport with you As ticket Sellers May ask to see them to Check proof of age not surprisingly visitors Don t get to see All 600 rooms in the Palace. Only 18 rooms and areas that Are part of the state apartments Are open to tourists. Visitors do get to View some of the famed Royal collection of paintings furniture and Art objects. Rooms on the self guided tour include the ballroom state dining room throne room and three drawing rooms. Also v included Are the music room a where the Queen usually receives guests during state visits and the site of Many Royal baptisms a and the 120rfoot-Long picture gallery which includes masterpieces by Rembrandt Van Dyck and Rubens. Several companies have arranged guided Tours through Buckingham Palace with direct admission As part of half Day London sightseeing packages. Two of the companies Are listed As follows a Edwards amp Edwards offers Tours three times daily through sept. 20. The Cost is $46 for adults and children. A Keith Prowse offers Tours twice a Day through sept. 20. The Cost is $47.25 for adults and $43,25 for children Ages three to 17. Further information concerning the Tours is available by contacting the British tourist authority thames Tower Black s Road Hammersmith London w6 9el, England. Its Telephone number is 081846-9000 and its fax number is 081 -563-0302. To Call from outside the United kingdom dial your International Access code followed by the country code 44 and drop the first 0. More than 330,000 people toured the Palace last year netting,$3.3 million. The Money is going toward the Cost of restoring the Queen s weekend Home Windsor Castle a located about 20 Miles West of London a which was ravaged by fire. Queen Elizabeth decided to open Buckingham Palace to Tours for five years until Windsor Castle s $60 million restoration project is completed in 1997. It is hoped that about 70 percent of the restoration costs will be raised from visitor charges at Buckingham Palace As Well As at Windsor Castle itself. A Mem Swartz it Cravat Altor Ottha Rocky Mountain Nawa in Janvar. Train robbery victim helps police find suspects the fall of communism has brought Many changes to Eastern Europe not All of them favourable. Crimes including those against tourists have increased. The. Following Story is one reporter s firsthand experience by Eileen Guerrero the associated press still half asleep i awoke in my Cabin on an overnight train from Prague in the czech Republic to Warsaw Poland and noticed that my Luggage was gone. Suddenly three men carrying my bags and reeking of alcohol forced their Way i qty my compartment. J a tall Man locked the door of the compartment and switched off die Light. A hand covered my Mouth. I could not. Scream. My hands were held tightly. No amount of kicking and struggling could free me. A second Man Drew a knife and slashed away my Money Belt before the three disappeared. I had become a victim of gangs that prowl trains in Poland and other Eastern european countries. Robberies aboard International trains Are a growing problem in Eastern Europe safety since the fall of communism. There Are no Overall figures on the numbers. But in Warsaw s Central Railroad station alone police say an average of 20 train robberies Are reported monthly. And police explained that the real figure May be three times that great because victims either did not see the robbers or distrust the police. Quot Small wonder that Many people wish the police were As efficient As in american films and that the Justice system. Would isolate burglars murderers hooligans and. Vandals Quot commentator Ryszard Legutko recently wrote in Warsaw s Wycie Warszawa newspaper. Few train robbers Are prosecuted because police say most robberies occur when victims Are asleep. I considered myself Quot Lucky Quot to have seen my criminals. I could identify them. After i returned to my Home in the Philippines my colleagues in Warsaw reported the crime to the police. A few Days later police reported to my colleagues that they had identified several suspects. But i would have to return to Poland and identify them before the. Suspects could be prosecuted. For three months i agonized Over. Whether to return to Warsaw. Family and friends gave moral support even if they thought i was wasting my time and Money. However i was inspired by the example of a taiwanese businessman kidnapped in the Philippines last year. In an unprecedented move he returned to testify against a police general and a colonel on trial for the crime. It was Clear to me that Justice should have no Price tag. It was civic duty and i had to go Back. Jet lagged and exhausted from the trip i arrived in Warsaw and a with one of my polish colleagues a went straight to the police station. There j picked out my robbers from Mug shots and gave my testimony to police officers for seven  next Day i was taken to a Dingy Damp basement floor at another police station to make the personal identification from a police lineup. I was scared that i might be unable to recognize them even though their faces had been hovering in my mind Day and night for months since the robbery. Upon entering the basement hallway i saw five men standing against the Wall. One face was familiar. I had last seen him on the train. He was the Man who had Cut _ away my Money Belt with his knife. Face to face heart pounding Knees shaking and hands sweating i was asked by a police officer if i recognized anyone. I pointed to the Man who turned out to be a 25 year old House Painter. Missing from the lineup was the tall Man who blocked the door of my train compartment. He had seemed to be the Leader. I had recognized him from photographs but police said he had apparently fled after receiving a summons to appear for the lineup. Nevertheless i was pleased that i was Able to help capture at least one of the robbers. Prosecutors said that the House. Painter would probably receive a five to 10-year jail sentence if convicted by my deposition. Quot Nice to meet you again Quot i said As the Man Robert Bujak was handcuffed and led to a jail cell. A August 18, 1994 stripes Magazine 25