Jura Capresso Coffee Maker

Steve and I love coffee. I drink 2 – 3 cups a day and I want them to be perfect. At home we have Jura Capresso Impressa E8, an older model similar to the Jura Capresso F50, and we love it. It was expensive, around $800.

You put water into one side of the machine, whole coffee beans into the other and you are ready to go. Select the strength and the amount of water, then press the button. The beans are ground and it makes an excellent cup of coffee, topped with a foamy layer called the “crema”.

We use Starbucks Organic Yukon Blend, $11.95 for one pound. It probably last 2 weeks, so that would be about 70 cups (5 cups a day) – $0.17 per cup.

Nespresso Coffee Maker

Another option for great coffee at home is the Nespresso. We used one in July 2007 when we rented a chalet apartment in Leysin, Switzerland – Chalet Chimere.

You purchase coffee “capsules” (pre-packaged one serving ground coffee), put one in the machine, set the water level, press the button and you get a coffee. The photo shows Steve putting one of the coffee capsules into the machine.

And the capsules are both the upside and downside of these coffee makers. The capsules are great, but they are expensive. You can only buy them from Nespresso (you join the “Nespresso Club”) and they are about $0.55 each. So, 55 cents for a cup of good coffee – compared to about 17 cents for the Capresso. But the price of the Capresso is $800, while the Nespresso is less than $249.

Purchase from Amazon (list price $249) – Nespresso C100/T1 Essenza Automatic Machine, Titan Gray

Read more about the Nespresso from Girasoli – Shave Ice and Gelato – My Christmas Present to Myself.

My serious coffee drinking friends have real espresso machines, where you grind the coffee, put it in the holder, tamp it down, put it in the machine, put in the water, pull some mysterious lever, and produce a perfect espresso – but that always seemed like too much work for me. Plus it looks like those machines are about to blow up.

Coffee by Country

• Coffee in Boulder (where we live) is fantastic. There are many independently owned coffee shops all over town – The Cup, Laughing Goat, Logan’s (in my North Boulder neighborhood), Vic’s (a local chain), Trident – plus a Peet’s and several Starbucks.
• Coffee in the US in general is better than it was a decade ago. Starbucks has spread through the country. Even the chain restaurants like Wendy’s and MacDonalds, have good coffee now.
• Coffee in England is good. Those Tea Rooms don’t just do tea, they usually make a good cup of coffee too. You will find Costa Coffee shops all over England and there are Starbucks too.
• Coffee in France, Switzerland and Italy is great.

Resources

• Wikipedia – Nespresso

Swinbrook

Swinbrook, a small village on the River Windrush east of Burford, was made famous by the Mitford sisters who grew up in nearby Asthall in the early part of the 20th century and are buried in the Swinbrook church (all but one who is still with us). The photo shows the graves of Nancy, Unity and Diana near the entrance to the church.

Nancy Mitford wrote the novels “The Pursuit of Love” (1945) and  “Love in a Cold Climate” (1949).

The Swinbrook church is well worth a visit. It has a large Perpendicular window on the east side which floods the church with light. Inside is the exceptional Fettiplace Monument with two 17th century three-decker wall tombs. The tombs have statues of the persons within, showing them laying on their side looking out to the church, instead of the traditional laying on their back on top of the tomb, looking towards heaven. There are also medieval chancel stalls. See my photos of the Swinbrook Church.

“A delectable village, whose rough sloping green is enlivened by a small stream, and whose church must on no account be passed by.”
The Complete Cotswolds, a Jarrold White Horse Guide

The Swan Inn is an excellent pub in Swinbrook, on the river and near the church. We had a wonderful lunch there last year on a rainy Friday in May. The food and service are very good and the atmosphere is casual. This is a beautiful pub in an historic building (it was once the Swinbrook mill) and is still owned by one of the Mitford sisters. The Swan also offers rooms in a nearby renovated farm building. When we were there in 2009 they were putting the finishing touches on the rooms and we got to look at them – lovely!

Windrush

Further up the river, going west and a few miles past Burford, is the small village of Windrush. In the center of the village is a triangular village green and the church. There is not much beside houses in this village – you have to go to the next village to find a pub. Windrush is well worth a visit just to see the Norman doorway on the church.

The church has a Perpendicular tower, a Jacobean pulpit (when Kings James I ruled from 1603 – 1625), and a 15th century font. See my photos of the Windrush Church.

“Its outstanding treasure is the beautiful Norman south doorway, with its double row of grotesque beakheads, one of the best in the Cotswolds.”
The Complete Cotswolds, a Jarrold White Horse Guide

Short History and Architecture Lesson

The Norman period in England went from 1066 to 1154. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, won by the Duke of Normandy (France), four Norman kings ruled the country – William I and II, Henry I, Stephen. The Domesday Book, a record of English land-holding, was published in 1086. Many Cotswolds churchs have Norman origins and some of these parts remain (St John in Elkstone, Malmesbury Abbey, St Peter in Windrush). Norman architecture is also called Romanesque.

