Nate, thanks for your words. Tomorrow I'll start an other history, as of the happy conifer "fruits" of the semideserts. I hope, some day You will start to take into your own hands the american conifer heritage. Your land is so big, and full of plenty of rare species, which are simply not known. Make your own conifer world - that's my wish to the american breeders. Find the treasures which you went by till now. Open your eyes, learnt of Jerry Morris and other wise breeders. If you find a 40 years old dwarf, WB or coloured conifer in the forest, can save 20 years 'trialing'of the found new plant. Zsolt

Great recommendations - but I so agree with Joanieponie about going to a walking store to try shoes on. In fact, I think Joanie started another thread and that was my suggestion. What works for one person may not work for you. Someone above suggested Puma. I have those shoes; loved them before this recent bout of PF - but even before, don't think I could have walked extensively in them. I went to a store that sells only walking-type shoes, Birks, Naot, Clarks, Keen, etc. I tried on many, many shoes, including Finn Comfort, which are supposed to be the ultimate. I found them too heavy. In another thread, someone said they didn't like Olukai or Vionic. I bought four pairs of shoes, Olukai (the leather thong), Vionic, Aetrex and Naot. I love them all. I love all of them; they are all suitable for different occasions. I do love Naot and will probably get more of those for the fall as, although, the Naot are closed-toe, the others are all sandals. Everyone is different. I agree with those above - I am not a tennis shoe person, except for walking or going to the gym. But there are so many other options out there. Good luck!!

Some of our DH's must be brothers. Unless HE thinks it's a good idea or I drag him along, he's not for it. But like Annie's DH, he always has a good time and talks it up after we get back. Just a couple of weeks ago a buddy of his was talking about what a fabulous time they had on a river cruise, and he sort of mentioned going on one in passing one day. Imagine my shock! Even though he's been lukewarm to my ideas on it, I now have hope!! And I'm on it!

Annie, I agree about ABC : ) We went last summer with my SIL&BIL. I had lived there for a few years a while ago, so the prospect of driving around on our own didn't bother me. My BIL had been there when a young adult, but my SIL and DH had never been and were a little apprehensive. We ended up taking a week long river cruise on the continent, then spending a couple of days in Amsterdam and a week in the UK. We came into Switzerland a day before the cruise, just in case there were problems. This gave us a day and a half to wander around the town, check out how the streetcars worked, take a short train hop, and generally get used to things. The cruise was great and my DH and SIL appreciated knowing they had familiar food waiting for them on the boat. They're not very adventurous as far as food goes. The cruise tour guides were great, and were local to the city we were in. Overall, the experience was very nice, if a bit limited and structured if you only went with the offered excursions. You did have the option to get off the boat and go and do your own thing though. We got more experience in Amsterdam with trains, streetcars, restaurants, attractions, and hotels. When we got to London, we were pretty comfortable figuring out the subway and trains. The last part of the trip was driving around in the countryside, and the GPS in the car made getting around fairly easy. The hard part was driving on the other side of the road. This was my favorite part of the trip. As others have said, it depends on your personality and style. We had fun doing a lot of the research for where we wanted to go and how to get there, etc. I hope you are able to go and have a great time.