Part 1-EASTERN EUROPE: STRUDEL, SCHNITZEL AND STRAUSS, A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS

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Spinach strudel, boiled potatoes, sausages and more at Café Museum in Vienna, Austria


Strudel, Schnitzel and Strauss weren’t all that grabbed our attention about Eastern Europe, but they were certainly components of the rich cultural influences food, wine, music, arts, and architecture played during our recent Odysseys Unlimited Discovering Eastern Europe tour. The trip evoked memories of our ancestry.
Yiddish was the language my grandparents, aunts and uncles spoke when they didn’t want me to understand the conversation. English was the rule otherwise. How often did I hear them say, “We are now Americans. We speak English.”
My parents were first-born Americans from parents who fled Poland, Romania and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the early 1900s. Even as the eldest of my parent’s three children, I didn’t know to ask why they fled their native countries or how Read more

Part 6: GONDALIERS DON’T SING AND NO ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP? A FIRST-TIMER’S DISCOVERY OF THE REAL ITALY.

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St. Mark’s Square and colorful buildings line Venice’s Grand Canal


GONDOLIERS DON’T SING BUT VENICE STILL EVOKES ROMANCE
In Part 5 – The Classical Beauty Of Tuscany, The Elegance Of Florence And San Gimignano’s Tall Towers
VENICE
Where we stayed:
The Carnival Palace Hotel, opened in 2012, overlooks the Cannaregio Canal in the heart of historic downtown Venice. The modern 67 room hotel is not in the midst of tourist traffic, so if you want to venture to St Marks, museums and art galleries, you either have a very long walk or you can easily take a water bus from a station just a short distance away. The hotel buffet was diverse, with a vegan brioche I mistakenly took for a wheat croissant until I bit down into its soft, buttery texture. These were so amazing I ate them every morning for four days. Russ and I and several Read more

Part 5: GONDALIERS DON’T SING AND NO ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP? A FIRST-TIMER’S DISCOVERY OF THE REAL ITALY.

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View from Villa San Fillippo


THE CLASSICAL BEAUTY OF TUSCANY, THE ELEGANCE OF FLORENCE AND SAN GIMIGNANO’S TALL TOWERS
Part 4 was Medieval City Faced Chemical Warfare And Peace Makers Wage War Against Poverty In Orvieto And Assisi
SIENA, FLORENCE and SAN GIMIGNANO
Where we stayed:
Villa San Filippo is an 18th century 35-room resort in the Chianti hills, in Barberino Val D’Elsa. Russ and I stayed in a magnificent suite that opened up to a dining and kitchen area, tiled floors, and a step down to the bathroom and luxuriously appointed bedroom. A comfy chair positioned in front of a large window and balcony in the living room afforded spectacular views of the lush Tuscan landscape Read more

Part 4: GONDALIERS DON’T SING AND NO ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP? A FIRST-TIMER’S DISCOVERY OF THE REAL ITALY

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Welcome to the medieval town of Orvieto


MEDIEVAL CITY FACED CHEMICAL WARFARE AND PEACE MAKERS WAGE WAR AGAINST POVERTY IN ORVIETO AND ASSISI
Part 3 was The Power Of Prayer And Governments Ruled Montecassino And Rome
ORVIETO, ASSISI and DERUTA
Where we stayed:
You couldn’t ask for a better central location to unpack your bags than the Grand Hotel Italia when staying in Orvieto, a medieval city built atop a volcanic butte that lies between Florence and Rome. There were inconsistencies in the water pressure, the WIFI drifted in and out, but the staff of the 46-room property did their best to make us comfortable, even to turning on the hotel-wide AC earlier than they’re used to in the season. The morning buffet was just ok, but one of the first lessons to be learned Read more

Part 3: GONDALIERS DON’T SING AND NO ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP? A FIRST-TIMER’S DISCOVERY OF THE REAL ITALY.

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Michelangelo’s Pieta in St. Peter’s Basiilica


THE POWER OF PRAYER AND GOVERNMENTS RULED ROME
Part 2 was the Sex, Lives And Jewelry Of Pompeii And Sorrento
ROME
Where we stayed:
I never tire of staying in former palaces converted to hotels. One such converted palace to hotel is the 110-room Empire Palace Hotel in Rome, originally built in 1879. Room sizes vary a lot. The floor and walls in our room and bathroom were marble. The shower wonderfully easy to operate, an appreciation you won’t understand unless you have used showers that require a pilot’s license for all the buttons and controls. The pillows were flat and hard. Downstairs, the onsite Blue Bar is a cozy venue with live music in the evening. Warning: when hotel signs indicate breakfast ends at 10:30, they do not mean a minute longer. The hotel is Read more

Part 2: GONDALIERS DON’T SING AND NO ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP? A FIRST-TIMER’S DISCOVERY OF THE REAL ITALY.