The style of Gothic Architecture started in the Middle Ages and went into the Tudor era (1180 – 1520). It is broken down into three eras: Early English 1180 – 1275, Decorated 1275 – 1380 and Perpendicular 1380 – 1520. Many of the Cotswold Wool Churches are in the Perpendicular style (Cirencester, Chipping Campden).

From Cotswolder – British History and Architecture Timeline.

Resources

• Wikipedia – Mitford Family
• Wikipedia – Love in a Cold Climate
• Cotswolder – Towns and Villages – Burford
• Cotswolder Photos – Churches, Swinbrook and Windrush
• There is a BBC adaptation of “The Pursuit of Love” and “Love in a Cold Climate” called “Love in a Cold Climate” made in 2001. Available on Netflix.
• The Swan Inn at Swinbrook

What Are Vacation Rentals?

Italian Villa in an Olive Grove

Vacation rentals are called many things – villas, vacation homes, holiday cottages, self catering, short term rentals – but all these terms refer to the same thing, a fully furnished and equipped apartment or house that is rented out by the day or week. Vacation rentals are an alternative to staying in hotels or B&Bs when traveling.

Vacation rentals have been a popular type of vacation accommodation in Europe for decades but they were usually booked by Europeans. Most Americans traveled on tour buses and stayed in hotels. In the last decade Americans have discovered this alternative accommodation and have changed the way they travel in Europe.

In the last ten years vacation rentals have become popular in North America, thanks to the HomeAway websites. Years ago you could rent a cottage at the shore or a condo in Hawaii, but when traveling anywhere else you stayed in a hotel, usually one from a national chain. Now vacation homes of all shapes and sizes are available for rent in most parts of the US and Canada.

Read everything you need to know about vacation rentals in the Slow Europe Vacation Rentals Guide.

It All Comes Down To a Vacation Rental, an Owner and a Traveler

Vacation rentals are big business, but they are also literally a cottage industry. A cottage is for rent, a traveler rents it. It all comes down to a vacation rental, an owner and a traveler.

• Some owners have their property represented by a vacation rental agency. The agency takes the bookings and payments. They may look after the property for the owner. The vacation rental agency does not own the property.
• Other owners decide to purchase a listing on a rent-by-owner website like HomeAway and take the bookings and payments themselves.

No matter if you book with an agency or directly with the owner, you are booking an individually owned property and many times when you arrive it is the owner who greets you (or who has put the key under the flowerpot and left the House Book for you).

So, you have two choices when booking: vacation rental agency or directly with the owner.

This week I am writing about rent-by-owner websites. Next week I will write about vacation rental agencies. Both have their pros and cons.

Vacation Rentals in the Analog Ages

Paris Apartment With a View

Before we all moved onto the Internet (pre-1995) it was difficult to find and book vacation rentals. I wrote to tourist offices and asked for lists of places for rent (these were the analog version of rent-by-owner websites), then phoned the European owners in the middle of the night (which was during their working hours). Or I contacted US or UK vacation rental agencies and got them to mail me their glossy catalogs. Sometimes we just showed up at the local tourist office to see what was available nearby.

On one trip we met a couple from Holland who drove around the Tuscan countryside looking for vacancy signs. They ended up in the apartment beside ours on an estate outside of Siena. We had paid about 50% more and booked from a glossy catalog six months earlier.

When traveling in North America we stayed in those wonderful countryside motel-type places with a row of cabins – little cottages with a kitchen – the old style version of vacation rentals. They were cheap and you did not book ahead.

The Rise in Popularity of Rent-By-Owner Websites

When vacation rentals moved from print to websites, VRBO arrived – a website with lists of vacation rentals that you booked directly with the owner, via email or phone. They were the first on the Internet (started in 1995) and they were the biggest. VRBO was known for its ugly website with lists of thousands of worldwide vacation rentals. Now their website is pretty and they are owned by HomeAway.

VRBO changed everything in the vacation rental world. If we found the agencies were too expensive or did not want to spend any time helping us choose, we could go online and spend hours looking at the VRBO listings, then email or phone the owners directly. VRBO forced the agencies to become more competitive and service oriented (most of them).

HomeAway was founded in 2005 by Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd in Austin Texas. They started small, but like many things Texan, became big. They immediately bought VRBO and the other leading rent-by-owner websites: CyberRentals.com, GreatRentals.com, TripHomes.com, A1Vacations.com, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk (the leading site in the United Kingdom) and FeWo-direkt.de (the leading site in Germany). In 2007 they added Abritel.fr (the leading site in France), VacationRentals.com and OwnerDirect.co.uk (the second leading site United Kingdom).

