Comments on Rick Steves

Steves Comments 5

As I write this, the original location of these comments is at http://www.ricksteves.com/blog/. There is no way to tell how long it will be available, but there are all the stories Rick wrote, and all the comments of his readers, including all of my posts, and all the comments and complaints about my posts, etc.

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Rick,

Here’s a nice idea that we followed for years, and it could help you sell a lot more books.

The traveler will need a lot of information, especially on his first trip, and the place to get it is from one of the famous travel guides, and that means Rick Steves.

This is not the place to save a few dollars - a good guidebook will pay for itself over and over again.

When you arrive at a location described at length in the guidebook, tear out the appropriate pages for the day. Those few pages take a lot less space in pocket or purse, and the publishers will be happy to sell you another copy when you get home, if you want to keep a complete book with your memoirs.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 23, 2007 7:00 PM
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Oh my goodness my idea wasn't unique, someone else thought of it also.

But it's a good idea.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 23, 2007 9:16 PM
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I selected a few clippings from our Travel Journal about museums.

Museums house beautiful works of art, a cathedrals is itself is a work of art.

Sweetie loved to visit street markets, flea markets, and antique stores. Beautiful little villages, with shopping centers, and street markets, are truly living museums. An hour is better spent in a supermarket or a furniture store, than in any nightclub or fancy restaurant.

In Madrid we not only loved the Prado Museum with its paintings, but ate donuts at the only Winchell’s Donut Shop, and visited the only Sears Roebuck Store we found in Europe.

We think the building itself is the most interesting part of most museums.

Many of the items on display seem to be there just because they are old. Not because they are beautiful or useful or even particularly decorative, but just old.

Three US Navy men had me take their photograph in front of “Whistler’s Mother,”. The sailors were whistling, of course.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 25, 2007 11:03 AM
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This is not in any way meant to be a knock at scenic views from a hotel, but the views from the window of our RV are impossible to beat.

From the campsite on the island in the middle of the Rhône River, the night view the Le Pont D’ Avignon, the city wall, and the Pope’s Palace illuminated by floodlights, might just be one of the more spectacular sights of a vacation trip.

From the campsite in Fiesole, high on the hill, we looked over the Arno River Valley with the domes and towers of Florence spread out below, especially the Campanile and the huge dome of Santa Maria del Fiore.

“… a spired rock emerging from the gray-blue sea — the matchless citadel of beauty, Mont-St.-Michel.” The Mont is in sight of the campground located just where the causeway leaves the mainland, and as may well be imagined, the view of the gleaming sunset and sunrise on le Mont-St.-Michel, from the RV’s dining or bedroom window, is magnificent.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 26, 2007 10:01 AM
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Maps were an important part of our travel gear, but we tried not to be disappointed if we couldn't find a parking place near something we wanted to see, we just enjoyed the area where we found a place to park.

Luckily we were able to travel in Europe for 3, or 4, or 5 months at a time, so our need for schedules were different than most travelers.

Our Travel concept included:

If we don’t care where we are, we aren’t lost.

If we have no schedule, we aren’t late.

If we have no itinerary we’re exactly where we ought to be.

If we can’t see IT this trip, we’ll see IT next time

Turn here, explore there, relax and enjoy.

It ain’t what you got, it’s what you do with it that counts.

Our vacation is not a destination, it’s the Journey.

We don’t say our way is the only, the best, or even an acceptable way to travel, for anyone but us. The RVs were our hotel, restaurant, and rental car as we traveled.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 26, 2007 6:33 PM
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I selected a few clippings from our Travel Journal about museums.

Museums house beautiful works of art, a cathedrals is itself is a work of art.

Sweetie loved to visit street markets, flea markets, and antique stores. Beautiful little villages, with shopping centers, and street markets, are truly living museums. An hour is better spent in a supermarket or a furniture store, than in any nightclub or fancy restaurant.

In Madrid we not only loved the Prado Museum with its paintings, but ate donuts at the only Winchell’s Donut Shop, and visited the only Sears Roebuck Store we found in Europe.

We think the building itself is the most interesting part of most museums.

Many of the items on display seem to be there just because they are old. Not because they are beautiful or useful or even particularly decorative, but just old.

Three US Navy men had me take their photograph in front of “Whistler’s Mother,”. The sailors were whistling, of course.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 25, 2007 11:03 AM
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is not in any way meant to be a knock at scenic views from a hotel, but the views from the window of our RV are impossible to beat.

From the campsite on the island in the middle of the Rhône River, the night view the Le Pont D’ Avignon, the city wall, and the Pope’s Palace illuminated by floodlights, might just be one of the more spectacular sights of a vacation trip.

From the campsite in Fiesole, high on the hill, we looked over the Arno River Valley with the domes and towers of Florence spread out below, especially the Campanile and the huge dome of Santa Maria del Fiore.

“… a spired rock emerging from the gray-blue sea — the matchless citadel of beauty, Mont-St.-Michel.” The Mont is in sight of the campground located just where the causeway leaves the mainland, and as may well be imagined, the view of the gleaming sunset and sunrise on le Mont-St.-Michel, from the RV’s dining or bedroom window, is magnificent.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 26, 2007 10:01 AM
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Maps were an important part of our travel gear, but we tried not to be disappointed if we couldn't find a parking place near something we wanted to see, we just enjoyed the area where we found a place to park.

Luckily we were able to travel in Europe for 3, or 4, or 5 months at a time, so our need for schedules were different than most travelers.

Our Travel concept included:

If we don’t care where we are, we aren’t lost.

If we have no schedule, we aren’t late.

If we have no itinerary we’re exactly where we ought to be.

If we can’t see IT this trip, we’ll see IT next time

Turn here, explore there, relax and enjoy.

