Budapest at Night

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.

All that Glitters Must be Swarovski

We visited the Swarovski Crystal World on this day, driving down from Schwangau where we’re currently homebased. The factory “outlet” has grown by half since I was there in July of 2007, with a brand new showroom adding to the space we saw last year. Bob and Marlene had a fun hour or so of […]

Schwaebisch Hall on Day 2

We stopped in this lovely riverside town on our way from Miltenberg am Main to Ulm. This town has “medieval” written all over it. The town derived its fortune from trade and from the mining of salt. It has been a place of residence for human beings since around 4000 BC but the modern-day history […]

Welcome Back Marlene and Bob

European Focus Private Tours owner James Derheim welcomed back Bob and Marlene Rokicki for their 2nd Grand Adventure since 2006 when we last traveled in Germany and Austria. This trip started with the couple’s arrival at Frankfurt’s International Airport. From there it was an easy hour to riverside Miltenberg am Main, where we stayed the […]

Fill up and feel the pain

Don’t even try and complain to me right now about gasoline approaching $4 per gallon in the USA. We Americans have been spoiled by artificially low energy prices for so long that we’re absolutely for the most part totally ignorant to what the rest of the civilized world pays, and has paid, for a long […]

Saying 'Yes' at 39,000 feet

It was a pretty noneventful flight up until the captain of U.S. Airways flight 700 from Philadelphia to Frankfurt came onto the PA. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. I have a good friend up here in the cockpit who has hitched a ride with us over to Germany. He has something to […]

Ready for a New Season of Adventure

Czesky Krumlov, Czech Republic will be one of the stops on Jim’s first tour of the season. It’s going to be another exciting year, full of new adventures. Jim departs for Europe on May 10. Here’s whats in store for Jim, Jenean and their guests this year (so far) May 23 to June 8: Bob […]