Do you see a pattern here? World domination of the rent-by-owner market!

HomeAway does not hide their site ownership. All their sites clearly show that they are part of the HomeAway group.

HomeAway is the Industry Leader

“With nearly 430,000 paid vacation rental home listings across 120 countries, ranging from condos to castles, HomeAway makes it easier than ever to find and compare the vacation rental homes. ” from the HomeAway.com website

HomeAway is not a vacation rental agency, they do not go out and select the perfect vacation rental properties in tourist destinations. HomeAway does not own the properties that they rent. HomeAway is a company that runs several websites where vacation rentals owners pay to be listed. HomeAway does not take the photos and write the property description, they do not take the bookings and the payment. The owner does this. If someone owns a vacation rental and pays the yearly fee, they are on HomeAway.

HomeAway is the place where owners of vacation rentals and travelers meet. HomeAway runs top quality websites with good cataloging and searching features. If I want to find a one-bedroom vacation rental in Italy near Lucca, I can find a list of them in a few clicks. I look at photos, read descriptions, check prices and availability, make my shortlist, contact the owners and then make my choice. The world of vacation rentals is at my fingertips.

It is Not All About Grand Villas for a Large Group

English Cottage in a Cotswold Village

The popular travel press sometimes makes it seem like vacation rentals are for groups of ten affluent friends. This is not true. Vacation rentals come in all sizes, from a cute cottage for two to a magnificent villa for twenty. You might be in a cottage on a farm, or in a house in a village or an apartment in a city – many types of vacation rental accommodations are available.

Steve and I have been staying in vacation rentals in Europe for over 20 years. They are our primary form of travel accommodation. Usually it is just the two of us, but sometimes we have a friend join us and once we went with a large group and stayed in a villa.

Vacation rentals are an affordable accommodation choice. Prices per person per night are usually lower than equivalent hotels. You get more space and you can do some of your own cooking. This makes for a very enjoyable and “slow” travel experience.

Expect Different Booking Procedures

The main difference between vacation rentals and hotels are the booking and paying procedures. Because you are renting an apartment or house and not a room in a hotel you are expected to put down a sizable deposit (25% or more) which is not refundable if you cancel. Many also require full payment to be made 30 – 60 days before arrival. In Europe many owners do not take credit cards and you must wire-transfer your payment. Procedures vary by owner so be sure to review the booking procedures.

It makes sense to purchase travel insurance in case you have to cancel for illness in the family. (As a side note, we never buy travel insurance and in all our years of travel only had to cancel once.)

Beyond HomeAway

I always check the HomeAway sites first but there are other good competitors. These rent-by-owner websites are not part of the HomeAway group:

• HolidayLettings.co.uk – worldwide rent-by-owner vacation rentals
• Homelidays.co.uk – worldwide rent-by-owner vacation rentals
• PureHolidayHomes.com – worldwide rent-by-owner vacation rentals (new website)
• Rentalia.com – rent-by-owner vacation rentals in Spain, Portugal and Italy
• YourHolidayMatters.com – rent-by-owner vacation rentals in Europe (most in France and Spain) – all owners have been vetted and approved by this group

Farm stays are popular in Europe and there are many sites that put you in contact with the owners:

• Agriturismo.it – Farms in Italy, with B&B or vacation rentals
• Gites-de-France.com – Farms and other vacation rentals in France
• FarmStay.co.uk – Farms in the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) with B&B or vacation rentals

Give Vacation Rentals a Chance!

When it comes to vacation rentals in Europe, I am a broken record. Traveling to Europe? Stay in a vacation rental. Traveling to Europe? Stay in a vacation rental … On your next trip to Europe, or anywhere, try a vacation rental. If you hate it, send me an angry email. If you love it, send me a happy email and write a review for Slow Europe so that others can benefit from your experience.

And now, back to the Super Bowl – Who Dat!! :)

Resources

• Slow Europe Vacation Rentals Guide
• HomeAway Puts Vacation Rentals on the Scoreboard (Super Bowl ad)
• 2 Baci in a Pinon Tree – I Love Vacation Rentals in Italy

Remember to use my Slow Europe website to find vacation rentals in Europe. I list my favorite resources by country and region – local agencies, farms, rent-by-owner websites and more – to make your searching easier. We also collect your reviews.

Apartments at Sant'Antonio

Nico and Elena Pannevis run the Sant’Antonio Country Resort, an estate  outside of Montepulciano, in Tuscany.

