Alex was already in Europe for business, so we met up in Germany, and spent most of our time around the Rhine River between Mainz and Koblenz, prime castle country. One of the highlights was that our visit to Mainz coincided with the 50th anniversary of the rebuilding of one of the major bridges, so there was a big festival on the bridge with music, beer, clowns, food, beer, games, and beer. Strasbourg has a very lovely downtown area, Dusseldorf has a lively part of town that is basically an extended beer hall, and we visited the cathedral at Koln.

We visited Ira and Brenda in Rome, and Ira took us on some great walks; we enjoyed the Byzantine mosaic tour in particular. The classical sites are amazing, though modern Rome isn't the capital it was. We also went on a nice trip out into the surrounding area, of which Orvieto was a highlight.

Next, it was on to Prague. Prague is still the jewel of the old eastern bloc countries. We had a great stay there hanging out in cafes and listening to many musical concerts staged in cathedrals around town. There are so many concerts in midsummer that people on the streets are constantly handing out calendars of the 30 or more events taking place every day. An ice cream cone was still three or four cents when we were there, and a nice dinner was about $3.50, though you could certainly spend a lot more in places catering to business travelers. The architecture is lively and colorful, as is the art scene, and the magic of the place feels very concentrated and intense, much more so than, for example, Budapest or Vienna.