On Tour

Showcase 2009: Athens and Home

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

This post of photos from the final days of last year’s tour was too long in coming, but the anxieties of the end of the school year got the better of me. Anyway, after we disembarked the cruise ship in Athens, we began our tour of the Greek capital. It was hot, and the city [...]

Showcase 2009: Aegean Cruise

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Too long since my last European Showcase post and only one more to go after these images from our Aegean Cruise. After we reached Athens we boarded a ship that took us to the Greeks islands of Mykonos, Patmos, Crete, and Santorini, and with one port-of-call at Kusadasi, Turkey. The cruise was the perfect, relaxing [...]

Showcase 2009: Greece

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

We docked very early at Igoumenitsa, Greece the morning after our overnight ferry from Italy, and immediately we were off to the Meteora region in the north central part of the country. Meteora’s home to the famous rock-top monasteries; I always use For Your Eyes Only as a reference for those who may know movie. [...]

Showcase 2009: Pompeii

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

From Rome we headed south to Sorrento and Pompeii, the next destinations on our 2009 tour. Our hotel in Sorrento was on the beach; the latter left something to be desired but the town was a nice break in the tour. We found a nice gelato shop not far from our lodgings and enjoyed the [...]

Showcase 2009: Rome

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Rome was the next city on our 2009 tour after Florence. Along with London, Rome is my most-looked-forward-to city on tour. The hot spots are crowded and busy, but the in-betweens are peaceful and pleasant. Day one in Rome began at the city’s most famous landmark, the Flavian Amphitheater, from which we continued on to [...]

Showcase 2009: Florence

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

The next city on our 2009 tour after Lucerne was Florence, Italy, birthplace of the Renaissance. This city houses perhaps my favorite piece of art in the history of Western civilization, Michelangelo’s David, which is stunning  and beautiful up close. Team AZ closed our day in the city from the Piazzale Michelangelo; Brunelleschi’s famous dome [...]

Showcase 2009: Lucerne

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

The next stop on Team AZ’s 2009 tour after Paris was Lucerne, Switzerland. Switzerland, by far, had some of the most beautiful and breathtaking scenery of our entire tour especially near our hotel town of Longern, a few miles from Lucerne. Below is Team AZ at the city’s Löwendenkmal or Lion Monument, the city’s hallmark [...]

Showcase 2009: Paris

Monday, August 24th, 2009

The second city on Team AZ’s most recent itinerary was Paris. We finished our second full day in France with a ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower where we could see all of the city. Here’s the group waiting to ascend to the top.

Showcase 2009: London

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

On the most recent tour, the European Showcase, we landed in London very early in the morning on day one, which left us with a lot more time than we’d anticipated. We started with an walking tour which took us to the Houses of Parliament and Parliament Square.