3. Stopover at Barcelona To visit Maximo Viola, a medical student and a member of a rich family of San Miguel, Bulacan. Befriended SeñorEusebioCorominas, editor of newspaper La Publicidadand a statesman. Made a crayon sketch of Don Miguel Morayta, owner of La Publicidad and a statesman.
4. November 1885- February 1886 Rizal worked as an assistant to Dr. Louis de Weckert, leading French Ophthalmologist.
5. January 1, 1886 “With respect to the study of the ailments of the eyes, I am doing well. I know now how to perform all the operations; I only need to know what is going on inside the eye, which requires much practice.”
6. Friends... Outside of his working hours at Dr. Weckert’s clinic, Rizal relaxed by visiting his friends, such as the family of the Pardo de Taveras (Trinidad, Felix and Paz), Juan Luna, and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo.
7. Paz Pardo de Tavera was a pretty girl, who was engaged to Juan Luna. On the album of this girl, Rizal drew a series of sketches on the story of “The Monkey and the Turtle.”
12. Rizal as Musician Rizal had no natural aptitude for music, and this he admitted. By sheer determination and practice, Rizal came to play the flute fairly well, and so became a flutist in various impromptu reunions of Filipinos in Paris. It is said that he even composed some songs, particularly AlinMangLahi, a patriotic song which asserts that any race aspires for freedom, and a sad danza, La Deportacion, which he composed later on in Dapitan during his exile.
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14. Paris to Germany Rizal reluctantly left gay Paris on February 1, 1886 for Germany. He visited Strasbourg (capital of Alsace Lorraine) and other German border towns. On February 3, 1886, Rizal arrived in Heidelberg, a historic city in Germany famous for its old university and romantic surroundings. He became a member of the Chess Player’s Club.
16. Dr. Otto Becker Rizal worked at the University Eye Hospital under the direction of Dr. Otto Becker, distinguished German ophthalmologist, and attended the lectures of Dr. Becker and Prof. WilheimKuehne at the University.
17. Forget-Me-Not In the spring of 1886, Rizal was fascinated by the blooming flowers along the cool banks of the Neckar River. Among them was his favorite flower – the light blue forget-me-not
18. To the Flowers of Heidelberg The beautiful spring flowers reminded Rizal of the blooming flowers at the garden of his home in Calamba. April 22, 1886, in a mood of homesickness, he wrote a fine poem “A Las Flores de Heidelberg.”
19. To Pastor Karl Ullmer at Wilhelmsfeld,June 25, 1886 ... “I thank you very much once more. You may also receive, when you are abroad, the same treatment and friendship as I have found among you; and if being a foreigner, I can do nothing for you in a foreign country, I can be of some service to you in my homeland, where you will always find a good friend, if I do not die, of course. The joy of being understood by other people is so great that one cannot easily forget it. You understood me too, in spite of my brown skin, which to many people is yellow, as if that were puzzling or absurd.”
20. First Letter to Blumentritt July 31, 1886: Rizal wrote his first letter in German (which he had improved after his stay with the (Ullmers) to Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, Director of the Ateneo of Leitmeritz, Austria. He had heard of this Austrian ethnologist and his interest in Philippine languages.
21. I have heard that you are studying our language, and that you had already published some work about it; permit me to send you a valuable book written by my countryman in our language. The Spanish version is mediocre because the author is only a modest writer but the Tagalog part is good, and it is precisely the language spoken in our province.
22. Aritmetica Published in two languages – Spanish and Tagalog – by the University of Santo Tomas Press in 1868. Authored by RufinoBaltazar Hernandez, a native of Santa Cruz, Laguna.
23. Fifth Centenary of Heidelberg UniversityAugust 6, 1886 For its fifth centenary the famous University of Heidelberg celebrated its Festung this morning, and we attended. I liked the picture better than the original itself. There were, however, many elegant and brilliant costumes, Bugmuller, the famous student of Heidelberg, was dressed as Frederick the Victorious; Lieberman, as a gentleman of the seventeenth century; Gregoire, wolf of Schwahen, etc....
24. ... Last night was Schlorfest. When will these gaieties enjoyed in this poetic and beautiful city come back? When will the foreigners return there? When shall I return after I shall have left? Inquire the fate of the molecules of water that the sun evaporates.
25. Some fall as dew on the bosoms of the flowers; others are converted into ice and snow; others into mud or swamp or torrential cascade – they are not lost but continue to live in nature. Will my soul have the fate of water – never being lost into nothingness?
26. Heidelberg to Leipzig August 9, 1886, Rizal left Heidelberg. August 14, 1886, Rizal arrived in Leipzig. He attended lectures at the University of Leipzig on history and psychology. He befriended Prof. Friedrich Ratzel, a famous German historian, and Dr. Hans Meyer, German anthropologist.
27. In Leipzig Rizal translated Schiller’s William Tell from German into Tagalog so that Filipinos might know the story of that champion of Swiss independence. He also translated into Tagalog Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales.
28. Leipzig to Dresden Rizal found out that the cost of living in Leipzig was cheapest in Europe so that he stayed here for two months and a half. Because of his knowledge of German, Spanish and other European languages he worked as proof-reader in a publisher’s firm, thereby earning some money. On October 29, 1886, Rizal left Leipzig for Dresden.
29. In Dresden Rizal met Dr. Adolph B. Meyer, Director of the Anthropological and Ethnological Museum. Staying for two days in the city, Rizal heard Mass in a Catholic Church. November 1, 1886: Rizal left Dresden by train, reaching Berlin in the evening.
30. Spain (1882-1885) Paris (1885-1886) Berlin (1886-1887) Grand Tour of Europe (1887) coming up next...
