Europe

by Carol Probst; Bethel Park, PA

We asked any of you who attended a concert, a recital or any music or dance performance or stage production outside of the US in the last couple of years to tell us how you learned about it and how you obtained tickets. We asked for the following.

Two painters from the Romantic Period — an exhibit of 100-plus works of Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), the largest retrospective of his art in nearly 50 years, will be held Feb. 15-May 20, 2012, and nearly 100 works of Francisco Goya (1746-1828) will be shown March 16-June 24 at CaixaForum Barcelona (Av. de Francesc Ferrar I Guàrdia 6-8, 08038 Barcelona, Spain; phone +34 93 476 86 00). Open 10-8 Mon.-Sun., 10-10 Sat. Free.

I had heard about the beauty of the Rhodopen Mountain region in the south of Bulgaria and took a cycling tour, Aug. 14-21, 2010, with Penguin Travel (9 Orlej Str., 1421 Sofia, Bulgaria; phone +359 2 400 10 50), which I found online.

The price, €710 (near $977), included ground transfers from/to the Sofia airport, hotels, breakfasts, dinners, my single supplement and bicycle rental.

Perhaps the reason Cremona, Italy, is less touristy and more “off the beaten path” is because it’s not on a major train line. I stayed there three nights, May 8-10, 2011, which was just right.

Uzbekistan’s first high-speed train, Afrosiyob, started up in October and runs round trip from Tashkent to Samarkand twice a week (Wed. and Sat.). It can reach 155 miles per hour and makes the 214-mile, one-way trip in two hours (versus the previous 3½ hours). A ticket in first class costs about $30 and in VIP, $40.

Buy tickets at the station or from SJSRC (Uzbekistan Railways) (phone/fax +99871 2997025 or phone +99871 2997166).

From 1821 to 1914, more than 44 million people left Europe heading for North America, and, of those, over seven million sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany. To trace their travels, in Bremerhaven the Deutsches Auswandererhaus, or German Emigration Center (Columbusstrasse 65, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany; phone +49 [0] 471/9 02 20 0 or fax 9 02 20 22), has been open to visitors since 2005.

Our family of 20 was planning a June ’11 visit to Ireland, where we would rent six vehicles. Our son mentioned that Visa would not provide insurance coverage on his rental, though it normally does when he uses that credit card to rent a car. Our daughter’s American Express card wouldn’t include insurance coverage, either.

Granted, the fabulous, Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum is a centerpiece of Bilbao, Spain, but the city has much more to offer.

by Barbara McMahon; Bethesda, MD