Smoky Goes to Europe

Book excerpt: Smoky Goes to Europe: A Travel Tale of a Marriage is the humorous story of a pet black bear who accompanies his human parents on a 17-day trip to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Besides staying with family living in Bavaria; the author and his wife take Smoky to explore medieval towns along Germany's Romantic Road; stroll Mozart's Salzburg; hike the Swiss Alps, discover a fairytale castle in Bavaria; renew wedding vows in a historic Italian church; and walk enough hills, steps, and streets to make the reader collapse from exhaustion. This story weaves through the history of European countries, provinces, cities, and towns, while embracing the cultures, languages, and incredible scenery of Europe in the spring. Amid the travel tales is the story of the close-knit relationship of a couple who married for the first time later in life and have not spent a single day of that marriage apart. Testimonials from notables profiled in the book "While touring Europe with the Rolling Stones, I made the acquaintance of Herr Amsler and found him to be a greatly troubled man, undoubtedly a result of the same medications I've been consuming. The book? I've never heard of it."-Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. "An artistic nightmare!"-Pablo Picasso "Deeply disturbing! That's all I have time to say. The partisans are coming."-Benito Mussolini. "One of my aides brought this book to my attention and to the author I say this: If I ever catch you anywhere near one of my castles again, I'll have your fingers cut off with a very dull sword and mount your head above my throne."-Your humble servant, King Ludwig II. "Delightfully appalling!"-Napoleon Bonaparte