One of the largest mosques in Europe is the Grand Mosquée in Paris (39, rue Saint-Hilaire; phone 01 43 31 38 20). It’s on the southeast corner of rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and rue Daubenton, across from the Jardin des Plantes. In October ’10, my traveling companion and I ventured to the mosque’s hammam (Turkish bath).

We were not able to go into the mosque, itself, because it was a holy day, but we went around the block to a lovely gateway through which a tea garden led into the...

My husband, Neal, and I booked a trip with Elderhos­tel that was to begin in Berlin. Following a few days of touring there, the group would be bused to Potsdam, then board the Peter Deilmann Cruises ship Katharina von Bora for a cruise through Saxony to Prague.

We arrived in Berlin on Sept. 22, 2009. At the end of our four days there, our tour leader called the group together late at night and told us that the Elbe River was low and so our cruise had to be rerouted north to the Oder...

When my nephew, Jim, and I traveled to Peru in July ’10, I followed the advice I’d read in ITN (Aug. ’09. pg. 24) and purchased a new pair of glasses in Lima. At Optica Santa Lucia (Calle Schell 365, Miraflores), I paid $220 for bifocals with Italian frames. I took a prescription with me, ordered the glasses and picked them up the next day.

En route to get the glasses, we happened to see the office of Fertur Travel (Calle Schell 485, Miraflores, Lima; phone [+51 1] 242 1900 or 445...