It ain’t what you got, it’s what you do with it that counts.

Our vacation is not a destination, it’s the Journey.

We don’t say our way is the only, the best, or even an acceptable way to travel, for anyone but us. The RVs were our hotel, restaurant, and rental car as we traveled.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 26, 2007 6:33 PM
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Michelangelo got his hammer, made a few changes, then said, “It’s finished.”

But what did he know? Emmy thinks the right hand, and certain other unmentionable parts of Michelangelo’s Statue of David, are still out of proportion to the rest of the body — picky, picky.

When I said, “How do you know,” she quickly changed the subject. (1988)

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 28, 2007 9:39 PM
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I remember one year as my boss was leaving for vacation, several people had gathered to wish him a nice trip.

I said, "We sure hope you enjoy your vacation as much as we will!"

He almost didn't go.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Nov 30, 2007 7:59 PM
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To travel without lines at tourist sites in Europe is easy. Just turn the calendar back to the ‘70s, to ‘90s. I don’t remember ever standing in line for more than a few minutes, because among others, our tradition was, “If we can’t see IT this trip, we’ll see IT next time.”We found so many things to enjoy, we didn’t care if we missed an important tourist item, we just enjoyed many things those tourists never saw. Those on the ship tours to Ephesus, never knew that the Virgin Mary’s last home was just up the mountain a few miles.A Potsdam suburb, Babelsberg, was the center of the German film industry before WW II. It’s not hard for us to imagine a connection between the Biblical “Tower of Babel” and the film industry. The Babelsberg Studios, located in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world. Founded in 1911.If you can’t find a place to park near what you want to see, just enjoy the area where you found a place to park. Easy.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Dec 11, 2007 12:45 PM
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In 1970, we sat on the steps in back of Rome’s city hall and rested for a few minutes. We had to move, as a group of tourists came out of an unmarked doorway.During subsequent trips (total 4) to Rome we visited Mamertine Prison. A legend says Peter and Paul were imprisoned here. It may be fact, but it is called a legend.As we went out the exit, we found the door led to the exact place on the steps where we had been resting, when we visited in 1970.The Piazza San Pietro is always filled with foot and vehicle traffic — taxis, city buses, tourist buses, two Americans in their RV, and people walking by the thousands — including the two Americans after they found a parking place.Lucky Rick, you got to visit Hadrian’s Villa twice, Did you get to see the hundreds of fountains and waterfalls that use gravity, natural water pressure - no pumps, at Villa d’Este next door?

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Dec 14, 2007 10:35 AM
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Most of the mementos from our travels, such as a hunk of lava from the top of Mt. Vesuvius, would not fit on the tree in my daughter’s house, where I now live.At last count, in the den where I sit at my computer, there are over 125 collectibles including copper and brass pots, pans, trays, and scales from Europe, anchor chain from Saipan, my cane collection, chunks from the Berlin Wall with the hammer that did it, and on and on.But my daughter insists that in addition to a photo of my Beautiful Sweetie and her Mother, on her Christmas Tree she also hangs the hood ornament from the 1978 Cadillac that we owned for 22 years.On a Christmas tree? Well it is different.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Dec 18, 2007 8:04 PM
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Along the Austrian Autobahn, a sign said something about “Stille Nacht,” so we spent a couple of hours trying to find what they were “signing” about. In Wagrain they said, go to St. Johann. In St. Johann, they said go to Wagrain. We then found a cemetery with a sign at the gate telling about a man named “Joseph Mohr” who wrote the song “Silent Night” in Dec. 1818.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Dec 24, 2007 5:30 PM
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Rick, those kids most likely have never heard any real music, they just hear the sewer sounds of the garbage generation.This was your chance to let them hear some beautiful sounds. What would Fred Waring have done in the same situation?And if you say, "Who is Fred Waring?" you have more problems than you realize.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Jan 06, 2008 9:49 AM
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Dear Mr. Dobson, You said Fred Waring was a musician in the 1920-1930s in the Northeast. Well that is true, but he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1983, and Sweetie and I attended his concerts in the 1980s. Is that really so long ago?

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Jan 07, 2008 7:34 PM
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In Prague, Czech Republic, we drove around downtown a while, then this ‘ol homing-pigeon driver drove directly to the campground in Branik, a few miles south of downtown Prague, on the west side of the Vltava River. I don’t understand that. I have driven in how many cities since we were here last, four years ago? We came to this large ancient city with a tangled jumble of streets, from a different direction than in either of the previous two years we had visited here, but still, right to the campground. It sometimes seems a map would be a hindrance. (1995)

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Jan 10, 2008 10:10 PM
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Pete - Jan 11, 2008 6:01 PM and James - Jan 12, 2008 12:04 PM It ain't bragging if I done it. Maybe I should put my name on first, so you can skip if you don't want to read.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Jan 12, 2008 9:15 PM
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Now I find this funny — ironic funny, not ha ha funny. It seems to me that to respond to a travel letter, the writer and the readers might just be interested in what others have done at that same place. Not to criticize, not to complain, but to tell what you enjoyed, to encourage others to visit the same place. Ron must think Rick Steves is a constant bragger, because Rick constantly talks of his travels. For D, I am not blogging, I am responding, and am attempting to add to the enjoyment of travel, and I haven’t asked for or expected any feedback (yet!). Audrey was talking about the complainers, not me, I may be a Gramp, but certainly not a Grump. And Pete, you must be a bragger deluxe, cause you made a comment that adds nothing to a travel story. It just seems that a “hello, or thanks” to Steve is like a Christmas card with just a signed name, rather than one with information. I would love to hear comments that adds to something Rick mentioned, not just that he mentioned it. I would think that is what this is for. Now I would like comments on this.

Posted by: Jim Humberd - Jan 13, 2008 12:09 PM

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