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Seated man frozen in ash at Pompeii


SEX, LIVES AND JEWELRY OF POMPEII AND SORRENTO
Part 1 was The Magnificent Sights And Sounds Of Amalfi And Ravello
POMPEII, SORRENTO and MONTECASSINO
Watching one of many fictionalized movies about the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted does not adequately impart the swift horror that befall the populace. Vesuvius has since erupted nearly 30 more times, the last being March 17, 1944. Considered one of the most dangerously active volcanos in the world, it’s scary to know it sits only about 20 miles from the city of Naples. Estimates are that as many as 30,000 residents may have been “frozen in place” under ash in 79 AD. An eruption today might cause as many as Read more

GONDALIERS DON’T SING AND NO ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP? A FIRST-TIMER’S DISCOVERY OF THE REAL ITALY.

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St Mark’s Square & the Doge’s Palace on Venice’s Grand Canal


Part 1 – THE MAGNIFICANT SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AMALFI AND RAVELLO
Pizza, pasta and gelato. Wines that never reach America. Mythological gods and goddesses. Warring religious and political leaders. Artists, sculptors and architects whose works still breathe life into a people, country and tourism-driven economy.
Stunning landscapes of contrasting colors, from the foam-tipped whites of the sea crushing against jagged rocks of the Amalfi Coast to the neon yellow of the lemon tree-studded mountains of Ravello; from

Boar’s head sits in oaken bucket. Otherwise, a typical wine and food shop within stone walls of medieval town

 
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DENMARK & NORWAY: ROYALLY RICH IN BREATHTAKING BEAUTY, FROM CASTLES TO FJORDS

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PART 5: OSLO, A CULTURAL METROPOLIS FOR MUSEUMS, ARTS, FABULOUS FOOD, THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, AND SO MUCH MORE!

Polar ship Fram


In PART 4: THE TROLL’S DAUGHTER DANCES, WATERFALLS PLUNGE, AND THERE’S SALMON… LOTS AND LOTS OF SALMON! We have left behind the jutting mountains, roaring waterfalls, and orchards planted on sloping hills like grapevines for the country’s largest city.
OSLO translates to Field of the Gods. It is a city undergoing vast urban revitalization.
Where we stayed:

Travellers of all shapes find their way to Thon Hotel Opera


Thon Hotel Opera is a convenient location that will become even more advantageous when the Oslo Opera House opens half a block away in 2019. Right now, the 480-room hotel is ideal for its location to shopping, restaurants and attractions, but what is particularly ideal is its Read more

DENMARK & NORWAY: ROYALLY RICH IN BREATHTAKING BEAUTY, FROM CASTLES TO FJORDS

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PART 4: THE TROLL’S DAUGHTER DANCES, WATERFALLS PLUNGE, AND THERE’S SALMON… LOTS AND LOTS OF SALMON!
In PART 3: STEPPING INTO THE FAIRY TALE WORLD THAT IS NORWAY–GOAT FARMS, SKI RESORTS, FJORDS AND WHITE-KNUCKLE MOUNTAIN ROADS, we visited one of Norway’s most dramatic fjords, dined at a goat farm, and mellowed to the music of Composer Edvard Grieg.

The pastoral elegance of Lofthus


We leave Bergen, the second largest city in Norway, for the serene pastoral elegance of Lofthus, a city in Norway’s Fjord District. Small farms and villages tuck onto mountainsides. Slopes embrace sparkling fjords. Wild flowers grow haphazardly, creating a landscape of emotionally-charged blues, whites, greens, yellows and pinks. This is the Norway of picture postcards, of a place where time has paused to let one breathe crisp clean air and soak in the relentless natural beauty.
Lofthus
Where we stayed:

Over the bridge and to the water-surrounded decking at Hotel Ullensvang


Hotel Ullensvang may be one of the most beautiful resorts at which my husband Russ and I have ever stayed. From the moment we enter the Read more

DENMARK & NORWAY: ROYALLY RICH IN BREATHTAKING BEAUTY, FROM CASTLES TO FJORDS

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PART 3: STEPPING INTO THE FAIRY TALE WORLD THAT IS NORWAY–GOAT FARMS, SKI RESORTS, FJORDS AND WHITE-KNUCKLE MOUNTAIN ROADS

a private wedding and event center, in Oslofjord


In PART 2: DANISH ROYALTY– FROM THE QUEEN’S RESIDENCE TO HAMLET’S CASTLE TO KAREN BLIXEN’S SANCTUARY, reminders of Denmark’s history thrive today in castles, heroic citizens and the Arts.
We stepped onto the Pearl Seaways, an 1800-passenger cruise liner that masquerades as a ferry, in Copenhagen, Denmark and stepped off in Oslo, Norway. If our Odysseys Unlimited tour group of 24 had been awake during the overnight journey, we’d have seen some of the islands and landmarks along Norway’s 1,100-mile coastline.
Over the next 10 days Tour Director Karin Hansen led us by bus on hairpin mountain roads to gaze Read more