Notable Travels |

Posted by Linda Fasteson on Nov 18, 2020

Hotel Schweizerhof, Lucerne, Switzerland

We arrived in Lucerne by train from Zurich, a journey of just under an hour. Our short walk to the 5-star Hotel Schweizerhof Luzern took us across a bridge lined with flowers to a lakefront promenade shaded by chestnut trees. We entered Hotel Schweizerhof and found ourselves immersed in the area’s history.

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Posted by Linda Fasteson on Nov 17, 2020

Engelberg and Mt. Titlis: feeling on top of the world

This region is best known for the 10,000′ high Mount Titlis, a ski resort with the only publicly accessed glacier and highest vantage point in Central Switzerland. But there’s more.

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Posted by Linda Fasteson on Feb 29, 2020

Gamla Stan: Stockholm’s Old Town

Visitors and locals alike enjoy strolling along the cobblestone lanes of the pedestrian-friendly Old Town, Gamla Stan. This well-preserved medieval city center is a living museum where you can shop, stop for lunch or a fika, dine in a Michelin star restaurant, bask in royal splendor at the Royal Palace or simply enjoy the sights.

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Posted by Linda Fasteson on Feb 16, 2020

Djurgården: Stockholm’s playground

Djurgården is a place filled with green spaces that is an escape from the city. It is a place to dine, to visit some of the city’s top museums, or to find thrills at an amusement park.

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Posted by Linda Fasteson on Feb 16, 2020

Stockholm, Sweden

This city of fourteen islands connected by 57 bridges is found on the east coast of Sweden where the fresh water of Lake Mälaren flows into the salt water of the Baltic Sea.

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Posted by Linda Fasteson on Jan 27, 2020

Viking Ocean Cruises: Viking Homelands Cruise from Bergen to Stockholm

Viking Ocean Cruises offers a Viking Homelands cruise between Bergen, Norway’s charming former Hanseatic town and gateway to the fjords, and Stockholm, Sweden’s grand capital city of 14-islands linked by 57 bridges.

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Posted by Linda Fasteson on Nov 25, 2019

Viking Ocean Cruises’ Viking Jupiter

We booked our Viking Ocean Cruise for all that it is. We loved it for what it is not. Here’s why.

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Posted by Linda Fasteson on Aug 4, 2019

An art lover’s perfect day in Amsterdam

There are over 70 museums in Amsterdam, and our tour began at Museumplein, or Museum Square, which includes the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum.

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The Queen Mary 2: a transatlantic adventure fit for a king

The champagne sailaway from Hamburg aboard Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 went off with a bang–fireworks, that is–as we slowly sailed along the Elbe. People lined the shore for miles, waving and cheering from sidewalks and plazas, cafés and restaurants, private homes and public buildings, monuments, hotels, and beaches–anywhere with space to gather.

Revenge of the Ravens: The Story of Einsiedeln, Switzerland

Posted by Linda Fasteson

When we were in the Lake Zurich region of Switzerland we used our Swiss Pass to take the train to Einsiedeln, in the Swiss canton of Schwyz. The Benedictine Monastery Einsiedeln is the largest abbey and oldest pilgrimage site in Switzerland. It is one of the most important pilgrimage sites for the Virgin Mary in Europe.

Scuol, Switzerland

Posted by Linda Fasteson

Scuol, between the the Silvretta range and the Swiss Dolomites, is a place where mineral waters flow from community fountains. Cobblestone squares are surrounded by historic houses decorated with sgraffito, a technique of scratching a design through the surface layer.

Addergoole, Ireland: Titanic adventures in small town Ireland

Posted by Linda Fasteson

Fourteen people now known as the Addergoole Fourteen traveled from this parish by horse-drawn trap and sidecar to Castlebar railway station. They boarded the 8:23 am steam train for a nine hour journey to Queenstown, in County Cork, to embark on a voyage aboard the largest, most luxurious ship the world had seen–the unsinkable RMS Titanic.

Switzerland’s Lavaux: A votre sante!

Posted by Linda Fasteson

In the 11th century, Benedictine and Cistercian monks began planting vines and building retaining walls on the steep sun-drenched hillsides of the Lavaux region on the north shore of Lake Geneva. Today’s nearly 2000 acres of terraces in French-speaking southwest is Switzerland’s major wine-producing region and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Barging in Alsace Lorraine aboard European Waterways’ Le Panache

Posted by Linda Fasteson

We booked a barge trip that began and ended in Strasbourg, capital of the Alsace region of eastern France. This beautiful area between the Vosges Mountains and the Black Forest bears a strong German influence because its nationality and language switched back and forth depending on the outcome of a variety of wars.