Travel Ireland with European Focus

For the next week and a half, European Focus Private Tours founder James Derheim will be showing new arrivals Paula, Bob and Audrey the “Hits of Ireland” as he sees it, including Ireland’s highest pub, the Book of Kells at Trinity College, the Rock of Cashel and Tipperary, Cobh and Kinsale, plus Kenmare, the Ring […]

Postcard from the Sudtirol

The ancient village was razed to the ground to make way for a large reservoir. All that remains of the 13th century church is the tower, poking up like a ghostly reminder from the waters.

Civita di Bagnoregio

This lost village on a high, crumbling hilltop was founded by Etruscans over twenty-five hundred years ago, but has seen its population dwindle to just fifteen residents over the course of the 20th century. Cività was the birthplace of Saint Bonaventure, who died in 1274. The location of his boyhood house has long since fallen […]

Private Tour Opportunity for August

We have an opening on our calendar for a private tour of at least seven days minimum for the month of August, 2011. This month is historically for us the last month to fill, and we’ve taken bookings as late as July for the very next month. Still, if it’s your dream to travel in […]

Les-Baux-de-Provence

We made a scenic drive from our home base in Gordes through the valley of the Luberon yesterday, making stops for picture taking in Oppede and in Menerbes before continuing on to St. Remy for a lovely lunch where Jenean’s birthday was celebrated with a glass of Cremant and a sparkler presented in a slice […]

Today in Isle sur la Sorge, France

We visited the market in this small town today, a colorful event, crowded even in this early part of the tourist season. Finding a place to park is an exercise in extreme patience and perseverance. This town, and other market towns, would be smart to initiate a park and ride service. Oh well. You can’t […]

A Visit to Stetten Part II

No visit to a German small town is complete without being invited over to someone’s house for “Kaffee und Kuchen,” or in this case, “Zweite Fruhstueck.” (Second Breakfast) When we met Frau Probst out on the Steigstrasse, she said “come back to my house after you see the church and you can join us for […]

Genealogy Success in Standenbuehl and Roland Geiger Does it Again

Thanks to genealogy research Roland Geiger, who is headquartered in the lovely town of St. Wendel, Saarland, Bill and Gini Packwood were able to break through one of their “Brick Walls” in genealogy and find the origin of their emigrant ancestor, Johann Merkel, of Standenbuehl and later, Stetten in Donnersbergkreis near Kirchheimbolanden, Germany. We also […]