Thirteen vacation rentals (villas, cottages, apartments) and six languages (Italian, English, Swahili, Dutch, German, French) on an idyllic olive growing estate that started life in the 12th century as a Monastery.

The estate has large gardens (with over a kilometer of Bay Leaf hedges), views north to Lago Trasimeno and south to Monte Amiata, a large pool, underground parking so nothing disturbs the view and (my favorite) Internet access! The vacation rentals, in renovated historic buildings, are beautifully furnished and equipped.

The prices are affordable – studio apartments for two start at €720/week in high season (mid-June through mid-September), two-bedroom apartments start at €1,250.

Read our interview with Nico and learn more about this special spot in Tuscany.

Slow Europe Profile – Sant’Antonio Country Resort

We have great reviews of Sant’Antonio. I have not stayed there myself but some of my well-traveled friends have stayed there -  Sheena, Colleen, Jane. Each of them have stayed in many Italian vacation rentals and they all rave about Sant’Antonio. Sant’Antonio is at the top of my list for my next trip to Italy.

Read our reviews of Sant’Antonio.

HomeAway, the Austin TX based company who owns most of the major Rent-by-Owner websites (HomeAway.com, VRBO.com, VacationRentals.com, etc.*) will have an ad in the 2010 Super Bowl!

Finally, vacation rentals will be on the scoreboard!

The ad features Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo reviving their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold in the 1983 movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation” about a family on a vacation to “Walley World” (a great movie!).

Brian Sharples, founder and chief executive officer of HomeAway® says: “We’re going to use the Super Bowl broadcast to launch an exciting campaign highlighting the benefits of vacation rentals to reach more than 100 million people.”

Look for their ad on Super Bowl Sunday, February 7, 2010 on CBS.

Update: The ad will be a “trailer” for a 15 minute web movie, starring the Griswolds, that they will have on their website. They expect five million visits in five minutes and have spent over one million dollars upgrading their hardware to handle the load.

Vacation Rentals Are a Great Travel Accommodation

View from our balcony in Cetona, Tuscany

I am a long time lover of vacation rentals as an accommodation choice when traveling in North America and Europe (and other places but I have not been to those other places – yet).

I started the Slow Travel website and community in 2000 to share my love of vacation rentals with other travelers. Over the eight years that I ran that website, thousands of people joined the community, posting on the forums and writing reviews and trip reports. Many of them were new to vacation rentals, but many, like us, had been traveling that way for years.

Steve and I stayed in our first vacation rental in the summer of 1988 in Grindelwald, Switzerland. Since then we have stayed in 57 different vacation rentals (103 weeks) in Europe – almost two years of vacation rental travel! And that does not count our North American vacation rentals in Hawaii, California and Arizona.

Vacation rentals have been popular in Europe for decades, but they are new in North America. We have always had vacation rentals in a modest form – summer cottages you rented in the countryside, motels with individual cabins, condos for rent in Hawaii – but it was only with the popularity of the Internet and the birth of these Rent-by-Owner sites, like the wonderful VRBO.com, that the idea of vacation rentals as an alternative to hotels broke through in North America.

The HomeAway Empire

You know the business is a big one when they advertise during the Super Bowl. In 2006 HomeAway acquired most of the major Rent-by-Owner websites, starting with the biggest – VRBO.com. HomeAway took a scattered bunch of Rent-by-Owner websites and turned them into a coordinated vacation rentals empire.

HomeAway do not own the places you rent – you deal with individual owners – but HomeAway made the process of finding and booking vacation rentals directly from the owner much easier than before.

Next Time Let’s Feature European Vacation Rentals!

The second film in the National Lampoon Vacation series is “National Lampoon’s European Vacation”, so maybe the HomeAway ad campaign, which will continue after its launch at the Super Bowl, will get to vacation rentals in Europe.

My new website, Slow Europe, is all about finding vacation rentals in Europe. I list my favorite vacation rental resources – local agencies, Rent-by-Owner websites, US agencies – by country and region. Want to spent a week in the Tuscan countryside? Here is my list of recommended vacation rental resources.

If you are new to the wonderful world of European Vacation Rentals, read my Slow Europe Vacation Rental Guide. It tells you everything you need to know to find, book and enjoy vacation rentals in Europe.

Let’s Not Forget the Vacation Rentals Agencies

Because of the popularity of the Rent-by-Owner websites, we sometimes forget about vacation rental agencies. Not every owner wants to list on a Rent-by-Owner website, correspond with travelers and do their own bookings. Many turn to reputable vacation rental agencies who do this for them.

Vacation rental agencies are popular for European vacation rentals. Some are based in the US and work with local European agencies or directly with owners. Others are based in Europe and work locally with owners.

