December 2007 Blog Posts (12)

Tuesday, October 23, and Wednesday, October 24

Our Untour to southern Tuscany began on Tuesday, October 23, 2007. Seven good friends traveled together for this memorable trip—Deb and Stan Graczyk of Farmington Hills, Michigan; Sherri Masson of Milford, Michigan; Jill and Scott…

Identity Theft

While traveling in Vienna, May, 2007, my wallet was stolen from my left front pocket as I was standing on a very crowded subway. I learned many things from the experience and I will probably forget them before my next trip; thus this report. Others may be interested so I will dramatize a bit.

Here is the plot. You are traveling in darkest Bangladesh and suddenly find that your wallet is missing. You did some preparation for this…

Earlier, a description was depicted of an early morning awakening by a Fire Alarm sounding in our motel room. My husband was finishing up with his shower, and I still was dozing. Since I'm disabled, we try to obtain a ground level room. It's not always possible, but in this case we were pleased that we were. When I decided to check on the extend of the fire, my nearby crutches were grabbed and I headed towards the room's entrance way. My plan was to see if smoke was coming in underneath the…

I was just reading an article in National Geographic Traveler magazine titled "Slow Down-We're Moving Too Fast" by Margaret Loftus. It's about Pauline Kenny, who founded Slowtrav.com. To her, slow travel means basing yourself in one place, for at least a week, to live as a local. Here is a quote from the article: "Perhaps the most important hallmark of slow travel, however, is staying put. By renting an apartment or house for at least a week, Kenny says, 'You have a chance to really see the…

I think the world or at least the West Coast has discovered Ludivico and Ana Ginotti’s wines. After returning from our Tuscany South Untour in 2005 where we stayed at the Ginotti Farm/Vineyard/Winery, we found that a local distributor in San Francisco occasionally imported some of their Rosso and Brunello wines. Of course, we had to have a couple bottles. Last year we were…

A cousin of ours who shares our Swiss heritage (Meiringen) sent me this link to a really funny Rail Europe Ad. It is adorable and since we all go to these countries, I thought you all might enjoy it. It plays a little music from each country. Sorry, I don't know any way to display it except as a link. Hope I don't get in trouble for posting this. If so, I'll delete it and you can email me for the link.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, everyone!!

Now must get back to decorating.…