My daughter and I own a yoga studio and led a yoga retreat to Corfu, Greece, in September ’08. In researching activities for our group, I discovered that Albania is just across the border and easily accessible. Since I find border crossings irresistible, I was determined to visit.
My wife and I spent three glorious days in Velden-Auen, Austria, June 29-July 2, 2008. We stayed at the Flair-Hotel (Süduferstrasse/Quellenweg 97, A-9220 Velden-Auen, Austria; phone +43 [0] 42 74 25 34 0,
Hotel Aberdeen (Via Firenze 48, 00184 Rome, ITALY; phone +39 06 4823920, fax 21092, www.travel.it/roma/aberdeen) is a 10-minute walk from Rome’s Termini train station; you can avoid crossing several busy, wide streets by taking the
The MS Deutschland, a 520-passenger ocean liner of Peter Deilmann Cruises (Alexandria, VA; 800/348/8287, www.deilmann-cruises.com), offers theme cruises, including classical music cruises. I was aboard for the Sept. 18-Oct.
A reader remarked that in November ’07 the Bucharest subway was “filthy but worked” (Nov. ’08, pg. 14). Things have changed. Both lines I rode on in October ’08 were served by beautiful new articulated trains open from one end to the other, and the whole system was clean.