Author: travelerdonna

This boating story actually started many years ago when Steve and I were avid boaters on the Chesapeake Bay. We had a boat name “Grand Cru” and were docked at Fairlee Creek, located across the Bay from Baltimore. As fate would have it, another boat named “Grand Cru” was also docked there. In spite of…

We started our day getting educated about Education City, “the flagship initiative of the Qatar Foundation,” which is a 2500-acre kilometer campus that hosts educational institutes. Programs include K-12 and post-graduate studies. Collaborating with Carnegie-Mellon, Georgetown University, HEC Paris, Northwestern University, Texas A&M University, UCL Qatar, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts and Weill…

No grass growing under our feet. . .neither literally (sand everywhere) or figuratively. Yesterday started at 8:00 a.m. and ended when I returned to my room at 11:00 p.m. As you read through the first paragraphs, be patient as I will get to the fun stuff. Our day started with a meeting at the Ministry…

It is a rare occasion to have the opportunity to travel to Qatar on an World Affairs Councils of America and official Embassy of Qatar sponsored trip on a Leadership Mission. Having such an opportunity was too tempting to resist. We all “sorta” know where Qatar is located but not exactly, just somewhere in the…

We are still riding the rails, but, it is now the Paris Metro rails. However, we did take a taxi from the Gare de Lyon train station to the Hotel d’Orsay which is almost next door to the Gare d’Orsay Museum. I was excited about this hotel as it is also part of the Espirit…

Once again we were at the Milano Centrale Station leaving on a train. As this was our fourth trip through the Milan station, we actually knew the drill. We knew where the escalators were, we knew where the departures boards and gate entries were, and we knew how and where to get to the right…

Departing Verona was difficult but only because we were not ready to leave. Our train ride to Milan was fairly short and direct, and, arriving in Milan was a treat because the train station is so beautiful. It was built in the 1930’s and “is grander than the city’s palaces.” It is huge, not just…

“Oh, Steven, Steven, wherefore art thou, Steven?” Steve would say that he wished we could have taken a direct train to Verona, the “city of love,” where Shakespeare chose to set his most romantic story “Romeo and Juliet.” But, oh no, it could not be that simple. . .. Our train ride was direct but…

With the crowds in Venice, we decided to take our good friend Kathy’s suggestion and take a quick trip to Murano and Burano. Both are a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon. The first island to visit was Murano, which is known for its Murano glass. We made the obligatory visit…

Trials and tribulations. . .to begin our Italian journey, we had to end our Slovenian one very, very early in the morning. We left our hotel at 5:00 a.m. to walk to the taxi stand. We tried to get a ride out of the pedestrian area, but, “it was just not possible.” So, we reconciled…

Ljubljana, Slovenia, is a lovely city. It is, however, a bit off the “beaten path,” so, it was with a tiny bit of anxiety that we left Salzburg for the journey. Our concern was making our train connection as we only had a 10-minute window to change trains. Fortunately everything went smoothly with our first…

The sun was shining, the train from Innsbruck to Salzburg was on time and we did not have to change trains. That made for a wonderful start to the day. There was one little annoyance, however. We were seated in the “quiet zone” of the train (who knew?), and, an English couple was quietly chatting….

Becoming more knowledgeable about European geography and topography is one of the benefits of riding the rails. Going from Strasbourg to Innsbruck took us through Switzerland and Liechtenstein before getting to Austria (T-Mobile welcomed me to each country as we entered) and necessitated two train changes. We were lucky as the one change with a…