A Visit to Soultz-sous-Forêts, Alsace, France

September 8 – from a visit on September 6 Gloria Temple’s ancestors named Bayer came from the small town of Soultz-sous-Forêts, now located in the Alsace of France. When Gloria’s ancestors lived here, this was part of the German Empire.

A Busy Day in the Black Forest

September 5 Genealogy enthusiast Ken Temple has researched his German ancestors back several centuries. One of his lines comes from ‘Baden,’ and he knows they lived in the ‘Weinland,’ but that is as far as his knowledge extends. Further research is possible but not really convenient. And so today, just to get the feel for […]

Guimarães, birthplace of Portugal

August 19 – from a visit to this region in early June The city of Guimarães is historically associated with the foundation and identity of the Portuguese nationality. Guimarães, among other settlements, precedes the foundation of Portugal and because of its role in the foundation of the country it is known as the “cradle of […]

The Roman Bridge and Old Town of Chaves, Portugal

August 17 – from a trip to this region in May Signs of the extent of the Roman Empire are everywhere in Portugal. We took a daytrip from our country inn in the Douro River Valley to the pleasant little town of Chaves to find out more. The town of Chaves has been inhabited since […]

The Longest and most complete Roman walls in the world

August 16 – from a trip to this region in May You might think these are in Italy. No, they are in the small city of Lugo, Galicia, Spain. We were surprised too. How did we find out about this little treasure town? Well, it started with Jenean’s laptop needing a new power cord. We […]

D-Day Memories Kept Alive by Grateful French

July 16 Three nights spent touring the battlefields and landing beaches of Normandy, which suddenly came to the world’s attention in the early hours of June 6, 1944, have taught us that the French have enduring gratitude for what our young men accomplished on that day and during the weeks and months that followed. It’s […]

A Visit to Dettingen unter Teck, Germany

May 16 By Margie Weiler This is my 4th tour with James Derheim, who has taken me to many ancestral villages, both mine and my husband Bill’s, in many south and western areas of Germany and the Zurich area of Switzerland.  I always have had a wonderful time seeing for myself where these ancestors lived […]

Hasselbach and Allendorf Ancestral Discoveries

April 22 and 23 Dennis Jenkins from Grand Junction, Colorado wanted to find out more about his ancestral ties to the hamlet of Hasselbach near Weilburg, Hessen, Germany. Dennis takes the record for waiting the longest between first learning about European Focus Private Tours (1998) to actually stepping off the plane to begin his personal […]