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8 days / 7 nights, Dec. 18-25, 2012. Highlights: Kraków Christmas market / learn to make pierogi / torch-lit sleigh ride / Wieliczka Salt Mine / ornament-making workshop / Christmas market in Warsaw / join a Polish family for Wigilia, the Christmas Eve feast and vigil / Christmas Eve midnight carol service. Land, $3,095. Single supp., $495. MIR Corporation (Seattle, WA; 800/424-7289)
9 days / 8 nights, Dec. 15-23, 2012. Highlights: Heidelberg / medieval Rothenburg / 180 stalls of crafts and food at Nuremburg Christmas market / castles Schwangau and Neuschwantstein / “Sound of Music” sights in Salzburg / Dachau / Munich Christmas markets. $3,529 with air from most US cities. Land only, $2,289. Single supp., $420. David McGuffin’s Exploring Europe (Middleburg, FL; 800/570-1351).
10 days / 8 nights. Highlights: In London, ENGLAND, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, theater performance / Cambridge / medieval York / Edinburgh, SCOTLAND / Gretna Green / back in England, Lake District / Stratford-upon-Avon / Stonehenge / Cotswolds / in WALES, Ruthin Castle. Land, from $2,349. Single supp., $450. Collette Vacations (Pawtucket, RI; 800/340-5158).
Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the United States.) There are no restrictions on length. The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.
This month’s winner is MARY KARYL of Honolulu, HI:
I found the Turkish people to have a wonderful sense of humor as well as to show creative salesmanship.
The letter “Preserving memories” was interesting. We solved the problem of preserving our old slides and movies by having Costco digitize them. It is more expensive, perhaps, but well worth it, as ours turned out very good and you can add music and titles, etc.
On their website, there is information about their services to digitize slides as well as Super 8 movies for processing to a DVD.
I’m responding to Donna Pyle’s letter “Preserving Memories” (May ’12, pg. 14), about digitizing travel slides. I, too, have a PowerSlide scanner. Mine’s a Model 3600, purchased in 2004.
Mine came with a 50-slide tray also, but I purchased a 100-slide circular tray a few years ago. It’s a “Paximat circular magazine 100,” sold by a German company, Braun Phototechnik (Nürnberg, Germany; phone +49/911 3206 0, fax 3206 129). The tray currently costs €16.90 (near $21) plus €8 ($10) shipping.
I enjoyed the article “Impressed with Ireland on a Chauffeured Tour” by Barbara McMahon (Dec. ’11, pg. 6). I’ve traveled to Ireland twice, and I always encourage friends to take a guided trip.
On escorted motorcoach tours in many countries, the drivers do, unfortunately, stop at gift shops, where passengers jump out and stock up on expensive items for which the drivers get kickbacks from the shops. But that’s an acceptable tradeoff for letting them maneuver the narrow streets.
Deanna Palić’s feature article on Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (March ’12, pg. 52), brought back memories of a devastated city.
When my wife, Sandy, and I were in Carcassonne, France, in October ’11, we asked the clerk at our Novotel to suggest a great place to eat. He directed us to La Divine Comedie (29 blvd. Jean-Jaures, Carcassonne, France; phone 04 68 72 30 36), an unassuming restaurant/pizzeria on the main square near the center of town, just 10 minutes’ walk from the hotel. We noticed that the patrons were mostly locals.
In Torgiano, Italy, in the heart of Umbria, my wife, Rosalie, and I spent a few days at the wonderful, unique, 5-star Le Tre Vaselle (Via Garibaldi 48 06089 Torgiano, Perugia, Italy; phone 075 9880447, fax 9880214) in June ’11. This beautiful hotel, complete with a swimming pool and spa, was converted from a 17th-century mansion.