Germany's capital has been moved from Bonn back to Berlin, but it is still the industrial city of Frankfurt that you are most apt to fly into.  More international flights land there than at any of the other airports in the country.

Munich and Berlin draw more tourists, so Frankfurt may not be your ultimate destination in Germany, but it's worth a visit.  You have two choices on arrival.  Go into the city for a day or two to get over jet lag and see the sights, or immediately get out of town.

To get out of town, you can rent a car and easily get to the Rhine and Mosel areas of Germany.  The Romantic Road isn't far away.  You can fly on to another destination, or you can catch a train from the airport into town and get almost anywhere from the huge 19th century railway station in town.

Amsterdam is so… well so Dutch.  Think canals and bridges… and wooden shoes with flowers in them in windows framed with lace.  (Yes the there are wooden shoes all over the place, but you won't find many people wearing them in Amsterdam.)  It's a city full of historic buildings, but it's modern and progressive at the same time.  

Back in its golden age of the 17th century, sea trade made it one of the world's richest cities.  It was built up with its iconic tall skinny town houses.  Those wily burghers built them skinny because they were taxed by street front footage.

Dam Square is the very center and heart of Amsterdam.  It's a BIG square and not particularly pretty, but it is historic.  The Royal Palace dominates the square.  If you arrive by train at the “Centraal Station”, it's about a five minute walk to the square.  The Dam is surrounded by shops, food stalls and restaurants… and it's crowded with locals and tourists all the time.

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The most popular of the Romantic Road towns of Bavaria is undoubtedly Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  Every tour that includes the Romantic Road will stop there, and you should too, but there are other great towns to explore along this picturesque route.

Starting in the north, the first town to explore is Wurzburg.  Must sees in this town are the Residenz (the Prince-Bishop's Palace), and the Marienberg Castle Fortress.  If you want to try a little wine tasting, this is the center of Germany's Franken wine growing region.

Following the road south you meander between the Tauber River and vineyards.  See the Weikersheim Schloss (Castle) in the little town by that name.  You can take a guided tour of its baroque interior.  Linger for lunch and a glass of wine at the historic Marktplatz (Market Place) in town.

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Ghent, Belgium is a friendly university town that is full of ancient buildings and history.  If Bruges is a city filled with tourists looking for a time warp, Ghent is a city full of students and locals just living life…  Like Bruges it started as a port, but unlike Bruges, it still is an important port.  It's a city of flowers with a flourishing flower export trade.

It has museums and ancient architecture, but it's a modern city.  True, the city center is a pedestrian area that is like a museum to early Flemish architecture… and a testament to the city's medieval might, but it's surrounded by a real life city.  The tourist brochures say it has more historic sites than Antwerp and is more down-to-earth "real" than Bruges.  While I love Bruges, I think I agree with them.

It's not high on a lot of tourists lists, but it deserves to be.  Though I admit, the only reason we went to Ghent in the first place was because we had hosted a student from the university one summer in the U.S.

If you followed the Vistula River from Warsaw through Poland, you would come to Krakow (or Cracow in English).  Four hundred years ago, it was the capital of Poland.  Political power may have moved to Warsaw all those centuries ago, but we agree with the guidebooks that say Krakow can easily be called the jewel of the country today.  

This is one city that was not flattened in World War II, so much of what you see is original.  It's a big city, but the Old Town (Stare Miasto), which is what most tourists want to see, is small and easy to navigate.  And it is mercifully compact and flat… except for Wawel Hill.

You'll spend a lot of time in the Main Market Square.  It's probably the first place you will wander into.  It was the biggest square in medieval Europe, and it seems to be where everyone hangs out today… we certainly did.  

Oktoberfest… you've probably heard about it.  Munich's combination Bavarian beer festival and fair is so famous that communities in the U.S. and elsewhere have fashioned fall festivals after it.  

Since you've heard so much about it, you really want to go… but do you know what to expect?

Are you planning a trip for October?  Well, wait a minute!  You're going to miss it, or most of it.  It starts the third Saturday in September and is over by early October.  The festival lasts for 16-18 days.

It originated as a wedding feast fit for a prince in 1810, and apparently they had so much fun that it just kept going.

Here's a travel tip… take advantage of one of the popular Norway in a Nutshell trips.  The "Norway in a Nutshell" name is a registered trademark of the Fjord Tours.

Everyone starts in the cities, and you need to see Oslo and Bergen, but to really see Norway, you want to get out to the fjords.

We think the very best thing about Norway is the scenery… the fjords top our list, but you'll love the mountains, the glaciers, the waterfalls….  The first time we drove through Norway was in spring, and one thing I remember is all the waterfalls… they were everywhere.  I kept thinking that this country just leaks.

If any district in Lisbon screams ancient history, it is the funky Alfama district.  It's medieval streets and alleys twist and wind their way around the hill that it sits on.  

A village was started here by the Visigoths.  There are some remains of a Roman Theater.  It was a rich district during the time of the Moors.  Now it is the home of Lisbon's fishermen.  The tangle of streets have a romantic shabbiness that reflects all of this. Feel free to climb up through this warren of streets, but to save your legs, consider taking a tram up and make the walk back down to the Tagus River.  The old yellow trams still climb the hill into the Alfama.  

Tram number 28 will take you on a ride back into old Lisbon.  If you ride it all the way, it will take you on about a 45 minute ride.  Catch it in the city center.  Ride past the Lisbon Cathedral, the oldest church in the city, at the lower entrance to the Alfama, all the way up to St. George's Castle.  Get off at the top and take in the view of the city from the castle.  

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The Normandy beaches that are most famous are the ones between Cherbourg and Le Havre.  They are also known as the D-Day Invasion Beaches.

While Normandy beaches are great for family holidays, with miles of peaceful, sandy beaches to enjoy, the area is a special draw for those interested in the history of World War II.  Americans, Canadian, English, and some French troops stormed these beaches on June 6th, 1944.  On D-Day, the beaches were anything BUT peaceful.

The Allies gave the beaches code names…. Sword, Gold, Omaha, Utah, and Juno.  The British were assigned to Sword and Gold.  The Americans landed at Omaha and Utah. The Canadian sector beach was Juno.  The beaches are still known by these code names.  The area is dotted with museums and reminders of that historic time.

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A drive through Brittany (Bretagne) from Paris does not generally come up as the first suggested driving tour of France in the tour guides, but let's look at it here because the ancient megaliths at Carnac make Brittany worth a visit.

Bypass the Loire Valley for now.  For your drive through Brittany, head out of Paris on the E50 through Le Mans and drive to Rennes, the capital of Brittany, and on to Vannes.

Most of Brittany juts out into the Atlantic on the northwest corner of France.  It is hugged by the English Channel on the north, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west and south.  There are great beaches on the south facing part of the peninsula that attract French tourists to the area.  

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