~ Carmen Venice is one of those destinations that people either love or hate.  I’ve heard friends say that it was beautiful, romantic, and a-trip-of-a-lifetime.  I’ve also had friends who thought it was too crowded, smelled bad, and overpriced.  My honest opinion is that Venice is all of the above.  However, for me its romantic......

~ Carmen Once know as Mediolanum, Milan was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 286 to 402 AD.  Although Florence, Rome, and Venice get more adulations, Milan is the second most visited city in Italy (Rome is #1), and the 24th most visited city in the world!  It was called the “New Athens” during the......

~Carmen Whenever we visit a new place, Joe and I like to spend our first day taking a walking tour.  It gives us an overview of the city layout and helps us know where we want to concentrate our time.  Our last trip to Greece wasn’t our first time in Athens, but it was the......

~ Carmen If you have been following the blog, then you know we recently took an extensive tour of Bavaria. Stop 1- Vienna, Austria (read more) Stop 2- Salzburg, Austria (read more) Stop 3- Dachau Concentration Camp (read more) Stop 4- Munich, Germany (read more) Stop 5- Neuschwanstein Castle (read more) Stop 6- Lucerne, Switzerland (read more) Stop 7- Heidelberg, Germany (read......

~ Carmen “Rhine” is a Celtic word that roughly means “to flow”.  Along with the Danube River, the Rhine River forms the northern border of the former Roman Empire.  The Rhine is Europe’s most important inland waterway and longest rivers.  With its location hosting some of Europe’s most picturesque cities and fairytale castles, the section......

~ Carmen I must admit, I love a gray, rainy day.  However when I’m touring a city, rain is not my friend.  Although we had already experienced several episodes of rain on our tour of Bavaria, the weather we had in Heidelberg was by far the worst.  We could have stayed in our hotel and......

~ Carmen When I found out Lucerne would be part of our itinerary for the middle school Bavarian trip I was leading, I was beyond excited.  Lucerne, Switzerland had been on my bucket list for some time.  Then I discovered we would only have one day in this picturesque city.  It’s no wonder we didn’t......

~ Carmen I’ve always had a rich fairytale imagination as a princess and being treated as one from my daddy.  Life, however, has not always been a fairytale.  Now that I have Island Boy as my husband, I truly feel like my “happily ever after” is not just an unattainable dream!  Our fifth stop in......

~ Carmen We recently returned from my first visit to Germany.  It was part of a 12-day tour with my middle school students and parents.  Joe lived in Germany for three years while in the Army, so he knew a lot of the “must sees”, but for me, it was all a new experience! Stop......

~ Carmen As a world history teacher, I was really looking forward to and dreading our 3rd stop on our tour of Bavaria. Stop 1- Vienna, Austria (read more) Stop 2- Salzburg, Austria (read more) Stop 3- Dachau Concentration Camp Stop 4- Munich, Germany (read more) Stop 5- Neuschwanstein Castle (read more) Stop 6- Lucerne,......