Yes! Gimmelwald must be one of the most beautiful places on earth. The songs of birds, the sound of brooks and all this natural beauty leave one awestruck. It has been said "When I die, if Heaven isn't what it's cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald" - true enough. We made our way into the heart of the Swiss Alps. After a stop in Interlaken, we rode a gondola lift up to traffic-free Gimmelwald and sleept in our creaky old chalet - Pension Gimmelwald. Next day we took a ride up to the Schilthorn at 10,000 feet and [View Full Entry]

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We're now at the sun-drenched beaches of Italy's hidden Cinque Terre: five perfectly preserved fishing villages, surrounded by vineyards and the sea. We'll make Vernazza our home base. Cinque Terre — Ahh, time for a 'vacation from our vacation.' You couldn't see a museum here even if you wanted to! This is simply traditional Italy, with nothing to do but hike through the vineyards that connect the five villages, hang out on the beaches, swim, and lounge around the town with the locals. [View Full Entry]

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Just off the autostrada, Orvieto is no secret, but worth the visit. Here you'll see the Cathedral, drink Classico wine and shop for ceramics. Also, a commanding view of the valley from the Fortress ruins. [View Full Entry]

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One of the more serious drawbacks to modern digital camera technology is that the memory sticks have been known “without notice” to crash or dump digital image data. This is what happened to us and this explains why the lack of pictures on this journal entry. We inexplicably lost all our travel images from Venice, Florence and much of Rome. We'll spend our morning touring the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, and our early afternoon in St. Peter's amazing cathedral. Then it's straight to the heart of Rome, where we'll spend the afternoon uncovering Ancient Rome visiting [View Full Entry]

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One of the more serious drawbacks to modern digital camera technology is that the memory sticks have been known “without notice” to crash or dump digital image data. This is what happened to us and this explains why the lack of pictures on this journal entry. We inexplicably lost many of our travel images from Germany and all images of Austria. Read on though, for this is a very interesting part of our trip. From Bacharach we headed south to Rothenburg (ROE-ten-burg), Germany’s best preserved walled town. We spent the night at a classy new hotel in an old building; The [View Full Entry]

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From Amsterdam we worked our way down to Germany's castle-studded Rhineland. Along the way, we'll stop in Arnhem to visit the Netherland's first and largest open-air museum. This morning, after a yummy breakfast at the Hotel Kranenturm we'll take a walking tour of Bacharach. Then we'll head to St. Goar and hike up to the mighty Rheinfels castle, overlooking the Rhine. We'll tour the castle and cruise the Rhine. [View Full Entry]

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We'll begin this morning with a walking tour of Amsterdam's historic core, including Anne Frank's House and the Begijnhof. After lunch, we'll take a tour of the remarkable Rijksmuseum. Later, we'll see the Van Gogh Museum or stroll along the canals. We love this town. [View Full Entry]

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This whirlwind tour of Europe (8 weeks, 8 countries) is a gift to Stacy (our daugther) for graduating from high school, Class of 2003. Here we are at San Francisco Airport, waiting to board our British Airways Jumbo jet. [View Full Entry]

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