LIFERIZ Travels in US and Europe

• After completing his studies in Madrid, Rizal left for Paris and Germany to specialize in ophthalmology.
• He traveled to various places in Europe, continuing his “secret mission.”
• In Paris, France. Rizal stayed for four months, and worked as an assistant to Dr. Louis de Weckert, a leading French ophthalmologist.
• Rizal also socialized with friends such as the Pardo de Taveras and served as model to paintings of Juan Luna.
• In Heidelberg, Germany, Rizal worked at the University Eye Hospital as an assistant to Dr. Otto Becker, a distinguished German ophthalmologist.
• • He also attended lectures in University of Heidelberg.
• In Leipzig, Germany, Rizal felt sad leaving Heidelberg as he had learned to love the city and its people.
• In Leipzig, Rizal met the famous German anthropologist Dr. Hans Beyer.
• Here, he did a lot of writing including the translation of Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales in Tagalog for his nephews and nieces.
• Rizal’s happy tour in Europe was marred by news from friends in Madrid that in an Exposition of the Philippines held in Spain, there were Igorots exhibited.
• With scanty clothings on, they were ridiculed and were objects of mockery of the people and the press. > This angered Rizal very much and his indignation was revealed in his letter to Blumentritt on June 6, 1887.
• Negative Impressions about America; - 1. Non-existence of true civil society - 2. Racial prejudice - 3. Money valuing over human life
• He noted that Reno had already been glamorized by propaganda as “The Biggest Little City in the World.”
• Of Nevada in general, he noted that it was a lonely place; lacking plant-life, with sand everywhere and bare mountains.
• Colorado was the 5th state Rizal visited. By then, it was the 9th of May. There he noted that of the three previous states, Colorado had more trees and horses.
• At Niagara Falls, he compared it to the falls of Los Banos.
• Niagara Falls was bigger and more imposing. In his letter to Mariano Ponce, he called the falls ‘the majestic cascade’ The train departed at night, and the ‘mysterious sound and persistent echo’ of the Niagara Falls followed him