Don’t even try and complain to me right now about gasoline approaching $4 per gallon in the USA. We Americans have been spoiled by artificially low energy prices for so long that we’re absolutely for the most part totally ignorant to what the rest of the civilized world pays, and has paid, for a long time for these precious resources. Diesel fuel in Germany (I drive a diesel because it’s ‘cheaper’ to fill up than an unleaded fuel vehicle) is the equivalent of $9.19 per gallon, and that’s the price today. I haven’t had to fill my VW ‘Multivan’ yet because I left the tank full when I left last November. I’m bracing myself now for the $200.00 it’s gonna cost when I finally do fill the tank. When the dollar falls again, then $10 per gallon diesel fuel is just around the corner here in Deutschland.

It was a pretty noneventful flight up until the captain of U.S. Airways flight 700 from Philadelphia to Frankfurt came onto the PA. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. I have a good friend up here in the cockpit who has hitched a ride with us over to Germany. He has something to say to his lady friend, who is in the back of the plane.’ Soon, another voice came on, saying: ‘I have to walk back to ask this lady a question, and I sure hope the answer is yes. I’d appreciate your support.’ Soon a beefy guy in a captain’s uniform comes back through business class, small black box in his hand. I hopped out of seat 2G and grabbed my new Nikon digital camera. If there was going to be an engagement at 39,000 feet, then I wanted to capture it for posterity. The flight attendant was delighted, ‘Oh, you’re a professional! I only have this cheap little camera and I am nervous about getting a good photo.’ Using my experience gained as a photojournalist for the ‘Stars and Stripes’ I wormed my way back to the place where all the action was and snapped 18 images to document the moment the future Mrs. McNeil said ‘Yes.’

Czesky Krumlov, Czech Republic will be one of the stops on Jim’s first tour of the season.

It’s going to be another exciting year, full of new adventures. Jim departs for Europe on May 10. Here’s whats in store for Jim, Jenean and their guests this year (so far)

May 23 to June 8: Bob and Marlene return for their second trip with European Focus (their first was an ancestral discovery tour in Germany in the summer of 2006) and this time we are revisiting some favorites from their ‘06 trip (like the village where the current pope is from!) as well as Marlene’s father’s birthplace in Munich. We’re going to visit Budapest and Prague as well.

June 11 to 19: Margie returns for her third trip with me on the trail of ancestors in Germany. We will be in Rheinland-Pfalz and in the area up near Hannover.

June 18 to 30: The Bassford/Albrecht/Nelson family comes to Paris to meet with Jenean for an exciting three night stay. Then Jim hooks up with the group in Burgundy, France for the continuation of the adventures into Germany.

July 3 - 9: Jim and Jenean will be scouting in Portugal, preparing for future tours and also, buying pottery for their shop in Sarasota.

July 11 - 19: Jim and Jenean will be doing photography projects for clients in Germany.

July 21 to August 2: Our favorite family returns for their 7th trip since 2003. Clara and her “crew” of five will explore various regions of Germany where ancestors lived before emigrating.

August 3 to 23: A new experience for this family from the Midwest, and their first trip with European Focus as we spend three weeks exploring southern Bavaria including Schwangau, Berchtesgaden, Regensburg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber as well as the Rhein Valley and the ancestral village of Runkel. We also spend quality time in the area near Paderborn, another ancestral home. We visit Erfurt and Eisenach in the former DDR and then spend two nights in the heart of Berlin. The trip wraps up with visits to Dresden, Hohenstein-Ernsthal and Landshut.

September 7, 8 and 9: A couple from Minneapolis tour four small villages in Rheinland-Pfalz with Jim. They’re going to spend just a short time in Germany during their Grand European Tour and Jim is there to help them get the very most out of their time.

September 10 - 20: An 84-year young lady, also from Minnesota, comes over to fulfill her dream of visiting her grandmother’s birth town of Netra, Germany. We’re also going to take in the sights in Gelnhausen, Dresden, Meissen, Leipzig, Regensburg and Berchtesgaden.

