Penns in Europe 2025

Civitavecchia, Italy   In 2023 we visited Italy and loved it.     The art and history were amazing, as were the scenic beaches and towns.     The people were friendly and welcoming, and we found them to be either very superstitious, or perhaps, just very keen marketers.       When in Rome, we were told that if we threw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, it meant that we would someday return.     Then we went to Florence and were advised that if we stuck a hand inside the mouth of a stuffed boar we found in a market there, we would one day return.     As it turned out, we endured both the risk of a citation for littering and the indignation of being slimed with taxidermical boar slobber, and so here we are, back in Italy.     We had a great travel day to get here, if you don’t count that thing that you see happening in the movies where they get on the intercom asking if anyone on board is a doctor because a passenger ...

   There are times when we just have to pinch ourselves at the good fortune of being able to travel. It is a gift that we never take for granted.  We missed Venice on our 2023 trip to Italy and knew we needed to return to experience the city built on the water. What started as a visit to Venice ended up planned as a 10 day cruise from Rome to Trieste followed by time in Venice, Lake Como and Switzerland. Both of our children said Switzerland was a must see this time and so we end our vacation in the Alps and fly home from Zurich. Wish us luck with our plane, ship, train, vaparetto (water buses), ferry and gondola connections! We will be seasoned transportation specialists when this vacation is done! (Or lost!) Keep checking back to share in our adventure.  Cheers from YVR, Debbie & Chris