A funny story from our visit today to the Heimatmuseum in Waldgirmes, near Wetzlar, Germany. The museum’s director showed us a shoe made in the late 1800s by a local farmer/shoemaker. He placed the studs in a certain way so that he could track his daughter’s movements around the village. (Which back then had dirt […]

Roman column in Igel, Germany We’re traveling with the Harsh family in Germany this week. We started our adventure in the oldest city in Germany, former Augustus Treverus, founded in 16 BC under the Roman emperor Augustus. The city is a fascinating blend of ancient, not so ancient, medieval and modern. One of the landmarks […]

The village of Oberwesel, Rhein Valley, Germany We recently hosted the Bassford-Nelson-Albrecht family on a tour which started in Paris and ended in southern Bavaria. What memories! There are too many to recount here, but here are a few. Cruising the River Seine Jenean met the family in Paris on June 18. Three nights is […]

Thanks to Falk Liebezeit, a book salesman turned professional archivist and part-time genealogist, European Focus guest Margie Weiler was able to uncover a couple more generations of her husband’s family in the Diepholz area. We also learned of two more ancestral villages, which we visited during the time we were in this lovely part of […]

Margie Weiler’s 3rd trip with European Focus was made a little extra special one day when Trip Captain Jim asked if she’d like to have rinderroulade for lunch on the way from the southern wine road area (Near Landau) up to Niedersachsen near Osnabrueck. She said “Of course!” Fine memories from the last time we […]

Before sitting down in a German Gasthaus (or in the Hofbrauhaus in Munich) watch out for the sign proclaiming that the table is permanently reserved for the locals. “Stammtisch” means local or frequent guest table. These tables are places where the locals (usually but not always men) gather to gossip, play cards, sing and of […]

Bob and Marlene Rokicki enjoy the sunshine in Prague. The famous Charles Bridge, built in the 14th century, attracts thousands of the more than 10,000,000 tourists who visit Prague each year. We wrapped up the day with a fun tour around the city in a vintage 1930 Skoda open-top car.

We took a cruise on the Danube the other evening. Don’t big cities always look better at night? Budapest is no exception. This is a shot of the castle on the Buda side of the river.