Author Archives: jim
On the Road to Santiago di Compostela, Km 0
We started this adventure in Prague and we will end it in Lisbon. Bob and Betty Whittemore arrived in Prague on a bright and sunny May 6 to begin this more than 2,500 kilometer trek to the burial place of St. James in far western Spain. What adventures will we find along the way? Stay […]
Prague is the City of Eternal Sunshine
Prague – a city undisturbed by the wreckage of World War II, asleep during most of the years under Communism and just “recently” reawakened in the late 1980s is now hosts to zillions (it seems) of tourists who come to admire its fabulous architecture, history and alas, sometimes indifferent service for the most part and […]
Welcome Back Elisabeth, Margaret greetings Christina
Three-time guest Margaret Reisinger and her daughter Elisabeth Anda and her daughter Christina enjoy the hamlet of Civita di Bagnoregio, Umbria, during their 12-day adventure in Italy led by our newest guide, Jeff Gabardi.
Next Adventure Starts May 6 – Prague to Santiago di Compostela and Lisbon
Our next Grand Adventure will begin with Jim meeting two-time guests Bob and Betty at the Prague airport. We’ll spend three nights in Prague before heading back into Germany with an overnight in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, then on to Meersburg, Switzerland, France, Spain and finally Portugal. This adventure will end on May 25 with […]
After all of the Genealogy, Rothenburg ob der Tauber and a lunch stop in Ulm
The Packwoods had just completed a rather intense week of experiences visiting their ancestral villages in Rheinland-Pfalz. As the trip wound down, we made a stop for a couple of nights in the medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber before continuing on the 4th to Dachau, where their escorted trip ended and their independent […]
A New Relative in Waldsee Found
Thanks to a short article published in the local newspaper, Gini Packwood and her husband Bill were able to touch a letter written by Gini’s great-grandmother in 1923. The letter was sent to her sister, Elisabeth Graef, back in the village of Waldsee, Rheinland-Pfalz. Clara Graef Spindler had left this village suddenly many years prior, […]
A Chance Encounter in Waldsee Results in a New Relative Found
Gini and Bill Packwood have a new friend in Ludwigshafen, an industrial community located south of Frankfurt am Main. About a year ago, Gini Packwood ordered a “Familienbuch” published by the community of Waldsee. The book was painstakingly researched over a period of six years by octogenarian Paul Schwaningner. The book lists her entire family […]