September 21 to October 3: A family of four will experience our kind of travel for the first time as we start off in Munich and then head for the alps and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We also take in one of the most beautiful alpine drives in Europe as we make our way from Garmisch over to Berchtesgaden. We see Regensburg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the tiny village of Bacharach on the Rhein and Koln before our final night in Nierstein.

October 5 to 12: Dena and Grace return for their 2nd trip with me. Like the first, this one will be mainly for genealogy purposes. We will be in the north and central parts of Germany.

October 12 to 19: Betsy and Jim Cook come to Germany for a short tour to along the backroads before their river cruise, which starts in Strasbourg.

October 19 to 28: The Fox family (4) come to Germany to see some places where their ancestors lived before emigrating. We will also visit two small villages in the Alsace that Jim photographed for Lisa Fox a number or years ago. It will be fun to show them these places in 3-D!

November 5: Jim returns home. Season ends.

STILL AVAILABLE periods can be seen on the web site under “Tours” and “Availability.”

The prince archbishop who ruled over Salzburg, Austria in 1600 had 16 statues erected in his pleasure garden outside the rural Mirabell Castle. The statues are slightly larger than life representations of the dwarves who served him. The one pictured even has a large boil protruding from his forehead! This sort of thing would not have gone over very well in our age of Political Correctness!

Every once in a while I get to pretend that I am once again a photojournalist working for a major daily newspaper. (I worked on the staff of the European Stars and Stripes from 1989 to 1994) On Sunday, a large crowd of Turkish residents of the city of Salzburg and surroundings demonstrated for peace and a resolution of the crisis in their country resulting from the terrorist organization “PKK” repeatedly killing their citizens. The Turkish government recently authorized military action across the border into Iraq. This is a difficult situation for the world, as Turkey is a close ally of the United States and an applicant to become a member of the European Union.
More than 1,000 took to the streets in a peaceful demonstration, watched by us as we went about our sightseeing in the birthplace of Mozart.

I visited the small village of Darlowo, Pommern recently with clients Bill and Kay Ruckle. The church, built in the 14th century, has an old millstone incorporated into the tower section. This is the first time I’ve seen this done (and I’ve seen and photographed more than 1,500 churches in my career) and so I thought it was worth an entry on the blog. The church serves the nearby village of Panknin, now called Pekanino.

One of the largest examples of Roman architecture north of the Alps can be found on the end of the Hotel Bischofshof am Dom in central Regensburg. This gate was one of the entrances leading from the Donau River (Danube) to the camp once known as Castra Regina. The gate dates from about 179 AD. One of the hotel’s suites is built right into the ancient gate. We had guests stay here in September.

The view from our favorite hotel, the Zechmeisterlehen in the direction of the Kehlstein and Hoher Goell mountains on October 29.

While visiting tiny Rademin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern recently we were blown away by the size of the ancient church key. More than a foot long, the key (which the pastor admits is the only one in existence) turns a rusty but still working lock on a thick, wooden door in an even thicker stone and brick wall of the ancient church, built about 1500. Inside, we found a dusty, tiny interior filled with treasures. A pulpit decorated with a painting of the Last Supper (John is definitely depicted as a woman!) and a rear balcony with all of the names of those who contributed to the church when it was last “modernized” with new pews in 1650. It was a highlight of Bill and Kay Ruckle’s visit to her ancestral village.

Amalfi seen from the balcony of our room at the Hotel Marina Riviera

Leaving the hustle and bustle of Rome behind, we are spending three nights in the little town of Amalfi on the famous and immensely attractive coastline of the same name. The history of Amalfi reaches back into the Byzantine and Roman empires.
The town was Italy’s first maritime republic, even before Pisa and Venice. However, the lack of land (Amalfi is squeezed against the sea by towering cliffs) and various attacks by the Normans caused Amalfi to decline. A disastrous seaquake in 1143 destroyed large parts of the harbor and the devastating plague of 1348 further reduced the town until it became just a sleepy little fishing village. It was “discovered” in the 19th century by tourists. Now we are six of those tourists, enjoying the view from the balcony of the Hotel Marina Riviera.