I love to visit churches when I am abroad. My favorites are in Sweden, where there are small churches in the countryside that still have their wall paintings from the Middle Ages. I went to Sweden five times from 1996 to 2007.
After seeing the reader’s letter “CDG Airport Lag” (April ’07, pg. 28), regarding Charles de Gaulle airport and Air France, I had to write. I am a travel junkie who happens to work in retail in an airport.
We had a wonderful new experience in cruising — quite different from the ocean cruises we have taken but every bit as enjoyable — with Uniworld River Cruises (17323 Ventura Blvd., Encino, CA 91316; 800/733-7820).
We took a cruise-tour in Russia, the 18-day “Tatars, Cossacks and the Golden Ring,” April 28-May 15, 2007, with Grand Circle Travel (Boston, MA; 800/221-2610, www.gct.com).
Through a travel agent friend, in May ’06 two friends and I booked a Christmas markets cruise with Viking River Cruises. The Nov. 28, 2006, sailing of the Viking Danube Explorer from Nuremberg to Vienna was our first experience with river cruising, but it will not be our last.
A coincidence — as the July 2007 edition of ITN arrived, I was completing a survey of comments on Grand Circle Travel’s (Boston, MA; 800/248-3737, www.gct.com) “Heart of Italy” trip, which we took May 20-July 7, 2007.
On a visit to Helsinki, Finland, in 2006, at noon on July 26 I bought a 24-hour Helsinki Card* for €29 (near $39). I flashed the card as I took a train to the ferry dock, where I boarded the boat for a quick sail to the Helsinki Zoo (€8, or $11).
