Thursday, June 5, 2008 Travel day… Beaune, France to Troyes, France Today we were in no hurry to get up or to drive off. I had a good internet connection in the morning and used it to check on what’s needed to cross the Channel to England. We found the site for booking space for our car and went ahead and picked the time. We will be on the 9:50am train. We have to be there 30 minutes ahead so we’ll have to get up a little early on Saturday morning to drive over from Arras, France. I decided that I had to have something for breakfast other than the usual hotel breakfast. So, we walked into the village and soon spotted a restaurant that had omelets on the menu posted in chalk outside. That’s more ... read more

Saturday, May 31 Roma, Italy Our goal today was to start in Vatican City, see all of it, then return for a rest and finish the day with another of RS’s Rome self-guided walks, the “Dolce Vita Stroll.” Before leaving, I had to do a little more surgery on Jackie’s little toe. The blister that she developed on Friday was still there and needed some attention. Once that was done we headed down for breakfast. Having learned the Metro system already, after breakfast we walked up to the San Giovanni Station to catch the A-train to the Otaviano Station near Vatican City. The ride was quick and the train is clean and efficient. We exited the train station and headed for the Vatican Museum. As we neared we were met with the local “tour guides” as ... read more

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 Florence, Italy We had big plans for this full day in Florence. We hoped to see the Bargello, Accademia, and the Duomo on Tuesday and then the Uffizi Gallery and Medici Chapels on Wednesday before driving to Sorrento. Well, we did even more. We started right on schedule at the Bargello. We had reservations but really did not need them as we were just after opening. The museum includes sculpture of Michelangelo, Donatello, and many Medici treasures. After this tour we walked north to the impressive Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore. Not satisfied to just look at this beautiful dome, we decided to climb to the top. It is 463 steps to the top!! I got to say that I got winded a couple of times but we made it all ... read more

Sunday, May 25, 2008 Venice, Italy We woke up on Sunday ready to see Venice. Our plans for the day were to see St. Mark’s Square, which we had seen a little on Saturday, the Doge’s Palace, the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge, and if time permitted, the Academia. We did pretty well. We started at the Doge’s Palace. It was the headquarters of the non-secular rulers of Venice for several hundred years. In fact, this palace was the center of all commerce in Europe for four hundred years. The rulers lived in this palace and did all their business there. On the ceiling of the grand staircase was the most incredible gold-encrusted ceiling. No doubt that this family and city were once the wealth of Europe. As you pass through the various rooms in the ... read more

May 22, 2008 We did the tour of Dachau today. We met once again at the same tour office that we’d used for the prior tours. In fact, our guide was again Steve. He did the Nazi/Hitler tour of Munich on Tuesday afternoon with us. He was very knowledgeable of the subject matter and helped us with other questions, such as how do we get to the BMW pick up site on Friday. We left the station again at 9:15am. The ride over was only about 20-30minutes which indicates how close to Munich the concentration camp is. As Munich was home to the Nazi Party (National Socialist Party), it was natural that when Hitler was elected Chancellor in 1933, that a means would be established to handle his, and the party’s enemies. Only a couple of ... read more