Update – 2014 availability

July 2, 2013 Demands on our time by repeat clients and our own plans have shortened our calendar for 2014. As of today: Season starts on May 1 We are fully booked for the month of May with clients Peter and Gayle B and Art and Carol C. June is likewise fully booked with clients […]

Love Locks – quaint tradition or pollution?

July 2 From Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia There are varied explanations for the origin of love padlocks. In Europe, love padlocks started appearing in the early 2000s.[ The reasons love padlocks started to appear vary between locations, and in many instances are unsourced. However, in Rome, the ritual of affixing love padlocks to the […]

In Obidos, it’s proper to drink your cherries with chocolate

May 27 We’re on Day 1 of a 15-day adventure with six-time repeat clients Art and Carol, who just arrived today from New Jersey into Lisbon International Airport. We’re spending our first day and night in the lovely old town of Obidos, where it’s proper to taste the cherry liquer served in a small, and […]

The Road from Stuttgart to Lisbon – Part 3

May 27 – the end of the road, the start of another   We’ve dusted ourselves off after two restful nights at a B&B tucked away in a peaceful garden below the clifftop town of Ronda, Spain. Those two nights were like medicine to our worn out souls. Once again we proved that we are […]

The Road from Stuttgart to Lisbon – Part 2

(James and Jenean Derheim are scouting new locations for future tours in southern Spain, on their way to pick up returning clients in Lisbon on May 27) May 24 Resting and recuperating with the sound of birds coming from the garden after a series of very long drives of 600, 700 and 850 kilometers on […]

The Road from Stuttgart to Lisbon – Part 1

May 21 We’re on our way to Lisbon where we’ll greet return guests Art and Carol for their sixth trip with European Focus since 2007. Along the way, we’re scouting locations for future tours and yes, even pausing to do nothing for a bit. After nine nights spent in Otlingen, near Stuttgart, Germany (a record […]

A New Englander’s View Of German Food

May 18 By Margaret Weiler Currently on tour with European Focus founder James Derheim in the Schwaebische Alb region of Germany One of the pleasures of revisiting Germany is reconnecting with German food.  In the United States good German food is hard to find, at least where we live in New England, and it is […]