Personally I like to deal with an agency who has many good vacation rentals to choose from, who makes sure their properties are in good locations and in good shape and who can give me good advice for making my choice. I also rent directly from owners, especially if in an area that I know well from previous trips.

National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) Trailer

Resources

• HomeAway.com – Find vacation rentals around the world.
• Press Release – HomeAway Gets in the Game as First-Time Super Bowl Advertiser, October 20, 2009
• AdLand – Holiday season means Super Bowl commercials are coming soon, November 28, 2009
• Wikipedia – National Lampoon’s Vacation
• Update: Austin News KXAN.com – Local co. buys Super Bowl commercial – National Lampoon’s Vacation provides inspiration

* The HomeAway websites include: HomeAway.com, VRBO.com, VacationRentals.com, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk, OwnersDirect.co.uk, FeWo-direkt.de, Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com.

Thank you HomeAway for putting vacation rentals on the scoreboard!

Barcelona

Barcelona is one of the most popular European travel destinations. It is located in northern Spain, in the Catalonia region near the border with France, on the Mediterranean coast. Modernism, a variant of Art Nouveau, was born in Barcelona in the late 1800s. Gaudí designed many buildings in the Eixample district of Barcelona.

Max, a transplanted Italian, lives in the Sants – Montjuïc district and runs The Urban Suites.com, 20 suites and apartments (vacation rentals) just a ten minute walk from Montjuïc hill. He wrote an article about his neighborhood, telling us some of the things to do and see there.

Slow Europe Article -  Sants – Montjuïc District in Barcelona, Spain

I have not traveled to Spain recently (the last time I was there was in 1972 – probably things have  changed), but it is near the top of my travel list (under “France” and “get my ass back to Italy”). Barcelona would be a great arrival city. Fly into Barcelona, spend a week, enjoy the sea and sunshine, then take the train up into south-west France. Or my dream of driving along the Mediterranean through Spain, France and Italy*. A possible plan for my 2010 trip!

* Inspired by the book “Feeding Frenzy: Across Europe in Search of the Perfect Meal”, Stuart Stevens, The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997 Buy from Amazon.com

Lanzarote Guidebook

The Canary Islands, located around eighty miles off the coast of West Africa close to the Tropic of Capricorn, are a Spanish owned volcanic archipelago of seven islands that was once thought to be the remnants of the mythical lost city of Atlantis. The Canaries are essentially the European Caribbean, boasting year round sunshine and daytime temperatures that range from 70 to 79 degrees Fahrenheit (20 to 26 degrees Celsius), making them a hugely popular holiday destination, especially with British, Irish and German tourists.

The Lanzarote Guidebook is packed with useful information and some great photos of the island. The new Winter 09/10 edition can now be downloaded – fast and for free – from the Lanzarote Guidebook website.

Researched and written by long term island residents, the Lanzarote Guidebook contains all of the information that holidaymakers and independent travelers need to know, as well as lots of handy inside tips. It is published quarterly so the information is always accurate and up to date.

Nick Ball who created the Lanzarote Guidebook, wrote an article about the Canary Islands for Slow Europe:

Slow Europe Article -  Lanzarote in the Canary Islands

The new Global Kindle (released earlier this year) works in many countries. Previous versions worked in the US only. Now people in other countries can buy the Kindle and Americans can travel more easily with their Kindles. The limitation before was the cell phone network. The new Global Kindle works on a 3G wireless cell phone network that works in many countries.

Watch for Hidden Charges!

BUT if you take your Global Kindle purchased in the US to Europe and download purchases via the 3G wireless network, there are extra charges – $1.99 each time you download a book and $4.99 a week to download newspapers/magazines!!

To avoid these charges, or if you have an older Kindle that only works in the US, download items to your computer and transfer them from your computer to your Kindle. Read more on my article about the Kindle (updated today).

Slow Europe Article – Traveling With Your Kindle (updated)

Do Travelers Need the Global Version of the Kindle?

This morning I would have said “yes” and was thinking of getting the new version before our next Europe trip. But now that I see the extra charges for using the 3G wireless when out of the country, I probably won’t buy the new version. We always travel with a computer and it is easy to go to Amazon.com on the computer, download books/newspapers/magazines to the computer, then transfer via a USB cable to the Kindle.

If you do not travel with a computer, then this new Global version of the Kindle is better for traveling than the earlier US-only versions. Also if you are not going to have good Internet access when traveling. You will be able to get your New York Times every morning!

And, really, the charges are not that excessive – I was just shocked to see them because I assumed there would not be extra charges.

Amazon Kindle

Read more about the Kindle on Amazon (affiliate link).

The blue sky of a Santa Fe spring

After nearly 20 years living in Santa Fe, we put the cat in the 4Runner, everything else in a moving van, put a “For Sale” sign in front of the house, said goodbye to the Sangre de Cristo mountains and drove 400 miles north to Boulder Colorado. Still living in the Rocky Mountains, still in that place where the mountains meet the plains.

