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We took Trafalgar’s tour No. 159 to Finland, Russia, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, Sept. 9-24, ’03. The tour cost us $2,560 each, including air from Philadelphia. This was our fourth Trafalgar tour and possibly the last, due mainly to the prices of and number of optional tours this tour had.

Trafalgar’s tour brochure outlined what we were to see on an each-day basis. Each description seemed to be worded so that it was impossible to determine if places mentioned were included in the tour or were optional tours we had to pay extra for.

Several days prior to departure we...

One mistake we made planning our 4-week stay in Provence in 2002 was trying to stay in too many different places. We didn’t realize just how small and compact Provence is. It is enough to stay in two or three places, and all sightseeing attractions can easily be reached on day trips.

One such place to stay would be Orange, a really delightful little city. Orange is an interesting town in its own right, and the Roman theater especially is worth a visit. We also experienced a large and colorful street market while we were there.

It definitely wouldn’t be Avignon, which we...

In Cape Town, South Africa, the District Six Museum (25A Buitenkant St.; phone 461-8745) memorializes an important chapter in that country’s history — when an entire neighborhood was bulldozed at the height of apartheid. Being a civil rights activist, on my trip in March ’04 I was attracted to this museum.

Forty years ago, Cape Town’s Sixth District, near Table Bay, was a mixed-race, multiethnic, working-class neighborhood. An estimated 60,000 people — Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Hindu — lived there. Several times the white supremacist government had ordered the district to be...