Museum

On a trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands, in July ’05, we took canal boats to some of the city’s many famous museums. Some of these watercraft, in fact, are dubbed “museum boats,” linking the city’s cultural centers.

The Mecca for many is the Rijksmuseum. This voluminous gallery features one of the world’s most renowned collections of Dutch and European paintings and particularly celebrates Rembrandt. As we entered, the Dutch master’s epic “The Night Watch” loomed before us. The collection goes on for several floors and includes masterpieces by van Gogh and Vermeer.

My husband, Karl, and I took a long weekend trip to Santiago de Compostela in the far northwest corner of Spain, April 29-May 2, ’06.

History never leaves you in Berlin. It is palpable in the city’s buildings, institutions, neighborhoods and memorials. Devastation and division, restoration and renewal, give the city a special look.

The world’s first and only museum devoted entirely to harps opened in January ’06 in Piasco, Italy: Museo dell’Arpa Victor Salvi (Via Rossana 7, Piasco, Italy; www.museodellarpavictorsalvi.it).

The exhibition of 30 harps (from a collection of over 70) includes 13 from the 1700s, 11 from the 1800s and six from the 1900s. Sixteen were made in France, six in the United States, five in England and one each in Italy, Germany and Ireland. I do not play the harp, myself, but it was interesting.

Moreen and I love to browse in Mediterranean bazaars and Middle Eastern suqs for small, locally made items. In Tunisia, we especially enjoy looking at the multicolored ceramic jars, plates and tiles for tableware use and, yes, tourist souvenirs.

The search begins

My wife, Shirley, and I wanted to revisit southwest China and try some new places, too. After consulting guidebooks, especially Lonely Planet, we drew up a list of places we thought we could fit into a trip of two weeks or so.

While visiting family in London in March ’06, my wife, Kay, and I took an excursion to Manchester. We booked complete travel, including local train, subway (tube) and long-haul train via Transport for London (Central Customer Services, 23rd Floor, Empress State Bldg., Empress Approach, London, SW6 1TR, U.K.; phone 020 7222 5600 or visit www.tfl.gov.uk), which allowed the selection of schedule and carrier plus online payment by credit card.

by Marilyn Lutzker, Sunnyside, NY

On Peter the Great Cruises’ “Russian Waterways” cruise, I spent four days in St. Petersburg and three in Moscow and traveled 633 miles on three rivers, three lakes, a reservoir and a canal.

I was in St. Petersburg, Russia, on business and some pleasure in October ’05. I was guided on a tour through the Hermitage by an excellent, knowledgeable guide, Anna Getmanskaya (Museum & Palace Tours, St. Petersburg; phone 356-69-79 or mobile phone +7 812 918 15 99 or, preferably, e-mail get_ann@mail.ru).

A licensed guide, she is a professor of English at the St. Petersburg University and can arrange trips to museums in the city (she has licenses to all of the museums) as well as in the suburbs of St. Petersburg — excellent!