The middle part of our lives were spent in that old adobe house in Santa Fe. I lived there longer than I lived in any other house. I lived in Santa Fe longer than I lived in any other town. The ashes of our old cat Butch are buried under an Apricot tree that we grew from a seed. The bones of our old cat Spike are probably on top of the hill where Tom Ford built his house (we think the Coyotes got Spike). We planted every tree, bush, plant and piece of grass in that huge yard. After 20 years the Lilac bushes are finally as high as the windows (things grow slowly in Santa Fe).

Open space in north Boulder

The years in Santa Fe were very good years for us, but we wanted a change. Boulder is a great town and we love it here. A bit more snow, still 300 days of sunshine a year, hot summers, blue skies (but not as blue as Santa Fe), a small town. We got a bigger house (that old adobe was small) but a smaller yard. The hiking in the Santa Fe area is good, but the hiking here in Boulder is better. Our house is on the edge of the open space and a good walking trail goes right by us.

My main regret in life is that I cannot live in several places at once. I would live in Boulder, Santa Fe, Northern California, New York City, the Cotswolds (England), and southern France. This is why I am so in love with staying in vacation rentals and spending a few weeks in a place when on vacation – I get to settle in and live in these places.

Another thing about Boulder – less than an hour to the Denver airport where we can fly direct to England or France!

Our new Winter Wonderland

We are mostly unpacked and the office is set up. We are finding favorite coffee shops and restaurants. People are very friendly here and we have met a lot of our neighbors. You would not believe the number of great natural foods shops here!

The city plows the walking trails the morning after a snowfall. No matter the weather there is a constant stream of walkers on the trail behind our house, and we are among them. We got about a foot of snow just before Christmas and today when out walking we saw people on snowshoes, cross country skis, sleds, feet and even bikes!

Now it is time to get back to work on Slow Europe and Cotswolder. Time to update to Wordpress 2.9. Time to make slideshows of my photos from our fabulous summer trip. Time to plan next summer’s trip.

So, goodbye Santa Fe! I think of you often and part of me does not believe that I do not live there any more.

“Train wheels runnin’ down an open track,
In my mem’ry time to take me back
Are you goin, are you goin’,
To Santa Fe”
- Santa Fe/Beautiful Obsession, Van Morrison, Wavelength

Slow Europe Article – Food Shopping for Vacation Renters in Italy by Pat Byrne of Italy Perfect

You find the perfect vacation rental in Italy, you arrive and check in. Next you have to head to the shops for supplies and groceries. Pat tells you how to find the stores, what they are called and gives some food shopping tips. Pat, who runs Italy Perfect with her sister Lisa, travels to Italy frequently to look for new properties, check on their current properties and shop for groceries!

Slow Europe Article – Lake Bracciano (Lago di Bracciano) by Fiorenza Rossetto of WelHome

Rome is at the center of the Lazio region in Italy, but there is more to Lazio than Rome. Lake Bracciano is a beautiful area with lakes, hills, historic towns, Roman ruins and Etruscan remains. All less than an hour north of Rome. Fiorenza lives on Lake Bracciano and offers vacation rentals in the area, plus a cottage on the grounds of her villa. She shares her insider’s knowledge of the area with us.

Heidelberg, Germany

Germany was once the dividing line between Western and Eastern Europe, but now sits at the heart of the new Europe.

November 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. When East Germany was reunified, five new regions in the north-east became part of Germany.

We have added German vacation rentals to Slow Europe. We searched to find agencies with vacation rentals in Germany and good directory sites with rent-by-owner listings for Germany.

New Section: Find Vacation Rentals in Germany

I found only a few agencies based in the US offering vacation rentals in Germany. This is surprising when you think of the hundreds of agencies for Italy and France. I found a few local apartments and some good directory sites with rent-by-owner listings.

If you know of any good resources for vacation rentals in Germany please post here or email me. I am going to continue searching and will be adding to our database.

More About Traveling in Germany

Bamberg, Germany

Too often we get distracted by national stereotypes and the recent history of the area and forget what an incredible country Germany is and how much it has to offer to the tourist – historic towns, beautiful countryside and exciting cities. A few things to do: explore the many rivers including the Rhine River which goes through some of the most historic areas, take the “Romantic Road” along the western edge of Bavaria, explore the National Parks. The Bavarian Forest is a popular destination for walkers and you can easily go into the Czech Republic from there.

Steve and I have been to Germany a few times. We loved the town of Constance (Konstanz) on Lake Constance in southern Germany on the border with Switzerland. We have friends near Stuttgart and have visited that area a few times. We love the historic towns and the walking trails. For me, because I am a vegetarian, the food can be too meat-centered and heavy, but we always find something good in restaurants. I still remember the incredible fresh salads served in Constance.

