TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

Over 34 days, on 22 trains, in 11 hotels, 7 airplanes, using five

different currencies and 25 rolls of film, Penny Fleming and her Newport

Beach family toured London, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark for a

first-ever European family vacation.

“I’m trying to encourage more people to bring their kids to Europe,”

said Fleming, who had been to Europe before but never with the kids.

“It’s very safe over there, there was a lot of freedom for the kids to be

able to go down the elevator and meet us in the lobby.”

Annie and Michael Fleming, ages 6 and 7 respectively, concluded that

the citron ice cream in Munich was the tastiest, while a swimming pool

with water jets on the Northern Germany island of Sylt was the most

impressive.

“They graded Europe by the swimming pools and the ice cream,” Penny

Fleming laughed.

For Penny and John, small mountain towns, splendidly gaudy castles and

a view of sailing yachts from the Palace Hotel in Switzerland qualified

as favorites.

“It was the epitome of true luxury,” Penny Fleming said. “Being able

to sit on the windowsill and watch the yachts on Lake Lucern.”

The castles were also luxurious. Huge and adorned, they gave Fleming a

taste of fairy-tales melded with history.

“There are real castles in Germany,” Fleming said. “Things that you

read in books about -- they’re real.”

In Switzerland, the family stayed in a small town in the mountains

where cows wore bells, buildings looked distinctly Swiss in their

architecture and restaurants served fondue.

“It was everything you would’ve thought of Switzerland,” said Fleming,

who owns three Internet companies.

Her only caveat would be -- watch out for pricey hotels.

“The most expensive ones are not the best,” she said.

Daughter Annie said she liked being in the Swiss mountain towns

because they were at “the top of Europe.”

While a little disappointed that she couldn’t meet the queen in

London, Annie spent part of the week wearing a silver crown with little

pink jewels.

The kids heard concerts in Salzburg -- the music of Mozart -- and

learned to eat weiner schnitzels.

One of Annie’s trip highlights was seeing the cows -- for the simple

reason that they looked pretty.

“I liked the cows because they had bells on them,” she said.

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.