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May 2010 issue

Found anchorages inconvenient

I went on the 15-day “Romantic Rhine” cruise aboard the Viking Sun, Nov. 7-21, 2009, with Viking River Cruises. With a discount offered by Pennsylvania Travel Service, my cost was $3,520, land only.

In 2001 I enjoyed a similar itinerary with another company. I booked this 2009 cruise-tour because the splendid variety of 20th-century art museums in Basel, Strasbourg, Cologne, Amsterdam and Bruges demanded repeat visits.

The Viking Sun’s anchorage for Basel was a 15-euro cab ride from the city.

In Heidelberg, a 45-minute bus ride took us to a parking area from which...

February 2011 issue

Tipping appropriately in China

FROM THE EDITOR — Several months ago, Kathy Wilhelm of Cary, North Carolina, wrote, “I was very surprised by the reader’s recommendation that others ‘be prepared to spend $300-$400 per person in tips, not including the tip to the tour director, on a smarTours trip to China (“Notes from Visit to China,” June ’10, pg. 48).

“China is a nontipping country! Traveling independently in China from late September to early November 2004 after two earlier visits with tour groups (Smithsonian and Intrepid), I occasionally tried to tip a taxi driver whom I felt had gone well beyond the norm,...

January 2011 issue

Give Paris a chance

I was dismayed to read the subscriber’s comments in the letter “France Fast with Cosmos” (Nov. ’10, pg. 28); he said that he and his wife did not care for Paris, mostly because it was “inundated” with tourists.

I don’t see how he could come to a negative conclusion about such a beautiful, wonderful city after a visit of just one day.

My husband and I stayed in the apartment of Marie Lefebvre (contact her in the US at 4 Weymouth Ct., Newport Beach, CA 92660; 949/433-5110, e-mail mariebalboa@cox.net), who advertises in the “Places to Stay” section of ITN’s MART. (2011 price, $1...

February 2004 issue

Laterna Magica in Prague

While in Prague, treat yourself to a performance at any one of several Laterna Magica or Black Light productions. Little or none of the productions involve dialogue, so knowledge of Czech is not needed. They are a combination of music, dancing, mime, drama and film.

In June ’03 we attended Jiri Grossman’s “Wow!”, which was conveniently located off Wenceslas Square near the Jalta Hotel. It was a lot of fun — colorful, surprising and interesting with fish, mermaids, spiders, butterflies, balloons, music and dance.

Two other well-known and recommended venues are the original...

March 2010 issue

Christmas markets, Germany

My sister Betty, our nephew Joe and I spent a wonderful week exploring Christmas markets in Germany, Dec. 1-9, 2008, visiting Munich, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Nuremburg and Berlin. We were frugal and did the trip for a total of about $1,300 each, which included the airfare round trip from Chicago O’Hare to Munich, a four-day railpass, food and hotels.

We ate our way through sausages, kraut, stollen, marzipan, sugared nuts and the warm mulled wine at the market stalls.

In Munich we purchased U Bahn tickets to Marienplatz, then walked through the farmers’ market. That evening...

December 2010 issue

Argentine adventures

We traveled in Argentina, March 24-April 7, 2010, spending a few days each in Mendoza, Puerto Iguazú and Buenos Aires.

Downtown Mendoza is a pleasant place with tree-lined streets. We stayed in its center at the Royal Hotel Horcones (Avenida General Las Heras 145, 5500 Mendoza City, Mendoza, Argentina; phone 261 4250045 or 4237010) — nothing fancy, but it was well located, clean and relatively inexpensive (a double for 184 pesos [near $47] and a single, 134 pesos).

There are many wineries in the Mendoza area. We got a list of wineries from our wine merchant so we could focus...

January 2005 issue

Attended the Summer Olympics

My wife and I had no plans to go to the Olympics. Neither of us are big sports fans. In fact, I had never been drawn to any sport on TV until they started televising poker. That’s my kind of sport!

Our decision was made while watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Greece on TV. What a moving, inspirational, historical and visual spectacle it was. By noon the next day we had reserved air tickets and hotel. We had to pay about twice what we usually do for the airfare to Greece, but that’s to be expected on rather short notice.

Hotels were another matter. Most of...

April 2010 issue

Tasty thali

In the first of the letters compiled for “What to Eat Where” (Jan. ’10, pg. 42), there was an error in the conversion of the price of a thali; 150 to 250 rupees does not equal $1 but is more like $3.25-$5.50.

R150-R250 might be the price of a thali at a more upscale restaurant or for a special thali. On our trip to northern India and the Gangetic plain in November-December ’09, my husband, Clyde, and I found thalis in Delhi at fast-food chain restaurants for R100-R200, which we thought were expensive. A simple thali at an outdoor terrace restaurant above the ghats in Varanasi cost...