(Don’t miss the accompanying YouTube video posted at the end of the blog entry.) The golden brown clay soil of the Central Tuscan countryside was rain-soaked on the day we ventured to Siena. On the way, Our Gate1 tour director, Myriam, introduced us to the…

Last winter, when we signed up for Germany/Austria, the tour itinerary listed an optional “Yodeling and Tyrolean Slap Dance” event.  Never having sharpened our taste for yodeling and certainly not knowing much about the Tyroleans, we did not sign up.   Once we arrived in the…

We traveled from Switzerland to Austria today, also going through the tiny country of Liechtenstein. This journey, primarily through the Bavarian Alps, was exceptionally gorgeous. We visited Neuschwanstein Castle, the pride of King Ludwig II, and the castle Walt Disney used as the model for…

Just now had a chance to post a few pics. Yesterday we were in Mainz, a beautiful city near Frankfurt…highlight there was the 1000 year cathedral located in the old city. In the shadows of this incredible cathedral, there was a street fair with a…

The last days of our Italy trip ended with Marcy and I contracting a virus. More on that later, but the after-effects lasted until just a few days ago.  We had visions of blogging and sharing stories of our trip, but we just weren’t up…

We are on the bus and it is a long ride to from Venice to Lucca. While I am still feeling the effects of the morning cappuccino, I figured I would do some blogging. Unfortunately, I could not come up with an eye-grabbing headline. The…