Forty years of dreaming, four months of planning, and here we are in the chaotic Paris airport with streams of noisy rugby fans coming for a big match, and the airport information officer sending us back where we started. Using my normal boldness to ask for help from just anyone, we got to the train bound for Brugge, Belgium and heave
d a sigh of relief. It has been about 20 hrs since we left home.Brugge is a small city near the Belgian coast, with a city core that restricts auto traffic and retains the elegance of the Renaissance ages. It has canals that enhance the beauty. The architecture and city square make one feel like being in a Flemish painting. Yet the shops portray a modern sophisticated population. Known for fine lace, superb chocolate, and 
nourishing beer, this is a good place to rest and ease into days of wandering. Yummm!As we start to find the greatest art in the churches, we see our first Michaelangelo sculpture, Madonna and Child. This is the start
of trying to recall the history we learned so long ago, and seeing how many centuries of world events are layered here. Can I imagine how this region looked during the reign of kings and lords? during the Dark Ages? or during and after WW II ? The overall amazement is the high quality of building design and enhancement in the masonry we see. And it has lasted for so many years. Will current architecture last so long?
Day 4: Cologne Germany
The Rhine Valley has been high on my list of sights: Castles, cathedrals, and the general region of my father's ancestors who emigrated to America 160+ yrs ago. Cologne has one of the spectacular cathedrals of the world. Our good fortune is connecting with a guy who is a "friend of a friend" and offered to take us through the Rhine Valley to see the best sights. Upon meeting him in Cologne, we started at the Cathedral and he said we are going to climb to the top. And we did! All 509 steps of a narrow circular stairway. The climb and the view are brea
thtaking. The cathedral is a masterpiece of detailed masonry in honor of simple faith, and was spared bombing in WW II.From there we drove upriver to see the WW II site of the Bridge of Remagen, and visit the oldest intact castle, the Marksburg. Views from the heights show the heavy Rhine barge traffic and the vineyards on such steep slopes. We enjoyed drinking local wines and food specialties.
Trier Germany
This city is on the Mosel River, which feeds into the Rhine and is the nearest city to the home of the Peiffers who came from Perl Germany. We were amazed to learn that Trier was once the northern capital of the Roman Empire. At the time Constantine made Christianity legal, the cathedral in Trier was being built. It is massive now, and was 4 times larger when built
. Then they built a Gothic style church attached in the 13th century, just to be more modern!
Roman baths, an emperor's palace, and the city gate indicate this was an important Roman city. In the 1800s there were many landless poor who emigrated to the US from this region.
Wine production is important here too. I can imagine my ancestors working these fields.
Nancy, France:
Using a train pass made travel city to city quite easy and comfortable. Nancy is in Alsace, which has been a region disputed by France and Germany for centuries. Poor weather and unfavorable hotel location meant we stayed just one day. Here again, historical border disputes meant this was used as the government centre during the reign of Duke Stanislaus. He loved gold! These gates surrounded the government bldgs and park.
Strasbourg, France: Day 10-12
Strasbourg bore out the advice of the guidebooks as a worthy stop. It sits on the German border, on the Rhine River and was annexed by Germany in the 17-19th centuries.
After WW I it was returned to France.This city now houses the EU parliament. But we just loved the beauty, the canals, and Renaissance buildings. It is so compact and walkable. Flowers are everywhere. Shops full of leather, boots, purses, and scarves.Here we took a tour of the chocolate museum. I am savoring my souvenirs from that day. Coffee and tea shops are disguises for selling croisants and delicious pastries of every flavor. My kind of city. I want to stay!
Back to Germany to see Rothenburg, on "the romantic road".
Rothenburg is just north of Bavaria in central Germany, and feels like a small city lost in the middle ages. Being mid-October, we quickly found a B&B which had such old world charm. The buildings are squashed together, and it feels comforting with its medieval walls.
Old world sausages and pastries are delightful, except for the effect on the waistline. Traditional food, a castle, and the old market square make this a comfortable spot. Here we heard an organ concert in their historic church.Shops were full of linens and china. I want to stay longer.
