(Read part 1 of this post here) In the Franconia region of Germany the Main River separates the towns of Sommerhausen and Winterhausen. A bridge connects them. This is a metaphor for the communities themselves. They are distinctly different in a way that complements both. Winterhausen is architecturally appealing and a beautiful place to spend a few hours aimlessly exploring the twisty cobblestone streets, but the absence of public accommodations, (I counted one bakery and one pub) leads me to believe it is primarily residential – maybe a response to Sommerhausen’s outgoing “drink our wine, visit our galleries” vibe. But stroll or bike along the… Read More…

Without a doubt, the towns of Sommerhausen and Winterhausen are adorable year round, composed as they are of centuries-old buildings and cobblestone streets and nestled in a valley below mountainsides draped in grapevines. In English, these twin towns mean Summer house and Winter house. It was autumn when I visited. In  my house, that’s the best season of all. Sommerhausen and Winterhausen are two of a string of similarly attractive villages lining the Main River in Germany’s Franconia region, making a wine trail of sorts that is popular with Germans but generally unknown outside of the country. There is no Sommerhausen/Winterhausen Facebook page, no Foursquare… Read More…

I’ve written before about my affection for the photo series Earth from Above by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. So I was alert when I read this quote from Joseph Corbett of the US Postal Service. “Once you’ve seen the world from above, you never look at it quite the same way again.” He’s right of course. Corbett makes this observation by way of introducing a new series of postage stamps that show us the world as viewed from airplanes and satellites. The artists who put together this beautiful collection of stamps have taken familiar subjects and given us a new perspective by with a top down angle…. Read More…

I can’t believe it was just one year ago that my internet-savvy daughter, Marian Schembari told me about Airbnb. I was visiting her in New Zealand headed to the United Arab Emirates  and – as is my wont – had not yet booked a hotel in Abu Dhabi.  “Why didn’t I check Airbnb?” she asked, and I had to confess, I’d never heard of it. Simply, Airbnb is a web-based marketplace for people to rent overnight accommodations to travelers. These can be as modest as a bed in a shared room or as grand as an entire house. In additional to these conventional places, people… Read More…

  HOT CHICK Yeah, I was hot. Very hot. It was 95 degrees on a cloudless August day. High noon and not a breeze blowing at Sant’Agata Bolognes in northern Italy. And there was this fast car, a Lamborghini Gallardo Performante all muscle and noise, low to the ground, packing 570 horsepower in its 10 cylinder engine. And there in the driver’s seat was…my son? This is the tale of how Lamborghini threw my middle child the keys to a $250,000 car and let him take me for the ride of my life. Visiting Italy with not one but two car writers, son, Sam Schembari… Read More…

It is not my habit to visit popular tourist destinations in the high season, but here I am in Venice in August when the population of 60,000 swells to a million or more. Considering that each of us will pelt the natives with some version of this question, “Do you speak…” as a prelude to some other question, the Venetians show remarkable good spirits and enough patience to make every one of the saints adorning walls and piazzas very proud indeed. But this year, a stroke of good timing in the schedules of two of my sons, Sam and Joseph, allowed them to join my… Read More…

I’m not the best driver in the world, because I’m easily distracted. I am, however, a great passenger. I’m very happy to ride right seat and enjoy the scenery.  So, when Kirsten Brøchner, owner of Ibsens Hotel in Copenhagen graciously invited me to drive her little carbon-neutral car while I was a guest in her hotel last fall, I thought it best to decline. But then I had a second thought. Could I really get the full sense of Denmark without  experiencing this uniquely Scandinavian EUV? (That’s the the anti-SUV, the Electric Urban Vehicle.)So early Sunday morning, when – Lord willing – everyone would still… Read More…

There are five and a half million people in Denmark – one quarter of them live in the  Copenhagen metropolitan area. But their small numbers belie the important message they have for the world.  “Save the environment, one person-propelled trip at a time.” Not since I visited China’s Guangzhou province in 1984 have I seen a city embrace the bike as essential transport as Copenhagen has. This is not to suggest Copenhagen is alone in encouraging the bike over the car, the Netherlands,Tokyo, Victoria, British Columbia, and other areas have healthy cycling infrastructures, too. (I recommend On Our Own Two Wheels a ’round the world… Read More…

I’m very excited about my upcoming trip to Copenhagen because I want to see for myself if it lives up to its billing as the world’s most bike-friendly city.  It boasts some pretty impressive figures. Seventy percent of the residents of Copenhagen do not own cars. Thirty-seven percent of commuters ride their bicycles to work. So devoted to their bicycles are the Copenhageners (Copenhageners? can that be right?)  even rain doesn’t dissuade them from riding. They open up a big umbrella and keep on rollin’. I’ve seen the pictures. Donchaknow I’ll be on a bike as soon as I possible after landing in Copenhagen and… Read More…

All this talk of chocolate and coffee has me thinking about Geneva; because no matter where you go in this city, you are never far from either. In keeping with the theme of GO HOW,  that is how you get where you go matters –  I want to stress that sweets notwithstanding, Geneva is a city for people who like to be on the move. They’ve got trains, they’ve got buses, they’ve got boats and (my personal favorite) they’ve got airplanes! Boy oh boy do they have airplanes. EasyJet has a hub here and fifty-nine other airlines serve little Geneva Airport. And not only that,… Read More…