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Destination: Cinque Terre

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Video: Good-bye Italy; Hello Switzerland

After a glorious free day on the beaches of the Italian Riviera, my tour group is heading north for the Swiss Alps. Because we sleep deep in the characteristic nooks and offbeat crannies of Europe, we often can’t get our bus to our hotel. In this case, we need to hop a train for a five-minute ride from Monterosso to Levanto, the nearby bigger town. In this clip, our hearty gang of tour members is packing light, and walking (past the stretch of beach where we had our happy hour last night) to the train station as the sun rises over the Cinque Terre.

(Thanks for following along here on my blog and on Facebook as I guide our Best of Europe in 21 Days tour.)

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Season 8 Bloopers: France and Italy

This week, we’re giving you a peek into some of the fun we had filming Season 8 of Rick Steves’ Europe. Hopefully watching all of my on-camera screw-ups will brighten your day just a little bit.

We’re starting off today with a series of clips from France and Italy. You’ll see how much fun it is to travel with Steve Smith, how we sometimes have to beat up our sidekicks a bit to get just the right soundbite (“in the Cinque Terre, when you know the weather…you don’t need no weatherman”), and how the enthusiasm can bubble over into giggles. You’ll see how — when there are too many gawkers (as in the shot from Versailles) — we sometimes just invite everyone in to help out on camera. And you’ll see how, when a drunk wants to sing as you’re trying to explain grappa, sometimes you just have to play along. By the way, I posted a photo of the crazy student searching for an American girlfriend here on my Facebook page…and it actually worked.

Watching all of these, I can’t help but smile. I’m so thankful for how Simon Griffith (our producer/director) and Karel Bauer and Peter Rummel (our cameramen) make it both gratifying and enjoyable to bring home the wonders of Europe. I can’t wait to join them again later this month to continue filming Season 9. Thank you for traveling — and laughing — along with us.

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Cameron’s on the Front Line of the Corniglia Gelato Wars

Cameron Hewitt (my wonderful co-author and fellow guidebook researcher) is just settling into his spring research trip and starting with the Cinque Terre. The pirates of the Cinque Terre survive in its many hotels and restaurants. They chew up and spit out guidebook researchers to the degree that many of my gang opt out of this highly competitive little bit of paradise. But Cameron’s there to make sure everyone who’s in my guidebook deserves their listing…and I’m pulling for him!

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By the way, if you enjoy Cameron’s take on Europe, be sure to “like” his Facebook page — he’ll be blown from Italy’s Cinque Terre and Dolomites, to Salzburg, and the Austrian Alps before meeting up with me and our TV crew in Bulgaria and Romania. Don’t miss out on Cameron’s keen insights.

 

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Cameron Is Living “La Vita Cinqueterre”

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I love to get someone else’s take — a fresh take — on one of my favorite places — especially when it’s by Cameron Hewitt (my wonderful co-author and fellow guidebook researcher). Cameron’s just settling into his spring research trip and starting with the Cinque Terre. You’ll find his first dispatch on his blog now.

By the way, if you enjoy Cameron’s take on Europe, be sure to “like” his Facebook page — he’ll be blown from Italy’s Cinque Terre and Dolomites, to Salzburg and the Austrian Alps before meeting up with me and our TV crew in Bulgaria and Romania. Don’t miss out on Cameron’s keen insights.