On to Munich: end of week 2
We were warned not to try to visit Munich in October, but this transportation hub was hard to miss. So we went anyway. What a gorgeous city!
After tremendous war damage, the city rebuilt in the heritage style and have a museum to help its people grapple with Nazi history.
Wide boulevards, many pedestrian plazas, bikes used by a great number and an efficient subway system make this an easy city to visit. Oktoberfest added excitement, but no troubles to us. Peter visited their huge museum, equal to the Smithsonian, while I toured the last emperor's palace. (I am a sucker for glitz!) So much gold in one place! I just wondered what colonial lands suffered to produce all of this. 
This center photo is just their reception hall, not a subway tunnel! As a balance to that,
we ate one evening in a gorgeous restaurant created in an underground space with lovely arched ceilings and many rooms. We 
left and wandered into the plaza where we saw an impromptu concert at a storefront. It was a classical 4 piece ensemble of young men, who continued to gather listeners closer. With the plaza lights, strolling tourists and warm evening it was magical. An English garden is at the city center, with a river running through. There we found the largest outdoor beer garden, featuring a Chinese style ampitheatre seating about 6000! Nothing rowdy there, just happy drinkers. The park was a restful, beautiful place.Italy beckons: Siena, home of St. Catherine
From Munich to Siena is a long train trip, so we took a "couchette" (sleeper train) which was like being in a bunk bed that is being shaken all night. Thi
s meant we missed seeing the alps as we passed through at night. There are always trade-offs.Siena is on hills and ravines, like much of Italy. Peter found our room operated by Dominican nuns with no English. It is in the neighborhood where St Catherine lived as a child.
Seeing her church was inspiring, and our room had a view of the major cathedral, called the Duomo. Michaelangelo worked here as well as other noted artists of the era, sponsored by bankers and princes. The highest honor was to be commissioned to work for church property.Italy is where one needs a playbook of artists. The Duomo is a work of art like we had never seen. Two colors of marble are used on the exterior, which makes it look stripped. The interior floors are full of mosaics in marble. They are covered 10 months of the year, but were open to view during our visit. The mosaics depict classical literature as well as biblical themes. The contrast of this detailed lovely building and the small stucco homes so densely placed spoke volumes.
This city once rivaled Florence for trade and status. Now it rivals other cities for treatment of tourists.Florence, Italy- the art center
We knew this was to be museum central so we took an art guide. One needs no guide to gape at the sculpture and art everywhere. An informed traveler would be able to place the art in meaningful order, but we just absorbed the wonder of it. The best is in museums and our tired feet verify that we spent time there. But building decor and outdoor statues abound.
So we spent plenty of time roaming Florence. The city bus tour helped a great deal, taking us outside the city to see the Etruscan villages that pre-dated Roman settlement, and then to the residential neighborhoods where the established artists and the influential citizens lived . We saw the many olive groves and
vineyards that keep both cooks and diners happy.The Jewish quarter is a reminder of periods of discrimination, but now provides a thriving gold jewelry district. Italy would really be the place to find leather goods.
The trendy shops, open air markets and the mobile "entrepreneurs" are ready to sell good deals. But luggage limits and realizing we still had many hills and steps to drag our stuff kept us buying very small scale.
These doors open to a museum of renowned art masterpieces. For me, the doors themselves will live in my memory. That is the message of Florence, and most of Italy for me: its citizens have breathed the air of highest quality art every day. And these artists expended their energies on public and religious art when they could. What does that do to their spirit? How can any day be humdrum? What does it say to our current strivings?
Rome, end of wk 3
We had a room that was within sight of the Vatican, but we unfortunately landed there on Friday & Saturday. The lines for the Vatican are longest then, and that museum closes early on Saturday.We made it to St. Peter's Basilica on Friday and were able to spend a long morning viewing the center of our faith. Everything we noticed about the churches of other cities was here in superlatives. But this is where Peter and Paul worked to establish the Church.
Michaelangelo's Pieta is here. 
