I've been giddier than usual this week as I'm finalizing my travel plans for 2014. I've got an amazing itinerary promising four months of fun and learning, and there'll be lots of great new information to share. I'll be vigorously posting almost daily from some of my favorite corners of Europe. And for the next week or so until I fly away, we're running video clips to get us all in the mood.
Ten years ago we shifted to high-definition in our filming -- as wonderful a jump in video technology as was the leap from black-and-white to color TV in the 1960s. I've spent the last decade redoing our old standard-def TV shows. We've just about redone everything now, so our library of TV episodes covers all of Europe in HD. This May I'll meet the crew in north Italy to shoot new shows on the Cinque Terre. Two years ago, two of the five little ports of the Italian Riviera (Vernazza and Monterosso) were buried in a flash flood and mountains of mud. Knowing they'd dig out and start anew, I put off filming until this year. Now all cinque of the Cinque Terre are ready for prime time, and we'll bring it home for travelers all across the USA. Here is a clip illustrating why I love this region so much.