October 9 It’s time to break out the bratwurst as the United States celebrates German-American Day on Oct. 6. Commemorating the founding of Germantown, Pa. in 1683, the holiday celebrates America’s largest ancestry group, with 49 million people claiming part or full German heritage. As President Barack Obama proclaimed a few years ago on this […]
Tag Archives: ancestry
Looking Over Ancestral Village of Wartenfels
September 14 from a visit on September 13 Ken Temple of New York looks over his ancestral village of Wartenfels, Bavaria, Germany. His Tempel ancestors left here in 1866. A local historian, Reinhard Bauerfeind, met with us spent nearly four hours explaining the history of the village and the reasons behind the emigrants’ decision to […]
An Ancestral Discovery Worth the Climb
(From October 2) We spent three memorable days and nights in the beautiful valley around Prato allo Stelvio, in Sud Tyrol, technically in Italy but the locals all believe they are Tyroleans first, Italians a distant second. We were told by the mayor of the town, perhaps a distant relative of our guest, to go […]
Taking Photographs is Part of the Trip
People on a big bus tour rarely get to stop and smell the flowers, much less take the time for a well-composed photograph. With European Focus Private Tours philosophy of “your pace is our pace,” our guests have all the time they want to capture the moment. Our recent guest Art shoots his ancestral village […]
What a Year Lies Ahead!
The year 2011 is turning out, so far, to be our most exciting and varied season of travel ever. Starting on April 11 with Jim’s departure for Europe, our travels with our private tour clients will include tulip season in the Netherlands, a visit to the watery city of Brugge, genealogy exploration in Rheinland-Pfalz (Germany), […]