Snow in Switzerland, Germany, France! What should we think? Skiing is a major attraction to these wonderful destinations, but the amount of snow that has fallen is at dangerous levels. Parts of Italy have over 50cm of snow on the ground. It's certainly expected that in the winter it will be cold, but these unusual amounts of snow and cold spells are getting to be way too much for local residents. Speaking to friends abroad they are telling me that the weather, on top of the tough economy, is hurting the tourist industry big time. Since there is nothing we can do to control the weather, not sure what we can do at all. Would welcome any suggestions about how we can help our European neighbors.

Just to update you on the Cinque Terre mudslides:

Cinque Terre, meaning five towns or lands, was devastated by mudslides last October, destroying the towns and shutting them down. With so many volunteers to assist, I can report that four of the five towns are back to normal. Vernazza, which is a major link in this chain, is still having internal structural issues. It is anticipated that by April or May things will better and they will, once again, be open to welcome tourists to this magnificant region along the western coast Italy.

For any additional information about traveling to these areas, please feel free to contact me for further information. If you just want to chat about different places to travel or tell me a travel story, no worries, I would love to talk.

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Travel Smart, Dream Big!

Babs