Nancy Anderson, RN

Welcome to a corner of California that is forever the home of Hamlet and Hans Christian Andersen: windmills, half-timbered houses, painted panels, Danish pastries, and even The Little Mermaid.

Destinations may have a fascinating past but they still need tourist attractions to bring in visitors. Ojai, California, is no exception - vacationers have plenty of things to do, places to stay and restaurants to please the palate.

Those who have come to make their home the Ojai Valley fall into three broad types: the artists, the educators and the spiritual thinkers. Although sometimes it's hard to separate the artists from the spiritual thinkers.

Many people who have settled in Southern California's Ojai Valley have felt the same mystique the Chumash Indians valued in the land. Early settlers embraced the clean air and bathed in the hot sulphur springs.

More than any city in Germany's Luther Country, Wittenberg is where you get a true sense of Martin Luther, the man - and his life. Germany's Luther Country Festival, celebrating the life of the father of the Reformation, goes on till 2017.

In Wittenberg, Germany, Martin Luther came into his own, hammering his 95 Theses into the door of the church. It's also the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach and forensic anthropology.

The City of Towers, where Martin Luther was a monk, is worth a longer visit beyond celebrating 500 years of the man who began the Reformation.

Germany is celebrating 500 Years of Martin Luther until 2017 and there are four towns that really represent his career, starting with Eisleben, where he was born and died.

The marvelous Leipzig is not only the city that started the rejection of communism, but it is a city of music and alchemy.

A step back in time in Germany: the laboratory where Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen first discovered the X-ray.

Residenz, the opulent palace of Germany's prince bishops, is the main reason most tourists visit Wurzburg.

Dresden's fame might direct visitors' attention exclusively to the city offerings leaving them unresponsive to the surrounding countryside. That would be a shame.

The beautiful, elegant, old city of Dresden is in fact new, reconstructed to look like the original that was destroyed in World War II.

This is not an easy story to write. Buchenwald Concentration Camp is not an easy place to visit. And it's not an easy place to forget. But we shouldn't forget; we mustn't.

Weimar, a wonderful model of "small town Germany," boasts small shops, artisan stores, trade workplaces, unique museums - and it has a history.

On Capri, at the top of the island, is the house Dr. Axel Munthe restored and wrote to great acclaim. The villa is a piece of history, both Munthe's and further back to Emperor Tiberius in the first century.

Dubrovnik has an interesting history of physicians and the relationships they had with patients.

Small cruise ships may mean a larger budget, but they offer more a intimate experience and more personalized care compared to other ships that are like floating cities.

Outside of Brno, Czech Republic is the museum dedicated to the work of the monk and father of genetics, Gregor Mendel.

Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, may be an enigma to Americans, but it's less expensive, busy and touristy than Prague. And you can walk through its very heart in a single day.

Train travel in Europe can open up whole parts of a country visitors might not see by driving. Here are the top 10 tips to make sure your travel goes smoothly.

History abounds in Prague, from the famous church St. Vitus to the even more famous Old Town Clock to the lonely grave of the freedom fighter buried near Loretto Chapel.

Prague is a city of many, many secrets. And the pleasure of a visit is finding some of them. Indeed Prague has been called a place of the imagination.

The Andersons have shown readers various travel destinations around the world, but how do they go about planning such trips?

The excavated ships dominate the floor of the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, but they are not the only artifacts there showing how these people lived and died.

In the 19th century Norway had the greatest concentration of lepers in Europe. Bergen's Leprosy Museum reveals what life was like for those afflicted, plus the city is home to Hansen, who found the microorganism that caused the disease.

On the last stop of their Norwegian cruise, the Andersons explore Bergen: a city both visitors and residents can't help but brag about.

A cruise with Hurtigruten down the "Long Coast" of Norway surely gives passengers a flash of insight. Cruise line success follows the adage, "location, location, location," and Norway has the location!

Sailing Norway's long coast is a glance at the real Norwegian soul.

Historic Trondheim - once the capital of Norway - is located at the mouth of a river and surrounded by mountain peaks. And it has 1,000 years of history.