I have to start by telling you that this ship (Norwegian Star) is about as American as you can get.  Everyone/staff speaks English, the ATM gives you dollars and the menus dropped right out of the US of A.  I am not good with organized group trips, structured tour, and cafeteria food.  Surprisingly, I have... Continue Reading →

Before I get started with Venice, I need to share the picture of Donnatella and me as well as a picture of Nino's book on Vincent. (The wifi on my Verizon plan did not work on the cruise ship and the ship's wifi cost $$$$$ so it took a while to upload the pic's: I... Continue Reading →

(I didn't go back to Strasbourg--I did realize I had not published this post) I had to take 4 trains to go from Cologne, Germany to Strasbourg.  They were not hard to figure out--- biggest issue was that smaller stations don't have escalators and I have to carry my suitcase up and down stairs.  I... Continue Reading →

The train ride from Lugano through northern Italy is lovely.  Rome train terminal is a crazy place.  I found my way to the buses to visit my Roman friends: Donnatella and Nino.  I met them thirty five years ago when they came to Pittsburgh to go to graduate school in architecture at CMU.  Donna and... Continue Reading →

This city is known for warm, sunny weather. It gets 33% more sunny days than the rest of Switzerland.  You couldn't prove it by me.  It wasn't too cold but no sun and no swimming in the lovely pool.  I took a guided walking tour and three times during the 2 1/2 hour walk two... Continue Reading →

This town of 63,000 people in the southwest corner of Switzerland doesn't know it is Swiss. Everyone speaks Italian and you can not get raclette (a Swiss staple) in this place.  The train ride through Switzerland is really beautiful.  There are many lakes, hills, and some pretty big mountains.  We had to go through a... Continue Reading →

Before I talk about Zurick, I have to tell you about the lesson I learned in Budapest.  It's a bad news/ good news story.  At the last bath/spa after I had lunch and entered the bath l figured out my way to the locker/changing room.  It was crowded and the narrow room had lockers on... Continue Reading →

I love this city....you can "troop" around all morning and then soak in the thermal baths all afternoon.  I did a "practice run" on how to get to the airport for my flight to Zurich on Saturday.  I had to take a tram, a metro subway and figure out where the airport bus stop was... Continue Reading →

Now, this is a CITY--- reminds me of Paris, New York, and Pittsburgh.  Had a good arrival at the train station after the 6 1/2 hour ride from Prague.  Found the transit office (and elevator) and the tram to my place.  I never could figure out the use of buses, trolleys or subways.  This is... Continue Reading →

I found my way to a salon and had a wash and blow out......it was heavenly (not as good as my best: Lyndsay). My guy told me he learned English watching The Real Housewives shows---- oh boy--- I told him we were all not like them. I then set off to lunch on a boat... Continue Reading →