I could imagine the many thousands who stand here when the Pope is ill, or when they hope to receive a special message.As we emerged to the noontime plaza, a deluge of rain came, so we sought out lunch. Easing our feet by taking the bus brought us to the Roman ruins across the river. Here we enjoyed a full afternoon freely wandering among giant column pieces and sections of ancient buildings that once kept the Roman Empire working. The site of the death of Julius Cesear is a small memorial, but there are always fresh flowers (from anonymous sources).
We wondered about the tremendous age of these ruins, but also the power of the Romans who lived here. In some ways, the area was not large for such a far flung empire that influenced the future in so many ways. The original beauty of these buildings was evident from the remains lying there. The official "sights" moved us, but we left Rome with deep impressions of people who enjoy each other, love to linger over meals, and are proud of their place in the world. I will never forget the multi-generational party beside us at dinner.Cinque Terre, and rest: Week 4
With heads swimming in visions of masterpieces, we needed rest to absorb it. Our destination is a series of small villages that retain old time Tuscan culture. We head north of Pisa to the unofficial Italian Riviera, north of La Spezia. There are lots of photos on Flickr of these towns that hug the steep hills and live in the ravines by the sea. The train runs through tunnels
connecting these towns that have a history back to Saracen pirate days. 
We stayed in Vernazza, then Monterosso. Vineyards and fishing, lemon and olive groves have sustained them for centuries.Our luck in the room we rented made all the difference. We found a 3rd story room that had a large terrace overlooking a tiny intersection of 3 streets. We looked at this pink building with the grapevine on the 4th floor and its root 4 floors below in the wall. At street level was a wine shop playing Italian opera all day, and on the other side a grandma caring for the baby and calling out to her friends on the street.
In the other direction we saw the church and the sea shimmering in the sun. We sat in the sun and read and walked along the Mediterranean. At night we ate their anchovy cuisine and lemon liqueur. There was a long pedestrian tunnel near the sea and most nights a musician would play for tips, letting the tunnel add dimension to the music. The sea, the simple villages, the food, the rest. This all stole our hearts. We stayed 8 days and drank it in.Arles, in Provence France: our final week
Provence always meant lavender and food to my imagination. But in late October, the lavender is dormant. So I found a cooking class. Sheer serendipity that the B&B in my guide did have a class the days I was there and even better, the other students were women from the US Midwest. The French chef spoke no English, so his wife translated, and we cooked and laughed and ate so well. Even with one class I learned some good techniques, and came home with a Provencal cookbook.
Here again we found important remains of the Roman Empire. Arles is near the mouth of the Rhone and was a critical link for shipping and food supply. An ampitheatre, modeled on the Coleseum of Rome, remains in use today and even had a removable sunshade over the seats when built. This was the site of the first floating bridge, the first crossing of the Rhone.Avignon is a short train ride from Arles, so we visited the historic site of the French papacy and learned why this relocation occurred. Avignon is a beautiful city, even if its bridge did fall, making another tourist photo op. Again, I wish I could come shopping here.
Paris: our final 3 days
The fast train slips along the countryside and we are in Paris in about 3 hours. From a tip by a fellow traveler, we see there is a walking tour of the Montmartre neighborhood, so we start our visit hearing details of the streets where many artists lived. We see Picasso's first workshop, the house of Renoir, the apartment where Van Gogh died, early neighborhood fountains, and the cabaret where Toulouse Lautrec was
inspired. It ended on the hilltop with the Sacre Coeur cathedral, a real Paris beauty.art museum. The next day we take in one more museum, immersing ourselves in Impressionist art. An old train station was refurbished for the museum. This Van Gogh was painted in Arles, right where we stayed. But we did not see the stars like he did.
After a lovely garden stroll in the Luxembourg gardens, we bid farewell to Paris with a viewing of the Eiffel Tower from a Seine cruise boat-shivering in the windy night air. The tower is totally lit at night, and shimmers for 10 minutes each hour.Home flight over the Arctic
Our flight to Europe began with views of the northern lights - BESIDE our plane. The homeward journey was just as blessed. The sun shone over the Arctic revealing its great beauty. It was a fitting climax to a wonderful tour.
