A Home Away from Home:
Self-Catering in Europe
Page 3
Continued from Page 2

LEFT: Our Venice apartment's well-equipped kitchen, with french doors leading to a courtyard garden.

A more "European" experience

But saving money isn't the only reason to rent an apartment or house. You'll also enjoy shopping the local bakeries, grocery stores, and market stalls for breakfast and whatever other meals you prepare in your home away from home. You'll have the sensation--even if it's an illusion--that you're a temporary native. (Go ahead--feel smug as you carry your baguette, cold cuts, and wine past the tourists who loiter forlornly by hotel entrances and sightseeing buses.)

When it's raining and you retreat to your apartment or cottage, you can brew a pot of coffee and snuggle up on the living-room couch instead of fighting claustrophobia in a hotel room. And if you're lucky, you may have contact with your landlord or an English-speaking neighbor to make you feel that you've mingled with the locals instead of passing through as an invisible observer.

Where to find your abode abroad

Continued on page 4

From Europe for Cruisers:

• Tour Europe by Ship
• European Cruise Guide 2012
• Costa: Western Mediterranean
• MSC: Eastern Mediterranean
• Holland America: Scandinavia
• More Cruising

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