Old cultures, especially agrarian ones, love their seasonal festivals, and the best time is after the hard work of planting, tending, and harvesting is done. Late summer, as the hot afternoons stretch and… Continue reading
The problem with being human is that we only live our own lives. On Day Two of my Benelux Tour, we get a chance to improve on that. Ensconced in our personal present… Continue reading
There’s a time honored formula for the first day of a tour. Welcome meeting to go over everything, then a moderate orientation walk with light-to-medium content on the way to dinner together. It… Continue reading
Back in the paleotechnic dawn of the 21st century, my mother’s request was understandable. “Just call me once a week to let me know you’re alive,” she said, as I wandered off across… Continue reading
I wasn’t sure about Luxembourg. I enjoyed it as a largely clueless tourist, but would it satisfy the discerning Europhile I had in mind for a tour member? I’ve lived in and love… Continue reading
The Luxembourgians may have seen it as a free vacation. They needed one in the heady days of 2007, when the surging European Union was adding two more countries, expanding the cooperation that… Continue reading
Romanians curse a lot. My favorite of their more playful profanities is when they tell someone to go away. We might use two simple words to form an expression that makes very little… Continue reading
The obvious highlight on Day 3 of our Tour of Romania is the opulent yet intimate royal palace of Peles. I’ve written about it before and there is much more to say, but… Continue reading
I love to hear different languages overlapping in the summer air. In Bucharest on Day One of this year’s Romania tour, the languages were varied and the air was nice and toasty, like… Continue reading
Hello fellow travelers and curious minds. When I tell people I lead a small-group tour of Romania I am often met by blank looks. The honest will admit “I don’t know anything about… Continue reading