Read more about traveling in Germany on Slow Europe:

• The Bavarian Forest – Margaret who offers vacation rentals in Bayerisch Eisenstein (Bavarian Forest Holidays) tells us about this area.
• Alpine Adventures – Kathy Wood who offers small group tours of Germany and Austria (European Experiences) show us things to see and do when based in the German and Austrian Alps.

Resources

• Wikipedia – German Reunification
• Wikipedia – New Länder: The five new states in Germany, after East Germany reunification with Germany.

Photos are from my friend Joan who took a river cruise through Germany this summer.

Naunton and farm fields, Cotswolds

My favorite part of the English countryside is the Cotswolds, an AONB (Area of Outstanding National Beauty) in the heart of England, two hours west of London, between the popular tourist destinations of Bath (to the south) and Stratford-upon-Avon (to the north).

The Cotswolds has picture-perfect English countryside with gentle rolling hills, fields of crops, large wooded areas and valleys carved out by flowing rivers. Tucked away in these valleys are historic Cotswold villages, with golden Cotswold stone houses dating back hundreds of years and spectacular “wool churches” built when this was a properous wool producing area.

There are many things for the visitor to do in the Cotswolds.

• For the walking enthusiast there are hundreds of miles of public footpaths and several long distance paths.
• People who like to explore by car will love the narrow lanes that criss-cross the countryside.
• The historian can visit pre-historic stone circles and burial grounds, Roman ruins, ancient abbeys, medieval castles, historic houses and Industrial-era mills.
• Flower lovers will love the beautiful public gardens, many run by the National Trust.
• And for everyone there are charming pubs with real ale and really good food, farm shops with local organic produce, tea rooms with homemade cakes and scones, beautiful villages to explore, views that never quit.

Here are three ways to tour the Cotswolds with different levels of travel independence: an organized tour, custom day tours and resources for the independent traveler.

European Experiences – a small group tour

Chipping Campden, Cotswolds

You want to go to the Cotswolds, but don’ t want to spend hours and hours reading and researching? You don’t want to do the driving (drive on the left – yikes!!!)? Then a small group tour is the perfect way for you to see the Cotswolds.

Kathy and Charley Wood started out doing small group tours in the Luberon, their favorite part of France. Now they have added their favorite part of England – The Cotswolds Experience. Kathy and Charley are experienced European travelers and even spent more than a year traveling throughout Europe a few years ago. They have been to the Cotswolds many times.

They have designed a week-long tour, based in the charming market town of Chipping Campden, to show you the best of the Cotswolds. Their next Cotswolds tour is June 2010. Leave the planning and the driving to them!

We have known Kathy and Charley for several years, first meeting them in Europe during their year+ trip. I highly recommend their tours. European Experiences is part of Slow Travel Tours, a group of small group tour operators for Europe.

Tour the Cotswolds – custom day tours

Church in Swinbrook, Cotswolds

You are an independent traveler and enjoy researching and planning your trip, but want to get an insider’s view of the Cotswolds and maybe have a day or two off from driving (drive on the left – yikes!!)? Schedule a day or two for a custom tour of the Cotswolds.

Tim Harrison was born and raised on a family farm in the Cotswolds. He knows every village, every countryside lane, everything you would want to know about the Cotswolds.

Tim offers Tour the Cotswolds, custom driving tours of the Cotswolds. Tell him what type of things you want to see and do and he creates a personalized itinerary for you. Then he picks you up in his comfortable Lexus and shows you a side of the Cotswolds that many travelers never see.

Tim and his wife Jackie live in Sheepscombe House on the edge of Snowshill, one of the most charming villages in the Cotswolds, and offer B&B rooms.

We met Tim and Jackie at their lovely house during our trip this summer. Jackie fed us the best afternoon tea that we had on the whole trip. Tim took us on a short driving tour of the area. I highly recommend Tim’s custom driving tours, and their B&B looked like a great place to stay.

Cotswolder – travel guide for the independent traveler

Walking along the River Coln, Cotswolds

You are an independent traveler and love researching a trip? You are ready for the driving challenge (drive on the left – yikes!!)? Then I have the website for you!

Steve and I have been going to the Cotswolds yearly since 2004. We love this area! I took my detailed travel notes and turned them into a website -  Cotswolder, a travel guide for the Cotswolds. I describe the main market towns and recommend things to do and see, places to eat, places to stay and nearby villages to visit. Visit the site and use it to plan your trip!

