Amy Signs: A Mother, Her Daughter, and their Stories

42. Europe and Beyond

265 42 Europe and Beyond Rebecca and Amy The morning we arrive in London, Amy reminds me, “I want to see the wax people.” “Not today Amy, we have to join our tour group, but we’ll be back in London before we fly home. We’ll visit it then.” Armed with maps, guidebooks, cameras, and a calculator for determining the value of foreign currency, we are prepared for anything as we take out seats on the tour bus. John and Amy banked their spending money with me, and Amy keeps a meticulous record of what she’s spent. When we arrive in Rome, she asks for money. I give her a 5,000-lira note. “Wow! Five thousand dollars!”Amy’s eyes gleam with the thought of having so much money. She pulls out the calculator, enters the rates of exchange and her smile is replaced by a scowl. “This is only two dollars and twenty cents.” John and I have a good laugh at her expense. ) At fifteen I used my passport for the first time traveling to Europe. Basically, it was a cultural and historical experience, because it was different from what I saw or expected in the United States. WOW! I was surprised when I landed at Heathrow Airport in London.The first guy I saw working at the airport had colorful pointed hair. Ahh, Amy Signs Main Pgs 1-320.indd 265 6/27/2012 10:37:48 AM 266 Amy Signs the punks! A few years later, United States got the fad and I told my classmates,“It’s old news. I saw it in London.”In general, Europe was way ahead in fashions and fads. Not only that but also weird-looking cop uniforms and hats. In Germany, we went to the Berlin Wall, both the free and communist side, and Nuremburg where Hitler gave his speech. In Rome, we saw Vatican City and the Coliseum. In Paris, we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and to a huge castle, Versailles. It was interesting to see many different buildings, people, clothes, and designs that I would not see in America. When we went to Europe, Mother did the same thing she did for our first big family vacation. We voted on places to visit. I chose to see the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London. I am not sure why I picked the Little Mermaid statue. Maybe for the same reason I picked Devil’s Tower. Perhaps I wanted to see if the Mermaid was real and could swim in the sea. As for the wax museum, I thought it would be a very visual museum, good for me, so that is why I picked it. In Copenhagen, I reminded Mother about the little mermaid statue that I voted as a place we must see. Our tour did not go there, so we had to find it on our own. We rode a bus and then walked and walked in a park until I spied the statue. “There it is,”I said and smiled. Mother said, “The statue is nice, but not worth the blisters on my feet.” In London, Mother did not want to go to the wax museum and suggested I pick something else, but I refused. I wanted to see the wax people. “Maybe we won’t have to walk so much,” I said, “like with the mermaid.” We didn’t. We rode the subways, called the Tube, to the wax museum . When Mother saw the price, she gasped and tried to change my mind again, but I told her, “You promised me we would go.” So in we went and had a grand time. If you have not been to London,a must to see is Madame Tussaud’s wax museum.There you see many wax figures of famous people from London and all over the world.The wax statues were set up in various scenes. We walked through an exhibit of Lord Nelson dying during Amy Signs Main Pgs 1-320.indd 266 6/27/2012 10:37:49 AM Europe and Beyond 267 a fight with the Spanish Armada and a Jack the Ripper scene of narrow streets filled dead wax bodies. I saw the royal family and famous actors, musicians and TV characters. John liked Dr. Who and his weird dog, K-9. It was...