This summer we spent five weeks in the Cotswolds and had one of our best vacations ever. We are both finally comfortable with the driving and we know the area so well that I hardly need to consult the map or GPS. But, after all the months we have spent in the Cotswolds, there is still more to see and do, so we will be heading back soon. And if we eventually see it all, we will just do it all again.

“I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way. ” (My Way)

Resources

• National Geographic Traveler, Waking a Sleeping Beauty, September 2009 by Steve McClarence. ”A Brit from the industrial north of England explores the storybook world of the Cotswolds, in a classic British sports car.” There is a good photo gallery.
• The Cotswolds, tourist office website. Order tourist brochures to be mailed to you.
• Visit Cotswolds, tourist office website with travel information, accommodation booking and more about the Cotswolds.

For this month’s profile we talked to Alice Tetelman and Martin Wenick of Italian Vacation Villas. They offer vacation rentals in Tuscany, Umbria and other popular regions in Italy – from large to small, budget to luxury – villas, farmhouses or apartments on wine estates.

Alice and Martin started the Washington, DC-based vacation rental agency in February 1999 after they retired from long professional careers. Martin lived in Rome in the 1970s as a Foreign Service Officer assigned to the American Embassy and is fluent in Italian. Both Alice and Martin have traveled extensively in Italy. Read more about them and their agency in our profile.

Slow Europe Article – Profile of Italian Vacation Villas

We came across this one early in our trip when we were staying in Windsor and touring some of the Thames Valley towns with our friends Wendy and Richard who live in the area (we met Wendy and Richard on the SlowTrav forums years ago).  

Ha-ha at Greys Court - now you see it

Ha-ha at Greys Court - now you don't

That is Richard in the second photo demonstrating the ha-ha. This one is in Greys Court, a National Trust house and garden in Oxfordshire, not far from Henley-on-Thames (between London and the Cotswolds). Visiting a National Trust property is a fun thing to do when visiting England. There are many of them in the Cotswolds and nearby. This property had a Tudor Manor (15th century), gardens inside medieval walls, a wisteria walk (still in bloom in late May when we were there) and a flat brick maze.

If you are looking for a ha-ha in the Cotswolds, there is a good one in Hidcote Manor Garden, another National Trust property.

Resources

Wikipedia – Ha-ha

But with a vacation rental you pay a 25 – 50% deposit on booking, sometimes a year ahead, then the rest of the payment 30 – 60 days before arrival. You stay in a house or apartment that has been set up as a tourist rental or a second home. It probably does not have internet access because it seems like most vacation rental owners assume you want to “get away from it all” (not realizing that the people who find and book your places online are online kind of people and want to be online even when traveling). You are one in a long line of people living there for a week. *

Doing a home exhange you are exchanging homes, trading places, switching lifestyles with your trading partner, maybe even taking their dog for a walk. Sounds like fun! And your accommodations are free!! And you don’t have to pay for a house-sitter!!

Laura Byrne Paquet, a travel writer from Ottawa, Canada, wrote about home exchanges for Slow Europe. She gives you the basics, tells you what to look out for and gives a detailed list of web resources.

Slow Europe Article – Home Exchange – Stay in Europe for Free!

Follow Laura on Twitter – @FacingTheStreet – and on her blog www.FacingTheStreet.blogspot.com. Thanks Laura – great article!

Home Base Holidays

Our recommended home exchange website is Home Base Holidays run by Lois Sealey based in England. She has been in the home exchange game since 1985. She also operates the home exchange service for Britain’s Guardian newspaper (my newspaper of choice when I am in England). Their website is great but will be even better soon – they are in the middle of a re-design. Membership is £29 per year (about $50) but you can look at all the listings for no charge.

(This is a Canadian-centric blog post. Laura is Canadian and lives in Canada, Lois is an expat-Canadian living in England, I am an expat-Canadian living in the US. What’s up with that, eh?)

* Vacation Rentals vs. Home Exchange

You would think that Steve and I would be naturals for doing home exchanges. We live in Santa Fe, not the most requested destination by Europeans but a popular destination and a great place to visit. We travel to Europe every year and like to stay in one place for two or more weeks. We always stay in vacation rentals.

This is why we do not do home exchange – we have a hard time planning six months to a year ahead. We are both self employed and if a good job or opportunity comes along, we drop everything to take it. But really, that is no excuse.

We frequently have friends or friends of friends stay in our house when we are away. Friends from Italy spent six weeks here this summer while we were in Europe. I have no problem letting other people stay in my house and drive our car. I have a better house book than most vacation rentals! I am all set up for doing a home exchange! But, I hesitate because we are thinking about moving (current plan – move to Boulder or move to England – can’t decide). And because we have been thinking of this for the last five years (we are slow to make decisions and we really do love Santa Fe), we have not attempted a home exchange.

We really should give it a try!